I'd like to get something off my chest. I had a conversation recently with
my brother who i havent heard from in a long time. I was talking to him
about the music I'm playing and he says... "well, I know some white boys
that might be interested". I was immediately offended and jumped all over
him saying "these are black artists, black people developed this shit!". He
was fully surprise as I ran out the mouth about techno, house, acid jazz,
drum n bass and how a good majority of the originators and producers of
electronic music were/are black. He then apologized and said "well now i
know".
A LOT of people I know consider this stuff "white" music and can't conceive
of black people making anything except hip hop or r&b. I've had this
conversation with at least a dozen people. People are always surprised as I
run down the list of all the black artists that create electronic music.
It's like the only black music in there heads is hip hop, r&b, and then jazz
is for old people. Don't get me wrong, I do know people who aren't ignorant
on this subject, but the majority of people are.
At what point has this music been considered by the masses to be "white"?...
at least here in America most people consider techno, house, and most so
called underground types of music as white or rave music. Was it a result
of the rave thing? I understand most of rave music could be considered
'white', at least in this part of the world, but there is so much dope
soulful ethnic music that gets labeled as white in the minds of those who
don't know. The stuff I collect isn't getting any play at raves. All the
raves i ever went to played shitty techno, house, trance and weak ass
jungle. Its so frustrating. The race of the producers has never been an
issue with me untill recently.
As i browse my collection it just so happens that 80% of it or more is by
various peoples of color from around the world. I didnt consiously plan it
that way. I don't care what race these guys are (well, I guess it does make
me feel more proud of my collection now that I realize most of these guys
are of color). My question is when did this music become "white" music.
And do the masses in other countries think the same way? Why the hell do
black people equate electronic music with white people? Before anybody jumps
to conclusions, I am not ignoring the contributions white people have made
to this music... some of the best artists around are white. I'm just really
tired of people calling it "white music". Whats up with that? And finally,
there is a huge amount of electronic music circulating that i'm completely
unaware of... is most of it in fact created by white people?
Beau.
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