The Only Cool Whitey & NYOIL’s Latest
The Only Cool Whitey
What’s better than a girl on girl cat fight? When two white rappers, uh excuse me “MCs”, start arguing about who’s “the only cool whitey”… Okay it’s not better than a cat fight, but it’s still friggin entertaining.
I first saw this posted up on Davey D’s website. I am not sure if this is where all this originated but it is where I first saw it.
MC Serch of 3rd Bass fame, put out a letter describing an interesting phenomenon that he observed while shooting his new TV show for VH1. The show is titled “Ego Trips: The White Rapper Show” and the interesting thing he “discovered” is something he dubbed “The White Rapper experience”. What the hell is that you ask? I’ll let him tell it:
| MC Serch wrote: |
| Many of you may not be familiar with this but I can speak from first hand knowledge that it is very interesting. The premise of being a white rapper has gotten so white washed. I met white rappers, and please do not be afraid for what I am about to tell you, but I have talked to and dealt with white rappers who have…ready…NEVER PERFROMED IN FRONT OF BLACK PEOPLE!!!! |
Serch goes on to say that he feels a white person who raps can’t call themselves an emcee until they have rocked a black crowd.
| MC Serch wrote: |
| if you are a white rapper that performs in front of a white crowd then you are not a rapper at all. You are a guy who is simulating what it feels like to rock a crowd. And I might go as far as to say that even if an all white crowd shows love to a white rapper and there is no black people in that crowd, he did not rock that crowd. White people will usually applaud anyone who has the balls to step on stage. I have seen tremendously wack rappers get in front of white people and becasue they heard a few words that rhymed, gave them love. |
Although I don’t disagree with the premise… The way he came off was a little too “bourgeois”…
| MC Serch wrote: |
| Are the black people so hard to find for white rappers? Are white rappers not going to black people to seek their approval. HOW CAN WHITE RAPPER BE WHITE RAPPERS IF BLACK PEOPLE HAVE NEVER SEEN THEM RAP. |
Well if a black classical pianist has only played for black audiences and doesn’t seek out all white audiences and their approval, does that mean they are not a classical pianist?
Later on he pens this gem…
| MC Serch wrote: |
| As much as I love my lack of melanin brothers and sisters… |
Come on are you serious??? Damn, I thought it was pigment challenged…
Anyway he goes on to add…
| MC Serch wrote: |
| If a brother or sister don’t give you the thumbs up, then you are faking the funk on way too many levels and it’s time you went back to Wall street or college or the bowling alley or the Klan meeting. |
WTF… where did Klan meeting come from??? Oh yeah, that’s right, there are no black people working on Wall Street or going to college or that go bowling, so a Klan meeting fits right in that list… WOW
Maybe if he said that white rappers who avoid all black or majority black audiences can’t call themselves emcees, I can agree with that. Hip hop has reached way past the urban centers of this country and not all aspiring emcees have access to the cultural diversity of cities like New York. But if you want to call yourself an emcee and make a career out of it, there will come a time that you will need to rock an all black or majority black crowd. Bring your ‘A’ game and rip it. If you can’t do that, well, you won’t get much respect over here or in this industry. A true emcee can rock any crowd that is there to see a hip hop show, regarless of who’s in the crowd.
Sage Francis had a response to Serch’s observations and by the tone of it, he isn’t too happy with what Serch had to say. I have to admit I am not very familiar with Sage Francis’ work, but some of the things he had to say are classic:
| Sage Francis wrote: |
| Serch: “HOW CAN WHITE RAPPER BE WHITE RAPPERS IF BLACK PEOPLE HAVE NEVER SEEN THEM RAP.”Was that a question? Well…why is the sky blue. Why is water wet. Why is a period mark following these long unanswered questions. If a white rapper cries in front of a black crowd and no one posts it on youtube, is he still emo? If it IS posted on youtube and a black person watches it…does that make him an official rapper? If your group was manufactured by someone who wanted to put two white rappers together and hopefully exploit the race situation…and then someone named Vanilla Ice comes around and gets exploited even BETTER than you…and you beat down a Vanilla Ice impostor in the video to a song that actually makes its way onto commercial charts… are you street? Are you hood? Are you an honorary black person if you co-opt enough black culture? How’s that high top fade doing these days? |
| Sage Francis wrote: |
| Now that I think of it, you neglected to mention the Beastie Boys in your list of rappers who got approval from a black audience. As you know, they were the other white group who came up around the same time you did. In fact, you shared the same DJ as them for a while, Sam Sever. You pointed the Beasties out as fakers and tried to discredit them as if you guys were real…and they were fake (wasn’t it the Beasties who just received hip hop honors last week on…*gasp*… VH1?) Were they too white for you, Serch? Did their fakeness take on any cooler effect when three black rappers covered songs from License to Ill as Rakim, Bambaata and Wu Tang bobbed their heads to the music? I guess anyone who was white and not down with you way back then was a fraud. I believe Upski has a good chapter about this type of “I’m the only cool whitey” complex in his Bomb the Suburbs book. Check it out. |
I am sure this is not over, so check out the whole thing for yourself here.
NYOIL’s Latest
For all those that were feelin the NYOIL joint “Ya’ll Should All Get Lynched”, we got ahold of another of his tracks called “Whattup My Wigga”. Check it out:
[audio:WhattUpMyWigga-NYOIL.mp3]
Also got a good interview on him from the Spitkickers website. Check out the full interview at:
And if you haven’t seen the video for “Ya’ll Should All Get Lynched”, here it is:
NYOIL – Ya’ll Should All Get Lynched – Video
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