Hip Hop Debated By Audience At AACC

By: Erin Alicandro

Posted: 10/25/05

Bakari Kitwana, former editor of The Source, came to the African American Cultural Center Monday to discuss his new book, "Why White Kids Love Hip Hop: Wangstas, Wiggers, Wannabes, and the New Reality of Race in America."

Kitwana started his presentation introducing his book as the subject of much controversy and Monday night's lecture-turned-debate was no exception.

Kitwana said he feels the way races interact has changed over the years; white people are feeling some of the economic strife blacks have faced for years. He cited the fact that credit card debt has tripled, tuition increases at schools are the highest in 25 years and with George W. Bush as president there has been the biggest decline in jobs since the great depression. Kitwana said more and more of the issues that matter to young blacks and young whites are the same. There is a "declining sense of white privilege," he said. He also cited other problems faced by young people alike, including a decrease in effective public schools and alienation "across the board among young people." Because of this commonality between young people, hip hop has gotten a more cross-cultural audience, according to Kitwana.

"The white audience is significant because any agenda labeled a black agenda is not going very far" and the most viable way to move that agenda is to use hip hop, Kitwana said.

He thinks the hip hop community can use its cross-cultural influence to support progressive political agendas in support of "school systems that work," "jobs that pay a living wage" and universal health care.

Kitwana said there are three popular theories as to why white kids have joined the hip hop culture, but he doesn't agree with them. These include, the idea that white kids are drawn to hop hop as "a forbidden narrative," "the black tastemaker theory," which is the idea that everything going on with black kids today is going to go mainstream tomorrow and the white supremacy theory, which indicates white kids are engaging in hip hop to promote the white supremacy cause.

Hip hop culture was first defined by a cultural movement, followed by a political movement. In the 1980s activists were disconnected from hip hop because hip hop was lesser known and composed of grass-roots local groups, he said. In the 1990s "Raptivists" began to define the hip hop political agenda in their lyrics, he said. And finally, by the 2004 election, political interest groups like the Hip Hop Summit Action network and Young Voter Alliance merged hip hop and politics.

Kitwana countered the popular sentiment that the majority of hip hop listeners are white. He said there are not enough reliable surveys available to draw this conclusion, but many major media outlets like The New York Times, The Washington Post and CNN have used information from unreliable polls by a polling group called SoundScan. The number given by these polls, reflected only a small demographic and survey group, he said. He wants more accurate surveys to be conducted.

Kofi Adisa, an English PhD candidate, was unsatisfied with Kitwana's use of SoundScan to support the fact that there is no conclusive evidence that hip hop listeners are primarily white. He cited evidence that hip hop listeners are primarily white, including a first-hand observation of a hip hop concert he attended, where about 60 percent of the audience was white.

Kitwana discussed the immergence of movies since 1995 that have dealt with what it's like to be a hip hop kid. These include "Malibu's Most Wanted," "Hustle and Flow," and "Bringing Down the House." "Malibu's Most Wanted" is about a white upperclass teen who is into hip hop, but he's never been in the hood, Kitwana said. The main character, played by Jamie Kennedy, has a highly political father. The father hires two black men to take him into the hood, but things get complicated because these two men have stereotypically white personalities, Kitwana said.
Kitwana said that "Malibu's Most Wanted" was a complex satire that was not to be taken literally. "I think Jamie Kennedy is identifying with is perception of the media identification of what is hip hop," he said.

Leila Linntoya Washington, a family studies graduate student, along with many other students present, voiced concern over the messages made by movies like "Malibu's Most Wanted" and "Bringing down the House." She felt that Queen Latifah's role in the "Bringing Down the House" was degrading to African Americans and perpetuated stereotypes. She thought "Malibu's Most Wanted" was equally offensive and did not share Kitwana's opinion that is was an effective satire on hip hop culture.

Adisa disagreed with aspects of Kitwana's view on "Malibu's Most Wanted" as well. He did agree that the movie contained a level of sophistication, but said that black and white audiences would not necessarily form the same construction when viewing the film
Another issue raised at the end of the discussion was concern over the media and corporations who distribute information. In response to the many statistics that Kitwana read from during the lecture, Washington said, "The fact of the matter is Fox News [and other mainstream media] lie" about statistics, and polls can be tailored.

"I liked how he talked about hip hop as a cultural and political movement," said Melissa Montanaro, a 1st-semester political science major.

Montanaro said she learned many interesting facts about hip hop, including the fact that an increasing majority of white people attend hip hop concerts.

Besides being Executive Editor of The Source, Kitwana has been editorial director at Third World Press, a music reviewer for National Pubic Radio's "All Things Considered," and a featured writer in the Village Voice, The Source and The Progressive. Other books to his credit are "The Rap on Gangsta Rap" and "The Hip Hop Generation."