Don’t Ignore Your Whiteness
Many white hip-hop stars do their best to avoid the fact that they are white in an industry that was founded by the Black community and, in its early stages, was used predominantly as a way for artists to voice their frustrations with the racist society they were living in. That very background of hip-hop culture is why white artists shouldn’t just cross their fingers and hope that nobody will ever mention the fact that they are white. Instead, artists should acknowledge this racial difference and even pride themselves on using their platform in hip-hop to make a difference in the community that their own ancestors have oppressed for years.
Acknowledge Your Privilege
Nothing is a harder slap in the face for hip-hop artists everywhere than when white artists are projected to fame and success and insist that the road to glory was the same for them as it was for Black hip-hop stars. As Peggy McIntosh, a white American feminist and activist against racism, explains, white people have a “backpack of free hookups that [they] have done nothing to earn.” Needless to say, these free hookups are key to projecting many white hip-hop stars to stardom even when they are arguably much less talented than Black hip-hop stars who are struggling to obtain mass appeal.
