Hip–Hop broke down a lot of barriers. This may be one of the most important.
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Yup. That’s my statement. I said it. Rap music made me fall for a white girl. Tupac told me to do it. Biggie influenced me. Jay-Z put it in my head. “Date a white woman. And buy Roc-A-Fella jeans. And The Blueprint 10″ (Those crazy Illuminati and their subliminal messages!)
Nah. I’m just joking.
It was Will Smith that told me to date outside of my race. Actually, it was the Fresh Prince. And his DJ., Jazzy Jeff, had something to do with it, too.
What in the acid trip am I talking about? Even in 2014, there’s been hand wringing by conservatives both black and white:
“Where did these mixed kids come from?”
“Where are our good black men?”
“Why does she like black guys?”
In short, these same people are trying to figure out why interracial dating (or “the swirl”) has exploded in this country in the last 20 or so years.
I know why.
It was hip-hop. The culture. The music. Quick. Think of another social movement/culture in the last 50 years that had more impact on the youth of America (and later the entire globe) than hip-hop. Rock and roll comes to mind, but rock’s initial mass integration surge pretty much died with Alan Freed. Hip-hop culture was (and still is, believe it or not) the one, all inclusive pop culture institution that has a “come as you are” directive.
Going back to the Fresh Prince/Will Smith, it was he who may have been the most revolutionary rapper of all time. It’s usually acknowledged in hip-hop, pop culture, and societal circles that the world changing rap heroes were the edgiest ones. N.W.A.’s (mainly because a 19 year old, fearless Ice Cube) sonic sneering and Public Enemy’s neo pro black fire and brimstone riot act reading still make hip-hop purist’s extremities tingle when mentioned. It was those two groups who shook up and, scared an establishment that thought the Angry Black person was dead and buried in the Huxtables’ 1980s.
But, N.W.A. and P.E. screamed at America. Even at young white kids at that time. Meanwhile, a kid from Philly dropped a song called “Parents Just Don’t Understand” in early 1988. It was a goofy song, about three different goofy stories, from a guy who seem to revel in his goofiness (Smith became a megastar when he relied more on his charm than his goofiness. And boy, was he goofy.) It was a smash hit, but it’s social impact was immense. Here was a young man, telling the world about the time he stole his Dad’s car to impress a girl. And his parents just didn’t get it. Here was a kid, a black kid. Talking about an experience. A nearly universal experience. Among teens. What guy (and more than a few girls) fell on their faces trying to impress the opposite sex? Who didn’t, as a teen, get grounded for doing something stupid?
Will and Jazzy (Jeff) kicked off the real revolution. They made black kids look human. Black teens didn’t seem menacing, or angry. They made mistakes. They told jokes. I’d argue, for white Gen Xer’s, it was hard to look at their black counterparts the same way they did pre-Yo! MTV Raps.
And this is when attitudes about dating started to shift. While scandalous to baby boomer parents, many gen X teens didn’t see the harm in dating someone outside of their race. Hell, it seemed natural. After all, our generation got the new memo that—surprise!–we were all human. (Not all Gen X kids were cool with interracial dating. And some of the kids that were, it was all about shock value. That “let’s piss off our parents” bullshit). It was really hard to see someone as the enemy when they could directly relate to you. Young black teens weren’t ( to a degree) being seen as sub human primates, but as contemporaries. Young white teens weren’t being viewed as the progeny of hard line racists,(to a degree) but as friends.
The irony of a form of music largely created by people of color (there were many whites who have contributed to the culture. Without Rick Rubin, Def Jam wouldn’t have existed. Meaning no LL Cool J and his bulging pecs on NCIS: Los Angeles) being responsible for racial mixing isn’t lost on me. I figure the comments I’ll get on this article will be snarky at best. Many (especially mainstream hip-hop fans) rap music listeners who live in more urban areas don’t seem to support interracial dating. Certain inner city social quadrants are dead set against it. That’s understandable.
But, I, and many black men, can’t look back. We want to, and have to move forward in this spectacular time to not only be a black person, but also to be actively engaged in the mass cultural merging of the 21st century. (NOT that dating women of your identical race is going “backwards”. If I happened to fall in love with a black woman, I would have been great with that. ) Simply put, most races in this country know too much about each other now to ever go backwards. In terms of culture, many of us aren’t strangers any longer.
Shit. My girlfriend has more hip-hop albums than I do.
–photo courtesy of the author
The post My Girlfriend is White. And it’s Hip-Hop’s Fault. appeared first on The Good Men Project.