Race and Identity By:Taylor Woods

Often times when one thinks of hip-hop, the people and culture that it rose from is more often than not thought of as well, the identity and the race of hip hop. Race is the physical characteristics of a human being, their skin color, hair texture, eye color, etc. Identity is the base of any meaningful idea, the core parts, for hip-hop this identity envelops music, struggle, rhythm, and joy.  Russell Simons, co-founder of Def Jam Recordings once said, "The thing about hip-hop is that it’s from the underground, ideas from the underbelly, from people who have mostly been locked out, who have not been recognized.” In one sentence he sums up the identity of hip-hop. 

Hip-hop has always been composed of an identity and a race; more and more now a days the difference becomes much more clear. In the early days of hip hop the race that consumed this art was that of African Americans and that race only, seldom seen were any people of other races in the light of hip hop. For this, as other races began to creep into the realm, some did not take to this lightly, being that hip-hop was for African Americans, or so they thought. In the video below Blacking Out, you see the conflicts that arose when Caucasians began to embrace the art of hip-hop. They were seen as traitors to their own race, or that they were mocking the genre. This would have not been a problem if those who were narrow minded would take into consideration the identity of hip-hop, they would see that with the identity all groups of people were part of hip-hop.

Hip-hop is for all people who have been “locked out” or “not recognized” those who want a voice to be heard through a lyrical melody. In Common’s song “I Used to Love H.E.R.”  he discusses the identity that hip-hop has in the form of an allegory in which he personifies hip-hop to show it in its truest form.

Eminem was amongst the first to prove to the world that hip hop was not just for one race but was about fitting an identity, being able to relate to the music you created and to be at home with the artist in your genre. In the cypher below you see Eminem among the one and only Mos Def, one who will forever be known in hip-hop.