Hip Hop and Inequality: Searching for the
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Hip Hop and Inequality: Searching for the "Real" Slim Shady By S ...

Chapter 1:  Introduction
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we asked them were, Do you listen to rap; if no, why not, and if yes, why? Why do you think that white people listen to rap music? And finally, what attracted you to rap music? As one “everyday student” said to us,

Rap has its own style. Its meaning is [in] the way people dress, the jewelry they wear, the sneakers, and things like that. That may be another reason why white people like rap: they like the whole style that goes along with rap…I also remember going to the park as a kid and playing basketball at the courts, and the music people would have on their stereos outside when we played was rap. Rap music was around when I was growing up. I never saw it as music that was made by mostly black artists; I just saw it as good music. Growing up where I did, in [upstate] New York, I would hear DMX rapping about places like that's right where I’ve been, and I think that's what also attracted me to rap music. When I would hear artists rapping about places I knew, I felt like I could relate to the music…I have friends whose favorite music isn’t rap, but they say they like it because it's something that is different. Rap has a different sound than other music.

Hip hop, then, seems to appeal to a sense of “newness” that is always central to youth culture.

The difference (which our student speaks of with the spirit of an adventurer on safari) is seductive, and understanding what that difference means to our students is quite complex and compelling in scope. Rap music and hip hop culture provide instant and easy access to “cultural fast food” for those students who are either economically privileged or geographically (and, many times, racially) isolated from personal, in-depth exchange with an “exotic,” often socially marginalized “other.” This marginalized “other,” however, remains at a “safe” distance that is only