Jillian Turner Blog # 2: Rap and Race

Twilight, Los Angeles got me thinking: has much changed in America in the past twenty years since the LA riots in relation to the Rodney King beating? Just recently the Treyvon Martin case sparked similar unrest in the African American community. So have Americans finally been able to look past skin color? Yes, we have public figures like Barak Obama, Jay-Z, Beyonce, and LeBron James who are successful African Americans and would have undoubtedly made their ancestors proud but there still is an inherent disconnect between races.

As we have discussed in class, race is something that is both highlighted in our society and made taboo by the urge to be politically correct. Regrettably, we have become accustomed to making assumptions based on race but, if the past few class periods have taught us anything, it's that you simply can't judge a person by what meets the eye. Today, it is more often than not that you will find someone who is of some mixed race. So if skin color doesn't define race, what does? How can we delineate something so convoluted?

Our conversations from class today got me thinking about music: how has music portrayed the changes in the African American community over the past few decades? As Ice T discussed in film today, he was simply rapping about what was going on and what he knew. As was Dr. Dre when he dedicated albums to the African Americans dying in race-related riots. I focused on two songs: Black or White by Michael Jackson and Chocolate High by India.Arie. Both songs empower beauty in race but do so in vastly different ways. In his song, Michael Jackson hammers home his refrain "it don't matter if your black or white!" But does it? Many would disagree with Jackson and say that everything depends on race: who you are, what you'll be, how much money you make... In his song, it seems like Michael is taking a defensive standpoint. It doesn't matter what your skin color is because it shouldn't be focused on...

In Chocolate High, however India.Arie and Musiq Soulchild glorify black beauty. In these two songs alone, we can see such contrasting viewpoints. So how has American culture in the African American community changed? Has it at all?

Black Or White

Chocolate High