The problem isn’t white rappers.* The problem is the popular perception that beyond the Beasties, Vanilla Ice, Everlast, Marky Mark, Eminem, and Asher Roth, white rappers don’t exist. You probably don’t need me to tell me you this. The few thousand people reading this don’t need NY Magazine’s comprehensive guide to white rap, or my less thorough version tailored to the print daily audience.
The attacks on dudes like Themselves usually say more about their critics than the artist uh…themselves–a series of ad hominem assaults involving reductive generalizations branding them as either emo pussies or plinkety-plink spaceship rappers. I’m not trying to revive Hip-Hop Infinity. I’m just saying that liking Boosie and Aesop Rock aren’t mutually exclusive. Popism doesn’t mean Soulja Boy can’t co-exist with CloudDead. “Gucci Bandanna” and “Know That to Know This,” are two of the best songs of the year–no need to pat yourself on the back for your “eclecticism,” that’s just how it is.
If dull as Durst boom-bap-revivalists can kick true-school platitudes to the delight of the comfort food crowd, Themselves, Why?, and the Def Jukies deserve the same plaudits. After all, as Noz pointed out, “this is just boom-bap twisted beyond recognition.” I mean, DoseOne did win a Scribble Jam when people cared about that sort of thing. FreeHoudini isn’t perfect, but few free mixtapes are.
Sure, this is as far from populism as Rockefeller Republicanism (R.I.P.), but when the crack(er)-rap standard-bearers are vainly trying to recusitate horror-core and the ghost of Bluto Blutarski, you could certainly do worse.
* Granted, the problem is actually 99.3 percent of white rappers.
Download:
MP3: Themselves ft. Aesop Rock-“Know that To Know This”
MP3: Themselves ft. Why? CloudDead-“Rappin’ 4 Money”
