(AllHipHop News) The last several years have seen a lot of discussion around White performers making Hip Hop music. From accusations of cultural appropriation to debates over the use of the n-word to calls for more acceptance of non-Black emcees, the conversation around race and rap has been extensive.
[ALSO READ: EXCLUSIVE: Sacha Jenkins Talks Hollywood Embracing Hip Hop, Iggy Azalea’s Cultural Appropriation & Eminem’s Acceptance As A Rapper]
The Fader recently published a lengthy conversation between Stolen Youth collaborators Vince Staples and Mac Miller concerning White rappers. The Black Summertime ’06 rhymer and the White GO:OD AM spitter were very open about the topic.
Read excerpts from Mac Miller and Vince Staple’s exchange below and the entire article at thefader.com.
Mac Miller: There’s always been a bunch of white rappers in the super-underground scene – cult sh*t, like Atmosphere. I never listened to any of it, but there was a lot of white people like, “I love white rappers because I can identify with them.” The reason white rappers can do what they do is because white people be hoorah-ing the sh*t. It’s like when there are white people on an NBA team.
Vince Staples: White people definitely root for white people.
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Staples: I ain’t really f*ck with Eminem at first. I saw “Purple Pills,”and I was like, “What the f*ck is these n*ggas doin’?” But I didn’t really care about rapping. I was trying to hear some Ja Rule, like, “N*gga, where Ashanti at? Don’t nobody wanna hear you rappin’ about your momma.” That’s how I was feeling in my younger days. Eminem was too aggressive for me.
Miller: Now it’s evolved to where you have different types of white rappers. You have a RiFF RAFF, and an Action Bronson, and me, who are all completely different. Earlier, white rappers were just on the super storytelling, very poetic.
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Miller:I remember touring and doing shows, and I was the first rap show ever in all these colleges. Six thousand kids, and I’m the first hip-hop show because I’m white-college-friendly. That was always a demon for me. It was hard to sit here and know that, because I was a white dude, I was able to sell easier and be more marketable. That wasn’t tight to me. I wanted to go through the same sh*t that everyone else did. But I did that sh*t, and that sh*t was huge for me.
Staples: Maybe you’re not the problem. Maybe the problem is that black people don’t support each other and don’t f*ck with each other as much as they should. Maybe Hispanic people don’t f*ck with each other and support each other as much as they should. You’re not the problem. White people got the right idea: the first thought, the first action, is to be a supporter.
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Staples: White people loved MC Hammer, though. “Can’t Touch This.” Let’s dance, we’re not killing nobody. White people love Michael Jackson. And they love him to this day.
Miller: I might make a song like “Thrift Shop.” This is a thing that me and Vince agree on, that none of our other friends do. Me and Vince and [Schoolboy] Q.
Staples: Q, yeah. I was about to say: Q ready to get that check. I make music at the end of the day. I ain’t worried about sticking to hip-hop. Y’all gotta stop worrying about the race sh*t. It’s more important sh*t out there. Ja Rule got a show on MTV, let’s talk about that.