RAP ON RAP: Is rap music a...

RAP ON RAP: Is rap music a ruse?

David Samuels thinks so. The former Spin magazine staff writer tries to demystify the rebellious musical genre in a controversial essay in the Nov. 11 issue of the New Republic magazine.

In the 5,000-word article, subtitled “The ‘Black Music’ That Isn’t Either,” Samuels suggests that rap is not an art form but a marketing scheme concocted by enterprising middle-class black composers and shrewd white record executives with the intention of hawking “negative racist stereotypes” to naive suburban white teen-agers.

“The people who think that my analysis is the stuff of conservative fantasy ought to talk to the people who put out these records,” Samuel told Pop Eye. “Record companies realize that upper-middle-class suburban whites are getting cheap thrills off of the black sexuality and criminality exploited by rap artists. It’s a commercial venture. Pure and simple.”

But his allegations have come under fire by numerous music industry insiders, including Jon Schecter, editor of the Source, the nation’s leading rap magazine. Schecter acknowledges that white teen-agers make up a large percentage of the genre’s fan base, but he believes rap is primarily a black art form written by and performed for the African-American community.

“If this guy thinks that black rap artists sit down and write their music with the intention of targeting a specific demographic of middle-class white Americans, he couldn’t be more wrong,” Schecter said. “Does he think that people don’t get hurt or killed in the ghetto? Does he really believe that rap artists are making these things up? His piece was poorly researched, inaccurate and irrelevant.”