Discussion 11/1 Music and Race

Hi Everyone,

Our discussion topic for November 1st is: Racial identity in Music. We will be looking at both the producers (musicians, executives, promoters) and consumers (so us, basically) and how racial identity is expressed, constructed, and understood through music. Lastly we will talk about racism in our larger musical culture.

There will be some food for thought.

Here are the articles for the upcoming discussion:

Indie music, race, and history (Sorry that it is a little long, but it gives a comprehensive historical background for the 20th century popular music)
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2007/10/22/a-paler-shade-of-white

Does race affect our musical tastes?:
http://theconversation.com/why-culture-not-race-determines-tastes-in-music-46639

An interesting recent example regarding race and musical legitimacy was a petition against Kanye West performing at a major music festival in Great Britain. This might be a useful starting point for discussing how race affects how we determine what is “good” music.
https://medium.com/cuepoint/hating-on-kanye-at-glasto-more-than-just-a-storm-in-a-teacup-b481a5f0ca83#.qkc6oqpui

Bonus points:
You do not need to read these articles, but if you are ambitious, or interested in one of the two subtopics, take a look at these.

An article about how genres seem to segregate along racial lines:
http://www.altpress.com/features/entry/web_cover_story_it_takes_a_nation_of_millions–black_punk_and_indie_mu

Here’s two more about how “Rockism” is used to demean pop and rap artists:
http://www.feministe.us/blog/archives/2009/05/16/roth-rockism-hip-hop/
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/31/arts/music/the-rap-against-rockism.html

Hope to see you all there.