Straight Out Of Chevy Chase
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Peter Rosenberg
Over the past 40 years, hip-hop music has gone from underground phenomenon to global commodity. But as The New Yorker's Andrew Marantz explains, massive commercial success is a tightrope walk for any genre of popular music, and especially one built on authenticity and “realness.” Hip-hop constantly runs the risk of becoming a watered-down imitation of its former self - just, you know, pop music.
Andrew introduces us to Peter Rosenberg, a guy who takes this doomsday scenario very seriously. Peter is a DJ at Hot 97, New York City’s iconic hip-hop station, and a vocal booster of what he calls “real” hip-hop. But as a Jewish fellow from suburban Maryland, he's also the first to admit that he's an unlikely arbiter for what is and what isn't hip-hop.
With the help of Ali Shaheed Muhammad of A Tribe Called Quest and NPR's Frannie Kelley, we explore the strange ways that hip-hop deals with that age-old question: are you in or are you out?
Special thanks to The New Yorker who let us do a radiophonic version of their piece. If you've got a New Yorker subscription check out Andrew Marantz's stellar written version here. If you don't, well you should get one, but you can also watch Rosenberg crate digging and spinning records here.
Comments [3]
This was a good show; don't get me wrong. I love that NPR and its partner programs/podcasts are finding ways to bring appreciation to hip-hop and urban culture. That being said, what this show also quietly confirmed is that even NPR and Radiolab are not above the unfortunate nature of white people being the curators of hip-hop now. We heard an interesting discussion on whether or not white people are appropriating hip-hop vis-a-vis Rosenberg at Hot 97, but what I noticed was that all of the cultural critics interviewed for the show (besides Ali Shaheed Muhammad, who doesn't really count since he's a member of A Tribe Called Quest above any role he has at NPR Music or elsewhere in media), were white people hired by major media outlets to be, at least on some level, experts in hip-hop. I like Rosenberg; I think his heart's in the right place. I'm not familiar with Andrew Marantz, and I know of Frannie Kelley because I'm an avid public radio listener, but... sigh.
It seems as if the unnoticed message is that readers of The New Yorker, or listeners of NPR and shows like Radiolab, need a white person to explain all this hip-hop stuff to them. Or at least that's what editors or hiring persons think they're saying.
Black people can explain hip-hop too, folks. Ask Kris Ex, or several other folks I know. I'd love to be asked myself, actually. Sorry; it's just bugging me out that I'm asking for a little diversity in representation on a topic like hip-hop, particularly after hearing a show about appropriation. Irony, I guess.
I loved this segment. I was excited to see Radio Lab approach such a prevalent issue in pop culture and connect it to the very real, if uncomfortable or controversial, realities about the intersections of race, art, and authenticity. Discussions of this nature are thought provoking and lead me to consider my own allegiances and boundaries around the media I consume.
Usually, I enjoy your show a lot, especially when you explain complicated things with your typical light hearted humor. But this show was the opposite: It celebrated needlessly complicating the world. It's no news that there are tribally minded people who complicate the world by setting up boundaries and fences for their own reasons - there always have been since the beginning of humanity. The show didn't go beyond just presenting the people with their often very narrow minded opinions - to quote: "Why should I care?" There was no exploration, no analysis, no look at applicable sciences such as sociology, and nothing that helps the listener deal with that sort of attitude. Why should I care, indeed?
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