Saturday, July 30, 2011

Music and Ethnicity

So a few weeks ago I was having a discussion with a black female co-worker about music.  The conversation went like this:

Co-Worker: "Man you look tired."
Me: "Yeah I stayed up late last night watching the Kottonmouth Kings Concert online.  It ended like 1:30!"
Co-Worker: "Who are the Kottonmouth kings?"
Me:  "They are a rap group from Cali, you have never heard of them?"
Co-Worker:  "No I sure haven't."

That was it.  Simple and I thought no more of it after the fact.  That happened on a Sat, The next Friday there were 5 of us in the office including her and I and we all were joking around and cutting some racial jokes and other random stuff.  Out of nowhere she says "Oh like you assumed I like rap music cause I am black" I was stunned and tried my best to grasp what she had said.  I responded "uh no I never assumed you liked it cause you were black I was telling you why I was tired that day and surprised you had never heard of the group."  Like ten minutes of her going off ended when a fellow co-worker chimed in and told her I would have asked him the question the same way and hes white.  Long story short I guess I can't discuss my likes or dislikes because someone may get upset.

  Now the point of the story was this, to me music has no color.  Sure the roots of certain kinds of music is ethnic but by now as a culture we have evolved beyond that.  To me music is liked by anyone not just certain groups.  I mean look at country music.  For a long time is was white redneck music.  Now there are several black country musicians.  In rap we have a lot of white rappers, latin rappers, asian, etc.  Music is the common bond between races.  It is supposed to make you feel good and not care who else might like it.  Why do certain people have to ruin it.  I mean if you have insecurities about your race fine but do not play the race card because you took it the wrong way.  If you are offended ask the person if that was their intent.  If they say no believe them.  Racial bigotry is something many of us have experienced no matter what our color of skin.  As a community we need to keep spreading the love.  Keep doing the right thing and preaching acceptance.

  As a people I think we need to evolve mentally.  Do the same things in private you would do if someone was right in front of you.  That is true integrity.

J