Quote:
Originally Posted by lio45
Yep, and that’s certainly not a bad thing. Why even need “code”? The whole thing sounds so hypocritical. “I don’t like black music” is fine, you don’t have to say “I don’t like urban music”.
Is there even a way to say “the subway in NYC is too crowded for my tastes, I prefer using taxis” without it automatically meaning “I’m racist and don’t want to be with all these blacks in the subway”?
|
I think the issue with situations like the first is that there are many different types of music that have black roots and/or are predominantly created by black people. Rap / hip hop, R&B, Reggae, Soul, etc. could all be described this way. Yet none are exclusively black either. There are also white artists ranging from Elvis to the Beetles to Eminem who either covered "black songs," or dabbled in / were heavily influenced by originally black genres. And of course black artists have performed in genres that didn't have predominantly black roots. So if one were to say they didn't black music, what specifically would that mean considering that urban music would include many non-black artists and contributions? Would it mean they dislike for any of a wide range of genres regardless of the race of a particular performer in it? Or they don't like any music created by a black performer regardless of the genre?
Either way, it would be so lacking in precision that it wouldn't be very useful. For instance, if someone didn't like rap including by Machine Gun Kelly or Jack Harlow, they can just say they don't like rap. If they don't like music of any genre that happens to be created by a black artist... well they could just say they don't like black people seeing as music by black performers is too varied to have any other common element for someone to dislike.
And I think that's what it comes down to. Saying "I don't like black music" would itself be code for something else whether or not the speaker was conscious of it.