bell hooks states that Rap is a perfect paradigm for colonialism. That is, we as white people, or the colonizers, can use the rap scene as our own little third world country to take what we want from it, whether it is sex, drugs, or just a sense of being the alpha male. And while there may be some truth to this paradigm, I find it problematic for one main reason. To make this claim, she assumes that the rap artists choose their content for the sake of appeasing the white consumers, and are only producing misogynistic and angst-filled music only to suit market demands. To say this would also suggest that rap artists do not make the music for its own sake, but to become quick millionaires. This would not only question the integrity of the artists, but the genuineness behind the movement itself.
Granted, it is difficult to find much substance in the mainstream rap she presents in her critique of rap. Most of the lyrics are about shameless hedonism, most often at the expense of others, particularly women. I am not trying to defend the themes rap artists try to convey in their music, but I am defending the artists' integrity. To suggest rap is a product of colonialism, that would suggest that it is a movement a white establishment used to reinforce its dominance over the black establishment. She rejects the possibility that the music can be authentic, due only to the fact that the record labels are owned by white males. Given the advantage of being fifteen or so years in the future, it is easier to comment on this question of authenticity. We now see rappers with their own record labels, who sign other blacks, and the output is very similar. Jay-Z is a perfect example. He owns his own record label, yet still raps about how he has 99 problems, but a "bitch ain't one". He does not work for a white record label, yet he still reinforces the same stereotypes that comes with the rap movement. If he works for himself, it must be sincere on some level, even if the standard of what is "cool" and what sells developed before him.
It is easy for her to look only at the most mainstream rap and criticize it, because it is the most visible. But there still exists a vast number of rappers who I am certain are authentic. It is impossible to take an entire genre of music and say that it is phony just because of what the most visible artists say and do. The fact that rap exists in the mainstream suggests that at one point it did not, and the first artists had to find their style without defining themselves how the white record labels tell them to. While the corporations may have had a say in how the style was refined, they are only capitalizing on a cultural sentiment that already existed in culture. That is to say, it is not as simple as corporations forming public opinion of what should be demanded, but also the corporations respond to what the demand is that already exists in the market. They are both forming and being formed, which is not what I hear bell hooks saying. She simplifies it simply to where the corporations form demand, which reflects a colonialist sentiment. She places the blame of the debauchery seen everywhere in rap on the record labels, and excuses the black artists as only capitalists trying to make a quick buck. And while that may be the truth to an extent, it is only half of the truth.
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