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White Hegemonic Americanness: Double Consciousness

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Recommended: Rap music and society

Kaitlyn, Referring to question 6, you are correct when you say that double consciousness is related to Blackness and Americanness, however I would like to add that it specifically refers to white hegemonic Americanness, which contributes to the bind that many of these hip hop artists feel in regards to the exclusive boundaries between these two different cultures. Specifically, Hess in his essay “The Rap Career” within That’s the Joint refers to this when “artists work to produce marketable music for mainstream listeners, yet at the same time to maintain a necessary level of accountability to the music’s cultural origins. Often times these artists feel like they may have to assimilate into this white capitalist culture in order to adhere to their white, wealthy artist, along with the white recording labels they often must sign with in order to gain national fame and monetary success. This consciousness can lead many to feeling like “sell outs” for involving themselves with the culture and its people who continue to contribute and benefit from these artists’ racial oppression that ultimately led to the creation of this new genre of music and thus, hip hop …show more content…

At the same time, they feel obligated and driven to remain true to their black, inner city roots that inspired the making of hip hop culture and its music, and it may be difficult for these artists to juggle these two separate

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