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Being a white rapper in an art form created by and dominated by African Americans, can't be an easy thing. But if you stay true to the music and respect the culture you can do it, Eminem has proven that.
Yelawolf is succeeding in making his mark because he has shown that respect, and also because he's extremely talented.
The Alabama rapper talked to XXL about "Being A White MC in 2010."
"I could go to the projects, I could go to the hood because I respected the people, and I understood an element of that struggle in a different way," Yela says. "But I can still go to the trailer parks, I can go to the apartments, I can go to the country and just kick it with country folks. I've been blessed to have experienced a lot and that will translate as time goes on."
It's crazy to think that in 2010, there's still racism, people still look at you and assess who they think you are and what you're about in just a few seconds, without ever having spoken with you.
The same rules apply to music...Yela says it's something you just have to deal with.
"People are still judging... I see on twitter all the time 'this white boy this, this white boy that', and they're not even giving the music a chance," Yela explains. "And on the flip side, I met someone last night who had Trunk Muzik 0-60 [his new album]. Somehow without an artwork, somehow had never seen a picture of me. 'Oh my God I didn't know you was white man, that's crazy what the f*ck.' I don't know how in this day and age. I think it says a lot about my music. It says a lot about that person too. But to me I make music. I respect black culture. At the end of the day this is black music. And it's American black music."
It's become very popular for anyone to say the word n*gga now. People of all races use the word. Not just to describe black people, but also amongst themselves. It's as if the word is just a cool thing to use in some circles.
Yelawolf thinks white people should stop using it... period.
"Don't drop the N-bomb - white boys out there dropping the N-bomb just stop please. You'll never ever, ever, ever be able to say it. It's never gonna be cool, just stop. Don't drop it in your music, don't drop it around people, don't drop it to me on Twitter. I see these white boys on twitter dropping the N-bomb. I'm like 'dude I'm not even going to respond to you', you're never that cool.
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