Eric Frankenberg, Genevieve Siegel-Hawley, and Jia Wang
UCLA Civil Rights Project
March 2010
Following on the heels of its February report arguing that many charter schools are “too black” and thus amount to “civil rights failures,” the indefatigable Civil Rights Project is back with another grievance, this time about the music industry. “The hip-hop and rap genres have become, in effect, racially homogeneous,” wrote Gary Orfield in the report’s foreword. “This is modern-day apartheid, and don’t talk to me about Eminem and the Beastie Boys, because they are white drops in a black sea.” The report found that, of the hundreds of hip-hop albums released by major recording labels, 94 percent were from African-American artists. This compares with 78 percent of jazz releases, 43 percent of pop albums, 2 percent of folk, and 0 percent of Wagnerian opera. Not surprisingly, the hip-hop community is outraged by the allegations. “Hip-hop is a representation of the deeper side of music,” explains Jay-Z. “This isn’t about race. It’s about love.” Read the report here.
By Jazzy Powers