words.
"It’s morning in Macklemore’s America.
...But Macklemore’s breakthrough is merely the mass-market debut of a phenomenon that’s been happening for some time — white rappers performing for predominantly white audiences. The crisis of hip-hop’s whitening flares up every couple of years when a white rapper experiences a great deal of success, but the sort of success Macklemore has achieved has been fundamentally different from those who preceded him in form and scale. This has been happening for years in subcultural spaces, where it’s been less of a threat to the genre’s center.
...what was once niche now has a clear pathway to the mainstream. At minimum, Macklemore’s greasing of the rails makes life easier for a group like Aer.
...Traditionalism is not Aer’s goal.
Or, at least, the old traditionalism. A couple of decades from now, ideas about the center of the genre may have changed so much, that looking back, a group like this will seem utterly normal, or prophetic. Or if not Aer, someone else. Before the show, the onstage screen advertised several coming concerts, including three by white rappers with not dissimilar backgrounds: Lil Dicky, T. Mills, G-Eazy. The door is open wider than ever."
THE NEW YORK TIMES: How Do You Like Your Blue-Eyed Boys, Mr. Rap?
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