annaiswriting, 11/18

        During class on Thursday, we discussed bell hooks and the concept of otherness. She writes about how Black culture heavily influences our society, and how we commodify Black culture without paying much attention to issues that Black individuals face in the United States of America. One of the questions that our professor asked was if any of us had a younger brother. I said yes, and then she asked if he had gone through a phase of listening to rap music by Black artists at around fourteen or fifteen years old. I said yes because most of the music he listened to when he was younger was rap music. Although that is still his favorite music genre, he has broadened the range of music he listens to since. Our professor then talked about how there is a trend of young teenage boys going through a “rap phase,” showing how this music genre, heavily dominated by Black artists, is commodified. Many of these young boys going through this rap music phase are looking for something different to listen to or something that is “other.” There is nothing wrong with enjoying art, such as music, that stems from a culture different from your own. However, it is also important to understand and respect the people who produce the art. I remember going to school dances in high school and mostly hearing rap music played. Generally, I noticed that rap music tended to be popular amongst male students, and both male and female student-athletes, connecting to how our professor said that rap music seems to be popular in athletic spaces. Even though many of the students at my high school enjoyed rap music or music by Black artists, many students at my school were ignorant towards the Black community, as there were instances of racism, and issues of microaggressions that I was unaware of until some of my Black colleagues shared their experiences with me. I found it beneficial to read about and discuss this concept of “otherness” to try to understand why people in our society treat people so differently based on their race, and why they commodify aspects of a culture without respecting the individuals within that culture.