Recently, we made a post about some rather controversial comments from MC Serch regarding white rappers and their lack of credibility if not approved by a black audience. Here is Sage Francis’ rather lengthy response. Link

Dear MC Serch,

Pardon the length of this letter, but I took my time to make sure that your new a**hole would be top of the line.

As a melanin-deficient emcee who began his hip-hop journey in the mid 80’s, I’ve always been interested in what people’s take are on white people in hip-hop. How do I fit in? What are my limitations? I’ve been lucky enough to see some people do it right and some people do it very wrong, and these are lessons that have carried over into many aspects of my life through the years. One golden rule in particular is this: exploiting anything incidental about oneself is pathetic and ultimately self-defeating.

Hip-hop is my lifelong craft and it has been an incredible learning tool for me, so I would be remiss to not contribute as much to this art form as I have received. All I can give is myself though, and if all I am composed of is standard hip-hop wisdom then all I would be doing is recycling other people through my music. Fortunately, I have my own particular perspective, style, technique, quirkiness and subject matter to channel through this medium. There is no success I’ve enjoyed that has been earned overnight, and I am grateful for that. I did it the hard way. And as overused as it is, there is a lot of merit in the term “keep it real” when it is said and heard by the right people. Let me keep it real for you right now.