Does being conscious of cultural appropriation somehow diminish the sense of wrong typically associated with the action? Are Wisconsin to New York transplants, God-Des and She, guilty of reinforcing their majority dominance by selectively inhabiting the aspects of hip-hop they feel most comfortable with? Is this in fact a form of cultural assimilation? Am I in fact not sure what I’m trying to say? Will most of you in fact skip this post because you’re too busy finding a working rapidshare link for Immortal Technique’s, Rza’s and Vast Aire’s albums which have all been leaking on the interwebs for the past 48hours? Does my own self-righteousness when it comes to bootlegging bother me? Yes. Carry on.
[audio:http://dailyrindblog.com/audio/goddesandshe_jada.mp3]
God-Des and She – Ja
“I love hip-hop, ” said God-Des, who sports a shaved head along with flashy earrings. “I ‘ve always listened to hip-hop. I ‘ve always wanted to do it; I just didn ‘t think I could. I felt that being white, being a female and being gay were all obstacles. I didn ‘t feel like I wanted to appropriate black culture.
“I was teased my whole life about being a tomboy. When I was younger, I was worried that people would think I was too masculine. But the more secure I got with myself, I felt like I had a very valid story, and a story that needs to be told. Because you know gay people are very invisible in our society, especially
