Minstrelsy

Minstrelsy in America

Stefan Kelley

2/13/14

Minstrelsy is still very alive in modern popular culture. Media in the 21st century depicts hackneyed stereotypes in the same way as minstrel shows of the early twentieth century. The main differences between these minstrel shows and the minstrelsy of today lie in the stereotypes depicted and the outlets in which they are depicted. However, this minstrelsy is portrayed, especially regarding stereotypes of black America, in more insidious and covert ways than in the early 20th century. The media business understands it is no longer culturally acceptable for a white man to put on black face paint and imitate a shuffling, subservient black person. Instead, the media uses actual black people to represent and perpetuate the stereotypes that fascinate the majority white American audience.

One of the most significant platforms for minstrelsy in America today is in the media’s depiction of hip-hop culture. While there is still a lot of hip-hop that deals with substantive political and social issues, this type of music is often not popularized by corporate media. Instead, the media has popularized a “gangsta” cultural stereotype through hip-hop. This type of hip-hop plays on the same unrealistic themes and clichés ad nauseam. Themes of drug selling, spending copious amounts of money, sexual objectification of women, and boasting of violent prowess dominate this type of popular hip-hop. Indeed, the music industry promotes these ideas and finds artists that express them so that the lyrical content and musical production of this music seems to almost be a parody of itself.

An example of this exploitation can been seen in the career of Chief Keef. Keef is a young rapper from Chicago who rose to prominence at the age of 17. The mythos behind his rise to fame fits perfectly with the stereotype and exoticism that the music industry tries to tie to rap music. Chief Keef became famous for his song “I Don’t Like” via youtube while...