This is interesting. A new survey coordinated by one Dr Cathy Cohen at the University Of Chicago has found that young black people in America reckon rap music misrepresents their community.
The survey, by the Black Youth Project, involved 1590 black, white and hispanic people aged 15-25 across the US. 72% of the black youths surveyed said they felt that rap videos contained too many sexual references, while 66% of young black women said they felt they (that is, black women) were portrayed in a demeaning way in pop promos associated with the genre. 57% of young black men agreed, though only 44% said they thought black men were also badly portrayed. Interestingly, of the white women interviewed only 55% said they thought rap videos were sexist, while only 53% of hispanic women had a problem with rap videos on that issue,
Commenting on the survey, Cohen told reporters: "This study shows us that young people are actually discerning viewers who have thoughtful insights about cultural representation. Instead of condemning young black people for watching rap videos, we might encourage music and television companies to provide a broader range of images for young black people, who say that what they're seeing now is overly sexual and demeans women. This audience deserves to be paid attention to as consumers".
Perhaps unsurprisingly (or at least confirming the stereotypes), more than twice the number of black people interviewed said they listened to rap music on a daily basis than the number of white people - 58% for black music fans compared to 45% for hispanic and 23% for white. Just 3% of black interviewees said they never listened to rap. Somewhat reassuringly for those of us who think hip hop has often been at its strongest when it has been politically motivated, 41% of the black music fans interviewed said they wished rap videos had more political content.