Rap Music and Cultural Appropriation in Hari Kunzru's "White Tears"

Academic Paper from the year 2018 in the subject Literature - Modern Literature, grade: 1,7, University of Heidelberg (Anglistisches Seminar), course: PS II Race and Racism in Contemporary American Literature, language: English, abstract: This term paper takes a look at how cultural appropriation works in the context of African-American music in general and rap music in particular. Relevant parts of Hari Kunzru's novel "White Tears" will be analyzed in order to understand the motivations and intentions that the two white twenty somethings have in their respective approaches to music that was made before they were born and to a subculture they never participated in due to their social backgrounds. The conclusion of this term paper then answers the following question: Was Carter right to reject the white rapper's business proposal?

Especially in a society like the United States with its long history of racial and cultural contacts and clashes, the appropriation of items from different cultural backgrounds is a strongly contested issue. The intensity of recent mainstream debates concerning the professional sport franchises of the Cleveland Indians or the Washington Redskins and their respective marketing of Native American culture is proof of that. When cultural appropriation is used as a vehicle of capitalism, it becomes debatable. Hari Kunzru's novel "White Tears", published in 2017, deals with exactly these topics when portraying the business ventures of two young white music producers and their shared search for vintage sound in modern day New York City.

In an early scene of the book, Seth and Carter, the producer duo, meet with representatives of a major label and their artist, a famous white rapper. Having heard of their vast archives of rare vintage sounds and their classic methods of production, the mainstream artists offers them the opportunity to work on his newest project, a tribute to all African-American music that was recorded prior to his birth in the Nineties. When Carter dismisses the project on the grounds of false cultural appropriation, he leaves his business partner as confused as the reader of the novel, since there is no further explanation offered and the plot continues.