- Once white youth's attempts to embrace black street culture
ended in embarrassing parody. Attempts by white rap stars such as East
17 and Vanilla Ice to become so-called 'wiggers' - white people who act
black - made for ridiculous posturing, which eventually metamorphosed into
the spoof character, Ali G.
-
- But a new report, based on interviews with young people
across Britain, suggests that more and more white youths now see black
street culture as their only credible influence in the UK. And, what's
more, the predominance of black culture has even led to the formation of
a fledgling hybrid language - 'Blinglish'.
-
- TRBI, the marketing agency which advises blue-chip clients
on how to sell products to young people, conducted a series of interviews
with black and white teenagers to produce its report: 'Black Britain And
Its Influence'.
-
- The report says: 'The days when popular culture was controlled
by white artists and pushed by cultural organisations have faded. Black
youth have a disproportionate influence on mainstream culture.'
-
- TRBI believes that one of the main reasons white youth
seems to follow black culture is an absence of any credible alternative
sub-culture. Whereas previous white generations had acid house or punk,
today's teens have to look to black culture for their inspiration.
-
- As one of the teenagers interviewed by TRBI puts it:
'The coolest group at school are the "rude girls" who dress and
talk black.'
-
- TRBI's researchers found that an increasing number of
white youths now talk with a Jamaican patois which they have dubbed 'Blinglish'
- a reference which suggests the marriage of English to black street culture's
love of ostentatious displays of wealth, known as 'bling'.
-
- Embracing black youth culture has become a way of recreating
the generational divide. The report notes: 'Generation X may have been
a happy all-inclusive world where mums and kids could enjoy Oasis but today
many mainstream adults find black music and culture inaccessible and shocking.
Hip-hop culture represents a genuinely rebellious voice.'
-
- Joseph Christie, owner of the UK's leading hip-hop label,
Low Life Records, said he had detected a huge shift in his client base
over the past decade. 'It's a good thing; everybody is making money. Ten
years ago we were putting on gigs to only a handful of people and selling
only 500 records at a time. Now we're doing 10 times that.'
-
- Artists such as Justin Timberlake are credited with helping
make a credible transition from white to black youth culture.
-
- Davidson said: 'Timberlake was with this white nerdy
boy band and now he's working with The Neptunes, one of the most credible
outfits around. Even the geeky boy in Leeds thinks he can now take his
lead from black culture.'
-
- Wigger-speak Buff - Good-looking Mampi - Fat ugly woman
Cotch - Sitting around at home Hench - Mate Standard - End of story
-
- Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited
2004
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- http://WWW.GUARDIAN.CO.UK/britain/article/0,2763,1153621,00.html
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