Hip, but not hip-hop

As anyone who witnessed those YouTube clips of Joaquin Phoenix launching his hip-hop career can attest, white people rapping is a field fraught with pitfalls. Largely, this is because hip-hop is so tied up with African-American identity. Even when done respectfully, with enthusiasm, the sight of whitey "getting crunk" swings a little too close to a modern-day blackface minstrelsy for comfort (The Onion nailed it best with their mocked-up supplement bearing the headline We Try Way Too Hard And Co...

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