Monday, May 2, 2011

Why White People Love Waka Flocka Flame

If you're not familiar with Waka Flocka, he's famous for being a rapper and, for all intents and purposes, "one hood ass nigga." See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjhU6mx6tNY But in the time I've known of Waka's existence, I can't help but notice a staggering number of white people enjoy him. Like, a lot. This may seem normal to anyone else. Soulja Boy had a very white folk following. This doesn't seem to be the same though. Soulja Boy's "rap" was accompanied by a dance and a catchy hook. White people got to the do the dance around their friends and laugh about how ridiculous they looked. That shit was never funny, by the way. And knowing the dance didn't make you as endearing as you like to think, teenage girl. No, Waka seems to have grabbed the white community for some other reason and I believe I have it figured out. Being of the caucasian persuasion(Waka, if you're reading this, these are rhymes. Please take notes.), I do enjoy Waka's music and listen to it quite a bit. His rhymes seem to be a mix of simplicity and ignorance that any worldly 4th grader could come up with.

"Waka Flocka Flame, one hood ass nigga. Riding real slow, bending corners, my nigga."

See what I mean? Nigga rhymes with nigga in Waka's world. This makes the song easy for white people to follow along with. Entry level rap, if you will. Easier to keep up with than the fast rhymes of say, Tech N9ne or Busta Rhymes. Busta was featured on a Linkin Park song but white people haven't cared about Linkin Park since 2002. Sorry, but that's the way it goes. We are a fickle bunch. The second reason, perhaps the biggest, why we love Waka so much is he gives the illusion of being gangsta without actually being gangsta. Watch the video to see what I mean. He's in the middle of the set from the end of Training Day with a huge group of black people. He's shaking a fence in a way that says, "Hey, man, don't fuck with me." And most of all, an abundance of people wearing red. Signifying gang activity is happening... somewhere. Not really around Waka but somewhere probably, a few miles over that way.

Have you ever heard someone say "all rap is about hoes, money, drugs and hoes again"? Waka is THAT rapper. He is the embodiment of the negative rap stereotypes. And we can't get enough of it. Because at their core, every white person wants to be "hood." Malibu's Most Wanted may as well have been a documentary. But they don't want to leave their lush lifestyles of the rich and famous to do so. So rappers like Waka let us live our fantasies of doing hood shit. Now, I'm not saying there are no white people in the ghetto, the hood, or whatever but I guarantee the white people(or anyone really) in the hood don't listen to Waka Flocka Flame. At that point, you don't need the illusion. You may as well graduate to Jay-Z. Because Hov sold drugs, so you wouldn't have to.

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