Myself and three of my closest friends have a Whatsapp group where we constantly riff on music, pop culture, and politics. All of us are black, and throughout our friendship we have adopted certain slang and reference points that color our daily conversations. One of the most prominent is "blipster," a phrase we started using after passing around an obtuse and unintentionally hilarious 2007 NY Times profile on the rise of the "black hipster," African Americans who—imagine it!—listened to indie rock, wore Converse, and hung out in music venues on the Lower East Side. We found the piece sarcastically funny; black people, or any other minority for that matter, aren't defined by how we consume culture or how we are perceived within that culture. My friends and I were completely bemused that a white journalist could construct a subdivision of our community based on something as random as our shared admiration for Nirvana.The truth is, indie music has always been overwhelmingly white, and like most overwhelmingly white spaces, people of color always have to check both ourselves and other participants when operating within them. Race isn't something you turn off simply because you're shoulder deep in a mosh pit or wading through the mud at a festival. At one period of my life I was going to a few shows a week in New York City, one of the most diverse places on the planet, and there were points where I could go to several events without encountering another black person in the crowd, let alone on stage. When confronted with such a dearth of diversity, it's completely normal to become hyper-aware of any racial transgression or discrimination, down to the slightest remark. In order to have fun, to not be discarded, labeled a "blipster" or worse, you develop a no-tolerance policy as a matter of survival, even with your favorite artists.Continue reading on Noisey.
Advertisement