White Award Winners in Black Genres

What do Macklemore, Robin Thicke, and the Beastie Boys have in common? They’re all white, they’ve all been big winners at music awards shows past and present, and of course, they win in genres that are considered typically Black or African American. ? It is highly debated to label a form of music Black or White but in order to truly understand why Black music is labeled as such, it is important to understand the context. Theoretically, musical genres in the United States do not belong to one race but historically, awards were given only to White artists. Black artists heavily contributed to the creation of certain genres like Hip Hop, Jazz, and Disco but part of the creation of these genres was to combat the inability to succeed in other genres. When considering then, if Black artists can succeed in “White” genres, the real question being asked is if Black artists can succeed in mainstream musical genres now that the genres that were safe havens and a new form of agency are being slowly dominated by White artists. That is a question only time can answer but if one formed a hypothesis based on the available data of award winners, the chance is very slim for any minority to be the face of “mainstream” music because while “minority” genres are open to White performers, the faces of “mainstream” music are seen almost exclusively as White.