A Modern Minstrel Show

In “Cowboys and Indies: The Epic History of the Record Industry” written by Gareth Murphy details the birth of the modern record business.

One of the first popular recordings was ethnic satires that played off of popular Irish, Jewish and Black stereotypes of the day. By far the most frequently satirized group was Black American’s or the negro.

The tradition started on Vaudeville stages with white performers taking the stage in blackface or black. Blackface is a form of theatrical makeup used predominantly by non-black people to portray a caricature of a black person. Strangely, enough black performers would also don the makeup for performances which created a weird feedback loop.

A white performer would act out negative stereotypes impressed upon the black community and receive the crowd’s applause. Black performers would then imitate these performances and receive the same applause but then had the side effect of influencing black audience goers to behave in the stereotype

Modern rap has carried on this tradition as a modern version of the minstrel show. Often inspiring young black teens to imitate a lifestyle that they’ve never actually lived or even seen anywhere other than on TV and radio.