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I guess a sharp tongue can pay off by itself, so long as you’re willing to embrace it as a gimmick.

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In 2020, both pale kids are still at it: Watsky freestyled in May for 33 consecutive hours (!!) to raise money for musicians affected by the pandemic, while Mac has recorded odes to the Kansas City Chiefs and a song dissing “woke corporations.” And while neither has produced a chart hit or even a critically adored album, both still have sizable followings. Mac’s video was titled, naturally, “Pale Kid Raps Faster.” (Last I checked, Krayzie Bone has yet to be afforded similar opportunities.) Watsky would also inspire a legion of struggle rappers to try to match his feat: most notably, Mac Lethal, a Missouri indie rapper who never met a lyrical stunt he wouldn’t try. The video amassed 25 million views before Watsky delisted it Ellen and CBS News came calling, and he eventually gave a TED Talk. This kid could indeed rap fast, and people ate it up. At one point, he raps 60 words in three seconds (or so this article says, I’m not counting).

#Watsky color lines lyrics series#

In 2011, a 24-year-old white kid named George Watsky borrowed the “Break Ya Neck” instrumental, sat down on camera with his black-and-white cat, and recorded the video that would become “Pale Kid Raps Fast.” “Oh, hi, I’m that guy, built so fly in a silk bow tie,” he begins before slipping into a series of non sequiturs about Gabourey Sidibe, Kit-Kat bars, and most disturbingly, Quagmire from Family Guy. You need more than a quick tongue to be successful in hip-hop. Bone Thugs-N-Harmony became legends for their rapid-fire flows, and Busta Rhymes flexed whenever given the chance, most famously on his 2001 hit, “Break Ya Neck.” But Twista, Bone, and Busta were more than just gimmicks: All have released classic albums and been chart mainstays throughout their careers. In the ’90s and 2000s, no one was more closely associated with it than Twista, who in 1992 fit 598 syllables into 55 seconds and landed in the Guinness Book of World Records. The Pale Kids Rapping Fast Examples: Mac Lethal, Watskyįast-rapping has a long and storied history in hip-hop. Tread lightly: You may stumble across some memories you’ve long suppressed. With that out of the way, we present to you the White Rapper Taxonomy. Second, rappers of mixed ethnicity were excluded-that means no Drake, Wiki, Slowthai, or, sadly, Stitchez. the Rugged Man, Evidence, Hot Karl, Eternia, Tony D, and many others. For the sake of brevity, not all are listed, so apologies to the likes of Despot, R.A. There are commonalities between many, while others stand out on their own as originals.Ī few words about methodology: First, in compiling this taxonomy, we identified close to 200 rappers. The Ringer has taken more than 100 white MCs and broken them into a few dozen groups that seek to capture their flavors, display their varying credibility, and perhaps determine whether or not they are Fred Durst. What follows is an attempt to do just that. We need to create new classifications-subcategories so we know what type of Caucasian with bars we’re dealing with. There are so many different kinds now that the term “white rapper” is almost outmoded. That’s something Eminem understood.īut respectfully or not, white MCs have been infiltrating hip-hop for so long and with so much volume that they need their own house at this point. Those accusations haven’t torpedoed either’s career-at least not Malone’s-but they underscore the reality: Rap is Black music, and if a white artist is fortunate enough to participate, they have to be respectful. Twenty-five years later, Malone and Iggy Azalea have been the subject of similar criticisms. In a piece on The Ringer on Tuesday, Jeff Weiss speaks at length to Vanilla Ice about his rise and downfall and the cries of cultural appropriation he faced. The 21st century has seen all shapes and sizes of white wordsmith: Southern kings like Paul Wall, indie legends like El-P, and a new wave of stars like Mac Miller, Post Malone, and Lil Dicky.īut just because white rappers have been in the house for a long time doesn’t mean their presence hasn’t occasionally been uncomfortable. The bookends of the ’90s featured two of the most infamous white MCs in history, albeit ones with very different legacies: Vanilla Ice, who became a pariah as quickly as he became a superstar, and Eminem, who would become the best-selling rapper ever while also being heralded for his lyrical dexterity. In the ’80s, the Beastie Boys brought punk energy to the genre and pumped out frat anthems that still get played today. Over the past four decades, though, they’ve taken up a lot of real estate. Earlier this year, Lord Jamar told Eminem that white rappers were just guests in the house of hip-hop.