I couldn't go through a moment in the last two months in which I haven't heard anything mentioned in hip hop circles concerning a white kid named Marshal Mathers. You may know this Detroit born, white rapper as Eminem or under his former alias 'Slim Shady' but if you can really call yourself 'knowledgeable' in the state of today’s hip hop goings on, you have to mention him. This man is causing a stir, he released an album about three years ago which flopped big time, but reasonably recently he dropped a brilliant EP 'Slim Shady' he was also featured in The Source's Unsigned Hype column and now has been snapped up by Dr. Dre's Aftermath label. Why is he causing a stir ? It's a mixture of his great lyrical ability and the fact that the man is white.

It has to be said that Eminem would not have as much hype surrounding him, would he be black, he would be noticed by not on such an epic scale. When I heard the guy I didn't know of his race and I loved the tunes but a lot of people having been noticing him due to his colour. This is because hip hop was a predominantly black culture but is now evolving to incorporate all races. The stupid thing is though that regardless of the fact that he has skills, black friends of mine have said they refuse to listen to him on the grounds that, and I quote "He aint no ni**a, and whites don't deserve the right to rap." A blatantly racist comment, yet a somewhat widely thought one.

My view on Eminem is that he isn't a revolutionist in hip hop, nor can he piece together a lyrical masterpiece like Ras Kass on 'Nature Of The Threat' but he can tell stories and make you laugh with his flows. Regardless of his race, Eminem is a brilliant rapper and deserves props.

Since hip hop really hit the big time on a world wide scale, every race has been trying to place their money hungry paws into the money pot, and when white emcees first came to the scene things weren't occurring properly, the Beastie Boys, when they entered hip hop were given liberties over blacks in what they could or couldn't do as has been the case due to racists for years, and I believe that they were noticed because of being white, they had skills but the immediate thing which stuck out was the colour of these men’s skin.

Other whites came to the scene and were ridiculed for 'wanting to be black' or 'trying to act black' since the Beastie Boys and House Of Pain there have been few rap artists of white origin, I can name a couple, El-P of Company Flow and Vanilla Ice but still that's about the extent of it. I believe that for a white man to enter the realms of the hip hop world, they have to go through a tough task and have a lot of courage, as whenever something is different they must adjust or be accepted and that takes time.

It is common knowledge that racism exists in our world today, that isn't one of the human races stronger points. The worst and biggest evidence of a brutal racist is Adolf Hitler, this poor excuse for a man was responsible for the death of too many Jewish people and Nazis or white supremacists unfortunately still exist. Racism is alive and well, the Rodney King taping is evidence of that and if you check any area in the world you'll probably find a large dose of this stupid way of thinking but why ? Why do races have to be so segregated and prejudice ?

References to race are made too much in hip hop, the word nigga is frequently and unjustly said, when white people say to black people "Yo, wussup nigga," there is immediate offence yet it is used in the everyday speaking ways of some people and rappers project this image that it is okay to say that. White, Muslim and Hispanic abuse can be easily found when digging in the crates. My views are that we're entering a new millennium, the year 2000 is practically here and it's time for the racism to end, well and truly.

To bluntly answer the question poised, a white rapper (at this present time) regardless of skills, if he or she is white, hype and commotion will immediately be recognisable. So until we have around as many white rappers as there are Latino (I say this because no longer are latinos discriminated against in hip hop because there are so many) the race of rappers will be an issue