N***a Ears

This is a continuance of the 'Death of the Black Band' blog. The issue is 'Nigga Ears', a phrase I lifted by Kerry Washington's character on I Think I Love My Wife. While exchanging an iPod playlist with the character played by Chris Rock, Washington asks Rock if he has "nigga ears" after hearing successive R&B tracks. So in short, it means Black people who only listen to Black music.

In this day and time of specialized radio stations that play a certain listing of songs, you can forgive people for having the false notion that there is little else besides Hip Hop and R&B. Thankfully, I never had to define music only by Quiet Storm standards. My mother listened to songs from Steely Dan, Fleetwood Mac and Ambrosia (if these names are foreign to you, there is a problem). This taught me that indeed, other people did make music and it sounded damn good. The 80s also saw a very diverse array of music and with MTV, the likes of the Police and Michael Jackson could be seen in the same hour. Black people of my generation are familiar with the New Wave Bands from Britain and even some Rock n Roll songs. With the increased visibility and prevalence of BET and Hip Hop, music became more narrowly defined.

The rise of Hip Hop and listening to it, became somewhat of a definition of Black culture. In addition, R&B followed suit and those kids who liked a little alternative music in their life were viewed with suspicion. All was not lost however. Artists like Run-DMC, who teamed up with Aerosmith and even P.Diddy's rock version of 'Benjamins' were welcome but rare additions to the musical landscape. Some groups like No Doubt and Maroon 5 do have Black fans, but nothing in comparison to how many white fans listen to Lil' Wayne or Jay-Z; its definitely not an even exchange of music.

So ask yourself...do you have n**a ears?