A while back I noticed 50 Shekel left MySpace and Facebook. I was nervous. To me, it seemed like an unstoppable descent towards depression and, perhaps, eventual suicide. I sure hoped not. Let me be clear, I don't want 50 Shekel to kill himself. I do, however, want him to stop rapping. Because he's terrible. I'm sure he has some sort of talent. I'm sure he can contribute something to society. But, I repeat, he is a terrible rapper.
Around that time I played some of 50 Shekel's Christian-theme rap for a Christian friend of mine. With each nasal lyric that spewed from 50 Shekel's nebbishy nose, my friend's face filled with redness. His chin sank into his chest. It was the first and only time I've ever seen a white Christian man filled with shame. He was embarrassed to be who he was. Written on his face were the muted words, "If I'm associated with this, then there must be something wrong with me."
It's a feeling that people who belong to groups in the minority all over the world know well. You are forced to constantly question yourself. You have to carry the weight that your people place on your shoulders because your shoulders are precisely the location your people are told to place the weight. For the first time in my presence, a white Christian male could empathize.
That made me think. Maybe 50 Shekel isn't a terrible rapper at all. Maybe, he never started as an offensive stereotype and never transformed to a sell out after all. Perhaps, he is a genius. His raps fill Christians with an inescapable humiliation in themselves. A feeling that recollecting 2,000 years of consistent anti-Semitism has never instilled in them. There is a chance that 50 Shekel is the messiah.
No comments:
Post a Comment