Ebro Darden was on The Ebro, Laura, and Rosenberg Show on Thursday, where he discussed the state of rap fandom and how certain fan bases don't actually like hip-hop all that much.
This discourse started during a conversation about J. Cole, and how his fans stood by him despite the infamous apology. Peter Rosenberg argued that while some Drake and Kendrick Lamar fans really do love hip-hop, there are many who simply see this as team sports. They see these artists as vectors for their personalities, and don't care about the art form. Instead, the rap battle was just a way to engage in the act of cheerleading.
“There are a lot of hip hop fans that are Drake fans and Kendrick fans," Rosenberg said. "But there’s also a sect of Drake and Kendrick fans that are not hip hop fans, they were just rooting for them in a battle. They’re like team supporters.”
Ebro followed this up by revealing a conversation he had with an anonymous woman rap star. As the MC explained to Ebro, many women rappers have fanbases who don't love hip-hop. Instead, the fans love the personality and the image.
Ebro On Women Rappers' Fans
“She said, the problem that a lot of women who rap have, is that most of the fans who like women rappers, they’re not hip hop fans," Ebro explained. "They’re fans of that woman, her aesthetic, where she’s from, whatever…She was like, ‘I grew up a hip hop fan. I want all of it: the ratchet stuff, the smart stuff, the street stuff, the pop stuff…”
This is certainly a generalization. There are millions upon millions of women rap fans out there who love women rappers for their lyricism, their skill, and everything that goes into the music.
That said, Ebro and Rosenberg's overall point about some fans not actually loving hip-hop is an interesting one. Some people just want to be a part of the zeitgeist. They want to feel like they are a part of a cultural moment. Large-scale rap beefs serve as an opportunity to engage in the monoculture. Ultimately, it is a phenomenon that won't go away anytime soon.
