I agree. So don’t hamstring yourself by saying what you AREN’T and what you DON’T write about. You read like you were making an excuse or copping a plea in your previous comment. Own up & stand by what you wrote. Why do otherwise?

One.

1. belonging to a certain creative class doesn’t mean that you can only be criticized by members of that class (that’s why people who aren’t filmmakers or actors can critique movies, or those who aren’t musicians can still critique music).

2. sometimes, what people write about rap has implications outside of the narrow world of hip hop blogging.

3. everything is fair game once you publish it.

Just sayin’.

If you’re NOT a Hip Hop blogger or even a music critic and don’t really understand what it is to be either then a) Maybe you shouldn’t tackle that particular subject yourself and b) you’d understand why so many ACTUAL Hip Hop bloggers & music critics took issue with your piece.

Just sayin’

One.

I’m not a music critic or an aspiring tastemaker or anything like that. I’m just intersted in the race and class implications of critical writing about black culture. This interest is what draws me to hiphop blogs.

One.