In the late-80s and early-90s, hip-hop began it's slow transition from boasting an exclusively urban fanbase to something much more suburban. By the end of the millennium, rap music was playing in the bedrooms of white kids who had never seen a corner or held a gun. Though some in this new audience adopted the musical lifestyle they adored, a large majority of these fans remained highly dissimilar from the stars of their favorite genre. From the outside it's perplexing: the top consumer of music ostensibly recorded for and about black urban men is actually caucasians from the 'burbs.

There are sundry explanations for this phenomenon. The kids are simply rebelling; they enjoy the fantasy of it; rap is simply another story, etc. The truth is none of these. In fact, these listeners are bumping rap music because though many of them cannot identify with the theme, they can still relate. It's all in the metaphor.

It's impossible to say for certain, but some listeners enjoy the aesthetics of the music so much, they can get beyond the fact that their lives barely resemble the stories rap music depicts. How many of these kids know misogynist rhymes word-for-word but treat the women surrounding them with tremendous deference? What does it mean when someone listens to 50 Cent but is pro-gun control? Certainly there are complex feelings that go with any attachment--enjoyment of a certain type of music doesn't preclude any behavior or mandate specific lifestyle conditions--and yet, it seems that those who can't identify with the lyrics can make them work with symbolism and metaphor.

Viewed in this way, "They just talkin' bout it, I'm on the streets with it," changes from a rhyme about putting in work on the corner to putting in work on pretty much anything, drug-related or not. Suddenly, a lot of juxtapositions between listener and musician start to make sense--pretty much anyone listening to the Clipse starts to make sense. Sorry, even a lot of urban blacks can't relate to cocaine sales.

This isn't an insult. It's not intended to suggest that there is a monolithic, ideal rap listener out there. I don't presume to know who every MC is making music for. This is just how the audience looks to me sometimes. After people are drawn in by the beauty of the music, many of them have to deal with the fact that the words don't resemble their personal experience whatsoever--and yet something is speaking to them. These fans are relating, but it just looks a little weird.