Integrated Proms and Hip Hop

Over at MoLT, J has a great blog post about Charleston, MS recent racially integrated prom. I encourage those of you who are not J or related to J to read it! I found his postscript really interesting:

PS - part of me wonders how much the rise of hip-hop culture, and the music that spreads it, as a near universally defining motif for teenagers, even in rural America, has helped this transition to take place in places like Charleston.

I saw an article years ago, and I won't be able to find it, that said basically this very thing. I think the writer said something to the effect that the rise of Eminem to top spot in rap/hiphop was evidence, in his mind, of healing going on between White and Black youth. Of course, there is obvious identification problems here - maybe hip hop's just reflecting the healing, and not so much causing it. But I think J is on to something. One thing that having a common music does is it lowers the costs to socializing. He points out parties and proms, which are perfect examples. By having a common music, you can have one band, one DJ, and have an uninterrupted dance floor for both Whites and Blacks. Hiphop, by being popular among Blacks and Whites, enables more social mixing.

Undoubtedly there are other things, but maybe we are naive if we don't think that this matters a lot too. Doesn't musical tastes actually divide people if we think of music as integral parts of people's social networks? I can ride in the car all day long with someone if we like the same music, but I can't last 5 minutes otherwise (and growing up, since my mom wouldn't change it from the country station, it felt like an eternity when in the car with her). Very thought-provoking post, J. Thanks!