ABSTRACT
This chapter continues the exploration of media representations of lan guage and identity, focusing specifically on some of the cultural and linguistic boundaries that white Hip Hop youth experience as participants on a television reality show. 1 Conceived of and created by a team of five male Hip Hop journalists of color who call themselves the “Ego Trip,” Ego Trip’s (White) Rapper Show consisted of 10 episodes that aired weekly across the US on the cable station VH1 in early 2007. 2 It was presented as a contest to discover “the next great white rapper.” The promotional trailer for the show asks, “Who will step up to become Hip Hop’s next great white hope?— ‘Cause lord knows, it’s lonely at the top,” while an image of white rapper Eminem in Jesus robes appears on the screen. 3 Audition tapes were solicited from interested rappers across the US and a select number of these were invited to audition in person on camera. In one of these auditions, a young white woman called ‘Nomi’ is asked by the host and former white rapper, MC Serch, what she got out of the experience growing up in the affluent, overwhelmingly white town of Waterford, Connecticut.
Nomi
What did I get out of my neighborhood? Raw, real life experiences. My neighbors are—FIERCE! I see it real, I see it raw.
