A blip on the radar
One Christmas season when I was working at a record store, the personnel manager hired two black guys to augment the staff. One of my coworkers said it was nice to have a little diversity in the mostly white staff.
(Derail: I was one of two Filipinos employees, which is remarkable considering there are only 10 of us in the entire Austin metro area.)
"But what about Raymond?" I asked, referring to the only black staff member till that time.
My coworker replied in all seriousness, "Raymond isn’t black."
Raymond hangs out in punk rock clubs and listens to a ridiculous range of music, most of it of the indie rock variety. He would probably be described as a blipster, as the New York Times so schools us.
Offensive Engrish joke: If a black person is into Japanese indie rock, would that make him or her a bripster (ブリップスター)?
I’ve seen discussion about the article (like so and like so) questioning the inherent racism of the piece. But I think I’m going to defer to my record store coworker on this one.
I think a lot of the reaction to the piece is off the mark. The issue isn’t the fact a black person goes to an indie rock show — it’s that many, perhaps most, black people don’t go to indie rock shows.
I do believe the (predominantly white) folks at the punk rock clubs couldn’t care less if a gay Asian man in his mid-30s shows up for a show. It’s a non-issue. But if that gay Asian man is the only one in the audience, perhaps that needs some examination.
I think there’s a parallel here with the Japanese music industry. Japan is the second largest market in the world, and its domestic artists do so well at home, there isn’t an incentive for them to break internationally.
In an egalitarian sense, music speaks to everyone. But in this free market society, the culture surrounding music has been target-marketed to within an inch of its life, and the targets divide by racial lines. What incentive do black people have to show interest in indie rock? Hip-hop culture is expected to suit the needs of black people, and it does so very well.
When a person does deign to go the "other neighborhood" — whether it be blipster or whigger — those expectations are challenged. And it can be very lonely for the person doing the traveling.