To put Serch's point in more of a practical context...here in Austin the city is essentially split by a highway into the white west side of town and the black and Mexican east side of town. On the west side of town is 6th Street, the city's world famous forum backing its claim as the "Live Music Capital of the World". Nowadays on 6th Street blatant racism against blacks (and Mexicans for that matter) has gone the institutional route. Promoters aren't trying to book the quality venues with a Z-Ro or Trae for they know that such shows would attract what they consider an undesirable audience. Then of course there are selective dress codes enforced at clubs as a means to keep certain people out as well.
Anyway, if you are a rap artist that caters to a primarily white audience...and that runs the gamut from Atmosphere and to even a De La Soul or Rakim...you are more than welcome to do a show on 6th Street. And what this has caused is a little subculture of local opening acts that not only gets added to the line-up of these shows on the regular, but has produced its own set of promoters who have basically been given the keys to certain clubs to do what they will with them. And their products as of yet have been the same white-oriented rap groups with no community following whatsoever being put on instead of local black-oriented groups with massive community followings. And if it wasn't bad enough that what essentially adds up to job discrimination persist like that, the little white dudes who are consistently doing 6th Street shows get big heads and start wielding that oh-so-tired we're-keepin'-it-real-with-all-4-elements-of-hip-hop-culture bullshit as a rationale for why they've got it so good.
No, little dudes, it's racism and pretty much racism alone that has made you a performing rapper. You do shows in large rooms, yet if there isn't a big name headlining, no one shows up. And when you do open for a big name, no one really cares if you are there with them or not. Meanwhile, if you were to go over to the Eastside and try to do a show at Doris Miller or even the Back Room, you just might get your ass kicked.
That's not to say that you shouldn't be in the lab trying to come tighter. It's to say that you need to recognize the circumstances surrounding your little rap career and if you are really down for hip-hop immediately stop gloating about the way that white privilege has pumped your ego and start working on knocking down those racist walls that award you but penalize your not-so-distant black (and Mexican) cohorts.
