Joe Metro Rap Song Analysis

In a society where the dominant culture controls the majority of media communication, marginalized social groups continue to create an alternative public space through independent and underground media in order to combat dominant media’s attempt to maintain society’s status quo. In the song “Joe Metro,” the Asian American hip hop duo Blue Scholars use underground hip hop as a form of alternative media that recognizes the every day lives of both Asian Americans and other minority groups. The rap song focuses on their experiences on public transportation in the city of Seattle, and the observations that they have made about the diverse groups of individuals that frequently ride the metro bus system. The representation of a wide variety of people …show more content…
Tokenism is a way in which dominant culture “includes” members of minority groups to create a false sense of diversity and the illusion of a post-race society. This concept is often challenged in alternative and underground media because it forces pressure among members of minority groups to represent their social group, and at the same time, assimilate to the dominant group. Additionally, tokenism strips individual and personal identity from members of these groups and enforces stereotypes and discrimination. Media independence of marginalized groups allows these groups to express their experiences as members of racial minorities, similar to the expressions made in “Joe Metro.” Blue Scholars creates a form of “allyship” with other minorities, saying: “A couple pale folks slide right by with no greeting / But the people with my phenotype follow with a head-nod up / Because we acknowledge that the shit’s fucked up.” This lyric serves as a representation of how minorities are often ignored in the public sphere and that a post-racial society does not exist. Furthermore, it illustrates a situation in which a sense of “us” and “them” created by dominant culture is continued to be demonstrated in the every day lives of the users of public transportation where a barrier is created between white people and non-white people. Through these lyrics, Blue Scholars …show more content…
Cultural nationalism is a concept in which a nation, usually with an ethnically diverse population, shares a sense of cultural pride and cultural similarities that lies between separatist state identity and assimilation. It is also defined as a revival of denigrated cultures within a society that becomes a source of shared identity of multiple ethnic groups within a nation. Although this concept is not a direct form of assimilation, the lyrics of the song nevertheless reject this idea by depicting a society in which many ethnic groups exist together while avoiding forced assimilation into dominant white culture. The song illustrates the ways in which minority groups maintain their cultural identity through their words and expressions: “Proletariats and wayward sons / With old Filipino men speakin’ in they native tongue.” MC Geologic (George Quibuyen), the Filipino American vocalist of Blue Scholars, projects his own experiences as an Asian American through these lyrics, expressing the importance of maintaining his Asian American identity through words and language. Additionally, a line says: “In walks an old soul / A First Nation native, cat’s chiseled like a totem pole / No words, as he stands and looks over us / He gets off and says, ‘Have a good day, you foreigners.’” In this line, the artists incorporate the point of view of other minority groups other than their own