Color Blind: USC white rapper shows his skills
Colleen Murray
Issue date: 3/29/07 Section: Lifestyle
Even though he dresses to blend in, Jeb Middlebrook stands out. While his wardrobe stays consistent - nearly always sporting a camouflage jacket, headband and pants - the USC Ph.D. candidate in ethnic studies and aspiring rapper knows he confuses people.
"I'm a white guy from a mostly white town wanting to explain issues of white supremacy," Middlebrook, who raps under the name Jus Rhyme, said.
Middlebrook's complexities intrigued the producers of the VH1 reality show "Ego Trip's The (White) Rapper Show." The producers took Middlebrook and nine other white amateurs, put them into a house - appropriately dubbed "The White House" - and began a competition to find the next great white rapper, a designation that would earn a grand prize of $100,000.
Although Middlebrook didn't take home the cash, his third-place finish on the show, even a month after its end, has served him well enough to launch him into a schedule of touring and promoting his message: to eschew racism.
While most rappers make sure to hit hip-hop hotbeds such as Atlanta, the Bronx or Los Angeles on their tours, the can't-miss spot for Middlebrook was his hometown of Austin, Minn., better known by residents as "Spamtown." The Minnesota burg is home to Hormel, maker of the infamous canned meat.
Middlebrook couldn't be happier with the public's reaction.
"Everywhere we've been, there have been positive responses. Positive music can make a difference, and I don't think we always have those positive influences," Middlebrook said.
The small screen
Other contestants on the show demonstrated the negativity that concerns Middlebrook almost as soon as cameras began rolling. One of the viewers' first images of the Minnesotan was his challenge of a fellow contestant.
After overhearing a drunken, Michael Richards-reminiscent tirade in which another aspiring rapper named Persia said an offensive word, Middlebrook stepped in.
"Persia, would you mind please not using the 'n' word?" Middlebrook asked, "'Cause it bothers me."
"I'm a white guy from a mostly white town wanting to explain issues of white supremacy," Middlebrook, who raps under the name Jus Rhyme, said.
Middlebrook's complexities intrigued the producers of the VH1 reality show "Ego Trip's The (White) Rapper Show." The producers took Middlebrook and nine other white amateurs, put them into a house - appropriately dubbed "The White House" - and began a competition to find the next great white rapper, a designation that would earn a grand prize of $100,000.
Although Middlebrook didn't take home the cash, his third-place finish on the show, even a month after its end, has served him well enough to launch him into a schedule of touring and promoting his message: to eschew racism.
While most rappers make sure to hit hip-hop hotbeds such as Atlanta, the Bronx or Los Angeles on their tours, the can't-miss spot for Middlebrook was his hometown of Austin, Minn., better known by residents as "Spamtown." The Minnesota burg is home to Hormel, maker of the infamous canned meat.
Middlebrook couldn't be happier with the public's reaction.
"Everywhere we've been, there have been positive responses. Positive music can make a difference, and I don't think we always have those positive influences," Middlebrook said.
The small screen
Other contestants on the show demonstrated the negativity that concerns Middlebrook almost as soon as cameras began rolling. One of the viewers' first images of the Minnesotan was his challenge of a fellow contestant.
After overhearing a drunken, Michael Richards-reminiscent tirade in which another aspiring rapper named Persia said an offensive word, Middlebrook stepped in.
"Persia, would you mind please not using the 'n' word?" Middlebrook asked, "'Cause it bothers me."
Be the first to comment on this story