characterize the changes in Black music throughout the years as being varying degrees of Black folks trying to stay ahead of Whitey....way over simplification.

this whole rockist thing is a bit silly....I mean, Black culture regarding music is certainly sufficient enough to look at on it's own merit rather than trying to tie it to the macinations of Whitey, as you say.....for example, the bee-bop era was about more than just doing something that Whitey wouldn't understand....there is a larger general sociological argument one could make that would include this...but on the grassroots level so to speak, what made Charlie Parker flip things the way he did was about way more than him sitting at home trying to figure out ways to fool White folks...

if rockist is about finding authenticity...I would suggest todays modern mainstream Black music makers to be rockist because they are certainly not staying ahead of Whitey today....the lack of authenticity in mainstream Black music is killing it right now....

Whites have always been able to utilize what Blacks do in music to benefit them more than it benefits Blacks....unfortunately Black people have taken consumerism to such great heights, that they will disregard their own greatness in an effort to stay in tune with whatever the lastest form of popular culture White corporate America pimps out to them....Keeping it real as they say...but making a life-less, soul-less and many times quality-less mainstream...