a lot of white people growing up listened to rap as a form of rebellion, or a way to piss off their parents. for me, it spoke of my surroundings. Straight Outta Compton was a perfect example. The dope man lived on my block, i played basketball with the dope man, i had seen police brutality, etc. My dad bought the album for me after it came out. my father also raised me in the library. when i was twelve, he had me read Malcolm Xs bio, which lead to me reading Assata, Angela, Soledad Brother, Marcus Garvey, Leonard Peltier, etc etc. Pomona High had a lot of violence, so my grandmother got me into a neighboring school that was mostly white. the few black kids there accepted me and were my best friends. the white kids called me names and gave me shit because i was far more aware than them, plus i was faaaaarrrr more real. it wasn't fake or forced, it was just my natural progression. i was able to better understand the complexity behind a lot of feelings black people had towards whites, but the white people i came across as a teenager didn't or wouldn't. i got snide comments like -- hes not white, hes a light skinned black dude--ALWAYS said to try and put me down. white kids couldn't stand the fact that i wasn't just like them. also, not to be a sob story, but my mother left me when i was ten --my parents broke up when i was three, and i lived with her until i was nine -- partly because she didn't approve of who i was becoming. i remember her having a real problem that my best friend was black, and that i had stayed at his house, stayed with him and his family in Watts, and he had stayed at our place. to this day, i have never spoken to her or seen her since.