by Sukot » Aug 6th, '11, 09:43
I don't think he would've been as popular, especially in Europe.
Remember, the way he got into the mainstream was really quite sudden. Within a few months he went from only known by a few people to known by almost everybody. I think part of the media attention he got in that time was due to him being a white rapper. I think there would've been a bit less fuss if he was black.
Also, another thing which got him a lot of fans early on was how like everything he said would get blown out of proportion, and all the ultra-conservatively-minded people used to panic about him all the time. This is generalizing a bit, but a lot of very right-wing people have a lower opinion of black people, so they kick up a fuss when a white guy says something a bit controversial, but when a black guys does, they don't bat an eyelid because they expect that from them. But ultimately, the controversies were getting him a lot of fans, so if he was black, I think there would've been less controversies, and hence, less fans.