Kelefa Sanneh

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Kelefa Sanneh is an American journalist and music critic. Since November 12, 2000, he has written for The New York Times, covering the Rock 'n' roll, hip hop and Pop music scenes. Sanneh has also written for The Village Voice, The Boston Phoenix and The Source (magazine). He also served as deputy editor of Transition Magazine, a cultural magazine based at Harvard that is edited by Henry Louis Gates and Kwame Appiah. The magazine focuses on issues of race, culture and politics.

Sanneh graduated from Harvard University in 1997.

[edit] Rockism

Sanneh garnered considerable publicity for an article he wrote in the October 31, 2004 issue of the The New York Times titled "The Rap against Rockism.[1] The article brought to light to the general public a debate among American and British music critics about rockism, a term Sanneh defined inductively to mean "idolizing the authentic old legend (or underground hero) while mocking the latest pop star; lionizing punk while barely tolerating disco; loving the live show and hating the music video; extolling the growling performer while hating the lip-syncher." Sanneh went on to controversially connect rockism with prejudices against music made by minorities, specifically citing the general disregard for hip hop and disco music among the white, heterosexual mindset of rockists. In response, one letter to The New York Times pointed out, "[C]ountless figures in the rockist pantheon -- Chuck Berry, Jimi Hendrix, Patti Smith, the Pretenders, R.E.M. and Hüsker Dü, to name just a handful...defy that stereotype." [2]