Urban Myth: This Label Is about Music

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Byline: Nick Marino, Times-Union music writer

I got an e-mail the other day from a publicist who wanted me to write about her Orlando-based rap duo. At the bottom of the message, she typed her title: Director, Urban Media.

For the unacquainted, that means she handles the black artists.

In the last couple years, "urban" has come to be a kind of PC shorthand for non-white. Vibe Magazine covers urban entertainment. Hip-hop and R&B radio stations play urban music. Publicists try to sell urban artists.

Everyone seems to accept this, but the whole notion of urban equaling black strikes me as ridiculous and borderline racist.

If you call …