Personally I think that anyone can listen to whatever music they want and enjoy it without being judged by others, but a recent questioning into an enjoyed artist put this into thought which I would like to share as a discussion point with the TSR community.
I'm a white middle class female. I won't pretend to know or understand (*cough Honey G cough*) the upbringing or background or lifestyles of grime artists like Skepta or JME or Wiley or others, I wouldn't usually fit in the General demographic of listeners of these artists nor who they're aiming the music at. And, admittedly, I don't know a fair bit of the contextual meaning and portrayal of certain tracks of these artists, but I do like the music and passion and many messages these artists convey.
Yet, when I say this and appear to voice my taste in grime and artists like Skepta in particular, I got almost interrogated by a peer as to why I was listening to such music if I'm not part of that "crowd", and it was almost phrased like I shouldn't listen to it as I'm not a male from North London.
What do you think? Is this person right in saying that if you're not from the same background as grime artists you shouldn't listen or like their content as it's not comprehensible on the same level, or do you think class and race and other social factors previously segregated shouldn't be abolished in music preferences and that we should listen to what we want?
Food for thought.