The fact is that white music made me understand how black I really was. I realized that I was connected by experience and history, connected in a way that didn't require recitations of Big Daddy Kane. But more freeing was the simple sense of disconnection--the ability to listen to White Music the way white kids must have listened to jazz, soul or hip-hop. I had no personal stake in the Arcade Fire. I did not have to debate the effects of Foo Fighters on young black youth. For the first time ever, I was just listening to music.