it's safe for black people to rock out now.

The New York Times has a great piece on how it's becoming more acceptable for black people to rock out. Because according to some of the kids they interviewed, black kids who are into rock (or anything other than hip hop) get made fun of. By black and white kids.

Patti Smith referred to alt rockers as "outside of society," in one of her infamously controversial songs, which applies to all punk rockers, regardless of color.

But marketers need a cleaner, hipper word to describe a new audience. So of course, our industry has risen to the challenge, and created a new buzzword to describe the new black hipsters: Blipsters. Use it at a cocktail party this weekend, and impress your friends.

Living Colour, Bad Brains, you guys were ahead of your time.