The days of gatekeeping hip-hop as a genre reserved exclusively for people of colour from the trenches of America are kind of over. I’m not happy about it, but that’s just the way it is. The Lil Dickys and Iggy Azaleas of the world , and the people that have worked tirelessly to catapult them into fame, burst that bubble long ago. From beauty and fashion to music and language, white people can’t keep their hands off of Black culture. Patti Cake$ (opening August 18), which is about a plus-sized white girl from New Jersey who seeks to leave the bleak circumstances of her life behind to find success in a rap career, is the story of one such white girl. However, the road to rap can be different for even the white people who represent the genre’s minority. The question posed by Patti Cake$ goes beyond white people in hip-hop culture . Instead, viewers are forced to reconcile their understanding of belonging and culture itself.