[drharris]

I think this is the best analogy, much better than the OP. It's really a question of who your audience is, and whether or not they will understand you. For your example, a white hip-hop artist has to speak to an audience that is quite different, finding similarities between them to bridge the gap. It is also very difficult for poor people to become part of the rich crowd, or geeks to fit in with jocks. In the end, we don't really advance socially past our sixth-grade selves. It's possible to fit in with different crowds, but it does take a balance between being exceptionally talented and trying to bridge the gap with similarities. No football team will turn away a geeky kicker with a 50 yard field goal kick.

In the end, it's either high talent, high similarity, or both. We humans simply like to clique up.