I didn’t know that Slash was biracial until HBO’s The Black List.  There was a brief period in middle school when I really tried to like Guns N’ Roses.  I guess I’m just not that white.  That’s meant to be a joke, btw.  Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised to find out about his mixedness, and thought to myself, “I should have known.  Look at that hair.”  But back then I didn’t even know that I had that hair, so of course I was clueless.

In Rip It Up: The Black Experience in Rock ‘N’ Roll edited by Kandia Crazy Horse Slash is asked if he defines himself as a black musician to which he replies that he defines himself as a rock musician if he defines himself as anything. He says he is very proud of his black heritage and sees this as being very cool. One thing he clears up is that he is NOT a Jewish musician. He says that is because his first name is Saul, but he is not Jewish. He talks about his racial background (biracial)…and how it was dealing with a white midwesterner in GNR.

A recent article on the passing of Slash’s mother:

Rock guitarist Slash, the bi-racial son of a black mother and white father, is mourning the passing of his mother Ola Hudson, a woman he referred to recently as a “cool rock and roll mom.”

Hudson, a former costume designer for such musicians as Ringo Starr, John Lennon and Diana Ross died on the morning of May 6 after a battle with lung cancer. She was 62.

“This is a difficult time, but I have to share with you that she was the sweetest, warmest, most loving human being I’ve ever known (next to my grandmother on her side), as well as one of the most creative and talented,” Slash wrote on his MySpace page.

“She was also the coolest rock and roll mom, a rock junkie like myself could ever possibly want to have,” Slash continued. “She was responsible for exposing me to a lot of the music that would influence me as a musician growing up, as well as introducing me to ‘the life’ and priming me to survive this crazy business that I’m now in.

“But more importantly, she turned me on to all different forms of art and the importance of artistic self expression and creative communication thru music and dance from as early on as I can remember. She really was all things artistic and creative personified and the world is a lesser place without her.”