Millennial cool was initially defined by white Columbia graduates despite the generation’s diversity

Evidence

Yet despite millennials being “the most racially diverse generation in American history,” the broader cultural narrative initially positioned white creators as its vanguard. An early architect of millennial cool was Ezra Koenig, who founded Vampire Weekend in 2006 with three fellow Columbia University students. The band rode the poptimist wave to find a sound grounded in genre-blending, polished aesthetics, and impeccable commercial instincts—perhaps the very sound of neoliberalism. … Koenig belonged to a post-Neptunes culture, where kids of all backgrounds danced to the same Top 40 hits. — W. David Marx, Blank Space, 340