Connection Between Music and Cultural Appropriation

Cultural Appropriation

Cultural appropriation has occurred longer than people have understood the true meaning behind it. Kadia Blagrove of The Huffington Post explains cultural appropriation as, “a dominant group adopting/trivializing elements of a culture without acknowledging the existence of its original source, especially when the adopted culture belongs to an oppressed group,” (2016, p. 1). This kind of appropriation has found its way across many different platforms such as music, television and fashion. In terms of cultural appropriation within the United States, it most commonly involves the white population replicating aspects of the black population and refusing to acknowledge the African culture of which it came from. Much of this stemmed from the white appropriation of black music dating back to the early 20th century during the jazz and rock and roll eras. This still occurs in the present day in regards to rap and R&B music, which have become the most popular genres throughout music overall. As the African rooted music becomes more and more appropriated, other aspects of the culture are exposed to the audience, encouraging other races to then replicate these concepts.

Music has shown to be one of the most obvious art forms that whites have appropriated from blacks. This is shown as early as the careers of Chuck Berry and Muddy Waters and is loosely depicted in the film Cadillac Records. The film shows the act first hand by illustrating the white theft of originally black composed songs. Chuck Berry is seen protesting the replication of his song Sweet Little Sixteen in the Beach Boys’ Surfin’ USA. Not only did the Beach Boys blatantly steal the content of another artist, but they failed to recognize the culture of which their “smash hit” came from. In addition, they were compensated significantly more than the original creator, truly making the appropriation a crime.

It can be stated that dominant white America didn’t pay much mind to African Americans or their culture until they began to steal their music style and create similar sounding content. From this, the doors opened and the appropriation commenced, glamorizing the once disdained culture, but still not properly crediting the people within it. It seems as though whites don’t want to admit that black culture has composed some of the best music to date, and instead, would rather just appropriate it. The heavy influence of African culture within some of the greatest white music is also shown in Cadillac Records when the film reenacts the factual interaction of the Rolling Stones visiting Muddy Waters at his record label and being in complete awe. In fact, the Rolling Stones chose their band name because of the Waters song titled, Rollin’ Stone. This is one of the fewer examples of white musicians who have replicated content, but aren’t appropriating. Instead, they genuinely respect the individual and their culture of which paved the way for their musical career.

The appropriation of black music, then made it “acceptable” for whites to express other cultural aspects, specifically fashion. Because of the appropriating, white façade which conceals African culture, whites have begun to adopt these cultural contributions as their own while avoiding the fact that they are not the originators. This is present in the instance of Kylie Jenner who has taken appropriation of black culture as far as wearing traditional African hairstyles and even going as far as altering her body parts to appear as “African” looking. Although it is the American way to have the right to dress and express yourself the way you would like, Kylie Jenner’s situation differs due to the high media circumstances and the widespread exposure of the appropriation she is committing. Jenner has in no way, credited, embraced or celebrated the culture of which her fashion and looks have been inspired by. Examples like this continue to detach cultural roots from the rightful race and skew its overall identity.

The lack of clarity within a particular race’s cultural contributions to society, allow for confusion regarding what is and what is not politically correct. This is shown in instances where white individuals have worn “black face”. Because they have appropriated so much, their cultural boundaries when it comes to creativity and expression have become almost non-existent. This was seen in 2013 when white actress, Julianne Hough, dressed as African American character, “Crazy Eyes”, from the show Orange Is The New Black. She was seen with a darker complexion and replicating the character’s African originated bantu bun hair style. It seems as though Hough is paying more respect to Crazy Eyes the character than the culture that she represents.

Let’s be real here, black appropriation by the white population really began when whites realized that black artistic content and fashion were more appealing and marketable than anything other culture’s. Due to the deeply rooted separation of blacks and whites, the dominant white population would rather take over these cultural aspects and treat them as their own than to give the blacks credit for their achievements. However, some may argue that it shouldn’t really matter because imitation is the best form of flattery, and that it’s good thing the African culture has become so widely spread. But the fact that society has lost sight of the origin of which these cultural aspects come from, doesn’t allow credit to be given where it’s due and the African culture somewhat becomes lost and forgotten.

The culture can certainly be replicated in an honorable fashion, as long as it’s publicly embraced and celebrated too. It’s not fair for blacks to have to watch their uniquely constructed culture be praised because it’s being represented by another race. With so many race issues in the U.S. during the present day, the African American culture should be recognized, distinguished and praised for what has been appropriated from it. The more open we can be about the differences between cultures as well as the ways they’ve been tied together, the easier we can understand each other and see one another for who we really are, regardless of race.