So as of late, there has been a lot of discussion around singer Bruno Mars and some folks insisting that he is guilty of cultural appropriation.
The definition of this term Cultural Appropriation means: the act of taking or using things from a culture that is not your own, especially without showing that you understand or respect this culture
Bruno also borrows heavily from singers Michael Jackson and James Brown who without question have major footprints on lots of popular music. Jackson popularized dance styles that he got from the streets here in Cali while James was the unintended blueprint for a variety of genres most notably Hip Hop. Those of us who are old enough will recall James was not too keen on folks sampling his music and not giving him credit and even said so in a couple of songs. We won’t even get into the dance steps that many borrowed which are now part of Hip Hop key dance moves.
Back in the days, folks said that James Brown, Sly Stone, George Clinton, and others who were being sampled should be happy. In fact, they should be thanking Hip Hop for bringing back to life a sound and style that had essentially been dead.
Artists like Daddy O, lead emcee for Stetsasonic laid out that argument excellently in a song called ‘Talking All That Jazz’…
In the case of Bruno Mars its crystal clear that he clearly understands the roots of the music genres that have influenced him. In fact, he probably knows it better than most. It’s also crystal clear that he has profusely given credit to the originators of the sounds he uses.
Here’s the larger point, when folks accuse Bruno Mars of cultural appropriation, they are basically saying ‘dude is ‘Not Black‘ and he’s getting over doing Black music’. Now we can get into a long discussion about who is Black and who isn’t from a Diasporic perspective. Don’t Puerto Ricans have African blood in their veins? Are they not part of the diaspora? But for some, no matter what is said or proven folks are gonna fall back on the notion that Black music is being exploited and thus Bruno should be the target of their anger.
What’s interesting is that while folks will focus all their attention on Bruno, they will remain silent and even compliant with the real exploiters and cultural appropriators of Black music. We can start with the many of the major record labels who got generations of young, easily influenced and naive artists to sign away their copyrights and publishing. If you really peel back the onion there are lots of stories of Black artists being forced to give away their creations.. This is a sordid history that’s been outlined in a variety of books like:
‘Hit Men: Power Brokers and Fast Money Inside the Music Business’, by Fredric Dannen. Another one is ‘An Autobiography of Black Jazz‘ by Dempsey J Travis. ‘Death of Rhythm and Blues’ by Nelson George outlines this exploitative relationship as does ‘Blackout: My 40 Years in the Music Business’ by Paul Porter.
This sordid history of exploitation has been spoken about very publicly by everyone from Prince to Michael Jackson to Ice Cube to Gza… The list is long. The stories are detailed and really show the depth of cultural exploitation and appropriation within the music industry. The stories detail the unapologetic boldness and epitomize the notion of someone Not Giving zero f–ks which is an attitude that’s alive and well today within those corporate structures. These entertainment conglomerates are the ones who really ‘cake’ off Black music.
Bruno Mars dancing like Michael Jackson or using a Teddy Riley-inspired beat is him paying homage. What’s exploitation is corporate music outlets from the IHeart Radios of the world (formerly Clear Channel to the Viacom’s) that peddle a particular type of narrowcasted musical Blackness that is steeped in harmful and demeaning stereotypes that nets these corporations billions while having us collectively looking like savage baboons.
It gets really insidious when those executives and gatekeepers will invest millions of marketing dollars and define these negative expressions and market them as ‘Authentic Black Culture‘.
That’s cultural exploitation and it’s rooted in the legacy of Blackface minstrelsy where white actors donned Blackface and adopted stereotypical speech patterns and Black mannerisms and entertained millions. Black face was the country’s biggest form of entertainment for over 100 years.
This industry really took off when Black actors desperate for money, fame and economic opportunity started wearing Blackface and enhancing those negative stereotypes. These Black minstrels were marketed to white audiences as authentic. They were the equivalent of a certain type of heavily promoted artists who today are advertised as ‘keeping it real and being ‘true to the streets’.