Do you have a problem with non-blacks doing Hip Hop/R & B?
- Thread starter Yakno1
- Start date
Blackout
just your usual nerdy brotha
daboywonder2002
Superstar
im gonna speak from the r and b side. i dont have a problem with whites doing it as long as there isnt a hidden agenda. teena marie and jon b never changed their sound or anything. always stuck to their roots. look at pink- she started off with a somewhat r and b sound then went completely pop/rock. she doesnt even acknowledge that she used to do r and b. she doesnt even perform her r and b songs.
This is the problem in my POV, and it's our problem by our own doing, not theirs
It's not an issue of white artists doing black music. The issue is, we don't have our platforms, so now we have black artists seeking approval from white gate keepers, and white gate keepers applying their own interpretation and agenda to black music.
It should be the other way around really. Whites doing black music should be seeking the acceptance and approval of the black gatekeepers, but that doesn't exist, so
At the end of the day, I look at it like this.
Platform: Radio
I know Clear Channel, Radio One etc work with major record companies and pick 10 records(if that) from their corporate offices and pass these 10 records down to all of their affiliate radio stations across the country. I have a option of not listening to the FM radio knowing this due to the redundancy of the same records spinning every hour.
Platform TV: MTV Jams/Mtv Soul/BET/Centric/Fuse
As far as I know, these are some of the last outlets that play videos on television. These platform play independent artist.
Print Media: Magazines
Politics involved in this arena but independent artist still are featured
The Internet: You Control your own destiny, maybe we should create platforms on this avenue
R&B: A guy like "Robin Thicke", he has a couple tunes, I have not listened to his albums in depth but I recognize that he is signed to a major recording company. The push will be there, he respects ones that came before him but will he be the next Marvin? I doubt it but I'm not going to knock his attempt at making music
Hip Hop: Macklemore, haven't heard much of his music either in depth but the quantity I heard was okay. Seems like he wants to make "hipster" music for this generation, O-K, He found a lane that not a lot of rappers play to. Will he be the next Nas? I doubt it but I'm not going to knock his attempt
dora_da_destroyer
Master Baker
Dbl
dora_da_destroyer
Master Baker
This has been brought up over and over, she got signed by Arista, they heard her voice and made her release an r&b album, that's not the music she wanted to make, like others, she was forced into a sound that wasn't her to get a record deal. She forced them to let her make her own music when her second album dropped, she didn't abandon r&b, she wanted to be an edgy skater pop singer since breaking away from her group, and even if she did abandon r&b, that sound isn't what made her popular, her second album did.
I always recalled "Pink" as a pop artist/alt rock maybe?(not familiar w/genre)
daboywonder2002
Superstar
her first album went double platinum though. ok la reid made her sing r and b. if pink felt so strongly about her true sound(pop, rock), why didnt she go against reid? it's like she used the black audience to get in the door. then once she found success, bounced.
dora_da_destroyer
Master Baker
Damn near Every semi successful album went plat back then, furthermore, how would it help her to create a black audience and then switch to something that's abandons them? She'd have to start from scratch with a white audience, secondly, don't act like she's the only person in the world to sell out their original style to get a deal. Her going double plat gave her the leverage to make the demands she made for her second album. She's no different than Rihanna or Mariah who were given bubblegum pop when they actually saw a different lane for themselves, artists get put in this position all the time, especially those who are signed at a young age, pink was like 18 then and damn near homeless, you would've taken the deal too.
Insensitive
Superstar
I don't.
I specifically remember her and the hard push with
an "urban" sound, Christina Aguilera and Justin Timberlake
did the SAME THING.
On topic :
I don't have a problem with people making traditionally
black forms of music, I have a problem with mediocre artists being
awarded over the some of the best out.
That was and will continue to be my issue.
This thread is in response to the Macklemore debacle
and doesn't really address the idea of a talented black artist being
snubbed in favor of the GWH of the time.
A lot of posters also ignorantly assume that Black people can't see
the issue here and think it's just "Race", even though I think "Race"
definitely played a part as to why he was chosen over Kendrick Lamar.
I guess no one remembers when Pink too pride in her "Urban" sounding music and voice
nor does anyone remember the issue she had with Christina Aguilera basically biting her whole
steeze.
How true is that, I actually preferred that "If It's Lovin"/"SOS" Ri-Ri
KillSpray
Don't be mad
So if a black man wants to open a pizzaria he should seek the approval of italian pizza chefs?
Better check wit the "gatekeepers" to see if it's okay to serve pizza with hot sauce on it.
If blacks didn't want other people messin wit hip hop they should have never left the block with it.
Bad analogy. Pizza is food, we're talking about culture and music. The only gatekeepers to opening a pizza shop is probably the bank that's gonna make you that loan. If in the pizza world, the italian's owned 99% of the property that you could put a shop in and the banks, and were 70% of the consumers, then you wouldn't have a choice but to seek their approval because you couldn't run a profitable business without it.
Pool_Shark
Can’t move with me in this digital space
Not when its you putting your cultures flavor to it instead of pandering and manipulating
What was JT's push with a urban sound? The first cross-over record he did to get on black air play was with
"Nsync-Gone" & "Girlfriend" with Nelly -
What was Christina's hard push?
So you place stock in "The Grammies", you would like respectable Black artist to win categories that you
saw a not so respectable artist to Black people win? I want to hear a balanced radio airplay on FM radio but I do not.
So you think "The Grammies" are something that rappers should try to win or even allow that award to hold some sort of achievement over the culture?
A 40 year old saw a you-tube contest about video games, he submitted his video. The judges were all teenagers and could not really relate to the video from the 40 year old, they could relate to an extent but not all the way. The judges picked a teenage winner.
Not the best analogy but hope you get the jist, why put stock into something like The Grammy's, a institution which has historically known not to award the best for Hip Hop and r & b categories?
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Insensitive
Superstar
Christina's marked changed in style is well documented.
She went from mimicking Britney Spears with the squeak clean image
to rocking mid drifts and two different colors in her hair while swagger jacking
Pinks whole steeze.
She even got a well known Hip Hop producer to produce one of her singles.
I never said I placed stock in the Grammies, I do however think artistry should
be recognized.
My post had nothing to do with him being a respectable artist to "Black People".
Read my post.
I put the letters in bold, it shouldn't be difficult to understand what I'm saying here.
I think Rappers should be rewarded for artistic achievements of any kind and
that an academy that prides itself on artistry should recognize that.
Couple answers for this post :
1.Well if he's 40 years old he isn't a kid.
2. WTF does this have to do with my post ?
3. It's a terrible analogy.
4. And if they've historically not acknowledged the best
then it's a disservice to the talented people who get their work submitted.