Black invalidation in music is continuously prevalent through history and even today.
One example of this invalidation can be seen through Jimi Hendrix and the criticism he received
during his career. Because of the White social ownership of rock, Jimi Hendrix was considered a
fraud and his music was called: “inauthentically rock at the same time that his music rendered his
person as inauthentically black” (Hamilton, 2016). Being a successful Black artists in rock,
people could not calculate these socially defined contradicting identities, and therefore the joint
existence made popular music audiences invalidate both aspects of Hendrix.
In the interview between Theresa Riley and Jeff Chang, they discuss the power behind
rap and hip hop, and the racial significance that it has given to Black people and people of color.
Black stories and experiences are left out of mainstream media, like the news, and Chang
compares the music platform of hip hop and rap to be like a news channel made by and for Black
and Brown folks. Chang says that the music allows a spotlight for, “how young people were
feeling about the police situation, how young people partied or danced; all of the stories that
were not getting reported in the media bubbled up through these songs” (Chang, 2012). I now
want to connect this to how there is controversy behind White artists taking on these music
genres. What does this mean for Black and Brown artists who do not have access to the
platforms that White artists do. White artists today using these genres, without the bare minimum
of at least acknowledging their privilege of appropriating a genre that was meant to voice the
stories that have been erased, are invalidating history and Black peoples lived realities. This
connects to how Jimi Hendrix was invalidated in his day because of the so-called White
ownership of the genre.
White Privilege II by Macklemore
Addresses the issues around him appropriating the Black culture with his use of this genre, however this does not change how he has gained much success in this genre from being a White male rapper.
Fancy by Iggy Azalea
Iggy Azalea is a textbook example of appropriating Black culture, as her music has been described as auditory blackface (Guo, 2016). Her music invalidates the Black history that is deeply rooted with rap.
References
Bill Moyers Show interview, Theresa Riley with Jeff Chang, Q & A: Still Fighting the Power
Guo, Jeff. “How Iggy Azalea Mastered Her 'Blaccent'.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 4 Jan. 2016, www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/01/04/how-a-white-australian-rapper-mastered-her-blaccent/.
Jack Hamilton, "How Rock and Roll Became White and how the Rolling Stones, a band in love with black music, helped lead the way to rock music's segregated future" (Links to an external site.), Slate Oct.6, 2016
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