What strikes me the most about both Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton and Memphis Minnie is they both were unapologetic Black women in a music industry made up of mostly men, particularly White men. They both brought unique talent and voices to the music scene, Memphis Minnie with her electric guitar and “scientific sound” and Big Mama Thornton with her loud, fierce voice and unapologetic swagger, and they were both ultimately held back by their gender and race. This fact is most clear when looking at the white musicians who later profited off of their sound. Most notably, Led Zeppelin's cover of Memphis Minnie’s “When the Levee Breaks,” and Elvis Presley’s cover of “Hound Dog.” What feels most unjust about Presley’s cover is that he was not only making money off of, and not crediting, Big Mama Thornton’s words, but her behavior and delivery as well. Maylei Blackwell says, “... a lot of early oral historians, especially women’s oral history, would be about: “give a voice to the people,” and you know, the people already have a voice.” White artists already had the privilege of having a voice during their time, but they’re still the ones who get the historical attention. As Maureen Mahon says, “Presley could mime blackness, but he could also fall back on his whiteness when the need arose.” Her blackness is what he profited off of, and what she could never profit from.
White musicians are profiting off of black aesthetics in the same way today. As Mahon puts it, “In the late 1940s and early 1950s Thornton and a host of other African American artists were creating a new musical sound… heavy propulsive rhythm, powerful vernacular vocals, and sometimes raucous lyrics were the building blocks.” You can see these exact themes in popular music today, most notably in hip hop. Strong beats, slang, and “raucous” noises are often present in hip hop, a genre created by and dominated by Black artists. However, just like in the 1950s, white musicians still steal the style of Black artists and profit off of it. Two examples of this phenomenon are Iggy Azalea and Travis Thompson. Usually when I hear Azalea’s music in public, many people shake their heads, as it can be uncomfortable to hear a White woman emulate Blackness so unapologetically. From the way she delivers lines to the way she dresses, it often feels very unauthentic. Travis Thompson is a local Seattle rapper, and many people I know admit that they didn’t know he was white until they saw a picture of him. Both of these artists use Black aesthetics and a Black sound to advance, and ultimately profit off of, their careers. However, because they are born with the privilege of being white, they already have more opportunities than their Black counterparts, the very people they profit off of.
Iggy Azalea: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rre0sFHlfBc
Travis Thompson: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=travis+thompson
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