The Appropriating Stones

Black musicians are the largest contributors to and creators of, arguably, all types of current popular music in the United States. If not the lead inventors of these types of music, they have had an undeniable influence on rock, hip-hop, country, indie, alternative, jazz, and other genres of music. They have been undoubtedly stripped of the recognition they deserve; the exploitation of black musicians' art has allowed white musicians to profit immensely, and receive almost all credit for the creation of many popular music genres, while African-Americans are only represented as "creative inspiration," "remarkable exceptions," and distant historical groups. 

"Future generations . . . will be taught that while rock may have had its beginnings among blacks, it had its true flowering among whites. The best black artists will thus be studied as remarkable primitives who unconsciously foreshadowed future developments."

In his article How Rock and Roll Became White, Jack Hamilton highlights how whites were able to slowly acquire sole recognition for rock and roll, which origins and current music has been built by Black artists. He discusses specifically, The Rolling Stones, and how they essentially fetishized black music. The Rolling Stones drew inspiration from Black artists of the past and of the time, but were (and are) depicted as a band that created a new type of sound; that did something no one had ever done. They used Black music to separate them from other white rock and roll bands, and accepted all credit the world gave them for their "new and unconventional sound. "This transition—from the Rolling Stones being heard as a white band authenticated by their reverence for and fluency within black music, to the Rolling Stones simply being heard as a new sort of authentic themselves—is among the most significant turns in the history of rock."

Hip-hop music is one of the genres that has been represented in society as irrefutably "Black." Most successful hip-hop artists are black, and the founders of this genre have not been stripped of their recognition. Despite this credit, hip-hop artists are often subjected to rockist ideals. The very idea that hip-hop belongs "only" to blacks and that rock and country belongs "only" to whites; the idea of genre and racial separation--helps to further seclude Black artists from being credited with the invention of rock music. Hip-hop music also can offer a sort of parallel with rock music in the 70s. In his interview with Theresa Riley, Jeff Chang discusses how hip-hop acts as a medium for communication of young people--how rap can offer us insight into how outraged the youth is about the violence and racism present in the world. It acts as a direct communication about what young people like to do, how they like to have fun, and how they want the world to change. This is similar to the impact that rock has had; being an, originally, controversial and provocative type of music for "young people" at the time, it can lend us similar insight. However, since Black individuals' contributions to rock music have been denied and hidden throughout history, rock history doesn't give us this accurate picture.

Currently, Black music is "othered" and appropriated by white people. Many white individuals engage in hip-hop music and black culture, while simultaneously ignoring the racism and violent oppression that Black people face every day. Awards shows often combine all forms of racially genre-d "black music" into "Urban" categories. Black artists are excluded from participating in "white music" genres, while whites are praised for breaking down stereotypes when engaging in hip-hop or rap music forms. The gentrification of rock,  the current racialization of music in America, and the continual mistreatment and oppression of Black people all contribute to a cycle of erasure and exploitation of black artists.

"Recognizing white people as individuals while acknowledging nonwhite people only in relation to collectives is a hallmark of racism across all areas of culture: You could argue that the entire history of white supremacy rests upon it."


Kendrick Lamar--The Blacker the Berry
https://youtu.be/HRfkqBfiLuM

I chose to include this song because it is beautiful. It is, not only a political statement about the violence and oppression that African-Americans have faced, and continue to, but is a good example of how hip-hop is very socially important; this song demonstrates one of the many ways in which hip-hop gives voice to those who are not represented in the media (primarily black youth).

A$AP Rocky-- Babushka Boi
https://youtu.be/KViOTZ62zBg

This song and music video offers a satirical view of the justice system in America and the police as a whole. In this video, A$AP Rocky offers a representation of the police as pigs. He portrays them as ignorant in a clip where one of them eats sausages made of one of their colleagues. The video shows himself and a group of friends getting away with their crimes and mischief, even with the police hot on their tails. Although this video is comical, it is, to me, a great example of how rap provides an outlet to for A$AP to express how he feels about the police and about the carceral system in America, which is one of the most blatant examples of institutionalized racism in the United States.