In a world where music is at our fingertips, music such as Rap, Hiphop, Grime and R&B are genres of music that enable the process of hybridisation. With a fine line standing between cultural appropriation and cultural appreciation, there are many incidents where musicians and artists fail to appreciate other cultures and create music in a respectable way. “Allegations of cultural appropriation may arise in contexts where particular uses of culture may be questioned by some and seen as uncontroversial by others”(Arewa 2017).
“Cultural Appropriation occurs when a style leads to racist generalisations or stereotypes where it originated, but is deemed as high fashion, cool or funny, when the privilege take it for themselves” – Amanda Stenberg
Culturally Appropriating is becoming more evident, particularly with the prominence of Hiphop and African-American music in today’s music scene. There has been a significant rise of celebrities appropriating African-American culture, sometimes without even realising it! Incidents that have sparked debate is celebrities such as Katy Perry and Madonna appropriating African American elements through wearing cornrows in their hair and grills on their teeth as a ‘fashion statement’. “When people within a dominant culture use objects from another culture without thorough research, and remain ignorant of the cultural context, cultural appropriation takes place” (Han 2019).
Cultural Appropriation ‘This Is How We Do’
The cultural significance of corn rows is a hairstyle that originated in Africa where “the intricate braiding of the hair indicated the tribe you belonged to” (Gabbara 2017). The history of this hairstyle dates back to at least 3000B.C, and Katy Perry flaunting cornrows with gelled down baby hair and painted fingernails” (Clifton 2014) is disrespecting the meaning behind this distinct hairstyle. I personally did not know the cultural significance behind the style and can understand how easy it can be to culturally appropriate when I, along with others, can have limited knowledge on certain cultures. I didn’t think twice when I saw Katy Perry’s cornrow hairstyle in her music film clip, but now after conducting further research I have a heightened understanding of its significance.
Kendrick Lamar: Rap/Hiphop Artist
Kendrick Lamar is an American, rapper, songwriter, and record producer, and one of the most successful hiphop artists of his generation. His film clip for ‘This is America’ has been localised to voice key issues that affect the American culture both past and present. Examples of this conveyed in the music clip, can first be seen in a pose Kendrick makes resembling the pose of Jim Crow, a white racist theatre actor who dressed as a black slave. For most of the clip, the audiences focus is concentrated on Kendrick, but what us as viewers do not realise, is the commotion in the backdrop, reflecting the oppression of African American people. Concerns such as gun violence are being voiced in this clip to utilise this genre of music as a means of social commentary. In one scene we see a disturbing visual of Kendrick gunning down the choir, referencing the 2015 Charleston church shooting. It is once we think more in depth about the clip and the lyrics that we can start to understand how this song is reflecting the key issues and concerns of his nation.
References
Arewa, B 2017, Love, Hate, and Culture Wars, pg 26
Bartleet, L 2018, ‘This is America’:10 references you might have missed, http://www.nme.com viewed 24 August
Clifton, D 2014, 5 Reasons why Katy Perry is Pop Music’s Worst Cultural Appropriator, https://www.mic.com/articles/95444/5-reasons-katy-perry-is-pop-music-s-worst-cultural-appropriator viewed 23 August
Gabbara, G 2017, cornrows and sister locks and their long history, http://www.ebony.com viewed 23 August
Han, H 2019, Moving from cultural appropriation to cultural appreciation, pg 9
Georgia Woods 