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Post by Babycakes on Mar 13, 2018 2:05:19 GMT -4
I've been purposely avoiding this internet debate, because it's just so absurd and maddening. I watched the initial video on the debate, and get the frustration about the lack of black artists getting the success and fame that someone non-black achieves by performing traditionally black music. See, Miley, Justin Bieber and Timberlake. HOWEVER. That isn't the non-black artist's fault. Bruno is doing the music he loves, and always gives credit to those that inspired him. That shouldn't bother people as much as it does. If you want to see more successful black artists, then support black artists. Put your money where your mouth is, or STFU. I'm so over these butt-hurt people whining about the hardest working man in the business winning. And as an aside, R&B, and rap has gotten so lazy and misogynistic. Every singer wants to be a rapper, and every rapper wants to be a singer. And they all want to out vulgar each other. I miss the days of Jodeci, Boyz II Men, Silk, Shai, Blackstreet. Groups don't even exist anymore. And the single artists are a dime a dozen, and see above about the vulgarity. Sigh. Sorry for the rant. This is why all my playlists are 15-25 years old. ETA: Since I didn't want to be comletely negative, here's actually a nice combo of two new talented black artists Daniel Caesr and H.E.R. They're a welcome respite from the Fist Browns of the moment.
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Post by narm on Mar 13, 2018 2:13:35 GMT -4
I heard Jodeci the other day in the car! Still love them.
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sobe
Landed Gentry
Posts: 534
Mar 10, 2005 7:03:02 GMT -4
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Post by sobe on Mar 13, 2018 3:47:09 GMT -4
I'm Asian American and I can understand the frustration about the successes non-black artists, and I think it's worth reflecting on the very real effects of racism in the system. With respect to Bruno Mars specifically, it's has always seemed like he works hard to earn and show respect, and seems far less problematic than a host of other performers.
I checked in on Black Twitter to see the responses to the controversy and my favorites were along the lines of, "Leave Bruno Mars alone! All the man wants to do is sniff cocaine and make bops everyone and their mom can enjoy."
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Post by Mutagen on Mar 13, 2018 6:55:15 GMT -4
Appropriation or not, I have to admit I'm a little tired of the "hey, that sounds just like that other song from the 70s/80s/90s" aspect of Bruno Mars' music. Not that he's making bad songs, but it's like okay, now what can YOU do? He can clearly put a song together.
With that said, I wouldn't put him in the same category as Miley Cyrus. Bruno at least seems WAY more literate and genuinely enthusiastic about the genres he's working in. Miley pretty clearly tried to "go black" for cool/shock points and then dropped it once the mission was accomplished.
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Post by deeconsistent on Mar 13, 2018 8:48:17 GMT -4
Appropriation or not, I have to admit I'm a little tired of the "hey, that sounds just like that other song from the 70s/80s/90s" aspect of Bruno Mars' music. Not that he's making bad songs, but it's like okay, now what can YOU do? He can clearly put a song together. Yeah, I'm in a similar boat. I generally like his music, but my appreciation for him is really muted because... he's basically a cover band. Every new song is like "Hey, have you heard my Michael Jackson? I do a great Prince, wanna hear it? I've been working on this Aaron Hall impression, i'm even doing a video to go along with it. Wanna check it out?" And, fwiw, even though I generally like him, I don't think it's offbase to examine how his not being black while performing a traditionally black style of music is advantageous to his career. Some might look at it from the angle that blacks need to support black artists more vigorously, but others might see it from the angle that the simple fact that he's not black makes him more palatable to a much larger, non-black audience. That plays into him acquiring a level of credibility (like winning a best album grammy) that eludes less popular acts. Not saying that he shouldn't be allowed to perform the music he wants to and it's great that he pays homage to artists that influenced him, but what's going on with him isn't that different than what has always happened with popular music.
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celerydunk
Sloane Ranger
Posts: 2,521
May 3, 2005 21:57:59 GMT -4
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Post by celerydunk on Mar 13, 2018 8:54:56 GMT -4
And as an aside, R&B, and rap has gotten so lazy and misogynistic. Every singer wants to be a rapper, and every rapper wants to be a singer. And they all want to out vulgar each other. I miss the days of Jodeci, Boyz II Men, Silk, Shai, Blackstreet. Groups don't even exist anymore. And the single artists are a dime a dozen, and see above about the vulgarity. Sigh. Sorry for the rant. This is why all my playlists are 15-25 I was having a conversation about this the other day. I remember when Little Red Corvette came out and one of my school friends had to explain to me why Prince would be so bothered by seeing pictures of this girl's horse-loving friends. The vulgarity doesn't necessarily bother me, but I can't tell you how much fun I had with my friends trying to figure songs out. Rick James coming out with Mary Jane was shocking, because it turns out he wasn't singing about a girl at all. And they were playing it on the radio!
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Post by famvir on Mar 13, 2018 11:18:09 GMT -4
Let me tell about watching a gaggle of 5 year old girls singing Sheena Easton’s “Sugar Walls.”
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Beeelicious
Blueblood
Posts: 1,185
Oct 4, 2005 15:57:15 GMT -4
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Post by Beeelicious on Mar 13, 2018 12:04:58 GMT -4
I feel really dumb. I didn't know he wasn't black/mixed race including black. TIL.
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Post by laurenj on Mar 13, 2018 12:25:45 GMT -4
I feel really dumb. I didn't know he wasn't black/mixed race including black. TIL. I didn't know that either.
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Post by Neurochick on Mar 13, 2018 13:40:35 GMT -4
I've been purposely avoiding this internet debate, because it's just so absurd and maddening. I watched the initial video on the debate, and get the frustration about the lack of black artists getting the success and fame that someone non-black achieves by performing traditionally black music. See, Miley, Justin Bieber and Timberlake. HOWEVER. That isn't the non-black artist's fault. Bruno is doing the music he loves, and always gives credit to those that inspired him. That shouldn't bother people as much as it does. If you want to see more successful black artists, then support black artists. Put your money where your mouth is, or STFU. I'm so over these butt-hurt people whining about the hardest working man in the business winning. And as an aside, R&B, and rap has gotten so lazy and misogynistic. Every singer wants to be a rapper, and every rapper wants to be a singer. And they all want to out vulgar each other. I miss the days of Jodeci, Boyz II Men, Silk, Shai, Blackstreet. Groups don't even exist anymore. And the single artists are a dime a dozen, and see above about the vulgarity. Sigh. Sorry for the rant. This is why all my playlists are 15-25 years old. ETA: Since I didn't want to be comletely negative, here's actually a nice combo of two new talented black artists Daniel Caesr and H.E.R. They're a welcome respite from the Fist Browns of the moment. It may not be Bruno's fault but he BENEFITS from the racism. And that's the issue.
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