Accountability in Music • Page 400

that's not the discussion here

 

I think part of the reason Ariana doesn't get lots of backlash is because ppl legit think she's a woc. Can't tell you how many times I've seen ppl group her with woc. I think since her change was gradual people dont realize how drastic it is, vs popstars who all of a sudden just debut with a total 180 look like Miley did

 

From the first post: "promote/support artists making a positive difference"

 

still not the point of the discussion

 

So we're not discussing artists who are a positive influence...

 

No, when you decided to pop in and say if youre famous you probably have done bad things we werent discussing shining role models

 

Alright i'll stay precisely on topic...

black fish bad

Am i allowed to say that without getting criticized?

 

she made fun of it too

 

Weird thread to do this in!

 

Yeah I agree Ariana thinks she's a woc. Ariana bad. Wanting to have darker looking skin bad.

 

Shut up. Can a mod just ban this dork.

 

Pretty sure this person is just a troll. They have been making odd re-plies in other threads as well.

 

bad beat

 

I'm not a troll, I just wanted to join the discussion and got blasted for it

 

Yeah I think Ariana gets a pass because the change was a more gradual shift in her image, and also it varies appearance to appearance. If she came out as bad as she looks in that pic with Nicki and looked like that all the time it'd be way more obvious, but she's creating like some plausible deniability where it never got picked up as a big glaring transformation like Bhad Bhabie.

Its still bad, and she should still not do it, but without a major push she'll probably keep getting away with it.

 

I think she gets a pass because she's just so much more sensationally talented than others who have and her singing voice is absolutely amazing. She's also not mocking anything or a caricature in performance. If she enjoys a more tanned skin, good for her. Don't like it? Don't listen or buy her albums. I don't think you'll find anyone offended outside of people looking for something to be offended by.

Miley straight up walk around mocking black culture. Miley has genuine talent but in that phase she was in, she was not using it. Bhad Bhabie uses it for her image. I mean her claim to fame is being rude on a talk show.

 

Also in that shit Lil Dicky song - “Am I white or black?”

 

I don’t know, I disagree. Miley did a lot of bad and questionable things during that era (particularly the “Blackdrops” she used in her live performances) but she did at least employ Mike Will Made It to engineer the sound she was going for. I have always loved that record because it shows what one of hip-hop’s best producers could do with a truly massive budget, working within the pop lane that he didn’t occupy very often at the time. I think Miley at least deserves some credit for seeking out Black artists she admired and paying them for their work, rather than recreating their sounds as so many pop stars do.

Conversely I think “7 Rings” is the most overt example of a white artist adopting AAVE and trap elements in a song that I can think of. I remember when the song dropped and my group chat lost its mind over “You like my hair? / Gee, thanks, just bought it” because of how clearly it shows that she wants her listeners to think she’s a WOC.

 

There’s a long and problematic tradition of white female pop stars adopting elements of hip-hop and Black culture for their heel-turn album where they intend to shed their young appeal and return their image. Miley did it, Ariana did it, Taylor did it, etc etc

 

The difference is that Ariana has never stopped

 

Lol Ariana literally says finna and uses a fake accent. Sis surpassed parodyville a while back

 

I understand questioning because of the someone adopting AAVE, but honest question, why does it matter about them adding trap elements?

If we’re going to start questioning things about the actual music of a song just because of the performing artist’s race, then I truly feel like people are just starting to look for things to complain about.

You’d have to question the whole emo rap genre full of sad, white kids mumbling over trap beats.

Does someone like Post Malone need to stop making hip hop songs? Just the title White Iverson is cringe worthy. Dude was a you tube kid, and when that wasn’t making it him big, he just moved on to auto tune and some beats.

Where do you draw the line?

 

You can absolutely question all of that, haha.

EDIT:
In fact, I made a thread about it a whole 4 years ago:
Whiteness and Hip Hop • forum.chorus.fm

 

I think it’s important to acknowledge that trap is a genre of music made by Black people, for Black people. The sound has been co-opted by the white mainstream, and the work put in its originators has largely been erased. Hardly anyone talks about Mannie Fresh or the early ‘00s Atlanta guys as the influential forces in pop music that they are, and that’s largely because of cultural appropriation and erasure.

I do think it’s worth critiquing the entire emo rap sub genre. I’m not big into that scene and I don’t know who’s who necessarily, but based on what i do know, I do think that it consists of a lot of middle class, suburban white men profiting off of a Black art form without holding space for its originators. Same goes for Post Malone, and just about any other white rapper who comes across as an opportunist with no regard for the marginalized people who created the genre that has made them rich and famous.

 

But if this is your criteria, then by that standard Ariana is definitely fine because of who’s in her crew & who she collaborates with. Right?