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Post by ghost on Mar 10, 2018 9:48:42 GMT
www.google.co.uk/amp/hollywoodlife.com/2018/03/09/bruno-mars-cultural-appropriation-sensei-aishitemasu-diss-video/amp/Sensei Aishitemasu got into a heated discussion about Bruno Mars, in which she slammed him for cultural appropriation. Watch here, then see how fans are firing back at her for her opinion. Bruno Mars has long been accused of appropriating black culture, but the debate of whether or not he’s a cultural appropriator was taken to a whole new level in an episode of YouTube’s The Grapevine on March 8. The 25-minute discussion got intense, and YouTuber, Sensei Aishitemasu, stands out in the footage for her in-depth analysis of why the popular singer should not profit off “black music” as a non-black person of color. “Bruno Mars is 100 percent a cultural appropriator,” Sensei ranted. “He is racially ambiguous. He is not black, at all, and he plays up his racial ambiguity to be able to do cross-genre and going into different places.” She went on to point out that comparisons of Bruno to Michael Jackson are a “false equivalency,” because things were so different when the King of Pop was at the height of his career than they are now. “I don’t even think that Michael Jackson, now, in this day in age, would be able to get to the point that he got to previously,” she explained. “And a huge part of that is because people have realized that they prefer their black music and their black culture from a non-black face.” Sensei also slammed Bruno for not being an “original artist,” like MJ and Prince. “What Bruno Mars does, is he takes pre-existing work and he just completely, word-for-word recreates it, extrapolates it,” she went on. “He does not create it, he does not improve upon it, he does not make it better. He’s a karaoke singer, he’s a wedding singer, he’s the person you hire to do Michael Jackson and Prince covers. Yet Bruno Mars has an Album of the Year Grammy and Prince never won an Album of the Year Grammy.” In conclusion, she powerfully stated,”Bruno Mars got that Grammy because white people love him because she’s not black, period. The issue is: We want our black culture from non-black bodies. And Bruno Mars is like — bam, I’ll give it to you.” While some at the roundtable disagreed with Sensei, for the most part, her segment was met with major cheers and a round of applause.
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Post by bedroom on Mar 10, 2018 10:07:20 GMT
Do you agree with this youtuber ghost ? While I do agree with the part about non-black people doing black music having more marketability, I think it's unfair to reduce Bruno Mars' success simply to that. I think he is very talented. Also there is something I do not understand about what cultural appropriation actually is. What exactly does it entail? Would for example Loreena Mckennitt who uses a lot of middle-eastern elements in her music fall in to that category? Does it entail that people only should cover genres that are historically part of their ancestry? If so, I can not agree with that. |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 10, 2018 10:50:59 GMT
Sorry I don't really like Bruno Mars much (Okay Uptown Funk was a great song, but how can you fuck that up - It's the Time meets Michael Jackson and some Prince thrown in), but this is shit. It is racist, who the hell says that only BLACK people can commericalise BLACK music, if that is the case, every white rock and roll artist back to Elvis is guilty of pilfering and cultural appropriation as these wack jobs put it. To me Music is a joy and a celebration of words, sounds and joy - no one race or cultural group should control, it is an expression of humanity. It is also ridiculous as we are all gunning for Bruno Mars who is Filipino and Puerto Rican (So possibly some black there), yet no on, I say no one is hunting down Justin Timberlakes ass. Or how about we go after Gino Vanelli and Elton John. This shit is ridiculous. My favourite artists are all black, yet my DNA report came back 100% non African, am I now banned from listening to it. Well if I am I am going to willingly break the law. And who the fuck is Sensei Ai shitemasu, sounds Japanese rather than "Black". - Oh okay looked, some dumbass Youtube troll/ commentator who looks to be Black or near it. Maybe we should tell her ass off for misapropriating the Japanese culture and she should select a more natural name like Kamoko Okeke or something like that or if African American - Charles Otis Jefferson Washington  Given also that all American Black people have at least some white blood, are they all guilty of misapropriating (I can't spell these big ass words) Black music too. Do we all owe a cultural debt to Manu Dibango and Fela Kuti? |
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Post by ghost on Mar 10, 2018 13:32:25 GMT
Do you agree with this youtuber ghost ? While I do agree with the part about non-black people doing black music having more marketability, I think it's unfair to reduce Bruno Mars' success simply to that. I think he is very talented. Also there is something I do not understand about what cultural appropriation actually is. What exactly does it entail? Would for example Loreena Mckennitt who uses a lot of middle-eastern elements in her music fall in to that category? Does it entail that people only should cover genres that are historically part of their ancestry? If so, I can not agree with that. I think Bruno is an easy target for this kind of accusation, largely because he is very good at mimicking his influences, and doesn't really add a whole lot of his own individuality into the mix. I'm not sure this makes him guilty of cultural appropriation, it just means he's not particularly original. These online Youtube commenters and Twitter folk love creating controversy where there is none and love acting outraged/offended when in reality, most of these people acting butthurt have probably led a very sheltered/privileged life themselves, but they act as if they're Rosa Parks. |
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Post by HIStoric on Mar 10, 2018 14:04:45 GMT
Honestly I'm getting kind of sick of hearing about this, and accusations such as this do nothing but reduces the seriousness of the term. I feel most of us live in a society where multiple cultures come together and influence us in many different ways, there's no way you can avoid that influence and as an artist it's always going to shape your work subconsciously whether you like it or not. Also it seems like this was literally just a couple of no-ones on Twitter complaining about Mars, only to have thousands of his fanbase fight back.
Frankly I don't care what skin colour you are and what kind of music you make, so long as you give credit to your influencers that's fine by me.
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TonyR
The Legend Continues
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Post by TonyR on Mar 10, 2018 14:41:33 GMT
The whole concept of cultural appropriation is useless and ridiculous beyond belief.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 10, 2018 22:21:55 GMT
I agree, but it would interesting to get the view of some African American people and how they feel on this issue, are there any on this forum and site. So far I suspect most of you are White or possibly Asian and Hispanic.
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Post by HIStoric on Mar 11, 2018 2:09:48 GMT
PLANETERY APPROPRIATION
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Post by ghost on Mar 11, 2018 12:24:52 GMT
The real issue is the need for todays artist which are replicating a practice of the past 30 years to really make and craft and shape their own music.
Why is this so difficult to do now?
Thats really what all this comes down to.
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TonyR
The Legend Continues
Posts: 8,492
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Post by TonyR on Mar 11, 2018 12:55:35 GMT
Yeah, him and Freddie Mercury are planetary racist twats. |
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Post by funksoldier on Mar 12, 2018 0:01:23 GMT
It's no damn secret that the industry loves none black R 'n B, Hip Hop, Rock artists more than black artists. It's the truth tho and no secret either. What I don't get is, that people like Sensei (She's accusing Bruno Mars of cultural apropriation, yet goes by an asian name? Girl, have several seats!), are shittin' on the artists and come off as if they wanna have a saying in who is allowed to make R'n B, Hip Hop or whatever music and who not. This is ridiculous, everybody should be free to make the music they love. I'd be depressed if someone would come up to me and say: "You can't do this or that, 'cause you got the wrong skin color." Like seriously, a lot of none arabian artists have arabic vibes to their songs (Remember 7 from Prince? Where was the outrage? Oh, I forgot, no one gives a shit), and I never got the idea that they are mocking this culture and the arabs didn't either. They don't make a fuss about it. Hell, I thought culture is meant to be shared? Seriously, I'm from germany, we are a multi-cultural country and that's the beautiful thing about it: That different cultures come together. We got asians, muslims, italians, sinti and roma, greeks, african people. I can tell you that, if they wouldn't be there and share their culture with us, germany wouldn't be as beautiful as it is today, infact, germany would be a sad place to live tho, because most things we have, wouldn't be here.
Music should simply be human culture, not black or white. I swear, sometimes I wish everybody would be blind so no one could skin colors, being able to actually see colors seems like poison to some. "This is black and this is white" If we still have that mindset, we can't move forward.
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Post by funksoldier on Mar 14, 2018 0:41:14 GMT
The real issue is the need for todays artist which are replicating a practice of the past 30 years to really make and craft and shape their own music. Why is this so difficult to do now? Thats really what all this comes down to. That is a good question. I mean, why is it that Prince and MJ could do it back then? Could it be that the new generations are just lazy as f*ck? I don't get it. Or maybe it's because recycling old stuff brings the most money and the industry only signs copy cat material and the real artists don't have a chance to get signed. You know, Bruno recycled some 90's stuff on 24K magic and people love it, they don't give a fuck if it's groundbreaking (it isn't) or not, all they want is a throwback and Bruno Mars is among the artists who give it to 'em, while earning a shitload of money. While the likes of MJ and Prince really had to work hard and did something new with what the generations before them gave 'em. Sure you could see that James Brown inspired them, and they also always mentioned it, but the difference is that both had their own unique style. Nobody would confuse MJ or Prince with other artists or one another, 'cause they shaped their own music. This is what I'd call genius level. |
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Post by jaywonder on Mar 14, 2018 4:13:15 GMT
While cultural appropriation DOES exist and runs rampant (especially here in the US), Bruno is NOT guilty of it. You make the kind of music you love and he's paying homage to the genres he grew up on. Dude is from Hawaii, and Pacific Islanders love R&B, funk, soul, dance music lol
Plus, it's bigger than Bruno. The discussion needs to be about why artists of color are constantly pigeonholed (whether it's in genres or imagery) and expected to do and act a certain way.
Another topic is why upbeat R&B and dance music has been abandoned and why contemporary R&B and hip hop are at this one, the same thing.
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Post by respect77 on Mar 14, 2018 5:21:32 GMT
I think cultural appropriation exists but the term is grossly overused now. And it is more a systematic thing IMO. Individuals can genuinely be inspired by a music style that is typically associated with another race and I don't find that racist or necessarily cultural appropriation. The cultural appropriation part comes in when someone enjoys privileges playing a certain music compared to the originators of the music, just because of skin color. The classic example is Elvis. I don't think he, as an individual was a racist or "cultural appropriatior" for playing black music. He just seemed to genuinely like this music. The unfair part came in because of the system, where Elvis would get more hype and opportunities than the originators of the music he played, just because of his race. Some people think Elvis created rock-and-roll and that's a problem when the originators of the music are overlooked for the white guy. But this is a systematic thing, not Elvis's fault. On an individual level someone can be at fault for cultural appropriation when they take certain cultural elements without giving credit to the original culture or while even being racist against the original culture. I don't find Bruno Mars guilty of cultural appropriation and I think that attack on him is a good example of today's generation grossly overdoing this millitant racial stuff. And it doesn't help at all. I feel there are these unhealthy seperationist movements going on on all sides - black, white alike. Like "we don't mix, we need to keep to our own". And that "we don't mix" is expressed in these cultural appropriation accusations in art or fashion, but also there is a millitant "we don't mix" attitude expressed in the hostility against mixed race couples. See LSA where they constantly bash anyone who dates out. To be honest, I think this is the flip side of the alt-right. There seems to be a movement to the extreme on all sides and that is not good. The real issue is the need for todays artist which are replicating a practice of the past 30 years to really make and craft and shape their own music. Why is this so difficult to do now? Thats really what all this comes down to. I agree that Mars isn't a very original artist. Interestingly, it just struck me this week. I had my music television on for a couple of days and his song Finesse was played pretty often. I see it is a New Jack Swing era retro song. And I was thinking, "wow, this guy is so overboard now with the whole retro thing". I mean it was cute with Treasure to have a 1970s retro thing, but now it seems like he is building a whole career on going through all the eras of music and playing on retro nostalgia. It starts to seem like he doesn't have many original ideas. What's next? Him doing '80s hair bands? |
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Post by HIStoric on Mar 14, 2018 5:48:55 GMT
I don't find Bruno Mars guilty of cultural appropriation and I think that attack on him is a good example of today's generation grossly overdoing this millitant racial stuff. And it doesn't help at all. I feel there are these unhealthy seperationist movements going on on all sides - black, white alike. Like "we don't mix, we need to keep to our own". And that "we don't mix" is expressed in these cultural appropriation accusations in art or fashion, but also there is a millitant "we don't mix" attitude expressed in the hostility against mixed race couples. See LSA where they constantly bash anyone who dates out. To be honest, I think this is the flip side of the alt-right. There seems to be a movement to the extreme on all sides and that is not good. Yeah. I actually think the extreme SJW thing might be backfiring. I know many people my age who are all down for equal rights and all that, but take the piss out of those who go to the extremes, the so-called SJW. Certainly with Bruno Mars, I saw many fans (the majority of whom are young) coming out and calling BS on these morons, so thankfully at least the Bruno Mars thing seems like a very minority POV. The whole Elvis thing, I'm never ever going to blame the artist for that (not saying you are Respect, you clearly state you don't). Instead I blame society at the time, which in 1950s America very obviously had a crazy amount of racist tones to it. I don't care what skin colour you are, you should be able to play whatever kind of music you like, just pay respects to the creator/influencer or whoever - which almost everyone does. Forcing an artist to keep to their 'skin colour of music' just fucking reeks of segregation and seems like we are going back in time, when if anything we live in a very multi-cultural society, where artists of all backgrounds can and do take in influences of all backgrounds. Influences of which will always subconsciously seep into their work. What's next? Him doing '80s hair bands? SHH Don't give him any ideas Respect!! |
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