Watching both episodes of the Grapevine AfroPunk/YouTube children talk about Bruno Mars, it is
evident just how superficial their knowledge is about the black music they say they're
trying to protect.
Its as if all they can reference from the past are Prince and Michael Jackson.
Apparently, they have been uninterested in the rest of their parents' and grandparents' vinyl, cassettes, 8-tracks and CDs collections.
I'd love to hear from them how The Jets were able, as a non-black American family from Tonga,
to dominate black radio in the mid 80s, and then cross over to pop success?
Where were the complaints about "cultural appropriation" against The Jets in 1985?
Hip hop and the rise of uniquely black culture changed everything. Back then there was less of a fine line between black and white music it seems
Hip hop gospel and r&b from the 90s on were seens as “Black” music and part of black culture
And people are more “woke” (for lack of a better word) and generally more opinionated about it now in retrospect.
Yea plenty artists of all races got away with some sort of appropriation even blacks borrowing whites culture (if that’s even possible) in music but today the line is drawn and the appropriation is so blatant black people don’t ignore it and call it out
Maybe cause today the culture is dying or being washed out so everyone is more sensitive
But yea it’s not fair to compare society now or even the music industry to that time in the past. That was a more innocent time as crazy as that sounds
Bruno is a completely different case in itself
Most don’t know or even remember the Jets
But Bruno has made his mark and legacy and is being compared to the GOATS of black music.
He’s held to a much higher standard and harsher criticism
Funny how Bruno is playing right now in the restaurant as I type this