If you're a dark skinned female music artist, you won't sell albums in America

[Rack4K]

Some people in this thread seem to think that if somebody is not lightskin, theyre darkskin. I don't consider Mary J, K. Michelle or Janet to be dark, they're brownskinned.

Lauryn and Missy debunk the thread but neither of them has been hot in over 10 years and expectations were different for them because they came in as rappers

 

[Originalman]

Also folks fail to realize that even black dudes in this new R & B have to put up with this type of shyt. Look at the black male singers in the 60s, 70s and 80s who were stars.

Them dudes would be neo soul singers or gospel singer. Could James Brown or Barry White both very dark and ethnic looking be the cross over stars today that they were in their hay day......nope nope nope.

But this is what happens when the dominant culture high jacks your shyt.

 

[Kuwka_Atcha_Ratcha]

Sade ain't light skinned.

sade isn't even black, wtf is wrong with you. and she is no where near dark

 

[13473]

i agree that being darker makes it harder for u to sell records in modern decades. i'm unsure why some of u would think that non-famous ds people can be discriminated against economically, but hollywood & fans would be so above discriminating against them.

for those throwing out the names of unsuccessful LS people...to explain u should just see life as a race on a track field with hurdles, but some people will have more hurdles & higher hurdles to jump than others (being a minority race, gender, sexuality, skin tone, financial background etc) that doesn't mean the person with barely any hurdles will win the race or that his run isn't hard for him as an individual.

 

[RAW_SPK]

Brandi's last hit came in a car.

 

[Yaboysix]

Kelly
Janet
Tinashe
K michelle

All had nose jobs!!!

Were all my chocolate girls with the noses like mine !!

 

[How Sway?]

Both did numbers recently A better thread would be why is @Raul lowkey racist?

They're not dark skinned

 

[How Sway?]

this is true.. i can't even remember the last time a dark skinned sista was running shyt in music as a solo artist... i think lauryn hill was the last one i can truly think off

Yep and that was almost 20 years ago

 

[feelosofer]

Lets be reality, when I think darkskinned, I'm thinking Angie Stone, and in that sense the OP is right, but there are a lot of talented darker skinned sistas that are doing well in their own lane, be it neo-soul, slow jams and the like.

 

[NobodyReally]

Uh,

Mary J. Blige
Missy Elliott
Fantasia
Ledisi eating good selling hers independently
I don't know what "class" people are putting Janell Monae in



This wasn't a good idea for a thread.

You naming a few artists over the last 25 years isn't a good idea for a retort. The OP is talking about something that is systematic and happens in masse. A few artists, or even a dozen doesn't negate the facts. Light skinned is ideal for a black R&B/Pop star

 

[Originalman]

Kelly
Janet
Tinashe
K michelle

All had nose jobs!!!

Were all my chocolate girls with the noses like mine !!

Singing Neo Soul or gospel. Just like where are the black dudes that look and sound (like men when singing) like the O'jays. They are singing gospel and neo soul.

 

[Originalman]

You naming a few artists over the last 25 years isn't a good idea for a retort. The OP is talking about something that is systematic and happens in masse. A few artists, or even a dozen doesn't negate the facts. Light skinned is ideal for a black R&B/Pop star

Yep of course. Hell even for men. No surprise that MJ and prince are the highest selling black pop stars of all time.

Motown was built on this with their male and female artist.

 

[NobodyReally]

Wow a shyt on lightskin women thread, smfh

Seriously @KOOL-AID? Simply pointing out systematic industry racism against darker skinned black women is now regarded as light skinned shaming? So we should never talk about it, eh?

 

[Raava]

How?

 

[CrimsonTider]

Brandi's last hit came in a car.

She had a hit with Chris brown a couple of years ago

But overall this is a bad thread because it's incredibly hard to sell R&B these days because of rap music but that's another thread