My point wasn’t to say in any way that any white person rapping is culturally appropriating.
I am saying when racists take expressions of a culture that they are racist against and uses them, then it is cultural appropriation.
Minstrel music involved playing folk songs sung by black people, accompanied by a banjo, which was a traditional instrument of black people, sung in a fake black vernacular. They were also in blackface, but the blackface was not what made it appropriation. The “this thing you created is ours now too, you N—s” that made it appropriation.
And this is no different.
Here are some of the lyrics to Shapiro’s rap. They are absolutely done in a ‘black’ vernacular:
Let’s look at the stats, I’ve got the facts
My money like Lizzo, my pockets are fat
Homie, I’m epic, don’t be a WAP
Dawg, it’s a yarmulke, homie, no cap
Shapiro doesn’t talk like that normally. Ben Shapiro doesn’t call people ‘Homie’ or ‘Dawg.’ That’s Shapiro trying to sound “black.” That is textbook appropriation.
So I’m sorry if people take me saying ‘cultural appropriation’ to mean ‘Ben Shapiro is a white person doing music invented by black people,’ but that is not what appropriation means, so I don’t think that is on me.
It’s bad enough when white people who don’t hate black people appropriate black culture…
My point wasn’t to say in any way that any white person rapping is culturally appropriating.
I am saying when racists take expressions of a culture that they are racist against and uses them, then it is cultural appropriation.
It’s your original comment that’s inconsistent with this. Maybe it’s not what you meant, but it reads like you’re saying “it’s bad enough when white people appropriate culture, but it’s worse when racists do it”
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I was going to make a substantive reply to this, but I don’t think the rudeness at the end there was warranted, so I won’t.
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Okay, fair enough on the rudeness.
My point wasn’t to say in any way that any white person rapping is culturally appropriating.
I am saying when racists take expressions of a culture that they are racist against and uses them, then it is cultural appropriation.
Minstrel music involved playing folk songs sung by black people, accompanied by a banjo, which was a traditional instrument of black people, sung in a fake black vernacular. They were also in blackface, but the blackface was not what made it appropriation. The “this thing you created is ours now too, you N—s” that made it appropriation.
And this is no different.
Here are some of the lyrics to Shapiro’s rap. They are absolutely done in a ‘black’ vernacular:
Shapiro doesn’t talk like that normally. Ben Shapiro doesn’t call people ‘Homie’ or ‘Dawg.’ That’s Shapiro trying to sound “black.” That is textbook appropriation.
So I’m sorry if people take me saying ‘cultural appropriation’ to mean ‘Ben Shapiro is a white person doing music invented by black people,’ but that is not what appropriation means, so I don’t think that is on me.
That’s pretty funny actually.
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It’s your original comment that’s inconsistent with this. Maybe it’s not what you meant, but it reads like you’re saying “it’s bad enough when white people appropriate culture, but it’s worse when racists do it”