Black feminist Professor Brittney Cooper gets her mean-girl panties on for Iggy Azalea, and it’s almost amusing to watch the contortions she goes through to blame Black men for what she perceives as a problem with “cultural appropriation”. Black men are appropriating black culture?
Huh?
What?
Yeah, let’s investigate the Professor’s logic.
Recently, my nine year-old nephew came running into the room, eager to find a seat to watch a performance by Iggy Azalea on an awards show. He sat, enraptured by her performance, yelling, “Iggy!” utterly oblivious to the look of chagrin and dismay on my face, as I, too, tuned in to watch this white girl from Australia, turned ATL-style rapper, caricature everything I love about Southern Hip Hop.
And right out of the starting gate, Cooper goes on a sulk and demands that everyone, including children respond to her feelz! She was chagrined, people! Dismayed! And the boy did not drop everything to assuage her hurtz. Little bastard. He was just enjoying some music. Can’t have that now, can we?
The look and feeling of chagrin has stayed with me each time I turn on my radio and hear Iggy’s hit song, “Fancy” coming through my speakers. And some of the dismay I feel is at myself, because almost without fail, I immediately start bobbing my head to the beat.
I’m no huge fan of Iggy, but yeah, Fancy has a pretty good little beat.
Iggy is a protégé of T.I., one of my all-time favorite rappers. Though T.I. is known for Atlanta-style, crunk Southern bravado that is a hallmark of Black culture in that city, according to journalist/blogger Bené Viera, T.I. recently expressed disappointment that “we’re at a place in America where we still see color.” Apparently, color is only relevant when he’s talking about racist acts against Black men, but not when he has to think through his complicity in white appropriation of Hip Hop music.
The children won’t kowtow to Cooper’s feelings and the music is pretty catchy on the whole, but there is no way Cooper is leaving a good beat alone. Three paragraphs in, and it’s the fault of Black men that Iggy captures her nephew’s attention when the boy ought to be paying attention to his Auntie. What I find amusing about Professor Cooper, a professor of cultural studies, is that she appears to have no idea how culture works. The whole point of culture is to share it, so it spreads. Culture is not something you nail shut in a box, and only approved visitors get to see it. Cultural appropriation is just some bullshit feminists and social justice warriors cooked up so they would have something to bitch about. Insisting that culture must never be shared ironically works to injure the very culture these idiots, presumably, are trying to protect.
As a born-and-raised Southern girl, who believes that lazy summer evenings are best spent with your top back or your sun roof open, bass-heavy music booming through nice speakers, while you slowly make a few blocks through the neighborhood, to see who’s out and what’s poppin,’ I resent Iggy Azalea for her co-optation and appropriation of sonic Southern Blackness, particularly the sonic Blackness of Southern Black women. Everytime she raps the line “tell me how you luv dat,” in her song “Fancy,” I want to scream “I don’t love dat!” I hate it. The line is offensive because this Australian born-and-raised white girl almost convincingly mimics the sonic register of a downhome Atlanta girl.
And if one of those downhome Atlanta girls was a pitch perfect soprano with a love for Kiri Te Kanawa, would her ability to convincingly mimic the New Zelander’s voice be offensive, or does that only work one way? Is the sonic “whiteness” of Maria Callas up for grabs? Are Jessye Norman or Leontyne Price mimicking white culture, or are they kickass opera singers, singing whatever the hell they want?
The question is why? Why is her mimicry of sonic Blackness okay? Though rap music is a Black and Brown art form, one does not need to mimic Blackness to be good at it. Ask the Beastie Boys, or Eminem, or Macklemore. These are just a smattering of the white men who’ve been successful in rap in the last 30 years and generally they don’t have to appropriate Blackness to do it. In the case of Southern rappers like Bubba Sparxx or Paul Wall, who do “sound Black” as it were, at least it is clear that they also have the accents of the places and communities in which they grew up.
How interesting that Cooper gives white men a pass, but not white women, and certainly not Black men. One wonders how Cooper navigates the twin highways of hate feminism and cultural studies have laid out before her. Men are to blame, but not white men because they pay good money and women are always victims, but not white women unless they’re being victimized by white men and Black women are victims and Black men are always to blame but not white men …… and round and round she goes.
Not so with Iggy Azalea, who left Australia at age 16. To be clear, I know all of the problems with the phrases “sound Black” and “sonic Blackness.” As a kid, I was mercilessly teased for and accused of “talking white,” “acting white” and basically attempting to “be white.” I learned during those difficult days to dissent from social norms that suggested that the only English for Black people is a vernacular English that stands adjacent to “corporate,” “standard,” or white English. I balked at such suggestions and reveled in my ability to master “standard” English.
Obviously, I do not know Cooper’s personal history, but if the narrow-mindedness of her writing is any indication, the key part of this revelation is the word “only”. Virtually every adult human understands that there are degrees of appropriateness when it comes to language and expression. Most of us will use a very formal tone standing in front of a judge, and a completely different vocabulary in everyday life with family and friends. Those individuals who never modify their speech, adjusting it for the occasion and the environment are considered socially awkward. Sometimes that is the result of neurological conditions like autism or Asperger’s Syndrome, but it can also be the result of dogged adherence to ideology. Class, race, ethnicity, geography, demography – all these things have an impact on language, and mature, intelligent people understand how to navigate the various contours of their social worlds. Not the Professor.
After a few more paragraphs complaining about that darn Iggy, making money hand over fist by singing rap songs, Cooper gets to the heart of the matter. Someone is to blame for Iggy. Someone has made Iggy possible. Someone has permitted Iggy to succeed.
Guess who?
By riding for white female rappers to the exclusion of Black women, Black men collude with the system against Black women, by demonstrating that our needs, aspirations and feelings do not matter and are not worthy of having a hearing.
The exclusion of Black women??!?! Is she fucking kidding? Cooper do you even Beyonce? Ever heard of Nicky Minaj? How about L’il Kim? Queen Latifah? Missy Elliot? Mary J. Blige? Nitty Scott, maybe? Anything ringing a bell at all?
Time Magazine put together a list of female rappers worth a listen, and every single one is Black. No one is excluding Black women from rap, least of all Black men.
This is straight up, run of the mill feminist man-hate. There is no evidence that Black men are stomping down Black women and lifting up those precious white rappers at Black women’s expense. It’s bullshit. But once Cooper gets the misandry ball rolling, she just can’t stop.
Black men keep on proving that when given access to power, money and influence, be it political or cultural, it is not Black women they ride or die for. They want our unwavering devotion, even as they make choices that contribute to the silencing of women of color in a culture we helped to build. And young, oblivious white women, caught up in fanciful ideas about a post-racial universe, climb on board, taking my unsuspecting nephew and his friends for the ride of their lives.
This paragraph illustrates perfectly why feminism and Black women go together like fish and bicycles. The feminist part of Cooper knows she has to blame men, and that women must always be victims. The white woman becomes oblivious – Iggy is not making conscious decisions about her life – she’s just some clueless chick being led astray by THE EVIL MENZ.
Which MENZ?
Well, we’re talking about rap music here, so obviously Black men get to be the villains.
If feminism rejects traditional gender roles and demands that men and women be treated as social, moral, financial and literal equals, why the hell should men ride and die for women? You want the benefits of traditional gender roles, but none of the responsibilities or constraints? Give me one good reason Black men are obliged to ride or die for any woman, no matter what color her skin happens to be?
The ability of Blackness to travel to and be performed by non-Black bodies is supposed to be a triumph of post-racial politics, a feat that proves once and for all that race is not biological. Race does not have any biological basis, but I maintain that there is no triumph and no celebration when we embrace a white girl who deliberately attempts to sound like a Black girl, in a culture where Black girls can’t get no love.
Black women who sing can’t get no love? Alicia Keys, Janet Jackson, Rhianna, Beyonce Knowles, Jennifer Hudson, Erykah Badu, Leona Lewis, Kelly Rowland, Ciara, Brandy Norwood, Nikki Minaj and Aretha would like a word with you.
I wonder what Jessye Norman would think of Cooper’s cultural appropriation? She’s a dramatic soprano who specializes in Wagner. Flawless German opera.
Iggy profits from the cultural performativity and forms of survival that Black women have perfected, without having to encounter and deal with the social problem that is the Black female body, with its perceived excesses, unruliness, loudness and lewdness. If she existed in hip hop at a moment when Black women could still get play, where it would take more than one hand to count all the mainstream Black women rap artists, I would have no problem. Iggy would be one among the many. But in this moment, she represents a problem of co-optation. She represents the ways in which hip hop is on a crash course to take exactly the path that rock ‘n roll took such that 20 years from now, people my nephew’s age, will look at the Macklemores and Iggys of the world as representative of Hip Hop Culture, with nary a Black soul making their top ten list of hip hop greats.
How many fingers do you have on one hand??!?! Cooper should perhaps keep in mind that most male rappers are not mainstream either, but that is changing because rap music is being integrated, word, by word, into mainstream pop music.
When Taylor Swift adds a rap bridge to one of her saccharine sweet pop confections, you know some headway is being made, and the culture is adding layers.
Cooper’s words are exactly what people said about Elvis. Elvis took Black music and brought it into the living rooms of every home in America. He took a great innovation in music, packaged it for consumption by the masses, spoon-fed it to them and created an entire industry and culture that was suddenly open to Black music.
That is how culture works.
Iggy isn’t stealing, or appropriating anything. She is celebrating, and spreading inner city Black music far beyond the borders of the original innovators. She is solidifying rap music and inserting it deeply into mainstream culture, from where it will not be dislodged anytime soon, and in doing so, she is broadening the market for all rap artists.
Cooper is the anachronism here, stamping her feet that she doesn’t get to dictate the exact terms of how Black culture becomes popularized. That makes her immature, out of touch and petulant. It’s her insertion of Black men as the evil oppressors that bothers me. In much the same way that feminists are the true misogynists, Black feminists are the true racists. Cooper’s insistence that Black men are running rough-shod over Black women rappers has at it’s a heart a rather grotesque vision of Black men: so enthralled with the beauty of white women, they will destroy their own mothers, sisters, daughters, aunts, nieces, friends to get at it.
You know there is something fundamentally flawed with your worldview, Cooper, when you work harder than any member of the KKK to paint Black men as lewd darkies lusting after white female flesh. You might want to think that one through.
I’ll be over here, enjoying Iggy singing Black music, and Jessye singing white. It’s called “culture.”
Feel free to join us.
You can sing any damn song you like.
We’ll do the same.
Lots of love,
JB
judgybitch 
“By riding for white female rappers…”
“RIDING”?!
reelee?! I meen, REELEE!?
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http://lmgtfy.com/“I will always love you”
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I don’t think it’s just about the rap. I’ve met some black women who really don’t like it when white women date or marry black men, either. They feel like white women have all the advantages, and then they come over into the black woman’s territory and take what little she has, too.
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i wonder what Prof. Cooper would think of this?
At a guess, she may be responding to a fear that many black women have but won’t talk about. It’s the fear of other women horning in on their men. There are sound reasons for it. There are only eighty five men for every one hundred black women.
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So I guess Asians should not be allowed to form symphony orchestras and blacks should be barred from performing Shakespeare.
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Do you mean only eighty-five black men, or eighty-five men total? Because I personally know two mixed-race couples in which the men are white and the women are black.
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When you see the phrase “feminist professor,” it’s time to walk away and find a cold beer and a good friend.
On a side note, what message does a video like that tell impressionable young people? School’s a big yawn, can’t be bothered, eff the man. Meanwhile, in some cultures, that video would be an affront to their core values of hard work and studying.
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Yes, the key point is that culture is always changing. It does so by the interaction of the disparate forces inside and outside of it. I mean, does Cooper think that Hip Hop has always existed, unchanged over the millennia? Who does field shouts anymore? Does she even know about street corner testifying that was common in urban areas as recently as the 60s and maybe more so. I’d argue that Hip Hop grew from those very roots and has displaced them. Hip Hop, like every other cultural phenomenon has always been changing and will continue to do so. Other modes of expression will eventually grow from it. ‘Twas ever thus.
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Susan,
I understand the male to female ratio among black people in the US to be 85/100 overall. I did have my hands on a chart that spelled that out for a number of foreign countries. Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine are doing about that bad too.
Given those numbers, one has to wonder why black women would be taken in by feminism?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_sex_ratio
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Does this mean I have the right to get indignant when black people use modern medicine because they’re ‘appropriating white culture?’
Let’s be honest here. The idea of cultural appropriation is bullshit, and dangerous bullshit at that. Artists have every right to use – and yes, distort, according to their personal stile, if they want – other works or themes from other cultures. Japanese composers do weird and novel arrangements of western classical music, artists and writers make use of western mythology in their stories, and that’s great, just as it is when Puccini uses and ‘distorts’ Chinese themes in madame butterfly.
In another time, people who called themselves progressives favored the exchange and interaction between different cultures. Now some want to sterilize the world of all cultural mixing whatsoever apparently.
As a matter of course I make a point to lose all respect for someone once they sincerely level the charge of cultural appropriation at anyone.
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Some people I guess see culture as a static artifact and want to put ‘culture’ into a museum, so to speak, where it may be revered in some sense but no one is ever allowed to touch it lest we get it dirty.
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These “strong independent women who don’t need no man” finally got through to black men with their message of “black me ain’t sh*t” (a common refrain I heard plenty growing up). And the men -the ones they didn’t ruin by raising them without fathers- said, “Okay, then, you can have it.” Now the sisters are angry.
No opportunity to bash black men for the dismal marriage rates of black women is ever passed up. Ever. They have to yell and scream about how black women can’t get any love from the most successful and eligible of their own men, unlike other women.
Even the swirlers, the ones who snagged the “prize of prizes” (a white husband!) still show up on black women’s empowerment blogs and websites to bash and denigrate black men. Why bother if you’re off the plantation? It’s farcical, really.
They need to shut up already. Ugh.
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It’s not that she raps, there’s nothing wrong with white people rapping.
My understanding of cultural appropriation is that it’s really about using attributes of other cultures as props.
Like how Miley Cyrus suddenly incorporated styles and trends that one would consider “urban”. It’s not HER, she’s just using it as a prop for her new image. Twerking as been around for decades, and images of black women twerking were seen as obscene. But with Miley, it was suddenly considered hip and a part of pop culture.
As for Iggy, she raps with a ghetto accent but when she talks, it’s a straight Australian one. Why can’t she rap in her normal accent? It’s more than that though. I think these two articles may explain things a little more than my comment lol:
http://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/dec/24/iggy-azalea-azealia-banks-hip-hop-appropriation-problem
http://www.thefrisky.com/2014-12-04/an-open-letter-to-iggy-azalea-regarding-her-appropriation-of-black-culture-while-ignoring-the-issues-faced-by-the-black-community/
A little sidenote. Whenever white artists have any “blackish characteristics”, the media goes crazy about them, and black people/black artists have a problem with that. Macklemore himself has been open about this concerning his success. If you’re interested in watching an interview of him talking about it:
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But this kind of makes my point. Twerking was lewd before Miley did it, and now the whole damn world understands that twerking is a seriously demanding dance move and Miley sucks at it.
Twerking is not my thing, but for all the dancers who kill this style, Miley did them a huge favor.
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“Cooper’s words are exactly what people said about Elvis. Elvis took Black music and brought it into the living rooms of every home in America. He took a great innovation in music, packaged it for consumption by the masses, spoon-fed it to them and created an entire industry and culture that was suddenly open to Black music.”
Is that really how it happened, that it took Elvis for people to be open to black music? And did Elvis ever publicly admit to what influenced his music or give credit to where it came from? If not, then personally I find that problematic. I think that’s the issue surrounding appropriation, not giving credit to what influenced you and claiming it as your own creation.
“Iggy isn’t stealing, or appropriating anything. She is celebrating, and spreading inner city Black music far beyond the borders of the original innovators. She is solidifying rap music and inserting it deeply into mainstream culture, from where it will not be dislodged anytime soon, and in doing so, she is broadening the market for all rap artists.”
Does it have to take a white artist to bring rap to the mainstream though? And I wouldn’t say she’s broadening the market for all rap artists. There’s still a lot of black artists that don’t make it to the mainstream. And like I said, the media/industry LOVE white artists with “blackish” attributes.
Now with all this being said, I could care less about Iggy. I even like a couple of her songs.
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This “appropriation of black culture” argument rings hollow to me. It’s common practice in show business for people to copy what works. imitation being the sincerest form of flattery and all that good stuff.
Most of the very popular soul music of the 60’s was began with heathens co-opting the sounds they heard in the churches they grew up in as children but left as adults. Then the rock and roll era exploded and many of those artists appropriated the sounds of the early and successful soul singers. It’s rather ubiquitous, and all but the most fiercely independent artists in whatever medium are able to launch a career and acquire world wide attention without piggy backing at least a little on what has been done before.
The reason this Professor’s argument was offensive to me is because she decided to pick on black men as the culprit. As if this young woman wouldn’t have been able to find someone else to bankroll and produce here. The rapper who took her under his wing was making a business decision which I doubt had anything at all to do with slighting or insulting black women.
Even though I am not moved that much by the cultural appropriation argument, I think the article dissected here would have been easier to stomach if she left it at that. But as is typical of educated black women today, she couldn’t pass up the opportunity to make it about how black women suffer at the hands of black men.
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But WHY was it considered lewd? Why did it have to take a white artist for people to see it in a less negative light? THAT’S the question. Even still, white women twerking is still seen as hot and black women twerking….well….less than hot. Now grant it I’m basing this off of Youtube comments lol, but it is telling.
Besides, look at how Vogue claimed we’re in the “era of the big booty”….in 2014. Big booties have been around for a LONG TIME lol. And of course there was a backlash to that article.
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Not trying to spam your comment section lol, but here’s another video, this time with rapper Azealia Banks:
I just find this to be a pretty interesting topic. Hopefully the embed code works.
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I guess Professor Cooper doesn’t realize that Rock, Jazz, rap and hip hop wouldn’t even exist were it not for the mixing of African and European cultures. Or she just really hates black guys. Crazy mental gymnastics aren’t surprising when they come from a feminist but the amount of effort she puts into pinning this “problem” on black men is disturbing.
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I must be missing something, I though Miley’s twerking was one of the reasons why so many people came to view her as being lewd.
Isn’t that part of why so many people mock her? If she made it socially acceptable, I must’ve missed that memo.
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I was thinking the exact same thing as Mark.
Miley Cyrus did not make twerking acceptable. It was viewed as more lewd than ever after her spectacle. Mothers of tween girls everywhere were outraged and took to the interwebs in protest.
You didn’t miss the memo. If you did, so did I.
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White twerking is seriously considered hotter than black twerking? That’s so strange. To me it always looked a bit pathetic when skinny white girls do it, even if they have had the training and know what they are doing. Maybe it’s not the race though, but lack of big butt. Either way, I’d leave twerking to blacks :S Only they make it look good to me.
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Whenever two distinct groups of peoples (“cultures”) have intermingled, they exchange cultural artifacts. Go way back, tens of thousands of years. Interchanges on pottery, weapons, what we now call art, everything that makes us human.
No big deal, grab another cold one. (Bless that refrigeration technology!)
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Holla. Black women own the gold on twerking.
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I gotta say…white aussie girls. are like white aussie boys….ALL trying to sound like black Americans…fucking pathetic.This is more about the overwhelming dominance of American culture.Having said that…..you can keep Iggy….we have enough wannabes here….irrespective of her success or whiny feminazis finding something new to gripe about.
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Sounds racist to me. Pretty sure every single white supremacist has the same attitude, possibly for similar reasons.
Do white men not marry black women then?
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Sorry some weird problem caused this to appear in the wrong place.
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Sounds racist to me. Pretty sure every single white supremacist has the same attitude, possibly for similar reasons.
Do white men not marry black women then?
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She’s a professor of culture studies so maybe she’s simply angry and bitter that every paper and book she writes is out of date before it’s published, every lecture she gives has to be rewritten each time. She was told that she would have an easy life riding the academic gravy train and it was a lie so someone has to pay.
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Lots of singers have accents when they talk but have none or different ones when they
sing. Whether that’s choice, training or simply a consequence of the music styles I don’t see it matters.
I can understand if they person is doing it to denigrate or ridicule like maybe the black and white minstrels but copying it because they like it, or even just because it’s popular doesn’t make it a bad thing.
Black culture was influenced by white culture, white culture by black culture. A professor of cultural studies should know that when two cultures meet they affect each other, one may ‘win’ but it’s always changed. Look at China and the Mongols.
Complaining because someone is copying/appropriating/changing your culture just seems like sheer bitterness to me. You don’t care about your culture you just care that someone is having more success with it.
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Would it be too simple to point out that Miley was really, really famous when she started twerking?
I’ve seen twerking done in rap videos before, but never by a women even approaching Miley’s fame. I mean, “Party in the USA” – a pre-twerking Miley song – has 400 million views on youtube.
Does Beyonce twerk? Or is that thing she does called “booty popping”?
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Cultural appropriation has to be one of the dumbest term in use.
Take the example of twerking and Miley mentioned in the comments. Miley sucks at it but introduced it to a lot of (white) people who have since looked up how it is done by people who are good at it and fell in love with the dance move.
Then come the idiots who complain about cultural appropriation. Those who complain that people have a common love for a dance move. Dancing is probably one of the least offensive things ever invented and one of the best ways to bring people together.
But people taking part in an expression of joy is triggering and cannot be allowed.
Mixing of cultures can be dangerous. Next thing you know there will be race-mixing, LGBT friendliness and understanding. The horror, the Horror! Won’t somebody think of the children.
The US is a melting pot of cultures. It is only polite to melt a little yourself while in it. As they say “when in Rome, do as the romans” or can we not say that since it would be cultural appropriation of European culture?
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Azealia Banks screwed up her chance to become as big as Iggy because the girl burned every bridge before she even had one mainstream hit song. The world of entertainment may not go by the same rules as a 9-5 job, but it does rely on pushing your way in through contacts and not making an ass of yourself over and over again on social media and elsewhere. You’re allowed to be an ass and push the rules once you’re actually famous, not while working your way through the ranks. Azealia Banks did not know how to make a good impression of herself to the wider audience and she alienated the people who could have gone on to make her big…no use being bitter now, Iggy was simply better at knowing how to become a product that appeals to mainstream listeners. Banks may be a great rapper, but as a business woman, she’s dumb as hell and the fault is hers alone.
“As for Iggy, she raps with a ghetto accent but when she talks, it’s a straight Australian one. Why can’t she rap in her normal accent?”
Why do some pop singers, like Australian Missy Higgins, sing in a 100% Aussie accent, while others have a more Americanised or neutral accent, before even having a hit in the states? Why is Iggy, who lived and worked in the US and had always been influenced by American rap artists, not allowed to draw inspiration from that? Maybe she just doesn’t like how rap with an Australian accent sounds and wants to do what she feels more comfortable with?
Why the fuck does it even matter? Why the fuck is one popular white rapper, (who likely won’t be so famous in the next few years because the music world has become really fickle) such a damn threat to people? Should we just keep black music for black people and white music for white people? If that’s the case, why not just stop beating around the bush and go back to full on segregation? Let’s stop pretending it’s about culture when in actual fact, it’s bitterness because Azelia and her ilk can’t get over the entitlement complex. Being black does not in any way make you entitled to mainstream success as a rapper.
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FuzzieWuzzie, I wasn’t disputing that there were a lot fewer black men available for marriage than black women. For one thing black men suffer from a lot of discrimination in the justice system, and are more likely to be murdered, in many cases, by the police. But I was saying that black women who are open to marrying outside their race (I thought of a few more couples I knew with a white husband and black wife after my posting the other day), have a much wider pool to choose from.
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C’mon…this is just an excuse for complaining. I mean…does she reserve the same level of bile for Eric Clapton, Peter Green et al when they – white guys – took on blues music, and bastardised it to form an entirely new genre (ie rock)?
Then again…I suppose she probably doesn’t have enough cultural and historical awareness to realise what happened back then.
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“These ‘strong independent women who don’t need no man’ finally got through to black men with their message of “black me ain’t sh*t” (a common refrain I heard plenty growing up). And the men -the ones they didn’t ruin by raising them without fathers- said, ‘Okay, then, you can have it.’ Now the sisters are angry.”
I agree that it’s wrong and imbalanced to blame all social problems on males — but are you saying that any time a child grows up without a father, the woman is always 100% to blame?
I understand that a lot of women make it hard, and sometimes even impossible for their children’s fathers to be actively involved in their lives — and in those cases, yes, the women who do that are to blame.
But there are some moms, especially young moms, who were hoping for a lot more help and involvement from their children’s fathers than those fathers were willing to give. The mothers were partially to blame for choosing to have unprotected sex before they and their partner were really mature enough to take on the full commitment of raising child — but it takes two to tango
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@Susan:
As a Black Man, let me dispel the idea or notion that there is some “shortage” of Black Men – it is not. What some Black Women mean, is that there is a shortage of the kinds of Black Men they want, a huge difference.
Also, please bear in mind, that quantity and quality are two very different things. Just because there may be more Black Women to Black Men, does not then mean that all of those Black Women are wifely material. They are not.
I’ll have more to say about the topic Janet addresses above, in a separate comment.
O.
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I totally agree with this: “The idea of cultural appropriation is bullshit, and dangerous bullshit at that.”
At the same time, I think that while this woman was ostensibly complaining about “cultural appropriation,” what she was really upset about was something much deeper. I do realize I’m taking a lot of liberties by psychoanalyzing her, and I have absolutely no credentials to do so, so I may end up really pissing someone off here, but JB’s blog seems like the safest place to piss people off :), so here goes.
I’d like to start by describing a seemingly-unrelated but somewhat parallel situation: The global community and global marketplace are wonderful things overall, and will, I believe, do our world a lot more good than harm in the long run — but these worldwide interactions can often upset the economies and ways of life of the people who are already vulnerably close to losing what little they have and not being able to feed and care for themselves and their children. One example is the effect that NAFTA has had on Mexican subsistence farmers.
Of course, the same globalization that makes these increased amounts of interaction possible, is also making it easier than ever to spread information about how various activities are affecting the world’s poorest people, so again, I see more positive than negative.
I know this seems a little different than our discussion about white girls singing like black girls and black boys and men liking it. On the surface, that really is a petty thing to get upset about — but this article really makes me think about the growing tendency for many young white people to say they are “color-blind” and to say that race is a total non-issue.
For young people, even ten or twenty years is an extremely long time, so for a young white person who may have black friends, but hasn’t lived as a black person and experienced the discrimination their black friends still experience — and their black friends may want to be cool and not come across like they’re whining about unfairnesses — well, this young white person is in a very enviable place compared to that of the young black person, who probably has at least one close relative who’s in jail or who’s been murdered (maybe even by a police officer, and maybe for no crime other than playing with a toy gun)…
So, yes, I think it’s crazy to block the sharing between cultures — but I don’t think the frustration this woman feels regarding her situation as a black woman is completely off-base, either.
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Good article, Janet! Although, this is something that is easily seen, and perhaps it would be better for someone like me to do so, rather than someone like you, seeing as how you’re the enemy (an attractive, White, blonde-haired White Woman):
As I’ve said recently over at A Voice For Men, Black Feminists like Prof. Cooper, suffer from the Ms. Ann Syndrome:
http://www.avoiceformen.com/sexual-politics/the-ms-ann-syndrome/
They are hopping mad that the Black Men they actually want, AIN’T CHECKIN’ FOR THEM – and do you know why? Well, to answer that question, let’s take a look at Prof. Cooper:
http://www.brittneycooper.com/
And compare that, to Ms. Azalea:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iggy_Azalea
Here are Ms. Azalea’s measurements and more (such as her last two boyfriends, ahem):
http://healthyceleb.com/iggy-azalea-height-weight-body-statistics/14872
26 inch waist, 38 inch hips. In other words, that White Girl’s got a donk.
Does anyone here honestly believe that Prof. Cooper in any way, compares?
Really?
Hence the Sturm Und Drang of the Black Feminists Brigades: that those Brothas who are in a position to choose – like famous rappers or pro athletes – choose Women who most embody that which they desire. Which usually leaves Sistas like Cooper out in the proverbial cold.
Black Feminism is nothing but a not-so-clever way for homely fat chicks to be heard on the national stage.
Yea, I think I’m gonna write about this one…
O.
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@Lee:
To ask the question, is to answer it, yes? Of course, Prof. Cooper doesn’t reserve her bile for these White Men – this is about sexual competition, and Sistas like Cooper can and will lose, every single time.
There is a reason they say that Fat Girls Try Harder, dontcha know – and it would behoove Prof. Cooper to take a page out of that book, since it appears clear that she doesn’t intend to push herself away from the table anytime soon…
O.
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good one!
where is the article from a black writer telling misty copeland to stop appropriating white culture? their racism is getting out of hand.
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@Ms. Elspeth,
First, long time, no hear – and Happy New Year! We really should chat sometime soon; you know how to reach me.
And second – Ms. Elspeth, let’s not be coy now. We both know what’s really going on here, now don’t we? Prof. Cooper is spitting mad that Black Men – even as young as her 7-year old nephew (not she has no son – hmm) – know a Hawt Woman when he sees one.
And Prof. Cooper ain’t hawt. Not. By. A. Long. Shot.
You and I both know, that Black Feminists are rarely physically attractive – and of the handful that do exist, they are certifiably cray, which spoils whatever physical gifts they bring to the mating table. Part of the reason why they go the Lesbian Route, is because they cannot win the attractions of the Black Men they want, and even the Black Men they don’t want ain’t checking for them either.
This is all about Sour Grapes, Ms. Elspeth. You know it. I know it.
There, I’ve said it.
It’s time Prof. Cooper and her Sistas heard it.
Maybe it will motivate them to move away from the table, invest in a gym membership and Sephora, and follow the lead of Sistas like yourself who shown how its really done.
🙂
O.
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You tell from the tortured logic Cooper uses in giving Bubba Spraxx a pass is that the real issue she has Iggy is that she has not put in the time around black people to justify the appropriation.
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@Renee:
That’s not necessarily true. Joss Stone never had the breakout success that Adele had, and that’s despite Stone’s star-powered talent in the legendary Raphael Siddiq backing her up. Both Vanilla Ice and Everlast, are now more associated with parody than being taken serious as rappers. There’s a White rapper from the South, Bubba something or other…the fact that I can’t even remember his full name (Bubba Sparks! Now it comes to me), tells you all you need to know there. And Robin Thicke toiled in obscurity for years, despite his star-pedigree in the form of his dad, until he finally got a hit with “Lost Without You”. The same can be said for Teena Marie.
Just because you’re White and sound Black, does not automatically mean success; you still have to have some other things break your way as well. Just ask Eminem…
O.
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Here, here! Banks is no Lauryn Hill, that much is for sure…
O.
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@Ms. Emma:
Hey, long time no hear – Happy New Year! We should catch up sometime, email me.
As for White gals twerking: spend a bit of time searching for “PAWGs” online, perhaps YouTube, and see for yourself. I recently saw one such video there of a “twerkoff” in Ukraine…yes, I did not stutter. And trust, them White gals were workin’ it!
Also: search for the following names:
Mal Mallory
Elke
Olivia Jensen
All can be found on YouTube, I think. Not sure if they’re twerkin’, but they definitely embody what brings the Brothas out to the yard.
O.
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“A little sidenote. Whenever white artists have any “blackish characteristics”, the media goes crazy about them, and black people/black artists have a problem with that.”
Have you ever watched the old Saturday Night Live skit “White Like Me” by Eddie Murphy? It’s hilarious, simply because it’s of a black person displaying “whitish characteristics;” it wouldn’t be at all funny to hear most white guys reading a Hallmark card.
As a white person, when I see someone of another culture imitating white Americans, well, it’s a lot of fun because it makes me realize I really do have a culture, and it’s also funny to see how I must look and sound to my black and Hispanic neighbors and friends.
https://screen.yahoo.com/white-000000112.html
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This situation sort of parallels the way many men feel about the much greater attention that some women, such as yourself, are bringing to men’s issues. On the one hand, it’s good that you’re speaking up on their behalf and bringing these issues to center stage. On the other hand, it sucks that it takes a woman to get people to listen.
And it’s good (I guess, sort of — here I’m speaking as a 50-year-old mother of a teenager :)) that Miley Cyrus has brought twerking into the mainstream culture. On the other hand, it sucks that it took a white woman to do it.
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Yes, they do. I mentioned that in a couple other posts. But for some reason, black men seem less upset about that. If any are upset, I sure haven’t heard about it.
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I see a lot from progs that they have to justify their rants and positions by making everything a zero sum game, even when those things are demonstrably not zero sum.
For instance, hating the rich because they are taking wealth from poor people, as if wealth is a finite resource that cannot be created.
Or, in this case, putting it out there that there are somehow only a finite number of positions for ” female rapper” and every position held in that category somehow “denies” another the ability to hold that position. It’s a very common prog argument technique, and it is as dishonest as it is specious, but it is required to justify their worldview.
Without zero sum thinking, however fallacious, the entire prog philosophy falls to pieces.
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@Ms. Elspeth said:
“These “strong independent women who don’t need no man” finally got through to black men with their message of “black me ain’t sh*t” (a common refrain I heard plenty growing up). And the men -the ones they didn’t ruin by raising them without fathers- said, “Okay, then, you can have it.” Now the sisters are angry.
No opportunity to bash black men for the dismal marriage rates of black women is ever passed up. Ever. They have to yell and scream about how black women can’t get any love from the most successful and eligible of their own men, unlike other women.
Even the swirlers, the ones who snagged the “prize of prizes” (a white husband!) still show up on black women’s empowerment blogs and websites to bash and denigrate black men. Why bother if you’re off the plantation? It’s farcical, really.
They need to shut up already. Ugh.”
O: BOOM! And: http://obsidianraw.bravejournal.com/entry/104470 for more on what she’s saying above. The Brothas – especially the ones the Black Feminists are really checking for – have left the building…a long time ago…
O.
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I’m not giving the men a pass for neglecting to take a more active roll in their children’s lives. I’ve just seen far too many black women (educated women who should know better, not girls) make babies with men whom it was more than obvious that they weren’t father material. And then complain about how bad black men treat their women and children.
Seen it up close more times than I can count on my fingers.
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Right, so both the mother and father are to blame in this case. Both women and men have a responsibility to be selective about who they’re going to have condom-free sex with. I suppose you’re saying that when a mature and educated person has condom-free sex with an immature and uneducated person, the former is more to blame if a baby results, and I agree with you there.
But the person with less maturity and education, provided that he or she is still a consenting adult, also knows what a condom is (we would hope — unless he or she received an abstinence-only education). If you know what makes a baby and how to use a condom, and choose not to use one, then you’re not without responsibility, even if you have significantly less education than the person you’re sleeping with.
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I dug into some recent Pew Research polling, the poll that was widely interpreted to men there were only 91 marriageable men for every 100 marriageable women. For marriageable black men and women ages 25 to 34, the ratio is 51 to 100.
Of course, Pew defines “marriageable” in terms friendly to women. A man must be employed full time, while a woman can be morbidly obese and have three children by as many men and still considered marriageable.
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I assume I’m in the minority when I note that hiphop, for the most part, is shite. It’s a self-limiting form focused too often on trivial pursuits. It’s largely bankrupt, but then so was much of white pop around the middle of the last century.
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Except, some cultural appropriate is better than others. When Led Zeppelin stole black music wholesale and failed to give proper attribution, that’s sleazy. It’s morally wrong.
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“He sat, enraptured by her performance, yelling, “Iggy!” utterly oblivious to the look of chagrin and dismay on my face,…”
That’s frankly hilarious. An adult, put out by the failure of a nine-year old to read that adult’s emotions.
“As a born-and-raised Southern girl, who believes that lazy summer evenings are best spent with your top back or your sun roof open, bass-heavy music booming through nice speakers, while you slowly make a few blocks through the neighborhood,…”
Fuck you.
From all of us who have had lazy summer evenings wrecked by morons who thought blasting their shite music was more important than anyone else talking quietly, enjoying the panoply of urban sounds, napping, lazing, reading, playing or listening to our own music at a volume respectful of other peoples’ pursuits, a very hearty Fuck You, Brittney..
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I’m trying to think if I’ve ever read anything in which a writer claimed the unstated motive for someone’s criticism was that the critic was ugly, that ever made that writer sound like anything more than a childish, resentful halfwit unable to mount a real argument.
Nope. Not once. Good luck with that.
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If so, that hasn’t been a meaningful criterion since the digital age, and of course in any case would rule out working with material after the creators of that material had passed on.
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“For instance, hating the rich because they are taking wealth from poor people, as if wealth is a finite resource that cannot be created.”
Straw man.
Noting that the rich rig the game by buying legislation that makes stealing from the poor and working classes easier isn’t “hate,” it’s credible economic analysis. And Econ 101, when you get around to it, will teach you that economic resources are always finite.
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Heresy! Rap is one of the most innovative, transgressive and purely literary art forms out there. I defy you not to agree with both the sentiment and the beat when Jamie and Kanye bust out their social commentary.
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That seems to be something women in general are doing. A poll was done at one of the big (primarily white) dating sites, and women rated 85% of the men on the site as “below average.”
Assuming the men there were representative of men at large, women’s expectations are absurdly unrealistic. Of course, since regular men are rarely asked their opinions, we don’t know what the reverse number was. What are men thinking, especially when the average woman in the US weighs close to 170 pounds?
Fwiw I posted upthread on the Pew poll that purportedly showed a dearth of marriageable men. By Pew’s standards, the ratio for whites and asians is 100 men to 100 women. For blacks it’s 51 men to 100 women.
It has everything to do with jobs. Men are “marriageable” when they’re working full time. Women are “marriageable” when they’re 100 lbs. overweight and have number kids, even by age 25.
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I don’t like hip hop either. For aesthetic reasons. To take a snipe at JB just above, even if there is social commentary in it (even that has declined though since the 90s), if someone somehow managed to comprehensibly fart the collected works of Max Weber, I think I still wouldn’t like it because I’d find it gross. It just has no appeal to me.
Plus as I understand it Kanye West is just about the biggest asshole in the world.
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That’s not cultural appropriation though, that’s plagiarism. Now you may point out that it was easier then to steal from black artists than white ones, but then the problem has nothing to do with appropriating someone’s culture; it’s that intellectual property wasn’t respected equally across races.
It is equally bad whether one steals from a black artist (or one from any other culture) as if one steals from one within one’s own culture. It’s just that more chose to do the former because it was easier to get away with, as I understand it.
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I always enjoyed Dave Chappelle’s white impressions. Here’s him doing his hypothetical white friend ‘Chip’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJ3dk6KAvQM
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No doubt, when someone attacks the policies of Qiang Qing (Mao’s wife and would-be successor in dictatorship) as ‘disgusting’, it’s really just a subconscious attack on her body odor, and therefore a reinforcement of patriarchal hygienic standards imposed on women.
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Right, Sergey Brin and Larry Page are only so rich because they horded the finite internetz and otherwise I’d be a millionaire.
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Indeed. Plenty of people do need to be informed that, just because they like a song, not everyone else wants to hear it. It’s kind of like a guy going around farting around other people and expecting them to enjoy the odor, just because he enjoys it.
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Ah, I heard of PAWGs 🙂 Got a link to the “trewkoff”?
When talking about white girls who look a bit silly when twerking, I’m thinking about something like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TahFeqo1iiU Sure they’re hot and they can dance, but that dance doesn’t suit them.
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I suppose the man could also be morbidly obese and have children by different women, too — but does the woman need to be employed full time?
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I’m not sure if I found the article you were talking about, but I did find an article stating that 78% of women and 46% of men place high importance on a potential mate having a steady job — so nearly half of the male population does care about a woman’s ability to contribute financially. It didn’t say anything about either men or women looking for someone who was 100 lbs. overweight and already had kids.
Maybe there are some corners of the world where the men are all slim and well-toned and the women are all obese, but where I live in the Midwest, there seem to be as many obese men as women. Also, there seem to be as many unwed fathers as unwed mothers — but then, I guess I’m basing it on your description of women with three children, each by a different man. I realize one man can impregnate lots of women — but for all these women to have children by DIFFERENT men, this means it couldn’t be just one man doing all of it.
http://www.bustle.com/articles/41504-declining-marriage-rates-may-be-due-to-lack-of-marriageable-men-so-lay-off-mom
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Thanks for that link, he is awesome.
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I think the dating site he was referring to that found 85% of men ‘below average’ was okcupid.com. I’m not sure if it was published in an article elsewhere, but that sight actually publishes some of their own information and findings from their users, perhaps for public interest, but also purportedly to offer relationship advice.
Another interesting article from that same site (I don’t have the link, you could try looking it up on google if interested) looked at what type of messages from men elicited the most responses form women, in terms of words included in the message, how good spelling and grammar were, etc. One thing they found was that the factor that most improved a man’s chances of getting a response from a woman was: self-deprecation.
Women were most responsive to men who apologized a lot (apparently for having the gall to message the woman), made self-deprecating jokes, humiliated and emasculated themselves. I found this rather unsettling, as it suggests many women actually prefer men who put themselves down to put her on a pedestal. It also betrays a self-contradiction: some women will admit, despite claims that niceness, friendliness, and funniness are the most important traits, that self-confidence is the biggest sine qua non they look for in men (and I this does appear to be true); but apparently the same is not so true of self-respect in men. Which is odd, because I’m sure how one can have self-confidence without self-respect.
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Why must there be a filter for “black” Music? Why do white people have to bring “black” music to white people. Why can’t black people bring “Black” music to white people?
Why must a white person, package “black” music for consumption for the masses, and spoon-fed it to them and create an entire industry and culture?
The culture and industry has already been created by blacks. Why must whites also take ownership?
The Black Community is fully capable of showing off their own ideas, talents and creative/artistic skills.
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I do not believe so and, yes, any given man could weigh 400 lbs and have nine kids. As long as he works full time, he makes the cut.
Of course, young women are more likely to overweight or obese than young men (all that disposable manual labor, you know), and are far more likely to be custodial parents.
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I adore me some JB, JB, but that’s some godawful tripe right there. The bass line is robotic, the lyrics unevocative… Foxx’s intro is off-key and not in the way that adds something or meaningfully stretches the lyrics or notes or the beat… For truly transgressive give me Lightning Hopkins’ “Bring Me My Shotgun,” most of Miles, the early Coltrane quartets, any early Public Enemy or NWA…
Kanye’s extreme limitations are never more evident than when we just cut to the lyrics. They’re awful. Unlike good writing, he never fills your head with images. He evokes almost nothing. Even mid-period Dylan is more transgressive in how he stretches the boundaries of spoken word, beat-driven pop. Any 12 lines from “Black Diamond Bay” off Desire tells a richer story than all of Kanye put together. Is what Kanye does even rap / hiphop any more? Isn’t it all so comfortably predictable that it’s just pop music?
“Gold Digger”
(feat. Jamie Foxx)
[Jamie Foxx]
She take my money when I’m in need
Yeah she’s a trifling friend indeed
Oh she’s a gold digger way over town
That digs on me
[Chorus:]
(She gives me money)
Now I ain’t sayin’ she a gold digger (when I’m in need)
But she ain’t messin’ with no broke niggas
(She gives me money)
Now I ain’t sayin’ she a gold digger (when I’m in need)
But she ain’t messin’ with no broke niggas
Get down girl go head get down (I gotta leave)
Get down girl go head get down (I gotta leave)
Get down girl go head get down (I gotta leave)
Get down girl gone head
[Verse 1:]
Cutie the bomb
Met her at a beauty salon
With a baby Louis Vuitton
Under her underarm
She said I can tell you rock
I can tell by your charm
Far as girls you got a flock
I can tell by your charm and your arm
But I’m looking for the one
Have you seen her?
My psychic told me she have an ass like Serena
Trina, Jennifer Lopez, four kids
And I gotta take all they bad ass to show-biz
OK get your kids but then they got their friends
I pulled up in the Benz, they all got up in
We all went to Den and then I had to pay
If you fucking with this girl then you better be paid
You know why
It take too much to touch her
From what I heard she got a baby by Busta
My best friend says she use to fuck with Usher
I don’t care what none of yall say I still love her
[Chorus]
[Verse 2:]
18 years, 18 years
She got one of your kids, got you for 18 years
I know somebody paying child support for one of his kids
His baby mamma’s car and crib is bigger than his
You will see him on TV any given Sunday
Win the Superbowl and drive off in a Hyundai
She was supposed to buy your shorty TYCO with your money
She went to the doctor got lypo with your money
She walking around looking like Michael with your money
Should’ve got that insured got GEICO for your money, money, money
If you ain’t no punk holla we want prenup
WE WANT PRENUP! Yeah
It’s something that you need to have
‘Cause when she leave yo ass she gonna leave with half
18 years, 18 years
And on her 18th birthday he found out it wasn’t his
[Chorus]
[Verse 3:]
Now I ain’t saying you’re a gold digger you got needs
You don’t want your dude to smoke but he can’t buy weed
You got out to eat and he can’t pay you all can’t leave
There’s dishes in the back, he gotta roll up his sleeves
But why you all washing watch him
He gone make it into a Benz out of that Datsun
He got that ambition, baby, look in his eyes
This week he mopping floors next week it’s the fries
So, stick by his side
I know this dude’s balling but yeah that’s nice
And they gone keep calling and trying
But you stay right girl
But when you get on he leave your ass for a white girl
Get down girl go head get down
Get down girl go head get down
Get down girl go head get down
Get down girl go head
(lemme hear that back)
Ugh. That’s mostly emptiness. Look at the verbs. They’re flat, lifeless. Rap can be transgressive. This isn’t. Sure, I agree with the sentiment, but that doesn’t make it a good tune.
Good luck with your new projects! Cheers, Jack.
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Fair enough, although one doesn’t rule out the other. What Zep did was alter the work enough to have made a meaningful contribution to advancing music. At the same time, their failure to give attribution given how much many of their songs would not have been possible without the source material, did indeed constitute plagiarism.
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Gosh. Wish it had occurred to me that irrelevant counterexamples always refute a point.
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Testify!
The devil with gated communities: Give me a subdivision or block where pets and music cannot be regularly audible from other properties or dwellings and where leaf blowers, weed whackers, and power mowers are banned.
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Sure, but why can’t white artists interpret any music they please, including that made by black men and women, and sell it to whomever cares to listen to it, in the same way black artists can do the reverse?
Michael Jackson built on the pop created by a whole lot of white (as well as black and hispanic and so on) folks who came before him, just to give one example.
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Hell, black men think that white men are doing them a favor!
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Which means men are more likely to be paying child support.
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That’s surprising to me, too, because I find confidence attractive and self-deprecation an extreme turnoff. But I will admit that I one thing that impressed me about my husband, when we first started getting to know each other after his divorce, was that me made a point (without my asking) of summarizing where he went wrong in the marriage and didn’t even mention his ex-wife’s shortcomings.
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“The Black Community is fully capable of showing off their own ideas, talents and creative/artistic skills.”
Absolutely! But since many of our own ideas, whatever race we happen to be, are simply recombinations of ideas from other people and other cultures, can any artist — black, white, Hispanic, Asian, or whatever — really claim that their work is solely drawn from their own culture?
Especially in today’s global community, that seems impossible. The important thing here is to give credit where credit is due, when we know we’ve drawn heavily from another artist or another culture.
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I’ve been reading up on the issue of cultural appropriation a bit more, and what I’ve concluded thus far is that, yes, every culture in the world is a product of generations of continuous interactions between different cultures — and at the same time, those of us who are white Americans should be respectfully aware of the history of interactions between our ancestors’ cultures and other cultures, and not be so ignorant as to assume that, for example, if a poor minority person living on the street pokes fun at a wealthy businessman by imitating his speech and mannerisms, that it’s essentially the same thing as a wealthy businessman poking fun at a minority homeless person by imitating him.
When the disadvantaged poke fun at the advantaged, everyone knows that it’s hugely motivated by envy. When the reverse happens, it’s just kicking someone when he’s down, while remaining very, very glad that you have your life and not his.
But of course, not every act of cultural sharing or appropriation involves making fun of other people. A black woman may straighten her hair and dye it blond, and she’s not doing it to make fun of whites; she’s doing it because she feels that she will look more attractive with a white woman’s type of hair, and she probably also has some desire to incorporate other aspects of white culture into her life, such as the ability to adapt her speech to a business setting. And here, I’m not implying that white speech is superior to black (or that there’s only one form of white speech and one form of black), or that good grammar is a “white thing” — just that because white culture is the dominant culture, upper-class white patterns of speech have come to be seen as more business-like.
Many minorities who incorporate some aspects of white culture into their lives are doing so in order to increase their chances of success in the larger culture. While they don’t necessarily want to abandon their own cultures, they’d like to enjoy many of the advantages that we take for granted, such as the ability to easily make a favorable impression on potential employers. In contrast, if I were to have my hair done in dreadlocks, it would probably mean that I had an appreciation for some aspects of black culture — but overall, I don’t think any white person really wants to experience all the societal, employment, and legal discrimination that a black person has no escape from.
This doesn’t mean that a white person shouldn’t ever wear dreadlocks, but if you do so, I think you should also take the time to keep learning more and more about African American culture. The same with utilizing themes from other cultures in our own creative expression — keep learning more about those cultures, and also give credit to those cultures for how they’ve shaped our own ideas and work.
http://www.dailydot.com/opinion/5-things-white-people-cultural-appropriation/
http://mycultureisnotatrend.tumblr.com/post/781005138/on-reverse-cultural-appropriation
http://everydayfeminism.com/2013/09/cultural-exchange-and-cultural-appropriation/
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I wasn’t aware that was what constituted a point.
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Iggy Azalea adopts an american (*ahem*) urban patois to perform rap for the same reason that ABBA did their pop songs in english rather than swedish, and for the same reason that australian rock singers pronounce “glass” and “ass” with a flat ‘a’. The musical form comes from a particular linguistic background and its idioms and rhythms don’t really work well in another.
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It actually gets worse than Brittany Cooper. Found this link by Sargon of Akkad’s This Week in Stupid. :http://www.lovebscott.com/news/12-year-old-white-girl-gets-harshly-criticized-for-showing-off-her-blonde-box-braids-on-social-media-photos
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