Eminem should be the poster child for cultural appropriation. If it weren’t for the Sugar Hill Gang, Run- DMC, etc he’d be just another White trailer trash from the 8 Mile getting the crap beaten out of him by his mom’s boyfriends. More mindless PC from pseudo intellectuals. If millenials want something to bitch about, they need to organize class actions against the colleges that edumacate them with crap this. They’re being scammed big time.
Pile up enough cognitive dissonance and you see insanity. The Left has clearly reached that point.
Their accepted ideology has so many internal conflicts that the only guide to “truth” for them is who said it. If Ocasio-Cortez says something, it must be true. If Trump were to say the same thing, it would be deemed false.
If an acceptable source says that the sun will rise in the west, it is wholeheartedly believed. Even after the sun again rises in the east, the faithful will not acknowledge the fact.
Cultural appropriation is yet another term , like global warming, that is just made up out of whole cloth and used as a political battering rod. We are all products of our environment....effecting each other, shaping each other, bouncing off each other and eventually......growing each other into better versions of ourselves. All art is an extension of the art that preceded it. I am absolutely certain much of so called ‘black music’ was borrowed from popular white artist of the day. That’s how it works.....all of life works like that.
The political right has been cleverly placed into a box where if you disagree with the lefts policies, you are labeled a racists. Now they say some of America’s greatest cultural icons have stolen their acts from minorities. Wow!
All of this nonsense is an emotional appeal to tribalism....and, unfortunately, it remains an effective political tool. To be fair, the flame of racism was lit by slavery and America has only itself to blame for the fact that its heat still has the ability to drive political movements.
With that said, To me we have this great country where all of us accept each other for what we are and we alll just want the best for our fellow man (and woman)...regardless of color or whatever. Unfortunately the political left can still effectively convince a very sizable population of Americans that it’s still 1859 Virginia or 1950’s Selma Alabama. This isn’t the case anymore and hasn’t been for a long time......but, try to tell that to a lefty and you’ll get labeled a racist faster than Bill Clinton hits on a White House Intern.
Until we get passed this time...where identity politics trumps intellectual appeals, the political right will be in big trouble as emotion always wins out over reason.
James Brown was a YUGE fan of country music. He called it the White man’s blues. Black and White musicians have been “borrowing” from each other for as long as pop music was around, and m sound’s great. Well.. some of the hip hop, that’s another matter.
Elvis gave plenty of credit where it was due. His success is attributed by leftist racists solely to his being white.
The truth is that he was an extraordinarily gifted performer (versus merely a musician): handsome, young, virile, with a once-in-a-generation baritone voice with exceptional timbre, resonance and range. As Sam Mussabini said in Chariots of Fire: “You can’t put in what God left out.”
Few of the people who originated the style of music he recorded had voices that came close to his. I am not even an especial fan of his, but I know natural ability and cultivated musicianship when I hear it. Elvis never needed Auto-Tune.
I am an experienced classical musician who has taken courses in music history - including both jazz and rock. Agree or not: My opinion is based in experience and knowledge.
In addition, Elvis left his career in his prime to serve his country. How many of his critics then or now would make that sacrifice?