Cultural Appropriation By Coldplay And Beyonce

Black and white teenagers listen alike to rock music on the radio and attended clubs to hear it, together. Rock ‘n’ Roll’s roots helped accustom white teens to black music through the lenses of white, male vocalists—a normalcy to ground these drastic changes in race relations. The stars, like Elvis Presley—know for his sexual and riveting performances—began to blur the line between different forms of music and more importantly, black and white music.3 Rock ‘n’ Roll music was a blend of these two different cultures, demonstrating the enormous consumer power of this emerging youth culture and giving it the power to unite an entire

Modern examples of musical cultural appropriation are numerous. The digital age of music production has led to appropriation going wild. It’s called sampling in digital music, where small beats, refrains, or lyrics are used in small digital recordings and placed in new arrangements to make songs. It became popular in Rap and Hip Hop, but now is being done in all aspects of popular music. Some music is even being made using samples from several artists that are not even in the same recording studio, or have not even met face to face! A good example of musical cultural appropriation is Sam Smith’s song “Stay With Me” which was discovered to have a very similar melody and lyrics as Tom Petty’s “I Won’t Back Down”. According to CNN, “Petty

In the late 2004, a series of papers (research project) on the topic of world music and globalisation became a hot topic in a conference and gradually took on a life turning onto a virtual laboratory for teaching and research on the relationship between music and globalisation under ethnography which was funded by the Canadian Social Sciences and humanities Research Council from 2003-2006. Since then this topic has got wide meaning and more complicated.

This year, the Super Bowl halftime show became the center of controversy because of a major pop star’s political statement. An intense backlash occurred when Beyonce and her back-up dancers performed her politically charged anthem, “Formation,” while dressed in homage to the Black Panthers. Seeing African-Americans with afros dressed in black leather jackets and berets struck a negative cord with many Americans. Critics of the performance claimed that it was racially divisive and anti-police. Many attacked Beyonce for promoting what they believe to be a racist terrorist group.

In Western culture, people seldom realize the amount of cultural appropriation that occurs around them. Westerners are blinded by cultural mockery and cultural appropriation without realizing its offensive effects to minority groups. During the Halloween holiday, in Western culture, people of all ages dress up in a variety of costumes such as horror themed, fairy tale themed, job themed, cultural themed and much more. Harvard University members have argued that a cultural themed costume is a form of cultural appropriation. Also in Western culture, in the music industry, white artists have utilized and exploited aspects from minority cultures to boost their fame. Costumes, props, ideas, music, and others considered as cultural appropriation is often overlooked but it is apparent when closely examined.

Music has been a long standing form of expression for hundreds of years. More recently however, it has become a way for artists to make social commentaries on the society they live in. During the 1970s, Punk bands and Ska bands emerged in England and rose to become a major source of social commentary through their upbeat music. Specifically looking at music from The Stranglers, The Specials, and The Clash, it is clear that lyrics clouded with anger and passion can be best communicated through upbeat sounds and melodies. Each of these groups communicates a need for radical change in society; but each one goes about this in a different way. Through the songs, “I feel like a Wog,” by The Stranglers, “A Message to you Rudy,” by The Specials, and “White Riot,” by The Clash, these bands point out that there is a common enemy in Society. They are forcing the mainstream to realize unpleasant truths about the culture that they inhabit. The future of England was unknown, and these songs were written during a time where people were worried about their place in the world. Faith in the system was dying and these bands gave way to a future generation to improve upon society that will present a more positive and equal multicultural Britain. Through the music it is clear that multicultural Britain was complicated; there were tumultuous times that these bands were commenting on, which pitted races against each other but also brought them together in fighting back against suppressive societal

African-American music and literature has been embraced by all cultures globally hands down. The power in music shows how all cultures are embracing African-American music and literature into their cultures and societies. Artist today have so much pressure to crossover to be adaptable to other cultures so that they are marketable or saleable to the industry proves how powerful music can be to our culture. The idea that art of Blues which came from African American culture evolved from a time of pain and oppression was embraced by whites secondhand in creating the genre of music known as Rock-n-Roll. Music has touched so many cultures at one time worldwide through the likes of Iconic performers over the years when we see concerts in other countries where English is not spoken yet the audience knows every word of the song is proof that that music is powerful. Music lures our emotions and it makes an impact on connecting different cultures across the word. Beyoncé’s “Formation” was an illustration of how artist use music to direct attention to inequalities and the need to come together against wrong doings. However, Michael Jackson, U2, Madonna, Selena, Kendrick Lamar just to name a few in this era all have used music to convey a hidden message either political or social the issue was spoken and protected via music. Needless to say the beauty of music is the Freedom of Speech that comes along with the freedom of creativity, many have been tested yet all have failed to stop Music from being the vessel to carry on

The idea of culture means different things to different people. Groups and communities are often separated by having clearly defined cultural traditions, clothing, and attitudes. However, these cultural distinctions are sometimes adopted by others who do not belong to the community that the appropriated ideas are from. This cultural appropriation is often present in popular culture in the United States. Several examples exist in the American pop music industry. While most instances of cultural appropriation in American pop music may seem to consist of white performers appropriating “black” culture, another important example is the appropriation of Native American culture.

At a birthday party there is an African American boy wearing a sombrero while hitting a piñata. Down the street, there is a Russian girl who dances with a Japanese fan that her neighbor gifted. These two children, according to the current media, are displaying cultural appropriation. In America, citizens have the rarity of experiencing what many call the “Melting Pot” of different cultures and ethnicities. To many other countries, the different cultural exposures are not of such a common privilege. Cultural appropriation is what sets us back from connecting to other cultures around the world. I understand that it may bring misunderstanding of what certain clothing items and practices really mean respect and value wise. However, demonstrating

Music amid World War II unprecedentedly affected America, both on the home front and on troops serving abroad. Dissimilar to World War I, which happened in the pre-radio period, by December 1941, for all intents and purposes each American family unit, 96.2 percent, possessed radios. At no other time had recordings of tunes and live musical exhibitions been show to such a large number of a great many Americans, both to those supporting the war at home and to troops serving all through the world. For some Americans, this mass appropriation of music had a binding together, devoted impact by raising the assurance of the troops abroad and rousing and motivating the Americans at home to completely bolster all parts of the war exertion. Some African

“The music industry seems to allow very minimal Black cultural contribution to even do that, as opposed to the history of American music has told the same story over many times whereas African Americans creates a musical style or genre, only to later be replaced by white artists with more “mainstream” appeal. This trend can be seen in everything from Rock n Roll, Country music, Pop music to more recently Hip-Hop and RnB where white artists like Iggy Azalea, Macklemore, Robin Thicke and Justin Timberlake dominates today’s Hip-Hop/R&B charts. White people may be able to participate in or appropriate “Black” styles, but they rarely innovate or enhance them, so the genre slowly withers away ( Clutch, 1).” This act all ties in with commercialization and the “Whites” using Hip Hop as a source of income to stay on top, and this goes back to back in the early eras when Euro- Americans came to the Americas and took control of everything driving the Native Indians, using Africans as slaves, and cultivating everyone to their

Musicians of all genres have spoken up against the racial inequality that is happening in America and throughout the world. These are the voices that have lived and witnessed injustice based solely on their race and skin color. As a result, musicians have deep emotional ties that have affected the lyrics and tones that artists take on in hopes to send a message. This musical revolution is nothing new, it has been around since the beginning of racial oppression as a means of optimism, but now, music can help spread the message of racial oppression. This message is spread in hopes that the views and opinions of society are altered and that future generations learn from mistakes of the

It was not until recently I realized that cultural appropriation was such a contentious issue... Supported by the downy soft pillows and enclosed by the thick wool of my comforter, I lay in the company of the hazy cold blue light given off by my phone. After a long day of school and homework, it was certain that the best way to unwind was endlessly getting lost in the depths of Instagram. The cold blue light reflects the shadow of my confused stricken face. Images of people with oversized and wry lips flood my screen. Their swollen and bruised mouths contest their horrified expressions. In the comment section reads, “Kylie Jenner lip challenge”.

Cultural appropriation is a huge topic, within today’s society, many question what is cultural appropriation and what is not. The definition of cultural appropriation is, “....the use of ideas, symbols, artifacts, images, objects, etc., derived from contact between different cultures. It often implies a negative view towards the minority culture by the dominant one and is often culturally insensitive”(Biron). Examples of cultural appropriation would be portraying a culture through stereotypical depictions of them or wearing a culture as a ‘trend’. Another example would be wearing a headdress to portray a Native American or wearing a sombrero and a poncho to depict a Mexican. Just those words sound degrading and racist each of these ethnicities. Many think it is socially acceptable to be insensitive to a culture, because they classify the appropriation as them appreciating the culture. Cultural appropriation shows only the stereotypical view of culture and has no regards to the actual culture. Many look at the cultures as inspiration for ideas, but that does not mean to steal the ideas completely. Cultural appropriation is not only insensitive, but also racist. Blackface, for example, was used to portray an African American by painting the face of an non-black actor black. The NFL team Redskins uses an offensive and racist word to label their team; their mascot is a “Native American” wearing headdress. First and foremost, not all Native American cultures wear headdresses, these depictions of Native culture show natives as all the same. Minorities have faced appropriation for decades, but why did this problem only recently come about?

Do you ever wonder what is the meaning behind what you so proudly sing whenever you hear it? Music is an art form of culture which organizes sound with times It first came around in prehistoric times, however, as times passes, music is drastically changing. As a result, in the last decades music has experienced drastic changes in the themes they are talking about. These changes are due to the generations and what they are living, political and social actions of the time. For example, the decade of the 80s was the rise of hip-hop and rap music from a local phenomenon to a worldwide known genre of music. Previously, a crack cocaine epidemic had stroke major cities in the USA and it coincided with the rise of hip-hop in black communities as these