Cultural Appropriation - Music Industry
With culture appropriation it is being re-purposed to something else demeaning the original symbolism and culture to make it something usually of less value and for nothing more than a trend. This is popular in the music industry because of the striving desire to stay current. A lot of artist takes things from other cultures for the purposes of trends to make their music and style current and interesting.
Due to cultural appropriation, Elvis Presley is widely regarded as being the "King of Rock and Roll," despite the fact that his music was heavily influenced by black artists who never received credit for their contributions to the art form. In the early 1990's, white rapper Vanilla Ice topped the Billboard music charts when rappers as a whole remained on the fringes of popular culture. This piece explores how musicians with wide appeal today, such as Madonna, Gwen Stefani, Miley Cyrus and Kreayshawn have been accused of cultural appropriation, borrowing heavily from black, Native American and Asian traditions.
A very recent example of this is the Miley Cyrus's new found career and style. Cyrus has stripped herself from this culture and embraced a new career in a style she has coined as "Dirty Southern Hip-Hop". People are upset because of Cyrus's use of "twerking" and other aspects of African American Culture. By re-purposing these things for her own use she is taking away from another culture that isn't hers and using it for a profitable gain. That is the source of most cultural appropriation in the music industry, the profit. "Twerking" has become a trend and instead of appreciating its African American origins Cyrus is only focused on the profit aspect of it. I t has become a trend and by latching on to it, it will make her career more relevant and current and more appealing to an audience.
The above examples clearly show cultural appropriation is profitable. Objects and traditions of marginalized cultures are seen by the dominant cultures as exotic, edgy and desirable which translates to profits.
Bibliography:
1.Hunter,T.(2013) Cultural Appropriation In The Music Industry [Online]. Available at:https://wgSS2230.wordpress.com/2013/11/08/cultural-appropriation-in-the-music-industry/ (Accessed on 12 June 2017)
2.Kareem Nittle, N. (2014) Cultural Appropriation In The Music: From Madonna to Miley [Online]. Available at: https://www.thoughtco.com/cultural-appropriation-in-music-2834650 (Accessed on 12 June 2017)
3.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrUvu1mlWcohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrUvu1mlWco
A very recent example of this is the Miley Cyrus's new found career and style. Cyrus has stripped herself from this culture and embraced a new career in a style she has coined as "Dirty Southern Hip-Hop". People are upset because of Cyrus's use of "twerking" and other aspects of African American Culture. By re-purposing these things for her own use she is taking away from another culture that isn't hers and using it for a profitable gain. That is the source of most cultural appropriation in the music industry, the profit. "Twerking" has become a trend and instead of appreciating its African American origins Cyrus is only focused on the profit aspect of it. I t has become a trend and by latching on to it, it will make her career more relevant and current and more appealing to an audience.
Miley Cyrus - We Can't Stop Music Video
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| Miley Cyrus's new found career and style |
Bibliography:
1.Hunter,T.(2013) Cultural Appropriation In The Music Industry [Online]. Available at:https://wgSS2230.wordpress.com/2013/11/08/cultural-appropriation-in-the-music-industry/ (Accessed on 12 June 2017)
2.Kareem Nittle, N. (2014) Cultural Appropriation In The Music: From Madonna to Miley [Online]. Available at: https://www.thoughtco.com/cultural-appropriation-in-music-2834650 (Accessed on 12 June 2017)
3.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrUvu1mlWcohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrUvu1mlWco
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