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Originally Posted by Rob Instigator
why would anyone fault someone with african heritage using afrobeat sounds?
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I'm not really sure. He also got some heat for the "riddim" used on Hotline Bling -- that I'm sure he had next to no involvement in -- but defended it by saying that riddims were shared in the reggae community, and considered basically public domain.
Question is, is he a part of that community? Regarding the reggae community, I'd wholeheartedly say no. Regarding afrobeat, I'm not sure. Drake is (really hoping this isn't offensive, but it's the only way I can describe it without using that "m" word that I'm totally uncomfortable with) ... ˝ black. Does that change things? I don't know.
He's also Jewish, both ethnically and culturally. And he's from fucking Toronto, which like most cities has a fair amount of cultural diversity, and a well represented Jamaican population, but also -- like many cities -- kind of relegates its cultural minorities to certain areas, hindering true ethnic unity.
And Drake has never known struggle. He was rich as a teenager, while most of us were bussing tables or cleaning bathrooms to pay our way through college (I never was a water or a janitor, but I held many shit ass 3rd shift warehouse summer jobs.
I'm not sure it's in the best interest of African and/or Jamaican communities to loot from their culture and pretend that he's a part of it, when he's never known poverty or 3rd world conditions. At least, I'm guessing that's where the problem is for anyone who's insulted by his use (appropriation?) of these cultural styles and traditions.
But I don't personally see it that way. I mean, what the hell does it say about global culture if those in positions of comfort or privilege, especially artists, can't shine a light on other parts of the world, and gain inspiration from those places and their people? Paul Simon took a trip to Africa before Graceland, and maybe he was inspired by what he saw there. I mean, what does that say about other art forms if such crossover is off the table? What does it say about embed journalism, for instance?
Now, personally I kind of fucking hate it when some rich white kid from a rich white Dutch family (speaking of a specific person here; not generalizing) uses his trust fund to take a break from life and go to the Sudan to snap photos of starving children. Then trots back to the US and does a gallery tour in the name of "raising awareness" when really all he's doing is using his own unearned financial means and social status to turn other people's suffering into a career. I HATE that shit.
But that's not really embed journalism. That's well-deserved white guilt, manifesting at an opportune time and being contorted into heroics. That asshole (who I know, and who really is a douche) should be ashamed of himself. He's not even a journalist. He's a college dropout who had enough money and influence to do whatever the fuck he wanted, and his pictures now turn up in major publications and galleries across the US. But what about the true embed journalists? The newspaper reporters or documentary filmmakers who ride in trucks with ISIS members? Who step into enemy territory during wartime to bring us the truth at the risk of their own health and safety?
If I had to guess I'd say Drake is a little closer to that asshole rich kid I was talking about than to any kind of social justice crusader or truth seeker.
But I can't say for sure.
It definitely is an interesting discussion, since this kind of "appropriation" has been a part of the western art, literature, music, film, poetry etc. since the founding of this country. When is it for the best and when is it for the worst? I can't say.
But .. yeah.. whatever we were taking about, for sure.