ture
Quote Originally Posted by square View Post
HOLY!

I'm shocked and not shocked at a comment like this.

Hip hop is a genre rooted in black culture, despite three of the most popular artists in the genre ever being the Beastie Boys, Vanilla Ice, and Eminem (perhaps the suburban white consumers of the genre had a pinch of bias there, as well as the white gatekeepers who chose what was on MTV and sold at Sam Goody). I really don't think hip hop excludes whites at all. If you are a white person who loves hip hop and puts their heart into it, I really think you will be accepted into the culture. Reading Brothers' reply to Brevoort, he mentions being in Tokyo and feeling affinity to Japanese who love (and in many ways 'appropriate') the genre.

BUT, Marvel and their Disney overlords (who, to be fair to them, I think are hands off in day to day publishing) are not white people who love hip hop as Woods loved golf. They are a corporate entity that is disproportionately white (and male) compared to America, and has made a marketing venture into an area of culture they have, as a company, had no interest in previously, and 'borrowed' from an ethnicity they have had only minor support for. This is something worth note.

I think white people are welcome in black culture without cries of appropriation... except when they're actually appropriating.

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@others

I had no idea Copiel was black, much less from France, but Google set me straight as to why he was brought up in this thread. I'm no expert in this, but I think the experience of blacks in the world is somewhat removed from that of blacks in the States. While nobody would complain if he did a cover, I doubt he has a deep relationship with hip hop simply for being black, anymore than the average Japanese in Shibuya.

But that's kind of my point...how do you know when the line is crossed between approriating and not appropriating another culture? I think you can agree that with such an arbitrary measurement, it's practically impossible to know when you've gone too far. In fact, I submit that there is no such thing as mis-appropriation; either you're legitimately enjoying another culture, or you're acting racist. For example, a white guy who sincerely enjoys rap, hip-hop, r&b, or jazz is not appropriating a single thing. He's just enjoying something. Appropriation can quickly become caricature. But there is no such thing, in my opinion, as mis-appropriation.

Also, to be clear...are you saying that Copiel does NOT meet the right prerequisite because he is not African-American, but rather African-Franco? Please, please tell me I mis interpreted what you meant.