There is no denying that black music has influenced the popular music scene in western culture, more than any other culture. Since the 1950’s we have seen a rise of various black musical genres that have come to dominate the pop charts and influence musicians globally. But how and where and where would be draw the line between appreciation and appropriation? How many black musicians have been accredited by those that have made money from a song that they didn’t write? Is cultural appropriation still going on today?
To discuss these questions a more specific focus is required, firstly for a look at how the music of black musicians was used in the 1950’s. Elvis Presley’s cover of ‘Hound dog” is a great example of this, as well as Robert Townsend’s 1991 film ‘The Five Heartbeats’. In addition, prominent artists in the Korean Pop genre coming out with controversial statements surrounding the topic of wanting to be or feeling like they are black relating to their music.
It’s most likely that if you know Elvis Presley then you know the song ‘Hound dog”. You may not know however that his version is not the original. The lyrics were written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller but the musical essence of the song was made by Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton. Her recording of ‘Hound dog’ was in fact her only hit record but it is accredited with “helping to spur the evolution of Black R&B music into rock music”. Her influence onto the song such as playing around with the rhythym (some of the choruses have 13 rather than 12 bars), having the band bark and howl at the end of the song plus her vocal lines “Now wag your tail” and “Aw get it, get it, get it” all have deep connections to blues music. But although she had plenty of success with the song it was a fragment to Elvis’s cover of it. His commercial success and recognition completely usurped Big Mama Thornton’s , it sold over 10 million copies and was his best-selling song (and it wasn’t even his original song!). The main issue that one may take with his cover is not to do with his commercial success. No in fact its rather to do with how it came about. There was no attempt to do a cover of Thornton’s record but rather as an impression of a parody of her record performed by Freddie and the Bell Boys who’s cover only came about as the 1955 Philadelphia-based Teen Records co-founder Bernie Lowe “knew [Hound dog] had to be sanitized for mainstream acceptance”. This lack of recognition of black musicians such as Big Mama Thornton is a classic example of cultural appropriation as white people (the dominant culture) found his cover innovative but his cover was really derivative in the eyes of black people then and many more in today’s society.
In Robert Townsend’s ‘The Five Heartbeats’, there were plenty of instances where there was a sense of racism or where a dominant culture was trying to take advantage of the singing group. For instance, when they are first trying to get signed to a label, the first white label wants their song to be performed by a white singing group instead. Although the movie is fictional many instances of the unfair treatment of black musicians by the music industry. Most of the time what would happen is that a black group would write or even release a song to the black audience, while the record company would have that same song "covered" by a white group to be released to the "mainstream" audience. The covered version of these songs were the ones that normally got air play from disc jockeys. Another recognizable mistreatment of the group is when their first album cover is changed significantly. Whilst the heartbeats are on tour, the group is faced with their first album cover featuring white people, despite the label having earlier approved a photo of the Heartbeats as the cover. This is a crucial moment in the film as an artist’s first album cover is critical because it can set the tone to what an artist’s image will be to a consumer. Essentially the record label saw the image of a white family playing on the beach more marketable to a mainstream audience than the faces of the heartbeats which is a gross mistreatment of the singing group. Both of these moves made by the white business executives are examples of trying to sanitize the heartbeats and their music which seems very insulting that your face and who you are as an artist is not deemed to be palatable to the mainstream consumer. This blatant disrespect is not exaggerated when relating to real-life singing groups during the 50’s and 60’s. The film was in fact based on groups such as The Dell and The Temptations who faced plenty of discrimination in their time. Due to the Jim Crow era in the south, such groups were restricted to playing all black venues during the 50's and early 60’s. This reflected in the beginning of the film where the only clubs the Heartbeats could play were the all-black nightclubs. Unfortunately, the practice of fronting songs recorded by blacks with white groups was commonplace in the 50's-60's. Unfortunately, many racist whites (who made up much of the mainstream audience at the time) didn't want their music to have a black face on it. I believe this film is a fantastic depiction of the struggles that black musicians faced in this time period where blatant racism was still widely accepted. The movie was not intended to create an atmosphere of racism and disrespect of black musicians but it had to accurately reflect the era it was set in which involved plenty of it.
But what does cultural appropriation look like in this day and age? Does the music industry still disregard black musicians the same way as they did in the 1950’s? Well in Korean Pop music there seems to be a trend to commoditize onto the “soul” of black music without any regard for the artists themselves. For example in an Interview for Big Bang’s photo book ‘BIGBANG10 THE COLLECTION: A TO Z’ ,band member Taeyang commented:
“I’m not black, so I’ll probably have to have more experience and go through more pain if I want to express the sentiments, emotions, and soul that black people have through my music. That’s why I believe that pain and suffering will make my music richer.”
Although the intention may be forward thinking to break free from the historical taboo of blackness in South Korea,
the end result will still only benefit one man, and it points to the appropriation of a whole culture’s suffering for personal gain. Surely you could draw from your own personal struggles rather than capitalising on someone elses? This links to a prominent lyric from Zico in the song "Bermuda Triangle” (Feat. Crush, DEAN) a prominent lyric from Zico is "We’re Yellow people but I’ve got black soul”, referencing how although his skin color is ‘yellow’, he can still relate on a spiritual level to one of a black person. ‘Black soul’ is refering to African American's pride, their unconscious expression of hope, glory, and passion hidden inside of every black man. There seems to be a theme of wanting to reap the fruits of the black experience but is it ok to do so without acknowledging the pain that comes along with that?
There is no single formula or tactic on how to combat against the industries commoditization of black people and reaping the fruits of their music. In this day and age taking influence from any culture is inevitable but as long as one appreciates how the style of music came about and the history behind it then surely music will continue to be innovative with no attachment of guilt belongside it? I certainly believe so.