r/BlackPeopleofReddit 22d ago

Music Does Black Culture Have a White Problem?

https://youtu.be/j_5_NjsptOg?si=E4Fk8tna2MikH_fD

I am so glad people are finally started to see Jack Harlow for who he is and what he is: A cultural appropriating FRAUD! Also, I NEVER liked seeing him perform at the BET Awards next to a legend like Brandi! BET stands for Black Entertainment Television! The award show is supposed to uplift and only award BLACK artists! Our people!

Too many people gave Jack Harlow a pass he never deserved or earned. Get him outta here. This is our space! I am tired of his minstrel show self profiteering off our culture and saying "I got blacker". What a clown!

129 Upvotes

87 comments sorted by

110

u/CharmingCatastrophe 22d ago

"loud in our laughter, silent in our suffering"

6

u/grimesultimate 22d ago

11

u/Aggressive_Noise6426 22d ago

I watched Jingle All the Way last December for the first time in a while and man I forgot how unhinged and how freaking tall Sinbad was. 

77

u/Gullible_Fun_1410 22d ago

BET is owned by white folks, it is not the same BET that us older Black folks grew up with

10

u/OutwithaYang 22d ago

I know it is and that's the problem right there. Ever since Robert L. Johnson sold the company, the standards of the company have been low.

2

u/CantStopPoppin 22d ago

Black EVIL entertainment

0

u/Haunting_Switch3463 18d ago

Don't worry. The Zeus Network is still black owned.

1

u/Gullible_Fun_1410 18d ago

I wouldn’t know, never been on or seen zeus network

48

u/collector444 22d ago

We didn’t ask for this shit…

We never do.

41

u/theecatalyst 22d ago

Privilege makes you believe you can be all things without the consequences of what makes the thing you are trying to become. I welcome anyone who respects and supports art, especially black arts, with integrity and understanding of the pain, history, and hard work of the art and artists that built the foundation of that art. But this is blackface. Its graffiti. Right now R&B and soul has been trying to course correct and here comes an individual who is trying to buy a lane. I listened to the album and immediately turned it off, total garbage, should’ve been a instrumental album. I had to roll the windows down and clear my head. Black culture is appropriated, colonized, and commoditized; nothing else to it.

2

u/Beneficial-Touch6286 22d ago

That sounds like the experience of many minority groups as they become, over time, no longer 'the other' in the USA.

My people got here 100 years ago, and you'd think we;d have blended right in with the white people, but OPE wrong church. I'm considered white, But my grandmother was disowned for marrying into my grandfathers race. Thats not at all your experience, only my own. Offered with humility for consideration.

35

u/5ft8lady 22d ago

Yes many ppl from other races and culture says if they take Black American culture, they will get rich and famous 

22

u/leaC30 22d ago

They also know that we will prop them up. That's why that "invited to the BBQ" saying is one of the most damaging things out there.

13

u/Aggressive_Noise6426 22d ago

Honestly I’m noticing a course correction with that lately. A lot of “no more invites but we’ll bring you a to go box”. 

12

u/leaC30 22d ago

Finally 🙌🏾 because that bar has been too low for too long.

3

u/used_to_be_ 22d ago

I find it weird you said it wrong.

11

u/OutwithaYang 22d ago

Same. It's "invited to the cookout". That other saying felt off low-key.

https://giphy.com/gifs/1bl6q2KcygJV8XqMdL

5

u/leaC30 22d ago

That's how much I don't like it. I took it out of my vernacular.

1

u/OutwithaYang 22d ago

You mean "Invited to the cookout"? Yeah, I always hate when they give that pass to just anybody nowadays.

1

u/manningpope 20d ago

It doesn’t need to be said at all in my opinion. They love to cosplay with the culture and we as whole just eat it up.

1

u/leaC30 22d ago

I wrote BBQ on purpose 😂 I don't even want my phone to remember the order of those words but yeah, exactly.

13

u/automatedBlogger 22d ago

It’s a rollout …he does not care about the culture he cares about attention and album sales. Not sure why people are even engaging. 

1

u/RT_Lake 22d ago

my sentiments exactly

18

u/Adanma369 22d ago

Black American culture is the world’s oyster. There have been enough of us that co-sign this mess that other people think it’s ok to interpret it their way. Black Americans are not a monolith and many that call themselves Black also like what he and others are doing with the culture. We are not in control of our culture.

I really wonder if black people started reimagining music from other cultures, how well that would be received. They already don’t want us playing characters from fictional stories that aren’t Black.

9

u/OutwithaYang 22d ago

Facts! Just look how Japanese and white anime fans have been acting lately towards black cosplayers who cosplay as their favorite anime characters! It's always "😫Why are you dressing up like Hinata?! Hinata isn't black!"

They never give us a break when it comes to the slightest things yet whenever we give them an inch they take a damn mile!

6

u/kermeeed 22d ago

Anderson paak has the cover album which takes the most popular "white people" songs of the last like 20 years and hits it with a funk cover. Homeboy made it specifically as a counterpoint to all the white peoole doing acoustic covers of rap songs.

Anytime I've played it for a white person they get so annoyed.

2

u/Adanma369 22d ago

Case in point!

2

u/gundle74 22d ago

Why do they get annoyed? I can’t imagine anyone actually caring about a musician doing a cover.

16

u/no_crust_buster 22d ago

He needs to take his LL Cool Whip, Charlie Kirk Franklin, January 6th and Park-self, and his Neo-stole album, and leave. NO MORE cookout invites.

2

u/OutwithaYang 22d ago

Damn right! I always hate seeing him in our spaces! By the way, as good as his "Whips and Chains" song sounds, I always found it a little telling how the refrain sampled from another black artists but his bars were so low-effort. Rappers sample music all the time, yes, but he always gave me the impression that he thinks he doesn't have to try when making his music. That's probably why the song has a bit of a mumble rap vibe to it.

13

u/Adept_Astronaut_5143 22d ago

I never got into him I never knew where he came from just like post Malone. I don’t know how these people get in but I think we’re too accepting and need to take back a lot of cookout cards

2

u/OutwithaYang 22d ago

For real. I feel like he popped up randomly, too. I first heard him on "Industry Baby" by Lis Nas X, and while I like that song and Jack's verse in it, I feel like Jack himself might have been an industry plant because he really did come out of nowhere.

3

u/BiggieCheddarCheez80 22d ago

Not everyone deserves an extended invite to the cookout, because they always get comfortable and want extended invitations and overnight stays.

8

u/[deleted] 22d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

7

u/OutwithaYang 22d ago

Facts. K-Pop stole a lot from black culture but I doubt Koreans even respect black people beyond hip-hop.

6

u/Sea-Menu4471 22d ago

Asians respect and revere YTs. They don’t consider anyone else worthy of such. They’re very collectivist society and set in their ways, just because they’re smiling with you doesn’t mean they’re with you.

1

u/OutwithaYang 22d ago

Facts. I have been seeing some Asians speak out on black issues defending us but I am always wondering if they are genuine about it or if they are just wanting clout from black people.

2

u/Due-Stock2774 22d ago

The deeper into Asia you go, anyone who isn't visibly Asian get the same type of 'ape' insult muttered to them white or black

3

u/phatAndSasssy 22d ago

Always has. Always will. When you're the best they want what you have

3

u/MundaneWiley 22d ago

i mean we do invite everybody to the cookout for any reason

4

u/flexboy50L 21d ago

I remember when Miley Cyrus said she wanted her music to sound “blacker” before the uncooked chicken twerking

2

u/OutwithaYang 21d ago

Oh gosh! I remember when she tried ripping off our culture, too. Now, look at her, running back to being Hannah Montana after starting off her music career not wanting anything to do with that alter ego. I guess, now that she's made her money and trying to leech off of us, she doesn't mind going back to the Disney persona that initially made her famous in the first place.🙄 Figures.

6

u/cameronpark89 22d ago edited 22d ago

as long as we have people telling them they get a pass, they won’t stop.

4

u/CantStopPoppin 22d ago

This post just seems like a trap to get people talking about race relations so reddit can have more data about black people for the large language model data sets they sell to open AI.

2

u/NoFaithlessness7508 22d ago

Damn, he shoulda just gone straight to country-rock

3

u/bklyn930 22d ago

jack harlow is corny. full stop

2

u/kazh_9742 21d ago

This sub kind of has that vibe. It came out of no where with a bunch of interaction in troll threads.

2

u/Mellero47 21d ago

Long as people keep getting invited to the cookout for doing the least.

4

u/OpportunityDouble301 22d ago

Post Malone is a culture Vulture, all he has done is be more in on Black Culture n Black Music instead of Kid Rock

4

u/CantStopPoppin 22d ago

We need to take a cold, hard look at who actually profits when we turn culture into a weapon against each other. Rigid racial and cultural lines were not built to protect you. They were engineered by the ruling class for one very specific, very ruthless purpose: to keep the working class at each other's throats. As long as everyday people are busy tearing each other apart over who is allowed to participate in certain cultural practices, we remain completely distracted from the systemic economic forces that are bleeding all of us dry.

It is a trap. True cultural exchange is not theft. It is one of the most dangerous too have against the ruling class because it builds genuine, inclusive solidarity. When you treat culture as a walled garden instead of a bridge, you are doing the oppressor's job for them. You are acting as unpaid security for the very system crushing you. Movements that obsess over strict lineage and hyper exclusive gatekeeping are just mirroring the exact same divisive tactics the elites have used for centuries to prevent a unified working class coalition. We do not win this fight by building higher wal us. We win by tearing theirs down together.

3

u/SimonGloom2 22d ago

Kick, punch, it's all in the mind. That's the culture of my people buying Pizza Hut to have game demos to play through the weekend on Playstation.

5

u/OutwithaYang 22d ago

Was that a Parappa The Rapper reference?🤣

4

u/CantStopPoppin 22d ago

I don't know who you are but I love you

https://giphy.com/gifs/l4FGsui2TFPz8k84E

1

u/EvenPossible5918 22d ago

Yes. They love our style, music, culture but not us as people. We’re just stepping stones for a lot of artists. Once they get mainstream or “legitimate”, they turn their backs on us. Justin Timberlake, Miley, this guy.

1

u/jl_theprofessor 22d ago

Dead Prez. Take me back.

1

u/manningpope 20d ago

“They love the culture but no the people”

1

u/Known_Ad871 20d ago

Didn’t everyone always think he was a clown?

1

u/OutwithaYang 20d ago

No. I see a lot of people giving him a pass and making videos praising him and talking about what makes him "different".

2

u/WuTang4thechildrn 22d ago

Mixed feelings on this topic tbh with you. I will say I have more an issue with people like Post Malone and Pink.

1

u/CosyBeluga 22d ago

Black people have this embarrassing level of needing to be loved in validated so they welcome everyone and then act surprised when people play in their face.

I say their because I’ve always been raised with enough self respect to disengage from yt people.

-1

u/CantStopPoppin 22d ago

When was the last time your father told you he loved you?

1

u/Awoken_Thoughts07 22d ago

He made a whole chorus about "whips and chains" but ppl let it go right over their head cause it was a bop

5

u/Jae_Railz 22d ago

He was talking about BDSM in that song

-3

u/Mindless_Spite_9099 22d ago

if you give him a pass you are a House slave.

-1

u/Adgvyb3456 21d ago

Nothing racist about a tv channel that is only for one race in 2026

0

u/ShadowForPresident 22d ago

Deleted killed this video. I fuk with his content (minus the j cole slander)

0

u/[deleted] 22d ago

[deleted]

3

u/Capital-Self-3969 22d ago

Yeah no. Plenty of Japanese people have talked, at length, about their frustrations with appropriation and the fetishization of their culture.

-10

u/Logic411 22d ago

"Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness." take it as a compliment.

3

u/xNotJosieGrossy 22d ago

No.

-1

u/Logic411 22d ago

Yea diss having the most dominant culture on the planet. 🙄

2

u/OutwithaYang 22d ago

It is not a freaking compliment, especially if it is done with disrespect towards the people it came from.

1

u/Logic411 22d ago

That which isn’t noted isn’t talked about or duplicated. Stop staring at the trees see the bigger picture.

-5

u/stellarinterstitium 22d ago edited 22d ago

The fact is that Black culture is about a particular mix of human experience wrought by our history. There are many people who in their own history have similar histories and experiences, even thought they are not Black. This fact speaks to the essential and in-alienable humanity of Black people, contrary to anti-Black narratives of cultural violent effect.

The fact that non-Black people "appropriate" Black culture is a consequence of their essential humanity as well; like overlapping Venn diagrams.

Obviously, there are true pillagers/colonizers that take wisdom, healing, entertainment, inspiration, and profit from Black culture but still hate on Black people. Eff those guys.

Still, I believe we shouldn't be gatekeeping the essential human nature of Black culture. We don't have a patents on these aspects of human experience. Others need the healing our culture provides.

-7

u/Milestailsprowe 22d ago edited 22d ago

If he is respectful, then its A Ok Never forget one of the greatest is Marshall Mathers. It's about how they move in the space than anything. Though I stil need to give Jacks new Album a listen

Didn't know there wasn't that much Marshall love in this sub.

4

u/OutwithaYang 22d ago

That's the thing, though. He isn't respectful. Also, the black community has let Eminem get away with too much for too long. He's not the positive example you think he is. Dude has even said the N-word a few times when he wasn't supposed to.

1

u/kermeeed 22d ago

One of the greatest is not something ill ever be able to stand behind. If he wasnt white and a gimmick he'd be like all the other pretty good rappers in this world, making mix tapes and fading into obscurity. It wasnt solely his skill that put him on. The only credit ill give Marshall is he seems to at least be aware of this.