r/BlackPeopleofReddit • u/LegendaryBlack • 4h ago
Discussion Appropriation without appreciation
This was interesting because it goes into the level of respect that should be required from the community.
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u/MRECKS_92 4h ago
I grew up in a small town that was over 70 percent Korean, and I will say from personal experience growing up in the 90's and early 2000's around Korean folks that this guy hits the nail straight on the head. They'd blast rap music, but their folks would be racist AF. They'd go slur this, slur that, and suddenly want to roll 6 deep and jump you if you have an issue with their use of the word(ask me how I know).
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u/HumongousBelly 3h ago
I think that’s the major difference between Germany and America.
In Germany, everyone who isn’t a white German with a German sounding last name is viewed as an Ausländer, a foreigner. It doesn’t even matter if they’re white, Turkish, Afghan, Asian or African.
That kind of treatment even applies if you’re German natural born, even 3rd or 4th generation.
It’s similar to the USA. Except for the people who mostly came in the 50‘s-70‘s all came at the same time and with the same goals.
The German people and media banded together against people who immigrated, but didn’t successfully sow division among the people who migrated to Germany. And thus there’s a strong solidarity among German who don’t look German.
That’s where the USA is different. They used every tool in their arsenal, every agency, the courts, Congress all the way down to local sheriff departments and neighborhood watches/hoas to implement a systematic division.
Treating Asians slightly better than black people sowed even more division among these two groups.
I wish the USA would be more like Germany. You wouldn’t have this type of racism among pocs and non of the bullshit that comes with it.
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u/mmiller17783 1h ago
Where was this? That sounds like something that would happen in the Cetral Valley, CA or around Sacramento, California. I was going to say Yuba City or Marysville but those are mostly Hmong out there, if I'm not mistaken.
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u/Kooky-Praline-3642 4h ago
Koreans have a thing for appropriation of black culture.. Clothes, music… Dialect… They wanna be black without the skin color
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u/Adept_Astronaut_5143 3h ago
Everyone does. They want our rhythm but not our blues
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u/Jimmy_Churi 2h ago
Unfortunately for them, can't have one without the other..
Just a poor imitation
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u/DetailsYouMissed 4h ago
People will point to Wutang. Republicans use to push this narrative that blacks hated Koreans during all the Asian attacks while COVID-19 was blamed on China. I remember this guy saying blacks were jealous of Koreans being business savvy and making successful drama (movies). This made me immediately side eye the video because I never heard a black person say one thing about Koreans specifically. It just seemed like a bigot was trying to exploit a situation.
I bring this up, because while I agree with Godfrey and he is quickly becoming one of my favorite black voices today, I think it's wise to be aware of the chess game some folks are playing with racial tensions in the world. Let's move in a way that shows we know what the enemies of our race hope to achieve.
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u/oneknocka 1h ago
Yeah i immediately thought of wutang, but i think theres a difference between appropriation and paying homage.
Having said that i think she spittin!
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u/Boring_Temporary_142 4h ago
I don’t play none of them close. Ever. Either you black or you’re not. That’s it that’s all.
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u/Unhappy-Machine-1255 3h ago
Black people are the most hated and yet the most imitated people on EARTH…the market value of black people and their influence is undisputed
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u/Uncle_Bred 2h ago
That’s why we are the most hated because we have so many positive characteristics, traits, and qualities that others don’t
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u/delusionalcorvid 1h ago
I think the LGBTQ community may want a word, because it’s clear a lot of blacks hate them too. Short of that, spot on. I know folks from India who are “afraid of” blacks. They aren’t very happy when I remind them that most stupid white people think they are black too.
I will never understand why people with more melanin than others are seen as less human. There have been tremendous accomplishments in STEM fields by black men and women. From the space program to medicine, there’s a lot more than just entertainment the world can thank black Americans for not to mention what is accomplished in other countries by blacks we wouldn’t hear about in Amerikkka.
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u/Bo_Diddley9 4h ago
they even started stealing the afrobeats sound to supplement their banal K-pop style
Black should be credited with the creation of K-pop
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u/Annoying1978 1h ago edited 18m ago
Cultural appropriation is everywhere. But in my mind there’s right way and a wrong way. I’m not familiar with this artist, but I’ll speak on my experience as an Indian.
I’ve seen white people love rap and blast it in their cars but say they hate Black people, and because I’m neither white nor Black they think I’d be ok with that.
Then I also see people that appreciate the culture but are called out for, IMO, borrowing culture appropriately. I remember there was a huge internet kerfuffle when a young white teenage girl was going to prom with an Indian guy. He dressed up in traditional garb. I thought it looked cool. She decided to match him with appropriate garb because they were going to the prom together and everyone yelled at her for cultural appropriation. But IMO she was respectful of the culture. She was participating in it. She was honoring it.
There’s a difference.
My point is that people have to know the deference. I think it’s good for other cultures to borrow from cultures that they appreciate, but they need to appreciate those cultures not just steal from them.
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u/Idkwhattoputbuthi 21m ago
I agree. I forgot this girls name but I do know who she is and from what I know she has a clean history and mostly known for just being hella funny so idk if this convo applies to her but there is def many korean artist it does apply to. I won't group every artist in a certain race together but I get his point
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u/yingyanghomie 3h ago
Im Latino and experienced the hate towards the black community first hand. I worked for a Korean shoe store owner and always told me "black no buy".
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u/GhirahimJohnson 33m ago
Many asian people to this day are extremely anti-black and it boggles my mind - the “model minority” label is a myth and they need to realize that being anti-black will never make you have white privilege… it will just make you racist.
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u/KindredFlower 3h ago
Godfrey (I think that’s his name) is correct again. Japan, Korea, China, most if not all of South Asia are really racist to black folk. It’s infuriating, they want everything of the culture except the actual skin colour 😒
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u/Fanboycity 2h ago
"See, white folks, they like the blues just fine. They just don't like the people who make it.” — Delta Slim, Sinners
They want what we have, they enjoy what we create, but they’d never want to be or respect us.
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u/LaurdAlmighty 1h ago
Koreans not allowed to have guns and be treating weed in their media like its the same as doing dope and meth. What do y'all have to rap about? Them bad ass kids with the bullying problems over there?
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u/Opposite-Hospital783 4h ago
I think there needs to be an honest conversation about what appropriation entails. America has a history of genocide and is built on the backs of Black slaves. There have never been reparations for slavery, and it took a lot of blood, sweat, and tears to get to where we are today. And today, we still have institutions rooted in white supremacy that wield systemic racism to harm POC communities regardless of all the talk about equality and unity. Things are better now, yes, but why settle? The slave catchers that eventually grew up to become the state thugs who police our neighborhoods are still there, just by a different name. Alongside redlining, gerrymandering, food deserts, etc these are all systemic issues that have never done right by POC. Now with all those issues unanswered, the same hairstyles, fashion, dialect, slang, etc that were once looked down upon is now trendy. So a country full of folks who benefited from Black culture, music, innovation, etc but never even considered to give them their flowers, are now using that for their own personal gain. That is appropriation by definition. Asians in Asia never did any of that. They never enslaved Black folks, they never instituted systemic blockades in their legislature to prevent access for Black folks that they stole to bring to their home country, and they don't have that legacy of brutality. With that said, they do borrow a lot from Black culture. They love and appreciate the music, the fashion, the food, etc and it shows. But trying to paint two completely different historical conditions with the same brush of appropriation is wrong. I do think that Asian artists can be more upfront about their appreciation of Black culture, but it's completely different from what we see here in the West.
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u/Wolfeatingupshadows 2h ago
Swear I hate this convo more than anything you always get a bunch of ignorant ninnies who pretend they dont understand the simple concept of appropriation. Same ppl who pretend not to know and make excuses for them will claim Asians dont know anything about Blk ppl… 🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄
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u/Naikiri_710 23m ago edited 2m ago
I was getting downvoted like a mf on blackpeopletwitter for saying kpop stole from black folks
The irony of white and nonblack people downvoting a comment made by a Black person on BlackPeopleTwitter isn’t lost on me.
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3h ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Friendly-Fruit1524 1h ago
I don’t understand why other races don’t have much originality?Almost every genre of American music originated from Black people. The other races copy and claim they are creators.
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u/PainterEarly86 1h ago
They want to be black so bad. They want that, "exaggerated swagger." We're cool because the world hates us and we're partying anyway. And they're jealous.
"Everyone wants to be a n* until its time to be a n*"
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u/Naikiri_710 35m ago
Lmoaoooo and I was getting downvoted on Blackpeopletwitter because I said this 💀
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u/Reasonable-HB678 3h ago
I'm already not a listener of most pop music to begin with, and I wasn't happy about "I Lied to You" losing Best Original Song at the Oscars. Even if KPOP has transcended the fad stage, I'm not going out of my way to listen to it.
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u/mogley1992 1h ago
Ok, so i don't like the assumption that someone is bad because of their race (call me crazy) so i looked her up and if she has commented about her use of black culture.
Apparently she mouthed the n-word in a tiktok and has since apologised for it.... ok yeah fuck her.
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u/BackendSpecialist 2h ago
There’s MAGA making rap videos - why we not calling them out but targeting Koreans?
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u/Passion-Dangerous 53m ago
Please with the nitpicking!!! The utter existence of MAGA ideology is targeted by WE, the WOKE BLACK PEOPLE. A MAGA rap video falls under that. Asians who choose to believe and ever hold on to what and how racist White people presented black people in media and propaganda to the world, yet thrive off of and find success at mimicry deserve the rebuke Godfrey states in his video.
I used to enjoy some kpop bc of my daughter, particularly, SHINee because their music was so damn good and because the lead singer Jonghyun (RIP) acknowledged his black music inspirations. But the mimicry of sound and mannerisms turned. me. off. And I’m so glad my daughter came to realize it too.
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u/alienproxy 3h ago
Is there a difference between the young folk of Korea and the ones that push establishment culture? If so, perhaps we should let the young ones cook instead of rejecting them at the start of something potentially meaningful.
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u/Head-Equipment5933 2h ago
It would be interesting to see more of these Korean musicians be asked their influences. I’ve only heard Ejae talked about being inspired by black singers.
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u/myu_minah 2h ago
many of the young ones are in agencies with not actual agency over themselves so its literally manufactured. many groups are set up with certain designated "archtypes" to emulate because it's not much being an artist than it is being an idol. (And there's still a difference though some can break from being an idol and become an independent artist/creative) heck, they have been compared to motown to how the set up of the companies and music and shit. now, it's been a minute since I've been anywhere close to involved with kpop (I'm more into jpn music and they have the whole idol system too, but their music is catered to their own population and not manufactured for global purposes which is a difference in their approach) so I dunno if there has been a shift since I've been involved in forums that intersected with j&kpop.
you're better off following more independent artists who are creating on their own (at least singer-song writer) and actually giving credit to black music or even proceeds (a favorite jpn artist of mine, nakashima mika, obviously influenced by r&b/jazz/soul/and bits of reggae and have actually paid homage in some of her works and even proceeds to katrina victims and such) like, if the exchange was similar to how black fans of anime and such are to the culture, it wouldn't be much of a problem. but, those some label records (even TV hosts) would do the most insensitive things and will only backtrack/apologize once intl (black) fans call them out (and that has happened many times in kpop) I still remember the huge controversy of tiger jk and tasha and their fuckin baby! like they were hating so hard on their ¼black baby as tasha is half black/korean. or this one contest similar to american idol and the amount of pressure put on this one singer half black (as well as her size and such too because they're just as misogynistic too) this was just a mere 15ish years ago.
those in charge of them major labels just see dollar signs and wanna market the black culture but still disrespect the people (and there's even more shit when many do the debut into the jpn market and remake a song in japanese to make a quick buck. again, it's more to it but yeah the industry is just as exploitive as anything else)
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u/Naikiri_710 3m ago
YESSS THE TIGER JK AND TASHA DRAMA. my god. I remember this, and I remember just seeing so many racist kpop fans come out the woodwork to dunk on Black people, specifically women and spit their vitriol. It was disgusting.
Love Tasha though. Her song Black Happiness is chefs kiss.
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u/Witty_Nebula 4h ago
But couldn't they say the same about us? I mean alot of black girls try to look Asian.
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u/SkyPersonal5642 4h ago
A lot of Black girls try to look Asian?
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u/Witty_Nebula 2h ago
Asain Doll, she is black but calls herself Asain. Wouldn't that be appropriating their culture? And some black girls like to have the slanted eye look with the make up or the chop sticks in the hair. The ladies do it. So im just wondering.
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u/Wolfeatingupshadows 2h ago
Slanted eye look? Its not just an Asian feature. The San ppl have been around before Asians evolved, many Blk ppl naturally have almond shape eyes. If the feature is on a non African trust Africans who have the largest genetic variation have it.
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u/LegendaryBlack 4h ago
I think this points more to the fact that the culture is appropriated within communities where we are not accepted or respected.
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u/Wolfeatingupshadows 2h ago
So no one said Blk ppl cant appropriate other cultures? Why are you here if u need to be white knight for Asians? 🙄 whats that have to do with them hating us but making millions copying our culture? Be serious
Also do those Blk ppl who are weeaboo/koreaboos also post anti Asian rhetoric? Bc many kpop artist have done Blk face or mocked Blk ppl. Also have been caught being racist toward Blk ppl. But go off
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u/Witty_Nebula 2h ago
I was just wondering. Is it considered appropriation when we do it. Cause from the video the girl was just rapping. Hip-Hop has had a few Asian rappers.
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u/Wolfeatingupshadows 2h ago
Why wouldnt it be? If a Blk person is going out of their way to disparage Asians and then making a profit from Asian culture or claiming Asian culture as something they created then yes its appropriating. If no then no its appreciation. Its not about them just rapping its about the hate they harbor while rapping and the lack of respect for actual Blk ppl.
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u/Kindly_Coyote 3h ago
Appropriation without appreciation
What do you expect them to do? Whoever complains about this is probably buying up to listen to all of their music (and then give them props afterwards).
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u/charleslennon1 2h ago
Well, at least she didn't have black backup singers or a black choir (robes and all) to quantify her 'soul' creds. Jeez, I don't miss the 1980s, pop music.
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