Cultural Appropriation in Today's Pop Music

879 Words2 Pages

Cultural Appropriation Is Ok With U.S.

The Twilight Zone aired an episode in 1960 called The Four of Us Are Dying. The episode follows a con man capable of changing his appearance by merely looking at the person he wants to become. His whole life he has slipped by, without a conscience, using his ‘talent’ to mold into other established people’s lives. He takes advantage of his ability and finds ways to rob his victims of their identities, fame, and personal acquaintances. In today’s pop culture, especially pop music, this flagrant disrespect for culture and counterfeiting of style are diminishing the credibility of many popular artists. Similar to the man in The Twilight Zone episode, there are artists in the spotlight today that need to be reconsidered for their ‘unique’ styles. Cultural appropriation is becoming a mainstream ‘white crime’ in today’s pop music society. Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, Iggy Azalea, and Robin Thicke are just a few …show more content…

Forbes had Katy listed as making $2 million per city she toured and had a total of 126 shows in 2015. The site that tracks the wealthy and famous has Katy as 3 out of 100 on the highest paid celebrities of last year (Forbes). Katy, along with other white artists abuse of foreign cultures accentuates a major flaw in today’s pop culture society and society in general, racism. A large part of American culture marginalizes anyone who isn’t a non-Hispanic white person. If this isn’t a thoroughly convincing statement consider this: as of 2013 there were 939 active Hate Groups in the US, up from 888 after President Obama’s election to office (Rozsa). Blatantly, white people still do not want to see people of different nationalities as contemporaries. Because of this a certain oxymoron is developed in hip-hop when white artists try to mimic their black counterparts and it fuels the cultural appropriation argument. We’re trying to copy something we

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