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People who are black perform it, but it is not African-American music, which is my point. Dionne Warwick and Lou Rawls--African-Americans--performed mainstream popular music, which did not make what they did "African-American" music.
No, you miss my point...and no AAs do not preform chutney or other Indo-Caribbean music or even Afro-Caribbean music generally speaking.
Honestly, I think beating children is a common experience of all sorts of people, no matter their socio-economic level.
I know people who were not raised poor who were routinely physically disciplined.
I grew up poor and was never beaten in excess (I got 3 spankings that I remember, my dad would swat our buts 2-5 times with an open hand, no belts, extension cords, etc.). As mentioned earlier, I grew up around a lot of lower to working class people of various backgrounds. The white kids got beaten and yelled at more than blacks (the Latino kids got beat a lot too). Seems a lot of white women yell at their kids. And FWIW even my white female friends feel that this is an issue of theirs they picked up from their own mothers so they are trying to change that behavior. None of the women in my family ever yelled at kids. We got a "look" and we knew better. I am the same with my kids. Yelling at kids is silly and unproductive. My family has never been one who was big on physical discipline, usually it is only in the last resort.
But I do think that too many black people themselves feel it is a part of "the black experience." Also that they think it will keep their kids out of jail. Many of the black people I grew up with are constantly posting stuff on social media about how parents need to whup their kids more. Even though a lot of the white and Latino people I know grew up being physically disciplined and/or yelled at, they are supporters of "gentle parenting" much moreso than the black people. So I do think all sorts of people have done and still do physically discipline their children, but I believe that blacks too often hold on to the idea that it is the "best way" to deal with disciplinary issues instead of evolving on the subject like other ethnic groups have done.
On the "keep the kids out of jail thing" I always tell them that nearly every black man in jail has been physically punished and/or abused in some way and that to keep your kids out of jail you should love and respect them as individuals.
No different from getting a switch off the tree and beating someone with it. Something tells me This comes from the south and comes from when our ancestors were whipped during slavery
My issue is that we, as a demographic have always been creative and unique. We should continue that tradition musically.
In the past there were some "token whites" like Teena Marie who got well known in R&B but R&B in particular IMO is being taken over by too many whites. And sorry, but many of the newer artist just are not all that innovative to me either.
Will note though, that there are some GREAT not as popular black neo-soul and R&B artist. They don't get into the mainstream and I do feel that R&B is an area that will still see some creative innovation by black performers in the future. I remember the singer Tyrese lamenting about the fact that his songs/LP a couple years ago was not being played on the white stations like these white performers are played on black/urban radio stations and people were upset about that. I don't usually agree with him, but I agree in regards to a lot of conversation I read about his comments with the popularity of white R&B singers like Adele over black R&B singers like Jasmine Sullivan for instance. Even though Tyrese's personality in the media gets on my nerves, he is a very good singer and his songs get way less play than Justin Timberlake or Robin Thicke who stole Marvin Gaye's work.
African Americans have had to adapt to their own circumstances and in many ways forged their own culture in this country, as the culture has a less direct African influence than places in the Caribbean and South America. These places have a much stronger African influence in music and culture than the US. African American music has gone through many phases and has constantly changed throughout US history.
Tyrese can sing but to me he's a bit mediocre. You look at Adele but overlook other artists like Beyoncé and ton of other artists that are on her level of talent.
I won't lie, I like some blue-eyed soul. Daley is pretty solid and I like Remy Shand. Jon B is a good Caucasian R&B artist. Cannot get into Sam Smith. Robin Thicke is a hot or miss. Duffy is rather underrated.
My issue is that we, as a demographic have always been creative and unique. We should continue that tradition musically.
In the past there were some "token whites" like Teena Marie who got well known in R&B but R&B in particular IMO is being taken over by too many whites. And sorry, but many of the newer artist just are not all that innovative to me either.
Will note though, that there are some GREAT not as popular black neo-soul and R&B artist. They don't get into the mainstream and I do feel that R&B is an area that will still see some creative innovation by black performers in the future. I remember the singer Tyrese lamenting about the fact that his songs/LP a couple years ago was not being played on the white stations like these white performers are played on black/urban radio stations and people were upset about that. I don't usually agree with him, but I agree in regards to a lot of conversation I read about his comments with the popularity of white R&B singers like Adele over black R&B singers like Jasmine Sullivan for instance. Even though Tyrese's personality in the media gets on my nerves, he is a very good singer and his songs get way less play than Justin Timberlake or Robin Thicke who stole Marvin Gaye's work.
I remember K.Michelle had some frustrations similar to Tyrese. She also spoke on the double standard of whites being praised for soul music while blacks don't get praised for stepping out of urban genres.
Are Millennials as parents going to teach their children, "Lift Every Voice and Sing?"--and the reason why African-Americans would sing it? Are they going to teach their children our cultural heroes and stories?
This is something I didn't really understand myself until I went to other places and saw "cultural transmission" done right.
But I'm ambivalent about whether it should even be done by the Millennial generation. As I said before...isn't this what we always fought for? Not to be treated as separate?
Sampling is good as long as credit is given where it's due. It also helps keep the classics alive.
African Americans have had to adapt to their own circumstances and in many ways forged their own culture in this country, as the culture has a less direct African influence than places in the Caribbean and South America. These places have a much stronger African influence in music and culture than the US. African American music has gone through many phases and has constantly changed throughout US history.
Tyrese can sing but to me he's a bit mediocre. You look at Adele but overlook other artists like Beyoncé and ton of other artists that are on her level of talent.
On the bold, nobody overlooks Beyonce' who is alive today and who is a music fan, including myself. I love Queen B and think she is the reigning "queen" of R&B/pop at the moment.
Adele IMO doesn't hold a candle to Beyonce. Beyonce has been performing since she was a little girl and she is a true performer. She is probably the only contemporary singer today that I wouldn't mind paying over $200 to see in concert. And for people who know me, they know that I am SUPER cheap and would NEVER pay more than $100 to see most any concert (honestly not more than $70 lol). Only people I would was Prince (who died on me, I tried to score $500+ tickets to his last show in Atlanta) and Beyonce. That is it. And that is because they were/are great performers.
Adele is a mediocre performer from what I can tell, yet she is hugely popular. And FWIW, I'm a big fan of her music and I also like a lot of white artists/musicians and music IMO has no racial/cultural boundaries, I'm a huge fan of all sorts of music as discussed earlier in the thread.
I partially agreed with you in regards to the fact that many people today aren't really "into" music to know that there are very creative black artists today. My comment that you quoted mentioned that and the fact that many of them just don't get the "play" they deserve from wide audiences like what has been given to Adele and Sam Smith and Justin Timberlake who have R&B/soul influences in their songs. Those white artist are played on traditionally "pop" music stations along with black/urban radio (which has always had a huge impact on black audiences since its inception). Our talented black artists/musicians are not as readily accepted by these "pop" stations, like Tyrese is not. And IMO he is similar to Adele in that he can sing and has good songs. She can sing too and has good songs. Neither of them would I pay to see like I would Beyonce' and neither of them are on her level, which is why I didn't mention her.
ETA: I am well aware of the lessening of the influence of Africa, but IMO that is a plus of black America and a reason why our demographic, worldwide has been prolific in the creation of innovative music. As shared earlier in the thread, I come from a rather "musical" family and my family ensured I was raised in a "black" music tradition starting from negro spirituals, which are the basis of ALL American music. Our unique experiences are totally different IMO from an African or Caribbean experience, which is why I do not call myself an "African American" nor refer to my culture as "African American culture." Our culture is not African, it is American and unique to us as black people in America.
I won't lie, I like some blue-eyed soul. Daley is pretty solid and I like Remy Shand. Jon B is a good Caucasian R&B artist. Cannot get into Sam Smith. Robin Thicke is a hot or miss. Duffy is rather underrated.
I'll admit it too. No one comes as close as Teena Marie though.
No different from getting a switch off the tree and beating someone with it. Something tells me This comes from the south and comes from when our ancestors were whipped during slavery
I don't think it comes from the south. As stated I grew up with Latinos and they got beat too, many of them WAY more than black kids.
Asians also beat their kids a lot and very severely.
I think it is the fact that black people need to stop endorsing whipping kids so much and they don't due to familial pressure to do so.
Not all corporal punishment is necessarily abuse, however there are too many who DO NOT know how to control their emotions.
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