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Jul. 17th, 2020 07:31 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
between_time_and_42I listened to a Kendrick Lamar record for the first time this week. To Pimp a Butterfly. I was inspired to listen to it after I heard Chris Thile praise it and also learned that it was one of David Bowie's influences on his record Blackstar, plus I had a friend who used to sing its praises back when it came out. I'm not sure how I felt about the album, but it absolutely floored me. I think it's a masterwork and I'm glad that these musicians are being influenced by it.
That being said... when I heard the song "Alright," I was SHOCKED that Chris Thile could have ever covered this song. Which he did, not only at solo concerts circa 2015, but also on Live from Here (back when it was called Prairie Home Companion). How could he have thought it was okay for himself, a white man, to sing "and we hate po-po when they kill us in the streets?" And just who did he think "we gon' be alright" was referring to? That wasn't his song to claim. I know that Thile received backlash for this on Twitter and eventually he apologized for it and had the song removed from the broadcast, saying that he saw all songs as fair game and simply wanted to pay tribute to an artist he loved, not understanding (due to privilege) that there were some songs he just shouldn't sing. Still, I'm so stunned at such ignorance. I do love Thile and I know he's not perfect. But, god dammit. It especially didn't help that there was laughter during his tribute, mostly because the idea of a white man playing a hip hop song on mandolin was inherently funny to the audience. That makes it seem like a joke. That got me thinking, is it okay to make acoustic covers of hip hop songs- is it possible to have them seen as anything but a novelty? I really wanted to cover "Clint Eastwood" by Gorillaz, a song that I adore, and there's nothing in the rap verses that specifically relates to being Black or the Black experience, plus Gorillaz is the musical project of two white dudes from England (though Del tha Funkee Homo Sapien, who contributed the rap verses, is Black), but I still felt like maybe I should refrain from doing so since as a white woman, I would probably be seen as making a joke of the song when I rapped. But, I don't know. I love rapping- I love the sound of it and I love rapping along to the verses I've learned in some songs, but can I do it in public and not be seen as making a mockery of it?
That being said... when I heard the song "Alright," I was SHOCKED that Chris Thile could have ever covered this song. Which he did, not only at solo concerts circa 2015, but also on Live from Here (back when it was called Prairie Home Companion). How could he have thought it was okay for himself, a white man, to sing "and we hate po-po when they kill us in the streets?" And just who did he think "we gon' be alright" was referring to? That wasn't his song to claim. I know that Thile received backlash for this on Twitter and eventually he apologized for it and had the song removed from the broadcast, saying that he saw all songs as fair game and simply wanted to pay tribute to an artist he loved, not understanding (due to privilege) that there were some songs he just shouldn't sing. Still, I'm so stunned at such ignorance. I do love Thile and I know he's not perfect. But, god dammit. It especially didn't help that there was laughter during his tribute, mostly because the idea of a white man playing a hip hop song on mandolin was inherently funny to the audience. That makes it seem like a joke. That got me thinking, is it okay to make acoustic covers of hip hop songs- is it possible to have them seen as anything but a novelty? I really wanted to cover "Clint Eastwood" by Gorillaz, a song that I adore, and there's nothing in the rap verses that specifically relates to being Black or the Black experience, plus Gorillaz is the musical project of two white dudes from England (though Del tha Funkee Homo Sapien, who contributed the rap verses, is Black), but I still felt like maybe I should refrain from doing so since as a white woman, I would probably be seen as making a joke of the song when I rapped. But, I don't know. I love rapping- I love the sound of it and I love rapping along to the verses I've learned in some songs, but can I do it in public and not be seen as making a mockery of it?
