Quote:
Originally posted by The Original Ape:
OneSavyDiva and Nupe4life,
I see yall's point. I get bothered when they pick up on something WE create, rename it, and then claim it as if it's their own invention. They do this in every form of art, and in the garment industry as well. From Michelangelo to N Sync, they just steal, steal, steal. And they call US thieves!
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What is it that "they" steal? Is it fashion, music, culture, style? Or is it like most American culture, where people assimilate something from a sub-culture and overlap it with their native cultural styles. For instance, the Seattle grunge look pre-dated the wearing of baggy clothes and Timberlands by AA youth. The baggy look is actually an out-growth of clothes worn in the prison system. Is this prison culture to be claimed?. Is Lenny Kravitz stealing his style?. The acoustic folk music of India Arie, Macy Gray, Jill Scott, Erykah Badu etc, are they stealing from Liz Phair, Sarah McLaughlin, Joni Mitchell, Bonnie Raitt etc by emphasizng intelligent lyrics and musical dexterity over the trite canned beats and stunted intellect of most of today's so-called R&B?. Most of these artists were influenced by white artists as much as Black. In American Culture, we all borrow from one another and adapt it to our subset. No one culture has a patent on its culture in a Multi-cultural society.