Sigh. Aside from the distraction of Miley Cyrus’ hot assistant in the above photo, this post will (inadequately) attempt to broach a topic that I’ve been dancing around for months. Miley, who has been announced as one of the performers at the MTV VMAs, has found herself in the midst of a Twitter kertuffle. Mind you, Miley is also using her Twitter account to promote her status as the most- nominated female artist of the VMAs. Don’t ask me how that happened with one lousy single.
At any rate, Miley has pointed her stans (and detractors) towards her new collaboration with French Montana, the “Ain’t Worried ‘Bout Nothin'” remix. I won’t embed the video here because it contains NSFW language, but you can watch/listen to it over on YouTube. In the aftermath, Miley must have been receiving even more backlash because she decided to talk back to those who are accusing her of “trying to be black”:
i know what color my skin is. you can stop with the friendly reminders bitch.
— Miley Ray Cyrus (@MileyCyrus) August 13, 2013
This is, of course, an argument that’s been brewing ever since Miley stopped singing “Jolene” in her backyard and, instead, decided to cut her hair, start twerking, and snap in a few grills. Her new persona does seem contrived at best and in June, a UPenn professor named Ernest Owens wrote a fairly scathing HuffPo column entitled, “Miley Cyrus, Stop Disrespecting What ‘Feels Black’.” Ouch.
Of course, that column was really more of a rant. Owens criticized Miley for many things, including her alleged statement to “We Can’t Stop” songwriters (Timothy and Theron Thomas): “I want urban, I just want something that just feels Black.” In the aftermath, Miley hasn’t won any arguments by insisting that she’s not “a ratchet white girl” but instead is “living everyone’s dream.” I feel rather uncomfortable with Owens’ (pardon the pun) black-and-white take on the topic. Of course, I say this as not just a white girl but one who could rightfully be mistaken for a vampire, but I don’t think that Miley shouldn’t be allowed to act like a poseur if that’s what she wants to do. There should be no blanket statement that whites can’t grow by exploring relations with black culture. Sure, Miley is a sketchy example of this phenomenon because I feel like she’s just doing it for record sales, but Vibe magazine is on her side. Here’s an excerpted version of their brand new response on the topic:
Somewhere in America, someone is mad about the fact that Miley Cyrus is still twerking.
Miley Cyrus is free. She’s a legal adult, and she’s in control of her own destiny. Of course, it’s still doubtful that she can really engage you in a conversation about who had the best verse on “Reservoir Dogs,” but she’s starting somewhere with this whole phase she’s going through, and as a fan of hip-hop, I commend her for it. Miley Cyrus could have so easily fallen in line with what was always wanted and expected of her. Miley Cyrus could have went on to play concerts where people feel comfortable saying things like, “I’ll fight every n***** in here.” Instead, the first call of duty of Miley’s adult life was to get in the studio with Juicy J, and people who claim to love hip-hop have a problem with that?
Miley’s obsession with the culture is progressive.
The pioneers of this music fought for the right for Miley Cyrus to shake her ass to Mike Will Made It beats and no one is even taking that into consideration. The establishment thought rap music was a fad and now, 30-something years later, Hannah Montana is completely obsessed with it. That sh-t is poetic and beautiful.
I understand that the racial implications behind everything Miley’s doing are heavy, but let’s really think about the claims being leveraged here and consider that maybe we shouldn’t rob Miley Cyrus of her ability to be into this culture authentically. I think we should welcome her with open arms, and if anything, just hope that her quasi-fiancé Liam Hemsworth keeps a copy of It Was Written in the whip or something.
Yes, Miley Cyrus a f–king white girl who is incomprehensibly privileged, to the point that she can experiment with and buy her way into behaviors that she’ll never have to suffer for, even if people of color doing the same thing do. In some ways, Miley Cyrus is like Patty Hearst deciding that she wants to run around robbing banks with a bunch of gangsters only to be conveniently saved at the end of it all, mainly because she’s rich and white. But Miley Cyrus wasn’t kidnapped by hip-hop; she’s the perpetrator in this instance. And Miley Cyrus isn’t robbing banks; she’s making music. So I think we can all stand to be a little less uptight about it all.
I just feel like, Miley could have remained comfortably distant from blacks for her entire career, but instead she’s diving headfirst into trying to understand the culture, and I don’t want to reject her for that. She can’t help her privilege. If Miley Cyrus thinks that a musical sound and style of dancing invented by blacks are amazing, why should that be kept from her?
It’s not like she’s being ignorant about who originated her latest hobbies. I mean, Miley is literally shaking her ass while surrounded by thick black women in the “We Can’t Stop” video. She could have casted a room of lookalikes, completely whitewashed twerking, and made it a safe activity white girls could do across America while remaining gleefully oblivious to the dance’s inherent blackness. But Miley isn’t stealing twerking the way Elvis stole rock and roll. She’s paying her dues one move at a time, and to me, that’s brave and that’s powerful and more people in the community should realize this and stop trying to push her away. We don’t have to grant Miley immunity, but we can let her live and stop trying to enact social justice where none is needed.
Rap’s best artists have made it so that hip-hop as a genre and movement can’t be swept under the rug and ignored, by anyone, in the farthest reaches of our world. Miley Cyrus came in contact with this music at some point and she was obviously intrigued by it. Is it her fault that some rapper made a great song that she heard and liked? I think anybody trying to attack Miley is looking at everything the wrong way. At heart, the core of this whole new image that she’s putting out there through is just a genuine, honest appreciation for how good black music is.
Yes, it’s ignorant to deny that Miley’s skin color, background, and position in the world present some conflict in how that appreciation is perceived, but at the end of the day, it’s not that deep. She’s a 20-year-old girl who f—s with rap. She probably wasn’t even supposed to know about hip-hop, but since this culture is a pretty big thing, the pervasiveness and influence of it trickled down to Miley Cyrus eventually, and we’re seeing the result of that manifest itself today. Let’s be real, it’s pretty amazing to watch. I’m with Jay Z. Keep twerking.
[From Vice]
I agree with much of this — except that Miley seems to have changed overnight. Remember how (just a few years ago) she claimed “I’ve never heard a Jay-Z song“? So yes, I’m saying that Miley’s appreciation for urban and/or rap music seems contrived, but I also feel like it’s dangerous to set the precedent of attacking a little white girl who wants to record music with that influence. Also, is Miley’s behavior truly offensive to blacks, or does she merely look like she’s trying to be someone that she is clearly not? Help me out here.
On a lighter note, did you notice how the Vibe article slyly referred to “her quasi-fiancé Liam Hemsworth“? Now that’s some funny sh-t.
Photos courtesy of Instagram and WENN
Because she has to deal with people giving her shit for her skin color so often, right?
I’m so sick of this immature idiot.
It’s hard being a rich white girl.
wont someone consider the white idle rich for a change? i need a hand wringing emoticon here
+1
i recommend this read for anyone who’s interested: http://aamerrahman.tumblr.com/post/53978736048/white-rapper-faq
“Basically, everyone take a page out of Brother Ali’s book. Last time I saw him live, he took a whole chunk out of his show to genuinely talk to the mostly white crowd about privilege, racism, colonialism and their part in it.”
I love this part. I love Brother Ali.
I also can’t stand alphabet soup anymore.
great read!
Great read! Thanks for posting that!
I concur and this quote here:
“If you simply take from a culture without giving back to its legacy, or at least consistently acknowledging the people who pioneered it, you are a thief.”
A good read, with a lot of good points. I would say that hip-hop also borrows from others (most notably disco – they still sample disco songs). There is definitely a different power balance to that, but it is all shot through the culture.
Miley, however, is really just a poseur. Which is allowed, and so is pointing it out.
I really appreciated that link. Thanks for posting it.
Let’s start a drinking game. Every time she sticks out her tongue we take a shot. We’ll be drunk in zero time flat. Seriously though, how obnoxious.
Seriously keep that mess inside your mouth!
This is partially why I as a black female am not too offended by Miley and her explorations into (very mainstream/schticky) hip hop. Besides her forced use of slang, twerking, and appearing in videos with black people, she isn’t really hip hop at all, but more like punk/rock with a DASH of hip hop/urban culture. Nothing about her is reminiscent of hip hop, and her recent behaviors and style/musical choices remind me of Pink and Gwen Stefani more than anyone else. Yeah there are traces of Rihanna style in her but imho Rihanna isn’t an accurate representation of hip hop either, she’s influenced by many genres such as electronica/rock/reggae.
Anyway you can’t be black if you aren’t black, so all Miley is, is….a try-hard girl forcing an edgy/urban look on us, who also happens to be white
Whoa whoa whoa . . . c’mon now, “punk/rock”?!? Let’s not be too hasty in classifying her as anything that isn’t hip hop.
I don’t care who or what she likes. It’s her damn tongue that is making me unreasonably dislike her. GROSS!
I’ve been wondering if Gene Simmons has any ground to sue for trademark theft. xD
we’l stop talking when she stop trying to be Rihanna’s understudy.
Well, a few years ago she WAS a completely different person. An adolescent.
She still acts like one.
And a hill billy. How times change…..
Her new management told her to be edgier, so she complied.
Of course, she’s very immature and not very original, so her version of “edgier” is based on what she perceives to be “edgy”: mostly, American black and/or street culture.
This^
“Miley Cyrus could have so easily fallen in line with what was always wanted and expected of her.”
Except that she has. To the absolute letter. The path from Disney kid/teen popstar to adult artist is well trodden and strewn with discarded clothing!
Call me when Miley finally does something that Rihanna didn’t do first…
Yes I totally agree she wants to be rihanna!! She dresses like her and cut off her hair like her. I think I even read somewhere that ‘we can’t stop’ was offered to Rihanna first but she passed on it. And on the twerking thing, Miley cannot twerk. She looked ridiculous in her video doing it.
I don’t understand why its even such a big deal that Miley is white and identifies more with or just appreciates “black” music, style, and cultur e. Maybe its where Im from, the DC suburbs, and that for the most part around here blacks and whites have comfortably mixed, mingled and mated for years, but this just is nothing new to me. Its been like this since I can remember. The cool kids, white, black and other, at my schools listened to rap, and since I was in middle school white kids have been “acting” black, even my little five year old white son raps along to hip hop music(tho he’s more of a pop fan), and even the other day at McDonalds I was watching some teens snicker while some 60 something white lady dug in her purse to find her phone, while “pop, lock and drop it” blasted as her ring tone. Around here its just common, if not normal.
You might want to check out the link above.
She’s gone overboard but it seems to be what the kids like. She has millions of fans. It’s just the dumbing down of America to even greater depths. Society is breaking down bit by bit. I can’t imagine what it will be like 25 years from now.
I don’t know, for me it’s not such a big deal that she likes rap or whatever but that she’s taken this very narrow stereotypical view on ‘black-culture’ (twerking/ grills/ gang signs) to the point where she’s using the word ‘black’ as synonymous with ‘edgy’ or ‘gangsta’ which just seems ignorant at best. The timing of everything also doesn’t help, when you’ve got people right now trying to justify Trayvon’s murder by using pictures of him wearing a grill/ making gang signs as ‘proof’ of him being a thug it just feels wrong that Miley gets to use all that as ‘harmless edgy fun’ all the while being protected by her skin colour and fame.
What Pippa said. I’m not offended by Miley, only because she’s so pathetically derivative that I can’t find her particularly threatening, but I really hate the fact that she thinks she’s “representing” something she doesn’t understand at all. She’s an overprivileged white girl who is appropriating only the most facile and obvious aspects of a very rich and diverse culture. I find that ratchet, indeed.
As a 27 year old black woman,i am more offended by the black people encouraging this foolish behaviour(but they are making money so they don’t care.)but something tells me they are laughing at her not with her.what i will say is that most black people are so tired of seeing their culture ripped off for profit.miley has to be the most contrived image i have seen yet,it was absolutely manufactured over night. especially since she is now getting more attention and being rewarded for this simply because she is white had this been say a black girl chances she wouldn’t of gotten all those VMA noms.when its God given and passionate,natural and completely authentic i.e eminem,amy winehouse then its a beautiful thing. with miley is just a big disrespectful mockery and a misplaced sense of what black/african american ‘culture’ is.
So well said. I notice they steal, make it their own and then lock out the creators. Punk and rock music being prime examples.
As a black woman, I agree. She’s taking a characture and saying, “THIS IS ME GUYS LOOK AT ME I’M SO COOL” when it’s the furthest thing from the truth. Be who you are. If that doesn’t sell records then at least sleep well at night.
I totally agree. If there are black girls running around acting like this, they get called ghetto, ratchet, classless, this, that and the other. I know black girls are constantly looked down on for acting like this, we can’t get away with behaving in this manner (it’s not cute anyway) because we are being judged harshly and it sticks and gets labelled as typical AA behaviour. Miley comes along and does it because she can and barely anyone bats an eye or calls her out because ” she’s young and trying to find herself.”
Yes Lulu! I am surprised at all the people co-sigining this. It’s bad enough she’s doing it but to have people encourage her is sad. This isn’t about this girl “growing up”. This is about some rich white girl who is just mimicking what she sees in TV to be “urban” “cool”. Nothing else. It’s not cool or entertaining. She’s a loser and I wish a bigger name artist would call her out.
Very well said!
You just nailed what I was feeling. Eminem and Winehouse had genuine talent, respect for the artform and managed to integrate with that area of the music industry because they knew they had to prove themselves/their dedication.
Miley is the girl version of Beiber. And I, too, think the black movers-and-shakers are probably encouraging them because it amuses them to do so. Also, because it makes them money. And in the world of entertainment there is only the color green.
Add Justin beiber and Justin timberlake too to the list of those stealing our culture for the sake of profit. It doesnt seem genuine and we can spot it.
I honestly love Eminem. He never made it about race and he never apologized for who he was, even when everyone was laughing at him and calling him a poser when he first came on the scene (that in itself was racist! So a white person can’t be raised in a black neighbourhood and influenced by black culture?? Why is that so hard to believe?). I never thought about Winehouse, but of course, she is dabbling in a traditionally black genre. Nothing new, of course–she’s not the first white singer to do so. But she, too, was doing it when it wasn’t cool, when there wasn’t a Top 40 market for it.
Miley, at her age, with her privilege–not sure anything authentic can emerge from that. Period.
I understand it must make you feel like crap to see Miley praised for something you would be judged and criticized for, but isn’t it just adding to stereotypes against black people to say that Eminem and Amy W can authenticly make “black” music, when they come from poverty and struggle, but Miley can’t genuinely bc she is privileged? I love Eminem too, but isn’t it the opposite of what you’d say in a parellel circumstance, like if someone said Oprah shouldn’t try to “act white” bc she’s raised poor and black and can never genuinely fit in with white people?
Where I grew up everyone white, black and Hispanic, rich and poor, idolized the likes of Biggie and Tupac, and even they were given crap for having rapped about things they hadn’t lived through, like drug dealing, but Mileys not really out here rapping about being from the hood or anything, so why can’t she just genuinely like black music and people, despite her background? Im with the Vibe writer.
+1 my sentiments exactly. I agree with the Vibe writer too. Nothing I can even add because you brought everything I was thinking.
I agree. I thought the Vibe writer was very generous and inclusive with his comments: “If Miley Cyrus thinks that a musical sound and style of dancing invented by blacks are amazing, why should that be kept from her?”
Of course, what remains unsaid is that EVERY SINGLE popular style of music in the US has its roots in black culture: from jazz, blues and rock n’ roll to rap. These styles are then not only adopted by white kids, but pretty much the entire planet as what constitutes ‘Western’ culture.
Is that really such a bad thing? As long as people acknowledge where the source is, surely that is a good thing for disseminating culture, understanding etc.?
Each generation tends to be less racist than the one before, and surely that is a result of people being influenced by, and participating in, these genres of music, culture etc.?
THANK YOU KCAIA
Bravo, Lulu–you nailed it.
+1000. Well-said.
Excellent!
Lainey pointed out, that Miley wasn’t even seated next to Liam at the Teen Choice Awards. I really think they broke up.
Yeah…someone should tell Miley.
hahahahahaha
Yet they posed on the red carpet for his new movie
Good God with the tongue.
Yes, it’s disgusting beyond words.
(She probably thinks it’s sexy or “edgy” or something.)
She is now eerily resembling the Bieber thing. Evne physically.
Someone should yank it out. Does she realize how completely ridiculous it is?😜
It looks like the dogs agrees, and is attempting to chew her tounge off in that picture, doesn’t it?
It’s enough already. Don’t think she’s smart enough to come up with another ‘pose’.
Please just go away already.
How old is Miley like 21? I think she is young and having fun and jesus I don’t know what I would have been like at 21 if I had started working at 11 and made millions at that. If she is still dong this when she is thirty than yes she needs to stop.
It’s more than that. She’s appropriating–or misappropriating–features of black culture. No one’s culture should be a trend. Why is it when a white woman tries to act “ratchet,” people like her think it’s edgy yet when a WoC does it, it’s considered low class? There are double standards here. Even in the “We Can’t Stop” video, the black women twerking with Miley are depicted almost like accessories.
Miley is relatively harmless, imo. But seriously, that tweet that she posted exemplifies her ignorance to her privilege and downright brattiness. She can’t take criticism whatsoever. No one has a problem with her color. People have a problem with the issues that I listed above.
+1, girl needs to stop this act. Butt hurt about being reminded of your privilege?
+2!
Yep.
She is always accessoirising minorities in order to seem wordly when it just makes her seem like a ignorant dumbass.
She mentioned “her gays” in interviews like “I don´t know anyone of One Direction but my gay friend think Zayn is really cute”. Like why speficially mention he´s gay, it doesn´t matter.
I’m white and I think her behavior, dress, twerking and all that is ridiculous, trashy and revolting, not edgy. I can’t stand her. I don’t think I’m alone there.
no you’re not. it’s like she’s skimming the cliche’s of the culture to try and make herself cool. and it isn’t working, she needs to stop.
I am glad she knows that she is not authentic.
More often than not, it’s Miley reminding us that she’s white. The irony is rich with this one.
She was cute and fun for a while. Her whole persona has worn thin. It’s got to be exhausting hanging around her.
Ugh. It’s unfortunate, because I liked the new look and everything, but she has worn out her welcome. Truly going the way of Bieber.
I’m not black so I won’t make an assumption as to whether her behaviour in general is offensive to African-Americans, but as a white girl who loves hip-hop and rap, I don’t think she has to defend herself over her song. As for the grills, etc, I think they look lame on anyone.
But why shouldn’t she record hip-hop if a rapper wants to collaborate with her? As long as her lyrics arent offensive or racist, what’s the issue?
I agree.
She would have stopped in her tracks if hip hop artists were not condoning her actions every step of the way. It went from one viral twerk video to a shoutout on a Jay-Z song to a collaboration with French Montana.
They are not mad…why is everyone else?
For those of you who said she’s doing this because she’s growing up, sit down and stfu. It has nothing to do with her age at all. If she was younger than I would agree it’s a phase. she’s older now and her interest in the culture that is “black” shouldn’t be taken seriously. She’s making it look horrible. not all black females go around shaking their asses. They don’t put up peace signs or gang signs or whatever all the time. They don’t wear short shorts and gaudy jewelry. I just can’t. I read
Ebony and vibe and all the good black magazines. I however, am a 25 year old black and Spanish female. I would not welcome Miley Cyrus into Latin music either. she just went about it just incredibly wrong. No one should be applauding her or rewarding her. Like it was said before black people are known for soul and rap. Those are not things you go and appreciate over night just because you’re older now and you wanna be noticed. it’s disgraceful and I have no respect for this little twit. And she’s ugly. The end.
Can we just get through the day once without a Miley post? Can we have more Hot Guys instead? Who’s with me!?
I am! I’m so over her even from a gossip perspective.
I’m in. I couldn’t give a rats what this idiot does, I just wish I didn’t have to see it … daily. Almost makes me wish for the days before internet when we didn’t know these twits existed. Her and Beiber are almost like twins now.
I’m for grown up, real men, stop with the entitled, talentless brat children.
She makes me want to reach for my pellet gun every time she does that f*ing duck face.
May I borrow it for when she does the tongue?
YES, all i ever wanna do is Punch her mouth and mess up those chiclet sized veneers ASAP
.
Miley is misappropriating our culture just so she can break away from her Disney image.
The fact that she thinks that the We Can’t Stop is an urban (aka black) song (I wouldn’t dance to that crap) annoys me; that her profiting off a popular, black dance is acceptable to mainstream media (Elvis 2.0) irritates me, and the fact that she can get away with doing ratchet shit but if Rihanna or another black singer do it, then they’re seen as trash, whore, and other racial/sexist slurs f*cking pisses me off.
Miley needs to fall all the way back and take a stadium full of seats. I’m just waiting for her to say the N-word any minute now, since she thinks she’s gotten some kind of hood pass.
You’re nothing but a white Rihanna wannabe. Leave our culture alone. End of.
Preach sista preach!!
“and the fact that she can get away with doing ratchet shit but if Rihanna or another black singer do it, then they’re seen as trash, whore, and other racial/sexist slurs f*cking pisses me off.”
OMG THIS THANK YOU
YES. That is what gets under my skin. A white girl does it and it’s cool (not so popular around here, but among the general public). A black girl does it and it’s g***** trash. It is so racist it makes me ill.
um… she doesn’t look cool… what gave any of you the impression anyone thought b/c she was was white she was getting a pass with this behavior?
I think she looks like a moron, personally. Miley’s not getting a pass here on CB from a majority of posters, but she’s getting plenty of pass elsewhere. And it’s a common phenomenon for white women to get a pass for behavior that black women get judged for.
Yes! Seriously thank all of you because I got so much crap for this a couple of months ago when I tried to point out what Miley is doing.
Let me also say for those saying she’s “young” and “harmless”, think about it this way: if this is just a phase for Miley(I think it is) then whenever she feels like it she can take out her grill, stop twerking and being ” bout that life” anytime she wants to. She might even laugh about it when she gets older and looks back. But what about me and other black women? One’s who’ve never twerked, wear grills, or listen to “hood” music? We still have to go on everyday fighting the negative sterotypes associated with are culture, while the rich white girl acts them out just because she can.
But what makes you think she is getting away with it or getting praise? Everybody is either slamming her or laughing at her. It is like when the school nerd starts doing a dance that everyone else did five years ago. The other kids will laugh and cheer but they are really laughing at the poor kid, not with him.
Besides, Cyrus is a dumbass but as a black girl she doesnt bother me. Nothing she is about has any bearing on my life whatsoever. She can be as try hard and trifling as she likes and its not like black music isnt knee deep in try hards and trifling chicks anyway. We should be against that type bastardizing black culture, regardless of color.hate her talentless famewhoring, not her white talentless famewhoring.
She just can’t stop can she…
You don’t get to twerk and wear gold grills while proclaiming to love urban music and wanting a black sound only to turn around and declare yourself not being ratchet and a hard worker.
African Americans are stereotyped daily, erroneously so, and when folks start giving this simple bitch a fraction of what blacks face she wants to talk about her empire.
Never mind the fact that she’s only using certain facets of hip hop culture while permitting an image that she’s “bout that life” while intentionally choosing not to highlight the positive parts of hip hop.
Miley can bugger off with this nonsense.
I have no issue with folks calling her out, someone needs to.
It wouldn’t be a problem if her idea of being black wasn’t acting ratchet AF. It shows you just how ignorant she is.
That is true
I’m done with Miley posts from now on. Her tongue pictures make me want to punch my laptop.
One of these days she’s going to be sticking it out for photos and someone is going to bump into her and she’s going to crunch down hard into it!
I think it’s ridic that people are like that’s a culture. Hip hop, twerking, and dancing is done by black ppl more, but it’s hardly black people’s culture. My only culture is going to school, getting a job, wearing jeans, wearing louboutins like the majority of Americans. I definitely do not twerk in videos as part of a culture.
Just get over it. Hip hop is mainstream now; it does not mean blackness.
LOL! Do the majority of Americans wear loubitons? This american doesn’t. I’ve also never met anyone that does. Dude everything else was fine but then that lol.
I Lol’d had to reread it to make sure I read that right
Hip hop is not mainstream. It’s accepted more now but that doesn’t mean it’s an art you can exploit. sometimes it doesn’t seem like it but rapping is an art. Singing is an art. I sing and it takes a lot of time. She wants to be all “urban” then she can write something lyrically moving like we do. We can’t stop is a stupid ass song. she can’t sing. She’s made it this far thanks to daddy and Disney. She hasn’t built anything. Her empire? Yeah right.
How old are you? 12?
I’m sorry, but that is just not true. Your idea of what “most Americans want” is way off base. Those may be ideas pertuated by the media (which is mostly middle/upper class white) but this country is very diverse with different values and goals.
I’m trying to be as respectful as i can here, but really, this is not how all people think. Life is very different in poor rural towns, ghettos and inner cities, and places where cultural pressure says you should NOT go to college because it makes your family think you are “too good” for what you were raised in…
THIS! A few years ago, my mom worked at Walmart. As we live in a very small, mostly white town, she and one other person were the only black people working there. The other black person was a Tech student, so he was about 21,22, and he was from Detroit. Now he’s going to Tech to get his engineering degree, and he’s from the shitty section in Detroit.
His dad is one of those that say “the white man made me lose my job, and the white man keeps me down”, and so on. So his dad has done jackshit with his life. Now this student, in addition to going to school does internships during the summer, so that he can get his name out there. The few times that he does go home, his dad spends every single day telling him how he’s nothing but “the white man’s bitch” and how he’s not a REAL man, because he chose to go to college and work hard, instead of hustling for a living (like his dad), and that he’s acting like he’s too good for his family.
And just think how hard it was for him to pull himself out of that mindset. That’s the same way it was my aunts, uncles, and my mom. They lived in poor neighborhoods, the women did everything, most of the women in their neighborhood were single moms w/no help at all from the father. They were never encouraged to go to college or excel in school–my mom went into the Navy because she didn’t think she was smart enough to go to college.
My only confusion stems from one aspect of this:
If, like many posters have said, twerking/the grills/ what not IS NOT black culture, then why the offense? Is it because she seems to think she’s so bad ass? If so then why are so many other people accusing her of trying to ‘be black?’
It seems like there is a strong divide in opinion over this. And no one is praising her, everyone, if you read the comments in these blogs. She gets it worse than Rihanna IMO. The only person I’ve seen praise her so far is Jay Z.
@ Tolleyko. I LOL’d so hard at your comment. It’s ridic.
🇺🇸= 👠
Thank you, I’m a black female and I DO NOT nor have I ever Twerked, my black friends DO NOT TWERK. I just hate that people are looking at what MIley is currently doing and thinking that it is black culture. MILEY IS NOT STEALING ANYTHING FROM MY CULTURE!, any woman, any ethnicity can dress in tight spandex, shake their booty, drop it like it’s hot and brag about their drug use- don’t tell me it’s a BLACK THING, cause it’s not!
I guess the tongue thing is her signature thing right now. Classy. Her VMA thing is going to be one of the greatest try-hard moments in tv history! Wow Miley, you are so hip and edgy!
Christina had her dirrty phase, maybe that’s what this is? But profoundly more annoying.
Budget Iggy Azeala
Miley is just ridiculous and try hard. I don’t know why the media is pushing her so hard, but the media is quite stupid as well. She’s silly, spoiled and entitled and will hopefully go away soon. She’s only marginally talented.
Miley is just one of a pair of the knock off loubitons of rap, Beiber is the other..
I Swear when I see that 1st picture, I’m looking for the bodyguard putting her in her car-seat!
Did I go to my HS reunion and shake my little white ass to “Baby got Back” – yeah I did. Were Black women dancing to Madonna – yeah they were.
Did we switch personas for each song? No.
Miley wants to do rap, Ok then do it YOUR way.
That’s the respect I have for the original rap artists, they were who and what they were without apology.
Artists have always borrowed from other cultures and other music genres. Why is this an issue now?
Artists take inspiration from music, books, their feelings, from religions, and from nature. Creativity doesn’t occur in a vacuum.
I am not a MC fan at all, but I don’t see the point in throwing shade for something that many, many others have done, and that up and coming artists (in every medium) will also do. Does no one remember David Bowie, or Madonna?
There’s a thing called cultural appropriation. And yes artists like Madonna have been criticized for it too.
Miley, you need more people because we don’t believe you. As a black young woman, THIS is NOT black culture…so you all think we go around twerking all the time, and sticking our tongue out, and popping molly?!
She’s just like Justin Timberlake…”urban” until it gets real…Janet Jackson and the super bowl anyone?
Giiiirl! Don’t even get me started on that one! There’s no way that janet and justin had not practiced that routine a million times for the Super Bowl. Janet was at the top of her game at the time.
When the shit got real, he let her take all the blame like the bitch-boy that he is. He NEVER came to her defense or took partial responsibility. Her career never recovered and his career took off. He ran so away so fast and it made/makes me still pissed.
Remember when they wouldn’t let her come to the Grammy’s that year?
My point being: you’re exactly right! I still detest him for that!
I’m really trying to figure out who is worse; this Miley Creature or the Beiber Entity….
they are interchangeable at the point
What a privileged rich, white brat she is. That tweet of hers pissed me off more than any of her racist and offensive acts in the last few months have. She is so ignorant and indifferent that it disgusts me. I hope you disappear soon, Miley. You are actually the true definition of ratchet, no matter how hard you deny it.
Bedhead,
Just out of curiosity, why did you feel the need to refer to Miley Cyrus as a little white girl in the context of ‘attacks’? As we have all established, Miley is an adult, a young one, to be sure, but she is an adult, not some precious little white girl who’s being attacked for ‘exploring’ ratchet culture. Let’s cut the shit here.
What’s with the tongue hanging out in every photo? You want to be treated like an adult, act like one.
Just FYI, it’s Vice, not Vibe. You’ve got Vice written for the link, but Vibe in two other places. 🙂
Ugggg…again with the tongue
First things first; she needs to put her tongue away. She’s got one, we get it; now close your mouth please.
Okay, Celebitchy.com, No need to torture us with Miley’s tongue. I think we all see enough of it everywhere else. 🙄
She’s someone no one knows anymore. She’s a try hard Rihanna wanna be now. She’s not even worth writing or reading about.
Jeez I find myself going back and forward with this constantly. Okay, on one side she IS misappropriating aspects of black culture and absolutely getting a pass for what would be labeled as ratchet behavior. But here is the issue too, I am half Mexican and don’t look it at all, and I’ve been outright denied my culture at times because people don’t realize I am. But I am in no means doing anythIng disrespectful, simply participating. Sure, we know there isn’t any black in her but by excluding people from adopting even aspects of a culture aren’t we basically perpetuating a type of segregation? If you like an aspect of a culture why can’t you incorporate that into how you express yourself? As long as its done respectfully I don’t see a problem. She bugs and yes her behavior bugs me but I feel she has a right to do it. As important as culture is, to me personally, I think it’s more important to remember that culture is created by people and at the end of the day it is trumped by the fact that we are all the same animal everything else is a reflection of our surroundings and personality. Just my opinion.
Here’s what I have to say about cultural appropriation:
Until this year, I had never heard of the term, so I don’t think it’s an issue everyone knows about. I’m doing some reading on it.
Some people find it offensive when a white person wears clothing or hairstyles from, or does dance moves from a culture that is not their own (Indian, Black, Asian, Native American, etc.). Some find it offensive no matter who does it- for example, if a black person wears a kimono, or if a Hispanic person wears a bindi. The reason why some people are offended by white people doing it is because white people are privileged in Western society, and while they can wear things from other cultures or perform their music/dance moves, actual People of Color have to face all kinds of racism and problems. I’m not sure why some people are offended when a Person of Color does it too, but I’m still learning about it.
Personally, I’m not offended at all when a person borrows from my own culture(s), regardless of that person’s race- as long as it’s not being used to mock or attack (which I have seen). To me, using elements of a culture to degrade or demonize a group of people is completely different from someone wearing something or doing something because they happen to like it or appreciate it. I see that as a positive sign of a society slowly becoming less racist and more open. To me, putting limits on what a person can wear, how they can dance, and what music genres they can participate in based on the color of a person’s skin or their nationality feels like a form of segregation. It feels like the opposite of moving toward tolerance and equality. But that’s just my personal opinion- I don’t speak for everybody, and I realize that it’s wrong to tell someone that they don’t have the right to be offended by it just because I’m not.
At the same time, people who do have a problem with cultural appropriation should probably be careful how they address it, since it’s not a well-known topic. If you come at someone by saying things like, “You’re a Black girl. That’s such a White Girl thing,” (something I once heard a classmate say to another) or “Who do you think you are, as a person of this ethnicity, wearing this/singing this/dancing like that?”, it will evoke a defensive/outraged response because the listener will automatically think you’re being racist.
@Blaize I like your post very much. It is times like this when I miss Michael Jackson so much. He was a true global superstar who successfully combined many musical and artistic influences (not only black and white) and did so in a very dignified and respectful way. That is why millions of people of all races love him. We need artists like him because music and art can unite people in unique way. Like he said: ” I´m not going to spend my life being A color”… Love you forever MJ.
I think that a lot of the issues come from the fact that she is using this, let’s call it “look”, for monetary gain mainly, or so it seems.
She had a different image when she was on the crazy caged bird tour, she was trying to be shocking and rauchy but still had a lot of her Hanna image, then she looked like nothing out of the ordinary, regular pretty girl she is (minus the teeth), going to the gym, etc, and around thetime she is starting with new music, comes this image. For me, it is like she was planning this change of image for a while, and then suddendly she is wearing the teet golden braces, and posing showing her a**. Mmm seems calculated with a purpose, and she has to sell music, so the purpose is $.
She may like the music, she can record it, and all that, hey she could be acting and dressing like that, but it is the timing and the sudden appearing of all these behaviours that make me think that she is more of a phony than the real thing.
The use of the twerking girls in her video made me think that she/her team is using the culture for her gain, more than really really belonging there.
@vyctorygin: +1
Exactly what I was tryin to say but way more thorough
great post
I’m so glad that the majority of posters seem to “get it”. I came onto this thread preparing myself to have to go on some offensive harangue.
Like previous commenters posted up-thread, it’s not that she has an interest in black culture, so much as her idea of that culture seems to be worst aspects of it. And it reads as contrived and affected.
Its smacks of artifice. I have no doubt that she has an earnest interest in urban culture with the ubiquity of rap. But her involvement is akin to some “g***** safari” based on her “urban cultural excursions”. She brings back colloquialisms and dance moves like poachers bring back ivory.
I guarantee that if she did this with any degree of talent and authenticity (aka. Robin Thicke), most people wouldn’t have sh*t to say.
Oh, and to those who don’t think that rap it black…
Just because it has affected various music cultures around the world does not mean that it is not black. It contains features that are not indigenously found in other cultures. Though it does enjoy a large degree of cultural autonomy and export, hip hop is black. Just as opera is indelibly European.
“I guarantee that if she did this with any degree of talent and authenticity (aka. Robin Thicke), most people wouldn’t have sh*t to say.”
Egg-freaking-zactly. This is simply an image change through and through. Completely in authentic and ridiculous. The reality is this is just dressing to sell an incredibly bland salad. I hate that. For some this is society becoming more open minded, but the reality is this is society doing WHAT IT HAS ALWAYS DONE. Speak to the reality don’t bullshit it.
I have no problem with people taking an interest in other people’s cultures. I do it too, but along the way I end up learning a great deal about another culture/another style of music or film or art/another people. This is something that’s not happening in Miley’s case. She’s pandering to an already established demographic that eats this sh*t up. There’s a bigger problem with it and it’s not just the Cyrus Virus here.
Originality is key.
I contend that what makes this just a polemical issue is this historical context in which this situation finds itself. Some have casually touched upon it, but none have really gone on to elaborate on it…
There is a storied history in American musical and cultural history of various aspects of black culture being hijacked for monetary gain, where others have capitalized on trends while conveniently marginalizing the ones that produced it. And contrary to what many believe, it didn’t start with Elvis. It goes all the way to ragtime and vaudeville. But the trend really gains a foothold with the advent of jazz. At the beginning of the 20th century, as blacks where migrating up north from the south they were bringing their music with them. Which differed markedly in terms of chord combinations and rhythmic patterning. Over a short period many whites who gained access to this music (often by frequenting clubs where blacks played), because to incorporate into their culture. It became a virtual soundtrack from encroaching modernity and rebellion. (in fact, it seems that black music in the 20th century has always signaled some cultural disintegration – jazz, blues, rock, hip-hop). This wouldn’t have been an issue if after some years of studied mimicking; promoters, producers and execs weren’t always able to proffer up whites doing the same things, which has often seen to be more musically profitable. Often, it has been much easier to sell a white person doing black music than a black person doing black music. And at the point where this typically happens, the music has been so bastardized that no one blinks an eye. Because no one “owns” the music, right?
Wrong. The execs do. And sometimes historians revise history.
It’s bothersome because they are able to insidiously re-write music history. Miles Davis was always complaining about musicologists (who were most often white) where doing this in the Ivory Tower.
As a black person, I really try to be culturally-forward, maintaining that one should be allowed to explore cultures without the label of misappropriation, my background is in opera. But I know better. You don’t see blacks stealing opera or country music, after all.
Oh, poor Miley, it must be hard to be reminded of your skin colour every day. Who else has to go through that?
Is she ever going to put that disgusting tongue away FFS? There’s nothing wrong with a white girl enjoying hip hop or even cutting a hip hop album. What’s offensive is that to her, it’s just a money-making schtick, an angle to make more money. Of course it’s contrived and inauthentic. For her, it’s just make-believe without the believability. Hip hops power is in its authenticity. It comes from a place Miley has never been and never will be. She’s just driving through picking up souveniers.
Can we stop calling this “black culture” please? This is NOT my culture.
My culture is Rock N Roll, Blues, Jazz, Soul, Motown….Hiphop and twerking is NOT, I repeat, NOT MY culture and it is NOT “black culture”.
I hate that black people define themselves by the lowest of lowest of our people.
The whole world knows what color her tongue is too. Yuck.
Oh now. Miley said she is not black. That means she is totally crazy racist know. Quick – call Oprah. She should do statement…
Also – Miley wants to win that VMA that I really hope she will lose. That’s embarrassing that she is so desperate and just begs her fans to vote every 30 minutes.
Yeah cause racism doesn’t exist anymore and we’re all sooooo sensitive for even mentioning it.
As far as Oprah goes the sales assistant already showed her ass by admitting that Oprah was telling the truth all along.
Miley posed for Terry Richardson!!!!!! Hahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/08/14/article-2393765-1B4C177B000005DC-867_634x792.jpg
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!! 😯
😆 😆 😆 😯 😯 
OMG! LMAO!!!!! 😀
H I L A R I O U S! 😆
Okay, I admit, I judge Miley Cyrus harshly. Of course she can make whatever music or image she wants, I will never ever have any control over that and to be honest, I don’t really care… but I still think she’s spoiled and the comment she made about being mature because she has used recreational drugs still really bothers me. Drugs tormented and destroyed Whitney Houston. It would be very frustrating to see another artist play the “cool” denial card for “street credit” without truly understanding the power that ANY narcotic has over a person.
Why does she stick her tongue out?
I just need to know why acting a ratchet ghetto mess is “cultural appropriation.” Gurl please, this pseudo controversy is the biggest load of crap I’ve seen in a long time. Being ghetto and trashy isn’t reserved for us blacks, and the people acting like it is sound just as stupid and ignorant as those who say that reading and going to college is “acting white”, no matter how many buzzwords and taglines you try and throw on it. Take a step back and listen to what the hell you’re saying for a second ,jesus. Trash comes in all colors. And I really need to know who is “giving her a pass” because she’s white. Show me the receipts please. Because as far as I’ve seen, Miley has been the joke that everyone but herself gets since she started this PR makeover.
Thank you!!!
Her music is still bubblegum pop shit no matter what image shes trying to project. Hopefully this will die fast like her “Kurt Cobain is my dream boyfriend” phase.
Why is her tongue always hanging out.Does she have a tic or is she just trying to be very annoying.