By Elizabeth Newby, Columnist
By the time you read this, Drake will have performed in Oklahoma City, and I will be forever mourning because I couldn’t sell enough plasma to buy a ticket.
I love everything about Drake. He has a perfect, hybrid rapping style that floats seamlessly from rough to delicate, all in the same verse.
He’s evolved from singing his own hook to producing songs like “Take Care” that is stylistically diverse in practically every line. It blows my mind every time I listen to it while making me want to do inappropriate things that I can’t mention in this column because the editor-in-chief won’t let me (ahem, Farris).
Mostly I love Drake because he used to be a child actor in a skeezy, teen melodrama. And he is black Jewish Canadian. He’s like the holy grail of hottness.
But thinking about Drake (in the most platonic and objective sense I can muster) also makes me think about cultural appropriation.
Drake’s music is definitely not taking advantage of hip-hop. That’s ridiculous. He’s like every minority possible. If he still went by his first name Aubrey, he could even be mistaken for a lady.
There are a few steps that lead me to this position that usually make me yell really passionately at my friends when I’ve had too much to drink.
First, it’s the music that is appropriated by white artists that I hate. Like Eminem. He’s the worst.
Okay, he did grow up in Detroit and I may just be taking this stance based on his race and not his cultural experience necessarily, but whatever.
For the sake of the argument, I’m gonna say he’s an exploitation and he should probably take some blood pressure medication.
I’m more puzzled by the music that is appropriated that I love and can’t reconcile. Mostly the white female rapper Kreayshawn. She wears weird glasses and smokes blunts, and I just want to be her friend.
Unfortunately, soul music is appropriated as well by artists such as Justin Timberlake and Christina Aguilera. Such artists are most likely favored in the music industry because of the perceived accessibility of their white skin by the majority and, of course, their pretty, little faces.
But JT brought sexy back and Xtina starred in the tightest movie ever, Burlesque. Cher was in it, y’all! I love both of them. What’s a girl to do?
But as you can see, there are so many gray areas and confusing factors involved that I’m not always sure what is cultural appropriation and what isn’t. I’m not always sure what’s celebration and what’s exploitation. I’m not sure what’s a step back to a community and what’s necessary for adaptation and change.
As the suburbs take over America and the internet gets crazier, aren’t we all pretty much trolling Facebook and grubbing on McDonalds anyway?
Drake’s experience may be closer to Neil Patrick Harris than Eazy-E. The fact that a sort of bourgie, former child actor is accepted in the rap community is definitely something to think about. All I really know is that he’s a jam.
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