lol not an ounce of Bruno is black yet he's completely infiltrated the pop scene as some kind of black artist/Michael Jackson knock-off and slid in mostly unnoticed. He is the original Dolezal.

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Lol THIS.



People are so full of shit with their support for Bruno mars.



It's wrong if a woman does it, Kardashians, Iggy etc. but ok if a man does and it always has been, Justin Timberlake, Bieber, Eminem come to mind as huge borrowers that people never had a problem with.

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Not to discredit the criticism the women have gotten vs the men, but those men have been criticized (though not to the same extent although JT has recently), but all those people are white and Bruno is not. A lot of people thought he was black when he first came out.

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in no manner whatsoever has bruno identified as a black person. if people have jumped to that conclusion it is because of their own ignorance

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I don’t know much about him. I legit thought he was at least half black. oops me



Edited at 2018-03-19 08:46 pm (UTC)

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how is he a black artist? i dont understand that comment at all

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I literally found out on ONTD after this year's Grammys that he wasn't black. I was shook

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Isn't he half Puerto Rican? I'm sure the're at least 1% of black in there lol

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agreed. I dunno why he gets a pass.

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I’ve always wondered about NBPOC and if they have any agency in making music/styling themselves that is associated with black people.





Also, I feel like this conversation surrounding has only recently amplified due to the Grammys, which I understand why.

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"God created music for all of us to enjoy..."



Then why am I being punished for Ed Sheeran, huh?

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oh bless your heart sug, stealing this

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That’s devils play.

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et tu, stevie? rmfe...its crazy how many ppl are purposely missing the point about appropriation 😒

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mmhmm

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yeah, the people who are coming out to defend Bruno Mars by saying that it's appreciation and he's not a bad person and whatnot are missing the point that he's still benefiting from being non-black and doing "black culture". The problem isn't whether or not Bruno's intent is malicious, the problem is that blackness isn't as profitable/acceptable/desirable when it comes direct from black people and Bruno, bless his heart, is still benefiting from that system.

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Yeah that's how I feel. I'm not as mad at Bruno as I am at society and institutions like the Grammys for never giving black artists their due. Although it would be nice if Bruno admitted that benefits from being a non-black POC.

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all of this, but they don't wanna hear it tho. the entire system is racist af and that needs to be addressed more than anything...

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he hasnt appropriated because he acknowledges where his music roots have come from.



how is it HIS fault that other artists of his genre are not as popular, why place the blame on another minority when he cant do anything about that?



the level of digging doesnt make sense here.



if there were another artist who is making the same type of music right now that he is doing and isnt getting the same kind of coverage i'd understand more, but i do not know if there is?

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so because he likes that music he should never sing it?





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What is the line between being influenced by another culture’s art/appropriating it?

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when you try to act like you came up with the original idea and never giving credit to the original inspiration, I guess. It's obviously more complicated than that, but that's the gist of the Discourse.

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does Bruno Mars do that? Is it not obvious that his musc clearly takes from funk and what not that harken back to those days?

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if anyones trying not to give credit where its due, its mark ronson... not bruno

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But Bruno always gives credit to the black artist that influences him....

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I had no idea Bruno wasn’t black, or at least mixed, until 2 weeks ago...

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I didn’t know until this post 🙊🙈😱

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Me too. WTF?

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which is why i feel like people making this about how bruno benefits when other black artists don't are kind of missing the point--most people DO think he's black, or mixed at the very least, even a lot of white people i know didn't realize he wasn't black. they see a medium skinned dude singing r&b jams and just assume he's black. he may benefit while actual black artists are relegated to ~urban~ but it's not because he looks ambiguously light or white passing, like halsey

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me too!

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http://www.vulture.com/2018/03/bruno-mars-cultural-appropriation-between-people-of-color.html Imma lay this here for yall to read and simmer with

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this is a really good article and "The problem with seeing culture exclusively through the lens of a prosecutor is that, much like real prosecutors, you’re always looking for new cases to convict" is a great line

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this was a good read.

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this is great

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to me if you are (non black) PoC especially a dark skin (non black) PoC like bruno, you good and you're not appropriating. I draw the line when it's white people

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I agree

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Fuck Karaoke Mars!

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Old black folks and their 1st wave "wokeness" continue to disappoint

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Also, is Julio a real person he’s referencing or is he just leaning into the stereotypical all members of the help are Latinos? Cause if it’s the latter, he can eff off for that too.

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while I think it's good to ask questions about whether certain things are appropriative or not a lot of the convos i've seen reek of white people basically saying "well if IIIIIII can't do it neither should bruno mars" when the two things have very different contexts.

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The Bruno Mars hate just comes across as people wanting to be mad for the sake of it. He has never claimed to be black and at every moment he’s given props to the community that influenced him and directed the spotlight at them over and over, including his own band who’s with him everywhere.



This was the wrong hill to die on when there’s so many other artists legitimately appropriating vs. Bruno’s appreciating.

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For me personally, Bruno is nowhere near Timberlake-tier fuckery but there's still a very legitimate issue surrounding how Bruno Mars profits from not being black and doing ~black music, he doesn't get an exemption from the conversation because he's still benefiting from appropriation at the end of the day. Imo.

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I don't know though. I feel like most people assume Bruno is black (afro-latino) or has some black in him. I'm black, and I thought he was mixed, at least.

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he doesn't get an exemption from the conversation because he's still benefiting from appropriation at the end of the day



Then that is the current music industy's fault, not Bruno. He is just a product of the bigger machine.

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so, is he not allowed to do r&b music?

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I think it came to a head bc he’s being rewarded with the highest honors in music and the people who created new jack swing, funk and r&b never really got the accolades. poc artists are relegated to urban categories and they do exactly what Bruno does and depending on who you ask they do it better

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In many regards I don’t think the hate is about him specially but about what he represents. He got awarded for throwback music that was created by black artists who didn’t recognized for it back in the day. Also, he was up against black artists who created forward thinking music and not old school music, especially artists *cough* Kendrick *cough* who continually makes critically acclaimed, socially conscious work but has yet to be awarded for it and Bruno is essentially a “vapid” pop artist.

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