Jada McGlothin (’27), Staff Writer
During times of slavery in the United States, one tactic to subjugate enslaved African Americans was through the stripping of their culture. Some of these destroyed cultural point include language, religion, and the arts. Although chattel slavery has long been abolished in American law, the residue of its impact remains throughout different spheres of culture. A common occurrence in history is the mocking, or devaluation, and then adaptation of black culture. A consistent example of this is the apparent “theft” of music made by black artists, oftentimes, without credit. However, the issue goes deeper than a handful or black artists being ripped off.
In essence, African Americans are the backbone of American music culture. According to the National Museum of African American History and Culture, black diaspora groups are responsible for originating Sacred, Folk, Military, Jazz, Rhythm and Blues (R&B), Hip Hop and Rap, and Rock n Roll music. However, most of these music categories in today’s age don’t use black faces for their brand. Furthermore, the music genres that are fronted by black artists such as R&B and Hip-Hop and Rap are often villainized for exacerbated or nonexistent gang, drug, and even demonic affiliations, as reported by Mixed Mag. As stated before, when black art isn’t busy being torn-apart, it’s being taken.
Possibly one of the most famous examples of white artists taking and ‘covering’ originally black songs is Elvis Preseley’s ‘hit-song’ “Hound Dog–” a song initially released by Big Mama Thorton. According to TeachRock, although Thorton’s version did end up on the Billboard No. 1 chart for seven weeks in the R&B category, when a young Elvis, inspired by black music, released his own version, it completely overshadowed Thorton’s achievement. Other examples of remakes include Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love” deriving lyrics from Muddy Waters and Willie Dixons “You Need Love;” Phil Collins ‘remaking’ the Supremes song “You Can’t Hurt Love; The Beach Boys ‘revamping’ Chuck Berry’s “Sweet Little Sixteen” into “Surfin’ U.S.A;” and Pat Boone recreating Little Richard’s hit “Tutti Frutti.”
What’s the big deal? Covers are accepted and commonplace in music culture today, so why is this a big deal? This situation is unique from Birdy covering “Skinny Love” from Bon Iver due to one major missing factor: standing. Many black artists of the 20th century who were ripped off didn’t have the financial or social standing to lay claim on their own work. On some occasions, like in Little Richard’s case, their work was taken and recreated for white audiences. Essentially, the issue can be found in a deeper, systemic problem with roots as early as slavery: black art being undervalued because black identity was ignored or demonized.
As Black History Month and the rest of 2024 continue on, it’s critical that every American is conscious of the media that they’re consuming–where it came from, and who’s getting the credit.
