Cultural appropriation is a real problem.
The issue time and time again is White voices are amplified while Blacks are silenced.
Brands and publications have praised White celebrities for discovering or starting trends that Black women were demonized for.
This is not an article about comparing.
It is tempting to try and find parallels between greats but he is not the next Sondheim, Schwartz or ____.
He’s the first, the only Lin Manuel Miranda.
With memorable hosts SNL legends Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, the always entertaining Ricky Gervais and the looser atmosphere and two consecutive years of controversy with #OscarsSoWhite campaign the ‘Biggest night in film’ was playing catch up and battling being dismissed as antiquated
On The Life of Pablo Kanye West responds to his detractors missing his more soulful and political activist side.
And even Big Brother Jay Z offered more validity to those cries by saying ‘We miss the old Kanye’
So what does this mean? Is there an etherial ‘old’ Kanye that was a backpacker who was a lovable producer-rapper
This thought process is dismissive forgetting all that came before this current iteration of Yeezy.
Hailing from Chatham’s 79th Street Chance The Rapper, born Chancellor Bennett, has had quite a run of success and it is more impressive when taking in the fact that he has accomplished so much without assistance of a major label.
After going on tour with Childish Gambino and with the release of his widely successful mixtape Acid Rap he stereotypically would have signed to one of the many labels that were courting him but instead he started his own path by remaining unsigned.
Fans who have been clamoring for what’s next for Donald Glover are greeted with a reverse edited 30 second promo with the protagonists walking throughout the capital of Georgia.
Every time someone tries to put him in the box he changes.
Even the title of ‘triple threat’ is lacking.
He’s a screenwriter, producer, actor, singer, composer, comedian, rapper.
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