Black people, would you be angry if a white person is doing black music and vice versa?

Question

What I mean with "black music" here is music which was invented by the black people or was originated within the black culture/community, examples like rap, jazz, hip-hop, R&B, or gospel. Whereas music which is considered to be white-people music are like classical music or country.

Now, I happen to be a fan of opera and some of my most favorite opera singers are Leontyne Price, Kathleen Battle and Sumi Jo. All of them are sopranos, the 1st two names are black while the latter is Asian (South Korean). But even so, I notice there are still very few black and Asian opera singers out there. (I see a lot of Asian classical musicians but most of them play instruments. I rarely see Asian opera singers esp. the ones who are on international level such as Sumi Jo.) I wonder if it's because many people think that opera is a white-people music? Could it be the reason why there are very rare non-white performers in opera and classical music? Do any white people here get upset or angry if you see non-white people become musicians/artists of what most people consider "white-people music"? Do you feel that the music is the privilege of white people alone and therefore no one should attempt to mess around with it other than the white people itself?

And vice versa, how do black people here feel everytime you see white people becoming rappers or R&B singers etc? There are many white people who are doing black music such as Eminem and Robin Thicke and I'm sure these artists have fans from various race/ethnic groups incl. black people. But to those who aren't their fans, how do you honestly feel about them doing music that you know stem from your people/culture? Would you be offended by them and consider them "thief" because you feel like they have stolen the music which was originally invented by your people? Or on the contrary, would you be flattered by them knowing that these non-black artists have helped introducing/popularizing black music to a broader mass?

Now, I personally don't mind artists/musicians that crossover to genres that are not part of their culture/history. On the other hand, I urge many musicians to be creative and productive in their effort to create art regardless of their race and genre. To me, it's ridiculous if we label a certain genre to belong only to a certain race/ethnicity and therefore no other race/ethnic groups must try it. Let it be a black country singer or a white rapper or an Asian country singer, so be it. I see nothing wrong with it. Music is supposed to unify people and make us come together, not to segregate/clustering us.

What is your opinion on this?

Thank you.

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

Serpentinius Rising,I think it means that the notes on the music are black.
I am of the same opinion, music is music. It is like reading, when one reads a book, one doesn't look at the words and think a black person wrote this or a white person wrote that, it doesn't matter what colour wrote it, if it is good, it is good. I just don't see what the issue is or what the question wants in an answer.

Friendly Stranger.. · Answer

As you can see by the other answers, its not about race.  Although it would seem a bit interesting for someone of another culture to take part, I seriously believe most people don't care.  The truth is, its not about race.  There is no such thing as "black music".  Music is just that, music.  The only reason why people have decided to link musical genres to race so much is because you have a split between which cultures are interested or participate in a given genre.  Overall its just social stereotypes, along with meaningless expectations of who should perform or listen to what type of music.  At the end of the day its all music.  If an artist of a different culture wants to experiment and try another genre then they are more than welcome to do it.  Race in that sense is meaningless.  Its just a social construct.  People put way too much emphasis on it, and therefore they miss out on life because they are too afraid to try something new.  So what if the person is a different race?  Its all music and race shouldn't be a part of it.

hellkittykatt · Answer

Did you know that the very first rap video was Blondie's 'Rapture'? Of course, inspired by Sugar Hill Gang's 'Rappers Delight'....but just goes to show that Blondie was obviously bumpin' Sugar Hill Gang on her boom box and loved it so much it inspired her to make a hit out of it. This whole black/white music battle is really, really not important...Music is music and whether it's good or not is up for the listener to decide. I'm not mad at Eminem rapping, because he's actually talented (although I don't particularly care for most of his tracks) and I do think that there's something to be said about that if he can hang in the rap industry where the artists are dominantly black, don't you? Nor am I mad at Amy Winehouse for trying to sound like a modern day Ettta James, or at Selena for crossing over from Latin to English. I'm not upset that Diddy and Jay-Z just to name a couple, sampled a bunch of classic rock songs in a lot of their tracks. Nor am I angry with Darius Rucker from Hootie and the Blowfish for trying out his hand in country....the point I'm trying to make here, is I think as a society, we've passed that whole certain music BELONGS to certain cultures when we're talking about rap, hip-hop, pop, jazz etc, stuff that's mainstreamed and on every radio station in every state. That's the beautiful thing about this country. There will always be music that 'belongs' to certain cultures,i.e- tribal, religious, ceremonial, sometimes just traditional to your families, etc- and that's why it's cultural, but mainstream categories allows each and every artist out there to jump in and add their contribution to it.

Lever · Answer

Rock N' Roll, Hip Hop, Pop, Salsa, Merengue, Jazz, Blues, Ragtime... the list goes on and on.

African Americans have contributed tremendously.

How would the Romans feel if they so how their alphabet has been taken up all across the world? That's how the Blacks feel about their contributions.

Now, I'm not sure why there would be a need for offense. It is what it is.

Charles · Answer

I think music is music. It doesn't matter to me if a person who raps happens to be white. I don't own rap just because i'm black. Music is music to me. It's there to be enjoyed by all.

Anonymous · Answer

Music is music..who cares what colour the person's skin is.
As long as they sound good..that's all that counts.

? · Answer

I wouldn't be angry,just remember where it came from.
Music is music and people should respect it,and enjoy it.

? · Answer

Yes. I feel only a black man has the right to sing the blues.

☼Serpentius[Scorpius] Rising☼ · Answer

What is "black" music?

Anonymous · Answer

no i dont really care 

but hye better be good or we will cuss them out

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Black people, would you be angry if a white person is doing black music and vice versa?

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