0:00:04.539,0:00:07.931
So black hair has always been [br]an essential component of black culture.

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Black hair requires upkeep in order [br]for it to grow and remain healthy,

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so black women [br]have always done their hair.

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It's just a part of our identity: [br]braids, locs, twists and cornrows, etc.

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Cornrows are a really functional way

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of keeping black textured hair unknotted[br]and neat, but like with style.

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So you can see why hair is such a big part [br]of hip hop and rap culture.

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These are styles of music which [br]African American communities created

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in order to affirm our identities [br]and our voices.

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In the early 2000's you saw [br]many R&B stars wearing cornrows:

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Alicia Keys, Beyonce, R. Kelly [br]and many more.

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As hip hop became more and more popular [br]and integrated into pop culture,

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so did Black culture.

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Eminem's album went four times platinum and he [br]achieved immense success in the hip hop world.

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Black culture had become popular.

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As the early 2000's turned into 2010's, [br]white people began to wear

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clothing and accessories associated with hip hop,

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more and more celebrities could be seen [br]wearing cornrows and braids and even grills.

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So by 2013, the fashion world [br]had adopted cornrows as well.

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Cornrows and braids were seen [br]on high fashion runways,

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for brands like Marchesa [br]and Alexander McQueen,

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and magazines had editorial campaigns [br]featuring cornrows as a new urban hairstyle.

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Riff Raff came on to the scene, [br]a suburban white middle class man

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who almost ironically took on a Black-set [br]and wore braids and gold teeth.

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And then James Franco took inspiration from [br]Riff Raff for his role as an alien in Spring Breakers.

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Pop stars and icons adopted Black culture [br]as a way of being edgy and gaining attention.

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In 2013, Miley Cyrus twerks [br]and uses Black women as props,

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and in 2014, in one of her videos called [br]This is How We Do,

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Katy Perry uses ebonics and hand gestures, [br]eats watermelons while wearing cornrows

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before cutting inexplicably [br]to a picture of Aretha Franklin.

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Soooo... as you can see [br]cultural appropriation was rampant.

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Not only were white people becoming rappers [br]but they were excelling in the world of hip hop.

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Macklemore and Ryan Lewis' song Thrift Shop

0:02:09.865,0:02:13.335
garnered a number one spot [br]on Billboard's year end chart for 2013,

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and then Iggy Azalea's song Fancy [br]reached number one the following year.

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And in May 2014, Forbes released an article titled

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"Hip Hop's unlikely new star, [br]a white blonde Australian woman."

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But at the same time, police brutality [br]against Black people came to the forefront.

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In an incredible movement [br]ignited by the murders of

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Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, [br]Eric Graner and many others,

0:02:36.986,0:02:41.814
people began to protest institutionalized racism [br]by marching and by using social media.

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Celebrities spread awareness and [br]shared condolences, or at least some did,

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as Azealia Banks, a Black female rapper,[br]pointed out.

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As Azealia Banks observed in her tweets,

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white musicians who partook in hip hop culture [br]and adopted Blackness

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-Iggy Azalea in particular-

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failed to speak on the racism [br]that comes along with Black identity.

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Banks & Azalia feuded on Twitter until Banks [br]participated interview on New Yorks Hot 97.

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[Azealia Amanda Banks] I have a problem

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when youre trying to like say that it's hip hop,

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and youre trying to like put it [br]like up against black culture.

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It's like cultural smudging, is what I see.

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All it says to white kids is like,

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<i>'Oh yeah, you're great, you're amazing, [br]you can do whatever you put your mind to.'</i>

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And it says to black kids,

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<i>'You don't have shit, you don't own shit, [br]not even shit you've created for yourself.'</i>

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And it makes me upset."

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[Amandla Stenberg] That itself is what is so [br]complicated when it comes to Black culture.

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I mean the line between cultural [br]appropriation and cultural exchange

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is always going to be blurred, [br]but here is the thing:

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Appropriation occurs when a style leads [br]to racist generalizations or stereotypes

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where it originated

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but is deemed as high fashion, cool or funny [br]when the privileged take it for themselves.

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Appropriation occurs when the appropriator

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is not aware of the deep significance [br]of the culture they are partaking in.

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Hip hop stems from a black struggle, [br]it stems from jazz and blues,

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styles of music which African-Americans created [br]to retain humanity in the face of adversity,

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which itself stems from songs song used [br]during slavery to communicate and survive.

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On a smaller scale but in a similar vein, [br]braids and cornrows are not merely stylistic.

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Theyre necessary in order [br]to keep black hair neat.

0:04:16.217,0:04:21.530
So Ive been seeing this question a lot on [br]social media and I think it's really relevant:

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what would America be like

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if we loved black people [br]as much as we love black culture?