WEBVTT

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So black hair has always been 
an essential component of black culture.

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

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so black women 
have always done their hair.

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It's just a part of our identity: 
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
and neat, but like with style.

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

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These are styles of music which 
African American communities created

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in order to affirm our identities 
and our voices.

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

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Alicia Keys, Beyonce, R. Kelly 
and many more.

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As hip hop became more and more popular 
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 
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, 
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 
wearing cornrows and braids and even grills.

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

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Cornrows and braids were seen 
on high fashion runways,

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for brands like Marchesa 
and Alexander McQueen,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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before cutting inexplicably 
to a picture of Aretha Franklin.

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Soooo... as you can see 
cultural appropriation was rampant.

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

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Macklemore and Ryan Lewis' song Thrift Shop

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garnered a number one spot 
on Billboard's year end chart for 2013,

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and then Iggy Azalea's song Fancy 
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, 
a white blonde Australian woman."

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

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In an incredible movement 
ignited by the murders of

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

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people began to protest institutionalized racism 
by marching and by using social media.

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

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as Azealia Banks, a Black female rapper,
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 
and adopted Blackness

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-Iggy Azalea in particular-

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

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Banks & Azalia feuded on Twitter until Banks 
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 
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, 
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, 
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 
complicated when it comes to Black culture.

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I mean the line between cultural 
appropriation and cultural exchange

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

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Appropriation occurs when a style leads 
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 
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 
of the culture they are partaking in.

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

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

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

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

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Theyre necessary in order 
to keep black hair neat.

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So Ive been seeing this question a lot on 
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 
as much as we love black culture?