ON BEING MULTI-RACIAL: “There are a lot of people who have this mixed background that are in this gray zone. A lot of people think, ‘This is awesome. You’re in this gray zone, so you can pass for whatever the hell you want.’ But it’s not like that at all. It’s actually the exact opposite. What we’re trying to do is educate people to know what that feels like so they’ll never make someone feel like that ever again. Which is a hard thing to do. Because no one can see what we see and no one can grow up with what we grew up with. I hope people of color can look at me, and they know that everything they’re going through, I went through. I promise you.”

ON THE MUSIC BUSINESS: “It’s an oxymoron—the music business; like the art business. You’re making a business out of these songs that I’m writing. And how are you going to tell me that this song that I’m writing is only going to be catered to Puerto Ricans or to white people or only Asian people. How are you going to tell me that? My music is for anybody who wants to listen to it.”

ON “BLACK MUSIC”: “When you say ‘black music,’ understand that you are talking about rock, jazz, R&B, reggae, funk, doo-wop, hip-hop, and Motown. Black people created it all. Being Puerto Rican, even salsa music stems back to the Motherland [Africa]. So, in my world, black music means everything. It’s what gives America its swag. I’m a child raised in the ’90s. Pop music was heavily rooted in R&B from Whitney, Diddy, Dr. Dre, Boyz II Men, Aaliyah, TLC, Babyface, New Edition, Michael, and so much more. As kids this is what was playing on MTV and the radio. This is what we were dancing to at school functions and BBQs. I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for these artists who inspired me. They have brought me so much joy and created the soundtrack to my life filled with memories that I’ll never forget. Most importantly, they were the superstars that set the bar for me and showed me what it takes to sing a song that can get the whole world dancing, or give a performance that people will talk about forever. Watching them made me feel like I had to be as great as they were in order to even stand a chance in this music business. You gotta sing as if Jodeci is performing after you and dance as if Bobby Brown is coming up next.”

Full story here: http://www.latina.com/fea...runo-mars/

Upcoming events:

Feb 3rd: @ Club Nomadic for Super Bowl week.
Feb 12th: @ GRAMMY AWARDS

[Edited 1/31/17 13:04pm]

RJOrion said:

I'm routing for Bruno. His mic is always on, he uses live instruments, he can dance and sing and his songs are fun.

RJOrion said:

this guy gives me the creeps...no disrespect to his many fans...ive even tried to listen to his music and watch his performances...but, hell no... the machine is trying to brainwash the world into believing he's that hot shit...i refuse to be led astray...

Proof?

Receipts?

paisleypark4 said:

RJOrion said:

this guy gives me the creeps...no disrespect to his many fans...ive even tried to listen to his music and watch his performances...but, hell no... the machine is trying to brainwash the world into believing he's that hot shit...i refuse to be led astray...

Proof?

Receipts?

oh stop it... "proof and receipts" ??... thats that reality tv Atlanta Housewives/Love&HipHop diva talk, that as a man, i dont deal in...if you cant see the obvious, then so be it...

maybe these current artists can come up w/their own mark and energy if they cultivated their own music rather than interpolating what's already been done.......

wouldn't that be something

MotownSubdivision said:

Instead of bashing the man like y'all always do, how about actually listening to what he's saying here?

i did read/listen to it...he isnt saying anything... looks like to me like he is trying to rationalize and justify his blatant swagger-jacking and style-biting... aint nobody got time for that...

RJOrion said:

MotownSubdivision said:

Instead of bashing the man like y'all always do, how about actually listening to what he's saying here?

i did read/listen to it...he isnt saying anything... looks like to me like he is trying to rationalize and justify his blatant swagger-jacking and style-biting... aint nobody got time for that...

bingo......lolll

and the thing is, NO culture of music is giving out swag right about now as bad as the industry is right now.....everything has been tapped out.....

RJOrion said:

MotownSubdivision said:

Instead of bashing the man like y'all always do, how about actually listening to what he's saying here?

i did read/listen to it...he isnt saying anything... looks like to me like he is trying to rationalize and justify his blatant swagger-jacking and style-biting... aint nobody got time for that...

This is not fair.

Think about it: you're categorizing him racially too! What kind of music should a person who looks
like Bruno Mars be making, hmm? Right. So, ironically, you're being COMPLETELY racist!

Bruno Mars is doing Black American music because Black American music is fucking cool, that's why.
And if you are white, Black, brown, red, green, purple, I don't give a fuck: as long as you give props
to those who came before you, have at it. If you look at his band, there are five or six Black men
who are eating and paying their bills and supporting their families because Bruno Mars digs Black
American art.

Get.
Over.
It.

Folks in Music:Non-Prince be straight trippin', as usual.

Dasein said:

RJOrion said:

i did read/listen to it...he isnt saying anything... looks like to me like he is trying to rationalize and justify his blatant swagger-jacking and style-biting... aint nobody got time for that...

This is not fair.

Think about it: you're categorizing him racially too! What kind of music should a person who looks
like Bruno Mars be making, hmm? Right. So, ironically, you're being COMPLETELY racist!

Bruno Mars is doing Black American music because Black American music is fucking cool, that's why.
And if you are white, Black, brown, red, green, purple, I don't give a fuck: as long as you give props
to those who came before you, have at it. If you look at his band, there are five or six Black men
who are eating and paying their bills and supporting their families because Bruno Mars digs Black
American art.

Get.
Over.
It.

Folks in Music:Non-Prince be straight trippin', as usual.

you must not know the meaning of swagger jacking and style biting...there was no racial component to either.... i didnt say anything about his color, he is a brown man, just like i am... get familiar...

RJOrion said:

Dasein said:

This is not fair.

Think about it: you're categorizing him racially too! What kind of music should a person who looks
like Bruno Mars be making, hmm? Right. So, ironically, you're being COMPLETELY racist!

Bruno Mars is doing Black American music because Black American music is fucking cool, that's why.
And if you are white, Black, brown, red, green, purple, I don't give a fuck: as long as you give props
to those who came before you, have at it. If you look at his band, there are five or six Black men
who are eating and paying their bills and supporting their families because Bruno Mars digs Black
American art.

Get.
Over.
It.

Folks in Music:Non-Prince be straight trippin', as usual.

you must not know the meaning of swagger jacking and style biting...there was no racial component to either.... i didnt say anything about his color, he is a brown man, just like i am... get familiar...

Bullshit.

You wouldn't call him a "swagger-jacker" or "style-biter" if he was Black. You can fool the nitwits
in this forum, but you can't fool me, dude. You're being a racist here, and it's BS. It doesn't matter
what color skin you have - you can "jack" any "swag" or "bite" any "style" you want just as long as
you give props to those who came before and don't try to pass off your jacked swagger as your own
style.

And in this case, Bruno Mars gave respect to all the Black American artists who paved the road for
him. Prince and Michael Jackson both swagger jacked James Brown - you gonna call both of them
swagger jackers and style biters?

Of course not. But you'll call the non-Black dude one in a heartbeat.



Grow the fuck up.

MotownSubdivision said:

Instead of bashing the man like y'all always do, how about actually listening to what he's saying here?

Here, here!

Dasein said:

RJOrion said:

i did read/listen to it...he isnt saying anything... looks like to me like he is trying to rationalize and justify his blatant swagger-jacking and style-biting... aint nobody got time for that...

This is not fair.

Think about it: you're categorizing him racially too! What kind of music should a person who looks
like Bruno Mars be making, hmm? Right. So, ironically, you're being COMPLETELY racist!

Bruno Mars is doing Black American music because Black American music is fucking cool, that's why.
And if you are white, Black, brown, red, green, purple, I don't give a fuck: as long as you give props
to those who came before you, have at it. If you look at his band, there are five or six Black men
who are eating and paying their bills and supporting their families because Bruno Mars digs Black
American art.

Get.
Over.
It.

Folks in Music:Non-Prince be straight trippin', as usual.

Exactly

People here on the org should fucking appreciate that the biggest hit of the 2010s is a funk song. I mean, in case y'all didn't notice, Uptown Funk is still getting heavy rotation on radio and is inspiring many people to do funk music. I don't care if it's not sweaty stank funk a la G Clinton, as long as it's funky... Then it's good.

You see these people complaining that his music is copied or ripped off when it's clearly an "homage" to popular music from past decades. What's the alternative I mean? Doing EDM? Tropical shit? 24K Magic is legit pop perfection, great, catchy pop R&B tunes that make people happy, that's VERY missing in today's radio.

Of course Bruno doesn't make innovative, groundbreaking experimental shit because he's not "there" yet. He still wants to dance and make people smile, that shit is for later.

Shawy89 said:

Dasein said:

This is not fair.

Think about it: you're categorizing him racially too! What kind of music should a person who looks
like Bruno Mars be making, hmm? Right. So, ironically, you're being COMPLETELY racist!

Bruno Mars is doing Black American music because Black American music is fucking cool, that's why.
And if you are white, Black, brown, red, green, purple, I don't give a fuck: as long as you give props
to those who came before you, have at it. If you look at his band, there are five or six Black men
who are eating and paying their bills and supporting their families because Bruno Mars digs Black
American art.

Get.
Over.
It.

Folks in Music:Non-Prince be straight trippin', as usual.

Exactly

People here on the org should fucking appreciate that the biggest hit of the 2010s is a funk song. I mean, in case y'all didn't notice, Uptown Funk is still getting heavy rotation on radio and is inspiring many people to do funk music. I don't care if it's not sweaty stank funk a la G Clinton, as long as it's funky... Then it's good.

You see these people complaining that his music is copied or ripped off when it's clearly an "homage" to popular music from past decades. What's the alternative I mean? Doing EDM? Tropical shit? 24K Magic is legit pop perfection, great, catchy pop R&B tunes that make people happy, that's VERY missing in today's radio.

Of course Bruno doesn't make innovative, groundbreaking experimental shit because he's not "there" yet. He still wants to dance and make people smile, that shit is for later.

Shawy, I co-signed this post in 0.0020393929293932 seconds.

Dasein said:

Shawy89 said:

Exactly

People here on the org should fucking appreciate that the biggest hit of the 2010s is a funk song. I mean, in case y'all didn't notice, Uptown Funk is still getting heavy rotation on radio and is inspiring many people to do funk music. I don't care if it's not sweaty stank funk a la G Clinton, as long as it's funky... Then it's good.

You see these people complaining that his music is copied or ripped off when it's clearly an "homage" to popular music from past decades. What's the alternative I mean? Doing EDM? Tropical shit? 24K Magic is legit pop perfection, great, catchy pop R&B tunes that make people happy, that's VERY missing in today's radio.

Of course Bruno doesn't make innovative, groundbreaking experimental shit because he's not "there" yet. He still wants to dance and make people smile, that shit is for later.

Shawy, I co-signed this post in 0.0020393929293932 seconds.

Oh dear Dasein, if you get to see how narrow minded some folks here on the org are, you might even regret being signed here. It's sad to see Prince fans complaining about contemporary funk music not living up to their expectations.

----

This being the Bruno thread, here's the 2nd single from 24K Magic

That's What I Like

I prefer Versace but oh well...

Dasein said:

RJOrion said:

you must not know the meaning of swagger jacking and style biting...there was no racial component to either.... i didnt say anything about his color, he is a brown man, just like i am... get familiar...

Bullshit.

You wouldn't call him a "swagger-jacker" or "style-biter" if he was Black. You can fool the nitwits
in this forum, but you can't fool me, dude. You're being a racist here, and it's BS. It doesn't matter
what color skin you have - you can "jack" any "swag" or "bite" any "style" you want just as long as
you give props to those who came before and don't try to pass off your jacked swagger as your own
style.

And in this case, Bruno Mars gave respect to all the Black American artists who paved the road for
him. Prince and Michael Jackson both swagger jacked James Brown - you gonna call both of them
swagger jackers and style biters?

Of course not. But you'll call the non-Black dude one in a heartbeat.



Grow the fuck up.

i can see by how emotional and personal you get in the comment boxes, that you cant handle differing opinions in a civilized manner, without resorting to insults and childish retorts, but yet you tell others to "grow the fuck up"...again, you obviously DONT know what those phrases mean if you call it racist...there's plenty of black swagger jackers and style biters... in fact, i dont divide the brown races against each other.... i consider Bruno Mars a man of color just like myself... so you are driving down a one-way street going the wrong way, at night, with no headlights on, with your ridiculous claims of racism...futhermore i can tell by seeing your screen name in other threads, you like to just keep drama in the comments, regardless of fact or fiction...so keep going, you only expose your self further...

[Edited 1/31/17 18:53pm]

all the cursing and name calling in one thread, but in the other thread you're a self-styled christian scholar... which one is it?... still LMAO @ me being racist against another brown man... you must got me confused with someone else apparently...

RJOrion said:

all the cursing and name calling in one thread, but in the other thread you're a self-styled christian scholar... which one is it?... still LMAO @ me being racist against another brown man... you must got me confused with someone else apparently...

LOL!

You have no idea what you're talking about. If you look at my posts in the "other thread," you'll
see that I am an admitted agnostic who leans towards atheism; I'm not a Christian. So, not only
do you have racist tendencies (who cares if you're brown skinned? That doesn't mean you can't

hold racist views as well), you've poor reading comprehension abilities too!

You're not going to wiggle out of this: this thread is entitled: "Bruno Mars talks BLACK MUSIC" and
your main criticism is that Bruno Mars, who is not Black, is swagger jacking and biting style. That's
racist, even if you didn't mean it to be.

I don't suffer foolishness or racism gladly so, you're posts are justifiably on the receiving end
of my verbal vitriol. I didn't call anybody any names, and I like having a filthy mouth. I'll tell you
what: when you stop posting vapidly, I'll stop posting trenchantly.

Dasein said:

RJOrion said:

all the cursing and name calling in one thread, but in the other thread you're a self-styled christian scholar... which one is it?... still LMAO @ me being racist against another brown man... you must got me confused with someone else apparently...

LOL!

You have no idea what you're talking about. If you look at my posts in the "other thread," you'll
see that I am an admitted agnostic who leans towards atheism; I'm not a Christian. So, not only
do you have racist tendencies (who cares if you're brown skinned? That doesn't mean you can't

hold racist views as well), you've poor reading comprehension abilities too!

You're not going to wiggle out of this: this thread is entitled: "Bruno Mars talks BLACK MUSIC" and
your main criticism is that Bruno Mars, who is not Black, is swagger jacking and biting style. That's
racist, even if you didn't mean it to be.

I don't suffer foolishness or racism gladly so, you're posts are justifiably on the receiving end
of my verbal vitriol. I didn't call anybody any names, and I like having a filthy mouth. I'll tell you
what: when you stop posting vapidly, I'll stop posting trenchantly.

look D... its obvious from your comments thread to thread, that you try to project your own beliefs and insecurities, onto those you differ with...im done with you...you are not rational and just like to keep stuff going for attention...goodnight, and peace be upon you...

heathilly said:

Dasein is right here rjorion post did have a little resentful tone/vibe clearly because Bruno isn't African American.

let me educate you ...im half black and half venezuelan, my complexion is virtually THE SAME as Bruno Mars, who is of Puerto Rican and Asian heritage.... you can be the SAME RACE and be a swagger jacker and style biter...Jarule swagger jacked DMX and Pac.... Desiigner bit Futures ENTIRE rap style... RFTW swagger Jacked Prince & The Time...Confunkshun bit EW&F's musical styles... this has NOTHING to do with race...some of yall need classes on the different cultural slangs and catchphrases... i will help you if needed...

heathilly said:

Dasein is right here rjorion post did have a little resentful tone/vibe clearly because Bruno isn't African American.

Right.

If Bruno Mars was a Black American male, he would not have called him a swagger jacker or a
style biter in a thread titled with the words "Black music is what gives America its swag."

Dasein said:

heathilly said:

Dasein is right here rjorion post did have a little resentful tone/vibe clearly because Bruno isn't African American.

Right.

If Bruno Mars was a Black American male, he would not have called him a swagger jacker or a
style biter in a thread titled with the words "Black music is what gives America its swag."

i know i said i was done... but what you just typed clearly shows it was the OP and Bruno Mars talking about "black music giving america its swag"...thats the only thing said anywhere in this thread about race... you seem to be the ONLY one from that point, focusing on race... but since you took it there, a brown man being racist, against another brown man who is virtually the same color, is a farfetched concept, that only a non-black/brown man could conjure up...but you continue to expose your own racial insecurities, so keep going...

RJOrion said:

RJOrion said:

Dasein said:

Right.

If Bruno Mars was a Black American male, he would not have called him a swagger jacker or a
style biter in a thread titled with the words "Black music is what gives America its swag."

i know i said i was done... but what you just typed clearly shows it was the OP and Bruno Mars talking about "black music giving america its swag"...thats the only thing said anywhere in this thread about race... you seem to be the ONLY one from that point, focusing on race... but since you took it there, a brown man being racist, against another brown man who is virtually the same color, is a farfetched concept, that only a non-black/brown man could conjure up...but you continue to expose your own racial insecurities, so keep going...

As the conversation on this forum is speaking of an artist whom I find engaging and entertaining, who might not be blazing a trail of originality but so what, since credit is clearly given where due, IMO:

>

I'd tend to agree with RJOrion on most of this whole argument with Dasein being there. From where I stand it appears that RJO's intention is to criticize B. Mars' unoriginality, period, and that's okay. I personally wouldn't be too disparaging about that characteristic, however, because I feel Mars performs well enough on the stage and in the studio--perhaps not a supreme game-raiser in the realm of performing artists, but again, so what. Not everbody can do that. Mars is getting his entertainment on, repping the trade properly, IMO, and getting some brothers paid--all good stuff in my book.

>

On the other hand, I'd digress with RJO's claim of universal prejudice-exemption among all peoples of color; a brown man can indeed be racist toward another brown man, and actually, the same trait is exibited among every other hue of folk on this blue globe. Culture clashes go down pretty far along the chain of Homo Sapiens, so persistently and to the point where complexion is irrelevant, that it seems to be an inherent characteristic of humanity--the competition bewteen tribes. On the soapobx, I feel that we, as a sentient and power-weilding species, would be better off to indoctrinate ourselves toward better tendancies, fostering understanding and peacefulness among peoples, but such intent might just be futile in the end, spitting in the wind of the forces of nature, so to speak.

>

But enough about nature, and more on our RJOrion's critique of Bruno and Dasein's attack of the critique--to claim RJO's statments toward non-black, brown people (lol) "swagger-jacking and style-biting" contributed to a thread with a title incorporating the term "Black Music [whatever else]" is racist is a weak justification for a heated discussion on what B. Mars is doing and condescendingly telling one "to grow the [feck] up". Like RJO says, I'd agree that Dasein placed some words in his mouth I dare say. Let's all grow up to the sky and give it a high-five.

RJOrion said:

Dasein said:

Right.

If Bruno Mars was a Black American male, he would not have called him a swagger jacker or a
style biter in a thread titled with the words "Black music is what gives America its swag."

i know i said i was done... but what you just typed clearly shows it was the OP and Bruno Mars talking about "black music giving america its swag"...thats the only thing said anywhere in this thread about race... you seem to be the ONLY one from that point, focusing on race... but since you took it there, a brown man being racist, against another brown man who is virtually the same color, is a farfetched concept, that only a non-black/brown man could conjure up...but you continue to expose your own racial insecurities, so keep going...

The fact that you think brown people can't hold racist views, subconsciously or not, is ridiculous.
And look in my signature: I'm Black.

The context of this thread is Bruno Mars, who is not Black, is thanking Black American recording
artists who paved the way for him. So, I didn't focus on race BEFORE the thread did! And your
criticism of him being a "swagger jacker" and "style biter" are pejorative terms usually applied to
people of one race who are enthusiastic about incorporating or appropriating styles found outside
of their own, and in this case, since, again, the context of the thread is Bruno Mars not being Black,
but appreciating the aristic contributions of Black Americans, your criticism came off as racist as
only Black Americans can perform Black American art forms.