ThatWhiteDude said:

I love this

ChocolateBox3121 said:

Teddy Riley Weighs In On Bruno Mars

Rachaell Davis

Mar, 13, 2018

<div class="inner-container"> <img src="https://cdn-img.essence.com/sites/default/files/styles/1x1_lg/public/1520966032/Teddy%20Riley.jpg?itok=DLA6D37I" alt="Teddy Riley"> </div>

@teddyriley1 Instagram page

"Well, besides us having the same birthday [laughs], we're destined to get together and people always have a way of speaking to someone and that was his way of speaking to me," Riley said of Bruno Mars' Grammy acceptance speech. "I honored it. I truly honored it."

Speaking specifically about the influence of his sound on Bruno's music, the Grammy Award-winning entertainer had only positive things to say.

"First of all, it brings our stock up –Babyface, Jimmy Jam, Terry Lewis and myself— and that puts us even more in the game and helps to sustain us. It's a known fact that God blesses us to bless others, and then sometimes, you get the blessing. But, I'm more of a giver, I like to give. So, him giving....sometimes we don't understand receiving a gift. But, the most incredible gift to be given, for me, is someone paying homage. So, I feel wonderful about it."

https://www.essence.com/festival/2018-essence-festival/teddy-riley-bruno-mars-cultural-appropriation

MotownSubdivision said:

ThatWhiteDude said:

I totally agree with that. I already stated in another thread, that every artist, wether they black or not, that they should protest against this industry. But giving one artist shit for a much bigger problem, doesn't help and it won't solve it. Because it's not in Bruno's power as it wasn't in Elvis' or Eminem's (both elvis and Eminem even stated that the black artists, the inventors of Rock and Hip Hop, deserve so much more credit. Eminem even criticised the white media in particular because they put him on a pedestal he didn't really deserve). Single artists won't change the industry, because these people only give a fuck if every single one turns their back on them and show them that their way doesn't work anymore. It's not only in Bruno's or JT's hands to make a change, everybody that's bothered by that should protest against it.

In this day and age, everyone is in it for themselves. In the music biz, these artists are too worried about their bottom line to truly rebel against the machine. None of these artists are truly willing to risk their careers to make a statement about their music or otherwise like a Prince or George Michael or even a Rick James. They may talk the talk but they never actually bother to walk.

As sad as it is, this is the damn truth.

MickyDolenz said:

poppys said:

Don Ho was all over top forty radio when I was a little kid. My parents and their friends bought his albums. I'm saying what I actually remember about top forty radio. The formula was not as lockstep because as you said, there were different folks listening to their local sound all over the US and passing it around and DJs had sway too. The cookie cutter industry was not as in place logistically.

Being popular in one area means it's not mainstream. Mainstream means the most people know about it over the entire United States heard it and/or bought it and it charted high and sold enough copies to reach the upper parts of the pop singles or pop albums chart (Top 200). Being known worldwide is really mainstream like Michael Jackson. In the movie equivalent, Star Wars is mainstream known, but Amazon Women On The Moon or Dynamite Chicken aren't. A mainstream extremely popular singer/group is well known enough to get toys and games or to sell clothes and other merchandise. Like Rihanna has a cosmetic line. More people have at least heard of The Beatles, even if they don't know their music, than heard of Don Ho. Which makes them mainstream or a household name. So he is no way more known than The Beatles or Elvis Presley.

Now you are arguing what constitutes the mainstream of today, which is fine.

What I am speaking to is your post that Don Ho was not on AM radio and he was - along with Ed Ames and Jose Feliciano and whoever I'm forgetting. I came from the land of WAKR and Alan Freed, AM radio GOAT.

I knew who Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Big Maybelle, Nina Simone, Mahalia Jackson, Letta Mbulu and many more were too. The 50s were the "Age of Entertainment", people bought records. Not being able to buy music with a credit card from your apartment made things very different and in some ways LESS compartmentalized than today. You actually had to work to get an album or see somebody you liked live. Word of mouth was huge because there wasn't a mouthpiece for spouting stuff 24/7 like there is now. I'm making this point because I was there.

ThatWhiteDude said:

Don Corlelius said it best

Not this shit again... Same shit same issues,,, cried someone stole jazz, we walked away, whined about white folks taking the blues.

Heard this about Jazz, Blues and now the R&B audience.



1. Maybe if some weren't so held bent on "crossing over" then just maybe R&B wouldn't have been put on the back burner. African-American community has never spent a damn nickel to preserve, support, tell our stories, let alone build Institutions that celebrate our culture and our contributions to this nation, especially the Arts. In most instances, if U.S. white folks don't give the thumbs up or cut a check...we are quick to run to whatever trend that makes them some money. Fool me once shame on me, fool me for the up-teem time... I'm stuck on fucking stupid. "The Mis' Educations of the Negro"... for the hundred fucking time.

So now "we" mad cuz someone went into the crates, took the musical influences of Sly, Preston, Prince and others and sold what we consider as "our shit" back to the crossover mainstream"? Is anyone stopping black folks from making R&B music? Nope. We've been in a race to reach the lowest common denominator for sometime.

P.S. Mark Ronson is being sued by estate of the late "Robert Troutman's (lead singer, producer, and songwriter for ZAPP) for copyright infringement of "More Bounce To The Once"... Ronson song is Uptown Funk"; Mr. Bruno Mars is the lead singer on that cut. If I was a betting woman, this case should go down the same road as Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke lifting from "Marvin Gaye's, "Got to Give It Up". Another thing, if Robin Thicke had written "Blurred Lines", he would have never given Williams shit let alone credit for co- writing that song. Weak!

==============================================================

[Edited 3/15/18 6:46am]

TD3 said:

Not this shit again... Same shit same issues,,, cried someone stole jazz, we walked away, whined about white folks taking the blues.

Heard this about Jazz, Blues and now the R&B audience.


1. Maybe if some weren't so held bent on "crossing over" then just maybe R&B wouldn't have been put on the back burner. African-American community has never spent a damn nickel to preserve, support, tell our stories, let alone build Institutions that celebrate our culture and our contributions to this nation, especially the Arts. In most instances, if US white folks don't give the thumbs up or cut a check...we are quick to run to whatever trend that makes them some money. Fool me once shame on me, fool me for the up-teem time.. you're stuck on fucking stupid. "The Mis' Educations of the Negro"... for the hundred fucking time.

So now "we" mad cuz someone went into the crates, took the influences of Sly, Preston, Prince and others and sold what we consider is "our shit" back to the crossover mainstream"? Is anyone stopping black folks from making R&B music? Nope. We've been in a race to reachto the lowest common denominator for sometime.

P.S. Mark Ronson is being sued by estate of the late "Robert Troutman's (lead singer, producer, and songwriter of ZAPP) for copyright infringement of "More Bounce To The Once".. his song Uptown Funk". Bruno Mars is the lead singer. If I was a betting woman, this case should go down the same road as Pharrell Williams and Robin Thickelifting from "Marvin Gaye's, "Got to Give It Up". Another thing, if Robin Thicke had written that song, he would have never given Williams shit let alone credit for co- writing that song. Weak!

I'll respond by tomorrow.....nothing happens by coincidence when it comes to this dynamic

Does anyone remember Res and Van Hunt back in the early 2000s? They had the look, very catchy songs, but never broke out big. This is when I started noticing a shift in the way labels were dealing with black artists. Even Jasmine Sullivan's Lions, Tigers, and Bears which came out in 2008 didn't gain a lot of traction. You have to wonder if Adele sang this song would it be a massive hit? Prince even had Black Sweat which should've been a big hit. Chris Brown had Fine China which had a Marvin Gaye vibe without being a direct knockoff like Blurred Line. Janele Monae had TightRope which is pretty much what Bruno was doing about four years later.

Recently there was the female trio King who garnered support from the likes Prince, Questlove, and Erykah Badu. They were on many music critics top ten lists, and were nominated for a Grammy. They received no offers from the major labels and put they're music out independently. Something is going on here.

Check out King's powerful video which is a tribute to Prince who was their mentor and advisor.

So can we at least stopt the lie that black people stopped making RnB and soul music? They're not getting the major label marketing support to expose them to wider audiences.

lrn36 said:

Does anyone remember Res and Van Hunt back in the early 2000s? They had the look, very catchy songs, but never broke out big. This is when I started noticing a shift in the way labels were dealing with black artists. Even Jasmine Sullivan's Lions, Tigers, and Bears which came out in 2008 didn't gain a lot of traction. You have to wonder if Adele sang this song would it be a massive hit? Prince even had Black Sweat which should've been a big hit. Chris Brown had Fine China which had a Marvin Gaye vibe without being a direct knockoff like Blurred Line. Janele Monae had TightRope which is pretty much what Bruno was doing about four years later.

Recently there was the female trio King who garnered support from the likes Prince, Questlove, and Erykah Badu. They were on many music critics top ten lists, and were nominated for a Grammy. They received no offers from the major labels and put they're music out independently. Something is going on here.

Check out King's powerful video which is a tribute to Prince who was their mentor and advisor.

So can we at least stopt the lie that black people stopped making RnB and soul music? They're not getting the major label marketing support to expose them to wider audiences.

I agree about Chris Brown's "Fine China". which was arguably his best song he EVER recorded.

Also "Black Sweat" had everything that made a pop,classic hit. The video was even quirky fun. In Fact the WHOLE 3121 album had hits ALL over it. But at least it did debut at number#1 and was certified gold.

[Edited 3/15/18 13:01pm]

You guys do know that Bruno is not some very new artist he has been around the same exact time and longer than the artists you named above.. His albums sold due to his audience BUYING his albums and streaming them. Marketing shmarketing, you know how some of these pink dread trap busted ass rappers now and days getting hits? Because people are listening to them. No if ands or buts to that. It's the audience fault for going on youtube listening and demanding more of this bullshit from them clogging up the Billboard Charts with it. If I was a businessman I'd be picking some of them up to. I'd rather there be a debate about why shit like this got 587 Million views. This is not the Record Company's fault. DJ Khaled at 900 Million views. its garbage music but us adults need to show support as much as the kids are. Complain all you want but the fans make the artist what they are.



Janelle Monae's "Tightrope" was a big hit for her you have to admit that...however go listen to the rest of the album..there is nothing else on it that sounds like that until "Electric Lady" featuring Solange came out years later. She's a much different artist than Bruno..she's not pop, Bruno breakout hit Grenade solidified him to sell 6 million records. Not bad for a Puerto Rican. Outside of Jennifer Lopez Fat Joe and Pitbull..there are no other big PR representation on the charts. One form of black music done took over the charts. Bruno should be celebrated, not debated. Especially someone who is fucking brining us some funk and real r&b back...not some shit tainted with Migos, Lil Pump and Lil So And So.

lrn36 said:

Does anyone remember Res and Van Hunt back in the early 2000s? They had the look, very catchy songs, but never broke out big. This is when I started noticing a shift in the way labels were dealing with black artists. Even Jasmine Sullivan's Lions, Tigers, and Bears which came out in 2008 didn't gain a lot of traction. You have to wonder if Adele sang this song would it be a massive hit? Prince even had Black Sweat which should've been a big hit. Chris Brown had Fine China which had a Marvin Gaye vibe without being a direct knockoff like Blurred Line. Janele Monae had TightRope which is pretty much what Bruno was doing about four years later.

Recently there was the female trio King who garnered support from the likes Prince, Questlove, and Erykah Badu. They were on many music critics top ten lists, and were nominated for a Grammy. They received no offers from the major labels and put they're music out independently. Something is going on here.

Check out King's powerful video which is a tribute to Prince who was their mentor and advisor.

So can we at least stopt the lie that black people stopped making RnB and soul music? They're not getting the major label marketing support to expose them to wider audiences.

Never got a Marvin vibe from "Fine China"; I always felt more MJ in that song, especially the video.

paisleypark4 said:

This is not the Record Company's fault.

Record labels can't force anybody to like something. If a label spent millions of dollars on promoting a polka artist, death metal with monster style singers, or someone who yodels, the mainstream audience are not going to buy it because that's not what they're into. More songs played on the radio flop than become Top 10 hits. In the old days, if listeners didn't request the songs much, they were likely to be dropped from the playlist. Also, look at acts who had an album that sold huge amount of copies and then the next album flopped and sold nowhere near the same like Alanis Morrissette, Norah Jones, Terence Tren't D'Arby, Vanilla Ice, C+C Music Factory, Color Me Badd, etc. They never really regained the popularity of the successful album. After the Disco Demolition riot, acts that were popular like Bee Gees, Chic, KC & The Sunshine Band couldn't get much airplay anymore and lost their popularity in the US and the mainstream went on to the next craze, country crossover with the movie Urban Cowboy. There's also surprise popularity. Like who who have guessed the success of the Natalie Cole & Nat King Cole album and Frank Sinatra duets albums in the 1990s or millions of people buying an album of monks chanting? Frank probably hadn't had a popular record since the 1960s at the time. Unforgettable became Natalie's biggest selling album and Nat's too and he had nothing to do with it directly. Tina Turner became way more successful in the mid 1980s than Ike & Tina ever was.

MickyDolenz said:

paisleypark4 said:

This is not the Record Company's fault.

Record labels can't force anybody to like something. If a label spent millions of dollars on promoting a polka artist, death metal with monster style singers, or someone who yodels, the mainstream audience are not going to buy it because that's not what they're into. More songs played on the radio flop than become Top 10 hits. In the old days, if listeners didn't request the songs much, they were likely to be dropped from the playlist. Also, look at acts who had an album that sold huge amount of copies and then the next album flopped and sold nowhere near the same like Alanis Morrissette, Norah Jones, Terence Tren't D'Arby, Vanilla Ice, C+C Music Factory, Color Me Badd, etc. They never really regained the popularity of the successful album. After the Disco Demolition riot, acts that were popular like Bee Gees, Chic, KC & The Sunshine Band couldn't get much airplay anymore and lost their popularity in the US and the mainstream went on to the next craze, country crossover with the movie Urban Cowboy. There's also surprise popularity. Like who who have guessed the success of the Natalie Cole & Nat King Cole album and Frank Sinatra duets albums in the 1990s or millions of people buying an album of monks chanting? Frank probably hadn't had a popular record since the 1960s at the time. Unforgettable became Natalie's biggest selling album and Nat's too and he had nothing to do with it directly. Tina Turner became way more successful in the mid 1980s than Ike & Tina ever was.

According to an NPR article about the music industry, it costs $1 million to market a hit song. They have it down to a science. With songs like Gangham Style and What Does the Fox Say, people will listen to anything if its exposed enough. So a polka hit is possible, but why would labels take the risk? They want sure fire hits and are less willing to give most artists the full push. Independent labels dont have the revenue to compete for hits. The point they are making is black RnB artists are being told they are not wanted no matter how good the music is. It's easier to get a hit with a white or non black artist doing RnB music. That's a problem. Do you realize Rihanna was the last black singer to breakthough in major way and she's been around since 2006?

Here is an excerpt from the NPR artice. It is from 2012, so some things have change. I assume there is more ad buys shifted from MTV and BET to youtube and vevo.

But it's not a hit until everybody hears it. How much does that cost?

About $1 million, according to Daniels, Riddick and other industry insiders.

"The reason it costs so much," Daniels says, "is because I need everything to click at once. You want them to turn on the radio and hear Rihanna, turn on BET and see Rihanna, walk down the street and see a poster of Rihanna, look on Billboard, the iTunes chart, I want you to see Rihanna first. All of that costs."

That's what a hit song is: It's everywhere you look. To get it there, the label pays.

Every song is different. Some songs have a momentum all their own, some songs just break out out of the blue. But the record industry depends on hits for sales. Having hits is the business plan. The majority of songs that are hits — that chart high, that sell big, that blast out of cars in the summertime— cost a million bucks to get them heard and played and bought.

Daniels breaks down the expenses roughly into thirds: a third for marketing, a third to fly the artist everywhere, and a third for radio.

"Marketing and radio are totally different," he says. "Marketing is street teams, commercials and ads."

Radio is?

"Radio you're talking about . . ." he pauses. "Treating the radio guys nice."

'Treating the radio guys nice' is a very fuzzy cost. It can mean taking the program directors of major market stations to nice dinners. It can mean flying your artist in to do a free show at a station in order to generate more spots on a radio playlist.

lrn36 said:

MickyDolenz said:

Record labels can't force anybody to like something. If a label spent millions of dollars on promoting a polka artist, death metal with monster style singers, or someone who yodels, the mainstream audience are not going to buy it because that's not what they're into. More songs played on the radio flop than become Top 10 hits. In the old days, if listeners didn't request the songs much, they were likely to be dropped from the playlist. Also, look at acts who had an album that sold huge amount of copies and then the next album flopped and sold nowhere near the same like Alanis Morrissette, Norah Jones, Terence Tren't D'Arby, Vanilla Ice, C+C Music Factory, Color Me Badd, etc. They never really regained the popularity of the successful album. After the Disco Demolition riot, acts that were popular like Bee Gees, Chic, KC & The Sunshine Band couldn't get much airplay anymore and lost their popularity in the US and the mainstream went on to the next craze, country crossover with the movie Urban Cowboy. There's also surprise popularity. Like who who have guessed the success of the Natalie Cole & Nat King Cole album and Frank Sinatra duets albums in the 1990s or millions of people buying an album of monks chanting? Frank probably hadn't had a popular record since the 1960s at the time. Unforgettable became Natalie's biggest selling album and Nat's too and he had nothing to do with it directly. Tina Turner became way more successful in the mid 1980s than Ike & Tina ever was.

According to an NPR article about the music industry, it costs $1 million to market a hit song. They have it down to a science. With songs like Gangham Style and What Does the Fox Say, people will listen to anything if its exposed enough. So a polka hit is possible, but why would labels take the risk? They want sure fire hits and are less willing to give most artists the full push. Independent labels dont have the revenue to compete for hits. The point they are making is black RnB artists are being told they are not wanted no matter how good the music is. It's easier to get a hit with a white or non black artist doing RnB music. That's a problem. Do you realize Rihanna was the last black singer to breakthough in major way and she's been around since 2006?

Here is an excerpt from the NPR artice. It is from 2012, so some things have change. I assume there is more ad buys shifted from MTV and BET to youtube and vevo.

But it's not a hit until everybody hears it. How much does that cost?

About $1 million, according to Daniels, Riddick and other industry insiders.

"The reason it costs so much," Daniels says, "is because I need everything to click at once. You want them to turn on the radio and hear Rihanna, turn on BET and see Rihanna, walk down the street and see a poster of Rihanna, look on Billboard, the iTunes chart, I want you to see Rihanna first. All of that costs."

That's what a hit song is: It's everywhere you look. To get it there, the label pays.

Every song is different. Some songs have a momentum all their own, some songs just break out out of the blue. But the record industry depends on hits for sales. Having hits is the business plan. The majority of songs that are hits — that chart high, that sell big, that blast out of cars in the summertime— cost a million bucks to get them heard and played and bought.

Daniels breaks down the expenses roughly into thirds: a third for marketing, a third to fly the artist everywhere, and a third for radio.

"Marketing and radio are totally different," he says. "Marketing is street teams, commercials and ads."

Radio is?

"Radio you're talking about . . ." he pauses. "Treating the radio guys nice."

'Treating the radio guys nice' is a very fuzzy cost. It can mean taking the program directors of major market stations to nice dinners. It can mean flying your artist in to do a free show at a station in order to generate more spots on a radio playlist.

Yep. Average music listeners are not orgers. They're casual and passive listeners, they'll listen to anything they get exposed to once it has a hype machine backing it up.

They can spend all they want, it still doesn't make somebody likes something. I've heard a lot of songs on the radio that I didn't like and I even know the lyrics to some of them because I heard it a lot like Keith Sweat. I remember metalheads saying New Kids On The Block suck or hip hop fans saying the Fresh Prince was wack. Movie studios spend millions of dollars on movies all the time that wind up being unsuccessful. Same for TV shows.

[Edited 3/15/18 16:44pm]

Hamad said:

Yep. Average music listeners are not orgers. They're casual and passive listeners, they'll listen to anything they get exposed to once it has a hype machine backing it up.

Not true. Even casual listeners will turn the station if a song or artist comes on they don't like or they're tired of a particular song, or push skip on a CD when a track comes on they don't dig. People definitely won't buy an album or single they don't like just because it's on the radio. With Youtube, people choose to listen to whatever it is rather than listening to whatever a radio DJ plays or videos shown on MTV. In the past the singles chart was based partly on sales. People have to like it to spend money on it. Listening to the radio was free.

MickyDolenz said:

Hamad said:

Yep. Average music listeners are not orgers. They're casual and passive listeners, they'll listen to anything they get exposed to once it has a hype machine backing it up.

Not true. Even casual listeners will turn the station if a song or artist comes on they don't like or they're tired of a particular song, or push skip on a CD when a track comes on they don't dig. People definitely won't buy an album or single they don't like just because it's on the radio. With Youtube, people choose to listen to whatever it is rather than listening to whatever a radio DJ plays or videos shown on MTV. In the past the singles chart was based partly on sales. People have to like it to spend money on it. Listening to the radio was free.

I agree. You damn right. Youtube is the new radio now. Yeah radio hosts may indeed get paid some dough for plays...however...did any of Jay Z's or Lorde songs get any play on the radio as much as Bruno, Childish Gambino or Migos did? No...that didnt stop them from being nominated...and they were nominated by musicians, producers and people in the industry, not by payola. People spending their own money to make these songs fly, spending their own time streaming his songs on google play, spotify or apple to make those songs hits now as well. RIAA is counting those as sales.

I was shocked that Childish Gambino was even in the roster and shocked how much of a hit Redbone was considering it sounds NOTHING like whats on the radio. The PEOPLE made that album sell millions, as the entire album is nothing radio friendly same with Jay Z.

paisleypark4 said:

I agree. You damn right. Youtube is the new radio now. Yeah radio hosts may indeed get paid some dough for plays...however...did any of Jay Z's or Lorde songs get any play on the radio as much as Bruno, Childish Gambino or Migos did? No...that didnt stop them from being nominated...and they were nominated by musicians, producers and people in the industry, not by payola. People spending their own money to make these songs fly, spending their own time streaming his songs on google play, spotify or apple to make those songs hits now as well. RIAA is counting those as sales.

I was shocked that Childish Gambino was even in the roster and shocked how much of a hit Redbone was considering it sounds NOTHING like whats on the radio. The PEOPLE made that album sell millions, as the entire album is nothing radio friendly same with Jay Z.

Technically, you could say Youtube is like calling a radio station and requesting a song. But the listener gets to hear it instantly rather than waiting up to 2 hours to hear a radio request. Then you can listen to it as many times as you want and don't have to hear songs you might not care for as much before it gets played or listen to commercials and DJs talking over the beginning of the song or morning radio comedy like Tom Joyner. If you want to listen to the album version instead of a remix or the 45 edit that the radio plays, you can do that too with Youtube. I remember hearing songs on the radio that didn't get played much as they didn't become a hit that I liked and also songs that I didn't like become a huge hit and got constant airplay. There were also "1 hit wonder" acts that I bought the albums of. If payola forced people to like songs, then "1 hit wonder" acts wouldn't exist. It's not like record companies decided not to promote the 2nd or 3rd single of the singer/group. I doubt that a label figured that Alanis Morrisette would flop after having a big selling album. That didn't happen with Whitney Houston's 2nd album. It was about as successful as her debut.

MickyDolenz said:

paisleypark4 said:

I agree. You damn right. Youtube is the new radio now. Yeah radio hosts may indeed get paid some dough for plays...however...did any of Jay Z's or Lorde songs get any play on the radio as much as Bruno, Childish Gambino or Migos did? No...that didnt stop them from being nominated...and they were nominated by musicians, producers and people in the industry, not by payola. People spending their own money to make these songs fly, spending their own time streaming his songs on google play, spotify or apple to make those songs hits now as well. RIAA is counting those as sales.

I was shocked that Childish Gambino was even in the roster and shocked how much of a hit Redbone was considering it sounds NOTHING like whats on the radio. The PEOPLE made that album sell millions, as the entire album is nothing radio friendly same with Jay Z.

Technically, you could say Youtube is like calling a radio station and requesting a song. But the listener gets to hear it instantly rather than waiting up to 2 hours to hear a radio request. Then you can listen to it as many times as you want and don't have to hear songs you might not care for as much before it gets played or listen to commercials and DJs talking over the beginning of the song or morning radio comedy like Tom Joyner. If you want to listen to the album version instead of a remix or the 45 edit that the radio plays, you can do that too with Youtube. I remember hearing songs on the radio that didn't get played much as they didn't become a hit that I liked and also songs that I didn't like become a huge hit and got constant airplay. There were also "1 hit wonder" acts that I bought the albums of. If payola forced people to like songs, then "1 hit wonder" acts wouldn't exist. It's not like record companies decided not to promote the 2nd or 3rd single of the singer/group. I doubt that a label figured that Alanis Morrisette would flop after having a big selling album. That didn't happen with Whitney Houston's 2nd album. It was about as successful as her debut.

Right, not everything is about race bias. Some things just don't happen for others and it is okay to take it as a loss. Shit happens. People up in their feelings but cant see the whole picture. Chris Brown's "Heartbreak" for example obviously had millons pushed into it. He released 5 professional videos before the album even was released...millions of views on youtube. The album only went gold due to sales. A stifling run compared to his album "X". Sometime it just doesnt work if no one is listening no matter how much money is in the machine.

lrn36 said:

Does anyone remember Res and Van Hunt back in the early 2000s? They had the look, very catchy songs, but never broke out big. This is when I started noticing a shift in the way labels were dealing with black artists. Even Jasmine Sullivan's Lions, Tigers, and Bears which came out in 2008 didn't gain a lot of traction. You have to wonder if Adele sang this song would it be a massive hit? Prince even had Black Sweat which should've been a big hit. Chris Brown had Fine China which had a Marvin Gaye vibe without being a direct knockoff like Blurred Line. Janele Monae had TightRope which is pretty much what Bruno was doing about four years later.

Recently there was the female trio King who garnered support from the likes Prince, Questlove, and Erykah Badu. They were on many music critics top ten lists, and were nominated for a Grammy. They received no offers from the major labels and put they're music out independently. Something is going on here.

Check out King's powerful video which is a tribute to Prince who was their mentor and advisor.

So can we at least stopt the lie that black people stopped making RnB s and soul music? They're not getting the major label marketing support to expose them to wider audiences.

Never got a Marvin vibe from "Fine China"; I always felt more MJ in that song, especially the video.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=


I agree that the MJ vibe Is/was all over “Fine China”-song and video. The sound and MJ influence was immediate and played a big part in the song’s appeal and success. I don’t hear anything that sounds like Marvin Gaye in this song. IMO, it is Chris Brown’s best song and video.

He said all....the real musicians know what the real deal is.....

what he really sayin is when r&b was at its richest state, it gave the other genres that coincided with it the ability to reach its richest state also.......

TD3 said:

Not this shit again... Same shit same issues,,, cried someone stole jazz, we walked away, whined about white folks taking the blues.

Heard this about Jazz, Blues and now the R&B audience.



1. Maybe if some weren't so held bent on "crossing over" then just maybe R&B wouldn't have been put on the back burner. African-American community has never spent a damn nickel to preserve, support, tell our stories, let alone build Institutions that celebrate our culture and our contributions to this nation, especially the Arts. In most instances, if U.S. white folks don't give the thumbs up or cut a check...we are quick to run to whatever trend that makes them some money. Fool me once shame on me, fool me for the up-teem time... I'm stuck on fucking stupid. "The Mis' Educations of the Negro"... for the hundred fucking time.

So now "we" mad cuz someone went into the crates, took the musical influences of Sly, Preston, Prince and others and sold what we consider as "our shit" back to the crossover mainstream"? Is anyone stopping black folks from making R&B music? Nope. We've been in a race to reach the lowest common denominator for sometime.

==============================================================

[Edited 3/15/18 6:46am]

Excellent post

Currently there are Black pop stars (that are put in a position) where they could have easily brought traditonal R&B sounds and classic R&B back into the mainstream (if this was the type of music they wanted to make).

This anger should be directed toward those Black pop singers who make trap music instead of R&B music...not Bruno. We need to be asking ourselves why are these rappers and BLACK pop stars destroying Black music with vulgar and degrading images and themes that gets passed off as "R&B music"... when its not (these are the real pressing issues when it comes to Black culture and our plight.... not Bruno). WHY are we not demanding BLACK pop singers to Sing R&B? Youre right, Black people priorities are screwed up as a community. We get mad at the wrong people instead of taking responsibility for these issues.

Bruno has never taken credit for originating R&B. He is always acknowledging his influences and he makes it clear that the music he makes is inspired by his musical inspirations. So how is he appropiating?

This anger against Bruno is misplaced (and a lot of it is rooted in ignorance and the belief that you have to be Black in order to make R&B music)

I wonder why the pop stars who actually cultural appropiate never get these types of criticisms. I wonder why the BLACK pop stars who have abandoned R&B never get this type of hate. .People are always complaining about how pop music has declined and how no one writes their music anymore or plays instruments or produces quality POP music and here comes Bruno...doing ALL of that and even introducing young people to classic sounds and people still bash him. I will never understand it. The criticism he gets is baseless and unfounded. There are far worse pop stars that make far worse music and there are other pop stars I would say are the real perpetuators of why R&B is non-existent.

mjscarousel said:

TD3 said:

Not this shit again... Same shit same issues,,, cried someone stole jazz, we walked away, whined about white folks taking the blues.

Heard this about Jazz, Blues and now the R&B audience.



1. Maybe if some weren't so held bent on "crossing over" then just maybe R&B wouldn't have been put on the back burner. African-American community has never spent a damn nickel to preserve, support, tell our stories, let alone build Institutions that celebrate our culture and our contributions to this nation, especially the Arts. In most instances, if U.S. white folks don't give the thumbs up or cut a check...we are quick to run to whatever trend that makes them some money. Fool me once shame on me, fool me for the up-teem time... I'm stuck on fucking stupid. "The Mis' Educations of the Negro"... for the hundred fucking time.

So now "we" mad cuz someone went into the crates, took the musical influences of Sly, Preston, Prince and others and sold what we consider as "our shit" back to the crossover mainstream"? Is anyone stopping black folks from making R&B music? Nope. We've been in a race to reach the lowest common denominator for sometime.

==============================================================

[Edited 3/15/18 6:46am]

Excellent post

Currently there are Black pop stars (that are put in a position) where they could have easily brought traditonal R&B sounds and classic R&B back into the mainstream (if this was the type of music they wanted to make).

This anger should be directed toward those Black pop singers who make trap music instead of R&B music...not Bruno. We need to be asking ourselves why are these rappers and BLACK pop stars destroying Black music with vulgar and degrading images and themes that gets passed off as "R&B music"... when its not (these are the real pressing issues when it comes to Black culture and our plight.... not Bruno). WHY are we not demanding BLACK pop singers to Sing R&B? Youre right, Black people priorities are screwed up as a community. We get mad at the wrong people instead of taking responsibility for these issues.

Bruno has never taken credit for originating R&B. He is always acknowledging his influences and he makes it clear that the music he makes is inspired by his musical inspirations. So how is he appropiating?

This anger against Bruno is misplaced (and a lot of it is rooted in ignorance and the belief that you have to be Black in order to make R&B music)

I wonder why the pop stars who actually cultural appropiate never get these types of criticisms. I wonder why the BLACK pop stars who have abandoned R&B never get this type of hate. .People are always complaining about how pop music has declined and how no one writes their music anymore or plays instruments or produces quality POP music and here comes Bruno...doing ALL of that and even introducing young people to classic sounds and people still bash him. I will never understand it. The criticism he gets is baseless and unfounded. There are far worse pop stars that make far worse music and there are other pop stars I would say are the real perpetuators of why R&B is non-existent.

Below are the three CEOs of the three major record labels. They control all of mainstream pop, rnb, and rap. They control the access and the distribution. Mainstream artists don't just come out of nowhere. They are chosen and made. How are black people going to support artists if they don't know they exist? It doesn't work that way with anyone else. But the black community across 2000 miles of the US are supposed act as one and support unknown black artists who get little to no marketing support form their labels.

How have black artists abandoned R n B when we have Anderson Paak, Luke James, Sza, and Janelle Monae who have been doing the music. Just because Usher and Chris Brown dabbled in EDM that means every black artist gave it up?

Nothing is wrong with Bruno doing rnb music. The problem is he was chosen to be the industry's it boy while black artists who are producing the same kind of music have all but been shut out of the game. If this was about bring back an old school sound, why didn't Anderson Paak have a massive hit with Come Down? The answer is he didn't get the marketing support to make it big.

Check out my post in reply 10. It shows how much money and effort a record label puts in to make a hit song.

Robert Stringer CEO of Sony Music Entertainment

Lucian Grange CEO of Universal Music Group

Stephen Cooper CEO of Warner Music Group

[Edited 3/16/18 23:23pm]

lrn36 said:

mjscarousel said:

Excellent post

Currently there are Black pop stars (that are put in a position) where they could have easily brought traditonal R&B sounds and classic R&B back into the mainstream (if this was the type of music they wanted to make).

This anger should be directed toward those Black pop singers who make trap music instead of R&B music...not Bruno. We need to be asking ourselves why are these rappers and BLACK pop stars destroying Black music with vulgar and degrading images and themes that gets passed off as "R&B music"... when its not (these are the real pressing issues when it comes to Black culture and our plight.... not Bruno). WHY are we not demanding BLACK pop singers to Sing R&B? Youre right, Black people priorities are screwed up as a community. We get mad at the wrong people instead of taking responsibility for these issues.

Bruno has never taken credit for originating R&B. He is always acknowledging his influences and he makes it clear that the music he makes is inspired by his musical inspirations. So how is he appropiating?

This anger against Bruno is misplaced (and a lot of it is rooted in ignorance and the belief that you have to be Black in order to make R&B music)

I wonder why the pop stars who actually cultural appropiate never get these types of criticisms. I wonder why the BLACK pop stars who have abandoned R&B never get this type of hate. .People are always complaining about how pop music has declined and how no one writes their music anymore or plays instruments or produces quality POP music and here comes Bruno...doing ALL of that and even introducing young people to classic sounds and people still bash him. I will never understand it. The criticism he gets is baseless and unfounded. There are far worse pop stars that make far worse music and there are other pop stars I would say are the real perpetuators of why R&B is non-existent.

Below are the three CEOs of the three major record labels. They control all of mainstream pop, rnb, and rap. They control the access and the distribution. Mainstream artists don't just come out of nowhere. They are chosen and made. How are black people going to support artists if they don't know they exist? It doesn't work that way with anyone else. But the black community across 2000 miles of the US are supposed act as one and support unknown black artists who get little to no marketing support form their labels.

How have black artists abandoned R n B when we have Anderson Paak, Luke James, Sza, and Janelle Monae who have been doing the music. Just because Usher and Chris Brown dabbled in EDM that means every black artist gave it up?

Nothing is wrong with Bruno doing rnb music. The problem is he was chosen to be the industry's it boy while black artists who are producing the same kind of music have all but been shut out of the game. If this was about bring back an old school sound, why didn't Anderson Paak have a massive hit with Come Down? The answer is he didn't get the marketing support to make it big.

Check out my post in reply 10. It shows how much money and effort a record label puts in to make a hit song.

Robert Stringer CEO of Sony Music Entertainment

Lucian Grange CEO of Universal Music Group

Stephen Cooper CEO of Warner Music Group

[Edited 3/16/18 23:23pm]

biiiiingo, none of this stuff is by happen chance, not one iota......I'd like to add to this later asap.....

lrn36 said:

mjscarousel said:

Excellent post

Currently there are Black pop stars (that are put in a position) where they could have easily brought traditonal R&B sounds and classic R&B back into the mainstream (if this was the type of music they wanted to make).

This anger should be directed toward those Black pop singers who make trap music instead of R&B music...not Bruno. We need to be asking ourselves why are these rappers and BLACK pop stars destroying Black music with vulgar and degrading images and themes that gets passed off as "R&B music"... when its not (these are the real pressing issues when it comes to Black culture and our plight.... not Bruno). WHY are we not demanding BLACK pop singers to Sing R&B? Youre right, Black people priorities are screwed up as a community. We get mad at the wrong people instead of taking responsibility for these issues.

Bruno has never taken credit for originating R&B. He is always acknowledging his influences and he makes it clear that the music he makes is inspired by his musical inspirations. So how is he appropiating?

This anger against Bruno is misplaced (and a lot of it is rooted in ignorance and the belief that you have to be Black in order to make R&B music)

I wonder why the pop stars who actually cultural appropiate never get these types of criticisms. I wonder why the BLACK pop stars who have abandoned R&B never get this type of hate. .People are always complaining about how pop music has declined and how no one writes their music anymore or plays instruments or produces quality POP music and here comes Bruno...doing ALL of that and even introducing young people to classic sounds and people still bash him. I will never understand it. The criticism he gets is baseless and unfounded. There are far worse pop stars that make far worse music and there are other pop stars I would say are the real perpetuators of why R&B is non-existent.

Below are the three CEOs of the three major record labels. They control all of mainstream pop, rnb, and rap. They control the access and the distribution. Mainstream artists don't just come out of nowhere. They are chosen and made. How are black people going to support artists if they don't know they exist? It doesn't work that way with anyone else. But the black community across 2000 miles of the US are supposed act as one and support unknown black artists who get little to no marketing support form their labels.

How have black artists abandoned R n B when we have Anderson Paak, Luke James, Sza, and Janelle Monae who have been doing the music. Just because Usher and Chris Brown dabbled in EDM that means every black artist gave it up?

Nothing is wrong with Bruno doing rnb music. The problem is he was chosen to be the industry's it boy while black artists who are producing the same kind of music have all but been shut out of the game. If this was about bring back an old school sound, why didn't Anderson Paak have a massive hit with Come Down? The answer is he didn't get the marketing support to make it big.

Check out my post in reply 10. It shows how much money and effort a record label puts in to make a hit song.

Robert Stringer CEO of Sony Music Entertainment

Lucian Grange CEO of Universal Music Group

Stephen Cooper CEO of Warner Music Group

[Edited 3/16/18 23:23pm]

I know how the system operates which is why we hear the same garbage music on the radio 24/7 and the same reason its the same tokens winning these purchased awards.

Outside of Usher and Chris Brown, I would not classify those other singers as "pop/r&b singers". With that being said, I still go back to the question of why aren't Black people questioning the quality of the music these Black pop stars make? Today's Black pop stars do not have to follow trends and they could have brought old sounds to the mainstream like Bruno. The reason why I am asking this question is because in the video many of the debaters argued that its difficult for Black pop stars and singers to sing R&B??? This is not true. There have been many successful BLACK pop stars who made R&B and were successful. In fact, Usher has a diamond album and the album is traditional R&B. He is the only Black pop star with a diamond album in the 21s century. So Bruno's peers could make R&B music if they wanted too.

Yes there are underground R&B artists that never get put on and backed by the machine. However, There are many talented artists regardless of the genre that are not backed by a machine (so this same argument can be made about any artist from any genre of music). That is simply the wack politics of the industry, that is not Bruno's fault. IMO, there are worse pop stars that get a ton of backing that don't deserve it. Bruno makes quality pop music compared to his peers.

The problem as I see it is this...

Beyonce, Usher, Chris Brown, Rihanna, etc have the backing and platforms where they could make tradtional R&B music but they choose NOT too. Instead, they choose to make trendy trash pop music that oddly gets labeled as "R&B" at the Grammy's...when its not (this is not helping R&B or Black music). This is the problem that needs to be addressed....not Bruno.

Bruno did not even become a super star making R&B. Unorthodox Jukebox is not an R&B album, its a Pop album. 24k was simply a good R&B record that people liked.

I am still confused as to why you all did not show this same outrage toward Justin Timberlake who has made a career off of appropriating Black legends and even mocked them. Its a lot of irony in you all defending that White man but then turn around and bash Bruno. I can't take these opinions seriously.

[Edited 3/17/18 1:28am]

mjscarousel said:

lrn36 said:

Below are the three CEOs of the three major record labels. They control all of mainstream pop, rnb, and rap. They control the access and the distribution. Mainstream artists don't just come out of nowhere. They are chosen and made. How are black people going to support artists if they don't know they exist? It doesn't work that way with anyone else. But the black community across 2000 miles of the US are supposed act as one and support unknown black artists who get little to no marketing support form their labels.

How have black artists abandoned R n B when we have Anderson Paak, Luke James, Sza, and Janelle Monae who have been doing the music. Just because Usher and Chris Brown dabbled in EDM that means every black artist gave it up?

Nothing is wrong with Bruno doing rnb music. The problem is he was chosen to be the industry's it boy while black artists who are producing the same kind of music have all but been shut out of the game. If this was about bring back an old school sound, why didn't Anderson Paak have a massive hit with Come Down? The answer is he didn't get the marketing support to make it big.

Check out my post in reply 10. It shows how much money and effort a record label puts in to make a hit song.

Robert Stringer CEO of Sony Music Entertainment

Lucian Grange CEO of Universal Music Group

Stephen Cooper CEO of Warner Music Group

[Edited 3/16/18 23:23pm]

I know how the system operates which is why we hear the same garbage music on the radio 24/7 and the same reason its the same tokens winning these purchased awards.

Outside of Usher and Chris Brown, I would not classify those other singers as "pop/r&b singers". With that being said, I still go back to the question of why aren't Black people questioning the quality of the music these Black pop stars make? Today's Black pop stars do not have to follow trends and they could have brought old sounds to the mainstream like Bruno. The reason why I am asking this question is because in the video many of the debaters argued that its difficult for Black pop stars and singers to sing R&B??? This is not true. There have been many successful BLACK pop stars who made R&B and were successful. In fact, Usher has a diamond album and the album is traditional R&B. He is the only Black pop star with a diamond album in the 21s century. So Bruno's peers could make R&B music if they wanted too.

Yes there are underground R&B artists that never get put on and backed by the machine. However, There are many talented artists regardless of the genre that are not backed by a machine (so this same argument can be made about any artist from any genre of music). That is simply the wack politics of the industry, that is not Bruno's fault. IMO, there are worse pop stars that get a ton of backing that don't deserve it. Bruno makes quality pop music compared to his peers.

The problem as I see it is this...

Beyonce, Usher, Chris Brown, Rihanna, etc have the backing and platforms where they could make tradtional R&B music but they choose NOT too. Instead, they choose to make trendy trash pop music that oddly gets labeled as "R&B" at the Grammy's...when its not (this is not helping R&B or Black music). This is the problem that needs to be addressed....not Bruno.

Bruno did not even become a super star making R&B. Unorthodox Jukebox is not an R&B album, its a Pop album. 24k was simply a good R&B record that people liked.

I am still confused as to why you all did not show this same outrage toward Justin Timberlake who has made a career off of appropriating Black legends and even mocked them. Its a lot of irony in you all defending that White man but then turn around and bash Bruno. I can't take these opinions seriously.

[Edited 3/17/18 1:28am]

Let's be honest. Do you think if Usher or Chris Brown did Uptown Funk, it would've been a hit? Bruno has a goofy, harmless persona that allows him to straddle the line between fun and corny. Pharrell had a sumilar success with Happy, but that song became a hit because it was tied to a successful animated movie.

Are you sure that artists even artists like Beyonce, Usher, Chris Brown, and Rihanna have complete control over the type of music they put out? Didn't Prince go to battle with Warner because they controlled the format and frquency of his output. They outright rejected the original format of SOTT. Didn't Clive Davis try to give Prince the Carlos Santana treatment for Rave Unto the Joy Fantastic?

You don't think the labels are guiding and pushing these artists to a certain styles and formats to maximize sales. Why did late Chris Cornell out of no where do an RnB album with Timbaland that was released by Sony? With the success of Uptown Funk, I have no doubt that the Atlantic executives(which is under Warner Music Group) told Bruno to keep doing that old school sound because its hot right now. And when its not hot, he will go onto to something else. How is that any different than Beyonce, Usher, or Chris Brown doing EDM or pop to maximize their sales?

Because so few artists get major backing from labels, they are being forced to chase after hits wherever they may be. The lack of diversity in the type of artists and music being supported is strangling creativity. Bruno Mars is not the problem, but his success is symptom of a larger problem.

An artist getting massive success and accolades for rigidly copying an old sound is not a good trend.

lrn36 said:

mjscarousel said:

I know how the system operates which is why we hear the same garbage music on the radio 24/7 and the same reason its the same tokens winning these purchased awards.

Outside of Usher and Chris Brown, I would not classify those other singers as "pop/r&b singers". With that being said, I still go back to the question of why aren't Black people questioning the quality of the music these Black pop stars make? Today's Black pop stars do not have to follow trends and they could have brought old sounds to the mainstream like Bruno. The reason why I am asking this question is because in the video many of the debaters argued that its difficult for Black pop stars and singers to sing R&B??? This is not true. There have been many successful BLACK pop stars who made R&B and were successful. In fact, Usher has a diamond album and the album is traditional R&B. He is the only Black pop star with a diamond album in the 21s century. So Bruno's peers could make R&B music if they wanted too.

Yes there are underground R&B artists that never get put on and backed by the machine. However, There are many talented artists regardless of the genre that are not backed by a machine (so this same argument can be made about any artist from any genre of music). That is simply the wack politics of the industry, that is not Bruno's fault. IMO, there are worse pop stars that get a ton of backing that don't deserve it. Bruno makes quality pop music compared to his peers.

The problem as I see it is this...

Beyonce, Usher, Chris Brown, Rihanna, etc have the backing and platforms where they could make tradtional R&B music but they choose NOT too. Instead, they choose to make trendy trash pop music that oddly gets labeled as "R&B" at the Grammy's...when its not (this is not helping R&B or Black music). This is the problem that needs to be addressed....not Bruno.

Bruno did not even become a super star making R&B. Unorthodox Jukebox is not an R&B album, its a Pop album. 24k was simply a good R&B record that people liked.

I am still confused as to why you all did not show this same outrage toward Justin Timberlake who has made a career off of appropriating Black legends and even mocked them. Its a lot of irony in you all defending that White man but then turn around and bash Bruno. I can't take these opinions seriously.

[Edited 3/17/18 1:28am]

Let's be honest. Do you think if Usher or Chris Brown did Uptown Funk, it would've been a hit? Bruno has a goofy, harmless persona that allows him to straddle the line between fun and corny. Pharrell had a sumilar success with Happy, but that song became a hit because it was tied to a successful animated movie.

Are you sure that artists even artists like Beyonce, Usher, Chris Brown, and Rihanna have complete control over the type of music they put out? Didn't Prince go to battle with Warner because they controlled the format and frquency of his output. They outright rejected the original format of SOTT. Didn't Clive Davis try to give Prince the Carlos Santana treatment for Rave Unto the Joy Fantastic?

You don't think the labels are guiding and pushing these artists to a certain styles and formats to maximize sales. Why did late Chris Cornell out of no where do an RnB album with Timbaland that was released by Sony? With the success of Uptown Funk, I have no doubt that the Atlantic executives(which is under Warner Music Group) told Bruno to keep doing that old school sound because its hot right now. And when its not hot, he will go onto to something else. How is that any different than Beyonce, Usher, or Chris Brown doing EDM or pop to maximize their sales?

Because so few artists get major backing from labels, they are being forced to chase after hits wherever they may be. The lack of diversity in the type of artists and music being supported is strangling creativity. Bruno Mars is not the problem, but his success is symptom of a larger problem.

An artist getting massive success and accolades for rigidly copying an old sound is not a good trend.

So these pop stars who make ratchet trap music, you think they make more meaningful music than Bruno? You think they deserve "massive success" for making garbage music? Because that is what you are implying. Bruno Mars is not a genius but he makes much better pop music than his peers, its quality (whether he is copying a old sound or not).

You keep insisting that these labels force these particular artists to make a certain type of music but this is naive thinking because the artists mentioned are veterans and have leverage to make the type of music that they want at this point in their careers. These are not "new" artists. You think the record labels told Beyonce to exploit her marital issues to sell records? I don't believe that. She chose to do that. You keep minimizing the fault of these seasoned pop stars who also play a role in the type of music they make. These pop stars are not real artists, they follow trends and chase the radio instead of making quality music. Again, Bruno is not a innovator but he makes quality pop music and I can't hate on him for doing something his peers fail to do.

Regarding Usher, Usher has sold way more records than Bruno Mars making R&B music (this is the irony in you bringing up Usher and its a mute point). These labels will and HAVE backed Black singers who make R&B, we have evidence of this so you can't say it doesn't happen.

The problem with Usher is that he abandoned his R&B base and began making trap music (thats nobody's fault but his, he could have continued to making R&B music if he wanted too). You don't go making R&B music for 5 albums and then suddenly abandon it (some responsibility needs to be placed on these artists, its not completely ALL the record labels fault)Usher and Chris Brown are passed their peaks and hit making days so regardless of what music they make it would not have been a smash like Uptown Funk.

A couple of years ago the industry and radio was backing Frank Ocean (an alternative R&B singer) and he won a couple of Grammy's. I remember the org raved and hyped Frank during this period and still till this day I don't get the hoopla over him and I find him to be overrated. Why didn't you all make these same complaints about the lack of R&B in the mainstream when Frank was hot?

It feels like you all are making excuses because you all don't like the fact that Bruno is inspired by a lot of the artists that you listen too. Its actually sad because you all should be lifting him up instead of putting him down. He is doing something that these current pop stars fail to do which is make quality pop music. We NEED more pop stars like Bruno. He will always have my respect.

You still didn't answer my question on JT? Black people were raving about him and you all were too and all that white man does is appropiate Black culture BUT its okay because he is White, right? JT shitted on Prince and mocked him when he was alive. Despite that JT had the audacity to play his new album at PAISLEY PARK and I did not see not one thread on the org about that B.S BUT everyone has time to bash Bruno Mars, a artist who ALWAYS gives credit to his influences, INCLUDING Prince.

Again, I can't take these opinions seriously. If you are going to call Bruno Mars a cultural appropiator or criticize him for "copying" R&B and old sounds then we got to go WAY back and call everyone out. Call Elvis and Jt out (who you all love defending on this site but then turn around and bash Bruno Mars )

MLK would be shaking his head in disbelief if he saw this. So sad.