Bloc Party’s Kele Okereke has spoken out against an erosion of black music which he claims is the result of negative attitudes towards black music identity and black culture in general.The statement may seem to some as a little extreme given the present number of black artists in the charts however Okereke claims that it is not these artists who are reaping the greatest benefits.
His attitude is that, once black music begins to gain popularity, the white mainstream then claims it for themselves citing Miley Cryus’ twerking and Sam Smith’s pastiche of Atlanta Soul as examples of this. He also claims that other mainstream artists music such as Disclosure are indebted to black music.
Whilst this may seem like a strong view to take it mustn’t be forgotten that major artists such as the Rolling Stones and Elvis took musical styles such as Blues and Gospel and enjoyed major success with these genre that came from black culture but were originally shunned.
Perhaps then, he may have a point and it will be interesting to see if any other artists come forward to support his views.
