the culture thieves

"Ex-Beatle Paul McCartney was also a Shrine regular during the 1973 recording of his Band on the Run LP at EMI studios in Lagos. On one occasion he was reportedly moved to tears by the power of Fela's afrobeat, to which he had been introduced by fellow countryman Ginger Baker. However, McCartney's first evening at the Shrine ended unpleasantly when Fela privately accused him of coming to Lagos to steal African music. Although McCartney refuted this accusation, he reportedly resisted the impulse thereafter to infuse his music with African elements."
--Michael Veal, Fela: The Life and Times of an African Musical Icon

The idea of cultural thievery is something that has always been especially interesting, repugnant and dear to me, and this passage from the book on Fela I'm reading really struck a chord. Thankfully, I didn't have to get called out by Common Sense on the south side of Chicago to put the mic down -- I just kind of knew it was the "right" thing to do. I fully acknowledge that both blue-sky idealists and pro-black activists may find that sentiment completely offensive, but I'm a realist, so that's the currency I'll trade in.

What's kind of interesting is that my fears were unfounded and my decision unnecessary (to this point, anyway). It's been nearly thirty years, and though whites still disproportionately profit off hip hop, we certainly haven't misappropriated it the way we did jazz or blues. For argument's sake, you can posit that Em is Paul Whiteman (he's not even close, BTW), but who's Benny Goodman? Dave Brubeck? Glen Miller?

However, this also begs the question of how we define theft. At the same moment I decided to stop emceeing, I also made a conscious decision to keep on deejaying, because somehow that felt "ok". I wasn't worried about being a displacing element on the dj circuit. I also kept participating in the subculture in other ways, like going to shows and critiquing albums. You can make a hypothetical case against any of these activities...or a realistic case for every one.

Anyway, I find this shit all rather compelling and significant. Sasha Frere Jones began exploring some tangential ideas in a draft he worked on for the recent EMP conference. It spurned a relatively substantive thread over on ILM. I don't know that any of it -- including this post -- is anything but food for thought. So eat, honky!