Dear LinkedIn Diary: Cultural Nuances Aren't a Sham

*cue Moesha music*

Yes, I’m back and it’s been a minute, but I’ve been working on self and navigating capitalism—you know, the usual.

I know this topic isn’t the typical conversation people share here, but I wanted to bring your attention to a rap beef between a rapper and a lyricist.

Trust me, there’s a difference. Particularly when one is a Pulitzer Prize-winning artist.

Beef aside, there’s been heavy discourse surrounding the lyrics, their context, and how the style and music impact the listener. And you guessed it, there are a lot of back-and-forth comparisons between folx who are indulgers in Hip-Hop and the folx who live, eat, and breathe it. For a very specific community, Hip-Hop is more than music. It’s a culture, a language, and an eco-system laden with nuances that only the people who created it and grew up in it understand.

I sense you’re picking up what I’m putting down.

Many lyrical comparisons and dissections are completely off-base and that’s expected. Those who haven’t grown up in the culture will easily miss the references. Some may say the conversations on the interwebs boil down to race and to the naked eye, they’d be correct. However, I want to draw your attention to an important piece of content by the iconic Denzel Washington. During the press tour of the movie Fences, he explains to Urban View’s Karen Hunter for those watching and listening in, the reason the movie needed a Black director.

“It’s not color, it’s culture,” he says, so eloquently.

He continues, highlighting that Steven Spielberg, director of Schindler’s List, and Martin Scorsese, director of Goodfellas, could have swapped places. Still, the overall aesthetic of the movie would not have been the same because of the cultural differences. For Black films, in particular, something so small as the sizzle of a hot comb before a Black mother or grandmother touches the head of a young girl makes a difference. We understand the sound. We can smell the heat. See the Dax grease on the kitchen counter. All of those elements make a difference in how we experience a scene.

*cue in Drake vs. Kendrick Lamar*

Our favorite problematic DJ, Vlad, gave his opinion on the most popular song from the rap beef, Not Like Us, and Princeton professor, Morgan Jenkins hit ‘em with a quote tweet, and so many words, urged him to sit this one out. Aside from him missing the reason she responded how she did, he threatened to get her fired—an unfortunate case of white privilege.

You already know the plethora of idioms I can insert here, so I’m going to behave and refrain. *side eye*

On par with Black Twitter, they got him together, and he backpedaled on this threat. I’m sure you’re still wondering what the issue is and no worries, I gotchu.

When a person outside of a specific culture immerses themselves in it because it’s popular and profitable, their knowledge of certain elements expands so far. They then use their limited knowledge to insert themselves into conversations where they aren’t the central theme and argue back and forth with the community whose culture they, essentially, appropriated for personal gain.

It’s like yoga.

No matter how many non-Southeast-Asian persons train and get certified, it’s never going to compare to the folx who live, breathe, and eat this day in and out. It’s the same disjointed themes that play out in the workplace. The challenge with JEDI is, everyone who’s not part of the culture wants to claim expertise instead of mastering the lane they’re in.

Allies vs. Advocates.

Anyhoo, that’s my soapbox for today. You already know I’ma neurospicy gal, so I can’t guarantee consistency with these transparent moments, but I can commit and not let TOO much time pass.

Yeah? Cool.

Oh! And, Happy New Moon if you celebrate that thing or whateva.

Here's the interview with Denzel Washington for reference ????

https://www.siriusxm.com/blog/denzel-washington-on-why-fences-needed-a-black-director-its-not-color-its-culture

*cue Moesha music*