I remember being about 6 or 7 when I got my Hit Clip radio. I thought it was the coolest – the latest and greatest technology out. There were a few songs that I loved to play over and over again, but none as much as NSYNC’s Bye Bye Bye. There was something about the way lead singer Justin Timberlake sang that resonated with me. It is now safe to say that as a young singer myself; I looked up to him in some regard. Even at that time – almost 17 years ago – there were traces of me, and people like me in his singing.
If we take Timberlake’s words about the speech delivered by Jesse Williams totally out of context, we could free him from a whole heap of Twitter backlash and responsibility. At face value, his initial response was to be expected, but totally ignoring the cultural perspectives that he and his opposition bring to the discussion is plain irresponsible.
Nonetheless, Timberlake did no harm in singing the praises of Jesse. The harm was done in the aftermath. The ways in which Timberlake dismissed crucial parts of Jesse’s speech frustrated many.
Ignoring the fact that he got a bit antagonistic in some of his tweets, Timberlake also never own the part of the speech that should have clearly resonated with him. Jesse is quoted saying,
“And we’re done watching and waiting while this invention called whiteness uses and abuses us, burying black people out of sight and out of mind while extracting our culture, our dollars, our entertainment like oil, black gold. Ghettoizing and demeaning our creations, then stealing them, gentrifying our genius, and then trying us on like costumes before discarding our bodies like rinds of strange fruit. The thing is though, that just because we're magic doesn't mean we're not real.”
This was without a doubt referencing artists like Timberlake, but more importantly speaks to a larger societal front that allows certain people to walk through a field of Black culture, with a basket from Target, and pick which cherries are ripe for mass consumption. The ironic thing is, Timberlake didn’t arrive on his black horse yesterday. We handed him the saddle 16 years ago. We – Black people – hold our art forms so near and dear, but are so willing to allow any mediocre artist through the door. Don’t get me wrong; Justin’s got skills…but there would be no R&B allure had he been Black. There is no question about. He’s had a great deal of success, all backed by mostly Black producers, background singers, band members and even dancers. And it makes perfect sense. He puts out music that sounds, well…. traditionally Black!
When I decided that I wanted to formally study voice, the first step was understandably voice lessons. I was in high school at the time, and my parents didn’t have the money for private voice lessons. It wasn’t even in the discussion. I, instead, turned to a local performing arts school. I was accepted (after my second attempt) and was in a small state of shock by the first day. Before I was admitted I made sure to talk with current students to see what I was in for, but nothing could have prepared me for the Music Theory, keyboard classes, ear training classes, composition classes, diction classes, performance classes and Music Literature that awaited me. That’s not including my Gen. Ed’s. There was no escaping it. I had to learn the tradition if I wanted to sing well. I had to be informed.
It all seemed a little mundane and fruitless at the time, but looking back I can say that it had to be done. No one was going to allow me to waltz on into the world of classical voice and not know what it was about. No one was going to allow me to be ignorant to its history and the people that made it possible. I had to learn about common practices and where the music came from. Hell, I even had to memorize dates of composition and dates of birth. All to keep the actual tradition and spirit of it alive. Yes it is a bit academic on the surface, but we must remember that music is dead without the people to perform it. In getting to understand the people, an artist gets to know the truth of the music.
Timberlake was handed his honorary Black Card and invited to the cookout, but nobody thought to ask him how he felt about the family? Now you’re surprised? I’m not. Nobody checked him when he wore cornrows to the MTV Music awards in 2000 and now he tweets his own version of #AllLivesMatter. It’s nice to think that JT would use his $230 million platform take up for Black people, but no one ever made him feel that he had to.
I had to spend eight years of my life learning about the world of opera in all its form so that I didn’t run the risk of appropriating. So that I didn’t run the risk of imitating. So that I didn’t run the risk of taking from a culture without a real frame of reference, without the spirit of the people present and without a meaningful cultural exchange.
We need to be wiling to remind artists – and musicians in particular – that they are guests in the house and history of a people, and that music is not just something that we do. There are parts of us in our music, and if you want to be a part of that it be wise to start caring about the people that have made it possible for you – that have had a hand in the success, but have gotten no reciprocity.
