On January 28, 2018, Bruno Mars was nominated for six Grammy awards:  Best R&B Performance, Best R&B Song, Song of the Year, Record of the Year, and Album of the Year.  Bruno won all six Grammys.  Me, being the consummate Bruno Mars fan that I am (otherwise known as a fellow Hooligan), couldn’t be happier.  However, there were other people that believed that Bruno’s success wasn’t deserved.  One of those people was veteran musician Meshell N’Degeocello.  When Billboard inquired about Bruno’s sweep on Grammy night, she said the following:

“What [Bruno Mars is] doing is karaoke, basically. With “Finesse,” in particular, I think he was simply copying Bell Biv DeVoe. I think he was copying Babyface. And definitely there were some elements of Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis back when they worked with Human League. I feel like there’s just all these threads running through there but not in a genuine way.”

Not too long after Meshell N’Degeocello made this statement, a YouTube channel known as The Grapevine released a two-part video that contained a panel discussing whether or not Bruno Mars was guilty of cultural appropriation.  The video went viral, and the topic of Bruno appropriating black culture—or not appropriating it—has since been a major debate.  There are many that think that Bruno has committed cultural appropriation, and that he’s nothing but a “karaoke singer” that just “copies” music from the ’80s and ’90s.  Then, there are people that believe that Bruno is actually a cultural appreciator; a man that truly loves and respects black music, and is not simply using it for the limelight and/or monetary gain.  I happen to be in the latter category.

What Is Cultural Appropriation?

According to the English version of the Oxford Living Dictionary, cultural appropriation is defined as “the unacknowledged or inappropriate adoption of the customs, practices, ideas, etc. of one people or society by members of another and typically more dominant people or society.”  The Cambridge Dictionary defines it as “the act of taking or using things from a culture that is not your own, especially without showing that you understand or respect [the] culture.” Anyone that follows Bruno’s career in the slightest knows that he doesn’t meet either one of those characteristics.

How can anybody in America hate the people that our country was built on? Black people & black culture should be celebrated, not executed.

— Bruno Mars (@BrunoMars) July 9, 2016

Why Is Bruno Mars Not Guilty of Committing Cultural Appropriation?

As evident from the video posted above, Bruno has been performing R&B music long before he became blessed with fame (he’s about 17 or 18 in the clip).  Before his career took off, Bruno wrote many R&B and Hip-Hop songs for artists such as Brandy, Cee Lo Green, Flo Rida, B.o.B, Travie McCoy, and Melanie Fiona.  He never fails to mention how he was inspired by black music, nor does he ignore his past influences.  In a 2017 interview with Latina magazine, Bruno said the following:

“When you say ‘black music,’ understand that you are talking about rock, jazz, R&B, reggae, funk, doo-wop, hip-hop, and Motown. Black people created it all. Being Puerto Rican, even salsa music stems back to the Motherland [Africa]. So, in my world, black music means everything. It’s what gives America its swag. I’m a child raised in the ‘90s. Pop music was heavily rooted in R&B from Whitney, Diddy, Dr. Dre, Boyz II Men, Aaliyah, TLC, Babyface, New Edition, Michael, and so much more. As kids this is what was playing on MTV and the radio. This is what we were dancing to at school functions and BBQs. I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for these artists who inspired me. They have brought me so much joy and created the soundtrack to my life filled with memories that I’ll never forget. Most importantly, they were the superstars that set the bar for me and showed me what it takes to sing a song that can get the whole world dancing, or give a performance that people will talk about forever.”

Even when Bruno won all six Grammys, he took the time to cite his influences—his African American influences—such as Babyface, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, and Teddy Riley.  It also cannot be ignored that Bruno’s heritage includes Filipino and Puerto Rican ancestry, both of which are included in the African Diaspora.  Bruno has never claimed to be a black man himself, but it’s arguable that he may very well have African heritage, which invalidates the cultural appropriation argument as well.

So Why Is Bruno Being Targeted?

There’s many reasons Bruno is being attacked for being a cultural appropriator.  One reason is that it appears that many people feel that black music should only be performed exclusively by black artists.  However there are other people, like myself, that feel like music knows no race.  If music only excluded itself to one race, we wouldn’t have been blessed with great songs from The Beastie Boys, Jon B., Eminem, 3rd Bass, or Robin Thicke.  I never would’ve been able to enjoy David Bowie’s soul albums Young Americans and Station to Station.  As I stated earlier, Bruno is simply performing the type of music that he grew up on and always loved, and he does a great job doing it.

It also seems that people are attacking Bruno because of his recent Grammy sweep.  A woman named Jenn M. Jackson, a writer with The Washington Post, accused Bruno of cultural appropriation last summer.  Her accusations mainly fell on deaf ears, and a ton of people came to Bruno’s defense on Twitter.  However, it was a different story when Bruno beat out Kendrick Lamar, Childish Gambino, Jay-Z and Lorde for the Album of the Year Grammy.  More people echoed the culture appropriation claims, and a little over a month later, The Grapevine released their video.  During the panel discussion, Bruno winning the Album of the Year Grammy was mentioned more than once.  However, there was another question a panelist raised that intrigued me… a question that was never really answered.  The panelist asked, “Are we mad that Bruno Mars is making the music, or are we mad that he’s successful?”  Once again, I believe it’s the latter.

It isn’t lost on me that the main person speaking against Bruno on The Grapevine panel is a woman named Seren Sensei Aishitemasu (yes, you read that correctly…let that marinate) who constantly is bringing up the fact that Bruno won the Album of the Year Grammy over “[black artists] that did it better,” and she even goes as far to say that “if Bruno died tomorrow, [she’d] bake a cake.”  It also isn’t lost on me that Meshell N’Degeocello made her comment to Billboard while promoting her new album, Ventriloquism, which is entirely made up of cover albums.  Bruno, on the other hand, wrote and produced every song on 24K Magic.  He only used his past influences, like Bell Biv DeVoe, as inspiration for the album. There’s nothing wrong with that.  Greats like David Bowie, Prince, and Michael Jackson were motivated by other artists’ work.  As a matter of fact, David Bowie borrowed a bit of Kendrick Lamar’s style for his last album, Blackstar.  Using the musicians he grew up loving as muses don’t make Bruno an appropriator or a “karaoke singer.”  It makes him an artist.

Cultural appropriation is an actual phenomenon, however, Bruno Mars does not deserve to have the accusation hurled at him.  His only crime is being Filipino and Puerto Rican, being successful, and actually enjoying his success.  He can’t control what race he is, and he’s worked extremely hard for all his achievements and accolades.  Bruno Mars is a man that has shown time and time again that he respects black culture and only wants to perform music that he loves.  If people continue to use the cultural appropriation term to be petty or because they don’t like the fact that a person that isn’t African-American is paying homage to black culture, it’ll mean a lot less when it’s used towards someone that is actually committing the act.

A true leader. Happy #MLKDay pic.twitter.com/KJF7datN9M

— Bruno Mars (@BrunoMars) January 15, 2018