The Authenticity of Music

Emily and I selected the topic of U.S. society’s reception of African Americans in music for our final paper. As I conducted research on the subject, I found it very interesting that much of the reception was based on something outside of the music itself. In order for society to completely accept and understand the intended message of an African American artist’s music, conviction or public display of authenticity was required.  A concept noted in Geoff Harkness’s article, “Hip-Hop Culture and America’s Most Taboo Word,” is the idea of cross-cultural pollination. My interpretation of this term is related to the idea that members of society adopt an idea or characteristic of another cultural group after it is displayed or communicated in a public setting. However, merely taking on an aspect of another cultural group or ethnicity does not mean that the conviction is adopted as well. Authenticity is not something that can be learned. 

One of the first things we discussed in class was Miley Cyrus’ horrific display at the VMAs. Though her shocking behavior at the event occurred months ago, the topic has still remained relevant to course content that we have covered throughout the semester. Doing additional research on African Americans in music and their goal of communication of deeper messages in songs reminded me of our discussion of Ms. Cyrus’ performance. What caused society’s overall disapproval of her actions was that the message and content did not match the person communicating (verbally and nonverbally) the lyrics and actions. I was left wondering how much we (as a society) subconsciously make judgments related to physical appearance when determining the credibility of a musical artist’s performance.

Poignant lyrics can certainly be persuasive in understanding a deeper message of a song, but are we unintentionally persuaded by physical appearance as much as we are by the lyrical content?