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Kardashian family culturally appropriates Notorious B.I.G. video

June 4, 2012

cultural appropriation, Kardashian family, racism, whiteness

The music of hip-hop artists and other in the African-American community aren’t safe from the glaring obsession of whiteness. The Kardashian family apparently felt it would be hip to shoot their own version of Notorious B.I.G.’s “Hypnotize” music video during  a trip to the Dominican Republic.

Complete with whiteness’ take on swag, the family succumbs to not only mocking the dance moves of women in hip-hop videos, but also features members of the family mimicking so-called gangsta poses and dance moves.

Trying to describe the debauchery in the video does not do one justice. You would be better off watching it yourself.

(As an aside: I’m surprised the video has remained up for as long as it has–it’s a clear case of copyright infringement on the estate of the legendary hip-hop artist).

Anyway, on to my rant.

Marginalized bodies have routinely suffered from the cultural appropriation inflicted and othering by whiteness looking to have a little exotic fun at the expense of our dignity. People of color, particularly black people in the good ol’ U.S. of A., on a regular basis have our cultural and artistic expression hijacked, co-opted and stolen by white people without even one hint of acknowledgment or appreciation. Whiteness and white people have lifted the forms of expressions by black folks and other POCs, morphed it to their audiences’ liking and marketed their creation as if it were their own, not even paying respects to the real curators of their art. From the likes of Kreashawyn to the cover of Willow Smith’s Whip My Hair, whiteness continues to demonstrate to the world that our forms of expressions are an area in which they, too, can colonize without remorse or gratitude.

The Kardashian video is a prime example of the blatant disrespect and disregard for hip-hop culture and the primarily African-American voices behind it. I’m sure the family believed their video is a shining example of how down they are with Notorious B.I.G., hip-hop and, as Donald Trump would say, the blacks. I’m sure the family, if their actions are called into question, will point to their token POC friends and vehemently deny they have a racist bone in their body. So what if they, in the same breath, participate in the othering of a form of expression embraced by their friends of color.

And while the Kardashians and their offensive antics may not be the embodiment of what the world believes is the true form of racism, their mindless, insensitive co-opting of Notorious B.I.G. and hip-hop culture is a reflection of how whiteness, despite appearing to show its gratitude to POCs and our cultures, continues to oppress, mock and relegate marginalized bodies to second-class citizenship.

Whiteness can’t and won’t allow The Others to freely express themselves without giving in to its inherent need to invade and impose its ideals upon our culture and livelihood.

  • JaeTurner

    I think this was an excellent post, NBW. However, allow me to please lend my insights.

     It is the fault of black people that their culture is appropriated. From rappers to comics to all other entertainers, they have all used the black image as a means to gain a foothold in the white dominated entertainment industry. How many black people blindly support rappers who trash black women and praise non-BW or people like Dave Chapelle who have used their blackness as a vehicle for monetary gain all the while never thinking of the implications of it. No other group of people do that. You do not see Asians msking a mockery of their idenity just to get acknowledgement from white audiences.

    Basically, blacks have taken over black minstrelsy and have invited the world to point and laugh and then turn around an wonder why they get no respect. The Kardashians date/marry black men so obviously they understand that their actions will get no backlash. How many black men are going to continue to praise the Kardashian sisters and support them none the less because they love black men? Black people do NOT as a group hold their identity sacred. The unique culture that they created from soul music to swing dance has been taken over by others because black people let them. They trade in pride for a few pats on the heads from whites.

    Therefore, as far I am concerned, the black community has no one else to blame but themselves that their image is a joke. For the past several decades, that is exactly what they have taught the world to think about them.

    Peace

    • http://newblackwoman.com New Black Woman

      That’s an interesting perspective. While it’s a valid point that many in our community actually tolerate what you refer to as a minstrel show, that does not negate the fact that whiteness continues to dominate and dictate what the majority views as the our main characteristics. Most, if not all, major media outlets are controlled by whiteness’ perception of blackness and the few black-owned mediums to some extent buy into promoting these stereotypes with the promise of backing and support from advertisers that promote the praise and worship of whiteness and white beauty.


       Black people do NOT as a group hold their identity sacred. The unique culture that they created from soul music to swing dance has been taken over by others because black people let them. They trade in pride for a few pats on the heads from whites. 

      That’s also interesting as it completely white washes the history of the struggle, both external and internal, black folks have had to deal with in order to  make it in mainstream America. Black artists have for decades been involved with a Catch 22 situation in which remaining true to ourselves, including not disrupting the feelings of white people by perpetuating stereotypes put in place by whiteness, most likely result in them not breaking into the mainstream. 

      Furthermore, the expressions of black folks continue to be stolen from them by whiteness without even white artists having the forethought to allow, as you put it, black people to allow themselves to be exploited.

      • JaeTurner

        Hello. Thanks for responding!

        “Black artists have for decades been involved with a Catch 22 situation
        in which remaining true to ourselves, including not disrupting the
        feelings of white people by perpetuating stereotypes put in place by
        whiteness, most likely result in them not breaking into the mainstream. ”

        That actually proves my point. They sold out. While I can completly understand that in the case of  some of the earliest actors who made headway for modern blacks, they did so because they had no choice. My challenge is why do black Americans continue this? Where has in progress in this area really been made. One of the most pernicious and tiresome examples of this is the black-best-friend trope. How many shows/movies depict the castrated, yet hyper-sexual black male who can get all the girls but can’t be the hero and why do black people okie-doke this? Do they even understand that it is an insult to black males? Even Asain men can wield white-on-screen privilege. Just look at the Rush Hour movies. Chris Tucker was a useless clown. Those movies sre completely about Jackie Chan and his kick-ass skills and trust me, he was the one the girls wanted.

        The reason why whites feel so comfortable playing out these sad, used and sterotypical charachtures is because they know it sells and black people buy it. They know they don’t have to change the formula because no blacks challenge it. Furthermore, when they look at what blacks actually do when they are in control of their  own image, they see far worse examples of blackness which is then translated as “These people obviously don’t care about a dignified image so why should I.”

        What they need to do is to create there OWN industry that is entirly focused on making movies, TV shows and media that caters to their interests and that alone and stop trusting the mainstream to show them in the light that they feel best represents who they are. They need to run things for themselves and be radical enough to STOP investing financially into the mainstream media depictions that they feel tarnish their image. Turn off the TV. Stop going to the movies. Stop downloading rap-trash. There are enough black people in this country to create a powerhouse to rival Hollywood and reclaim control of their image.

        “Furthermore, the expressions of black folks continue to be stolen from
        them by whiteness without even white artists having the forethought to
        allow, as you put it, black people to allow themselves to be exploited.”

        In my opinion, any instances of this happening is no more than a domino effect. Black people are completly indiscriminate when it comes to who they allow in their house and in addition do not keep said guests in check. Prime example is Eminem. Not only did they allow a white person to completely kick their butts at their own art, when he trashed black women (a behavior he was only mimicking, really) blacks simply okie-doked yet again, with many black men defending him. I dare any black or white man to go to India, become a Bollywood star and then say something degrading about Indian women. What other group of people foster such disrespect? None. Don’t even get me started on the open racio-misogyny that black males perpetrate and cherish as part of their masculine identity. Other men do NOT respect that.

        Basically until they look inward and start self-policing and kick out those guests AND members who make it worse for everybody else, we will continue to see more whites parodying their image.

        Peace.

  • zachcampbell1982

    Great piece – I had read this a few months back and stumbled on it again when your tweet brought me here.

    I would say I agree with mostly everything you have to say, unlike the previous poster. I feel that where much of JaeTurner’s argument goes wrong is acting as if cultural dynamics somehow happen in a vacuum, outside the context of late capitalism’s cultural industry and dynamics of material and symbolic power and the forces of ideology. It’s an argument that’s too often used, displacing agency on a group of people when there are extremely oppressive systemic barriers at stake that undermine agency or even produce ideological subjectivities that acquiesce to life under our current conditions.

    I also agree with your last statement about whiteness (as a lived ideology, in my perspective) that “can’t and won’t allow the Others to express themselves without giving in to its inherent need to invade and impose its ideals upon our culture and our livelihood” – I believe with you that this is often the case, that this colonial dynamic is intimately tied up with US history and the history of capitalism and sometimes even a need to explain or understand, let alone appropriate, the enjoyment or behavior of the other is a (symbolic or real) act of power assertion.

    That said, as a white male I hope to contribute to the conversation in a c0nstructive manner. I agree with your post completely in form, while not so much in content. I believe that cultural appropriation is a fundamental logic at work in US culture and entertainment, don’t really know if it could be otherwise given our present system (which by no means justifies it), and I think it’s at it’s worst when the source of the original cultural reference is whitewashed, obscured or mystified. I think there are ways of cultural borrowing that can be respectful and appropriate, but anyway what’s being done here is just ridiculous revelry of the ruling class and doesn’t approach art for me.

    My issue with your post is that I wonder what it is about Biggie’s music here or hip hop culture that is really being appropriated or disrespected or erased? I would dare say that there’s really not much difference in the spirit of both videos. Both of them revel in the demonstration of extravagant wealth – driving around in expensive cars, hanging out at the beach, etc. Biggie’s lyrics also echo the fetishization of commodities and the glorification of wealth, dropping brand names and talking about how fast his car can go.

    Is it the sexualized female bodies that are being appropriated? One could say that to an extent women are objectified in both videos, and Biggie brags about being a rapper that raps about “tits and bras / menage a trois / sex in expensive cars” and “leaves that ass leakin’ like rapper demo”. I’m not even sure what that last line means but it sounds like it might be disrespectful to women.

    The only point I could agree with you on would be the absence in the Kardashian video of the central motif, prevalent throughout Biggie’s video, of him being pursued by authorities, which I do think has a powerful symbolic value to the extent that he triumphs and evades the pursuit, as we all know too well the extent to which black males are persecuted at the hands of cops and the systematic criminalization, encarceration and segragation of black males through stop and frisk, the prison industrial complex, etc. that plagues our present.

    If you’re arguing that this is an appropriation on a more symbolic or less literal level of Biggie’s legacy as a monumental figure within hip hop and the greater African-American community who people connected with and who faced a tragic death, I can agree with that, but then it might be argued that the Kardashian’s video is just as much an ode to Biggie’s legacy as a mockery or an appropriation of it.

    Here my point is: what is it your defending about his legacy that’s left out of this video? Because unfortunately many of the dominant cultural values produced by eurocentric, capitalist culture are present here: the glorification of wealth, the fact that the video takes place in segregated, exclusive places not accessible to a wider community, the objectification of women, the implicit presence of the fundamentally capitalist rags-to-riches ideology, etc. I think these are values that have polluted hip hop and have lent to weakening it’s power as a form of oppositional and unwhite consciousness. I don’t mean to suggest by any means that conscious hip hop is dead, because we know that it’s not the case, there are even young cats coming out that are more succinct and sharper than any sociologist because their knowledge stems from lived experience, but it’s disheartening to see, as with many art forms, hip hop’s appropriation by the dominant cultural values and ideology of late capitalism. This often falls on either side of a racialized divide, but I don’t think that’s always the case.

    I’m looking forward to your pointing out anything I might be overlooking. I love hip hop and I love Biggie myself and it’s the first time, instead of just enjoying it on an instinctual level, I’ve taken such a critical eye to his work, in an effort to see what’s going on here.

    You can peep my blog where I write a bit about hip hop and do some other cultural analysis here: http://lookungringo.wordpress.com

    Harsh critiques are welcome!