Week 6 Blog Post

Musical appropriation is nothing new to the African American community. For decades African Americans have made music only to be ripped off by bigger names (often white) and make little to no money off of the song. While not only white artists are covering songs it is a little more common than other African American artists have covered songs that were made in the past and the song became more popular that ever. For example, the Fugees made a song Killing Me Softly. This song is widely known as their song but it is not well known by younger generations that Lori Lieberman wrote and recorded the song in 1971 and 2 years later in 1973 Roberta Flack made the song a number one hit. Shortly over 20 years later the Fugees remade the song and won a Grammy for it. Appropriation is not just a racial thing but can be seen as a term of admiration. While many not think of it that way, no one will redo something that is terrible. When someone realizes the potential for a song it might be tweaked but the overall item will still be recognizable.

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