Bruno Mars is an agent of the system of white supremacy. There. I said it.
More pointedly, Mars is representative of a system that smudges out Black people, specifically Black Americans, while white and non-Black persons of color benefit from anti-Black racism and white supremacy. If Mars were white, we—the Black community—would not be okay with it. Yet despite the fact that he is not white, that still does not make him Black, and it in no way indicates that he is not benefitting from anti-Black racism as a non-Black person of color. Rather, the stark and barefaced opposite is true.
Per his handlers, Mars was remolded from doing ukulele pop music like “The Lazy Song” and saccharine hits like “Grenade,” to wearing backwards caps and dookie chains talking about “dripping in finesse.” He has moved from one traditional Black American genre to another traditional Black American genre like some kind of amorphic parasite, changing his image in wholesale fashion as he scuttles along – from zoot suits and suspenders and permed conks when he was in his du-wop/Frankie Lymon phase, to dressing up like Morris Day and the Time impersonating Prince in his funk phase, to wearing Kross Kolor fits and a fake afro in his 80s/90s phase. Bruno is a blackface karaoke singer. He uses stereotypical Black racial signifiers to imply Black coolness and ride off a wave of Black American nostalgia. There is nothing original in Bruno Mars, save perhaps that ukulele. He is all marketing stratagems; a physical embodiment of numbers and projections. Little of the man has any notable mettle.
His racial ambiguity allows for mercurial slipping into the present vacuums of critical listening, assessment, and thought. To that end he is the master dissembler: he is, he tells us, a quarter Puerto Rican and grew up with a Filipino mother in Hawaii doing Elvis impersonations. Which is to say he did not grow up immersed in Black and Latinx culture. Instead, he throws out as a mark of credibility such character defining phrases as, “My father was a Puerto Rican pimp,” — a defense of both vocation and self that rings all-too familiar and not at all dissimilar to white folks who mention having a Black friend or voting for Obama. It’s faking the funk, plain and simple. Someone clearly caught on to the fact that it was a genius marketing strategy to continue to have him extrapolate from and impersonate Black artists, and his career trajectory took off like a rocket once he decided to vulture his way through the last 75 years of Black American music.
The many constructions of Bruno Mars
Even lighter skinned/mixed Black artists, while benefiting from colorism, do in fact still have to contend with being Black and dealing with anti-Black racism. FKA Twigs is a prime example of this. She has spoken out about how her music was labeled “alternative” prior to anyone seeing her; once she began releasing music videos, however, she promptly became R&B. A racist system will never award a Black artist – even a lighter skinned or mixed one – the way they will reward a non-Black artist like Bruno Mars. And while award shows like the Grammy’s have long shown that they are out of touch, racist, and completely subjective in terms of dispensing value, the larger issue of them being symptomatic of a system that loves Black culture while despising, fearing and actively oppressing Black bodies cannot be ignored. This is the system that gunned down 12-year-old Tamir Rice within two seconds of police arriving at the park where he sat with a toy, yet will cheer at a white cop doing the ‘whip’ and the ‘nae nae.’
Black artists are put in a box the way a Bruno Mars will never be, and at any moment Bruno can also snatch that curly perm out his hair, take off the gold chains and go back to doing the bland pop and no one will bat an eyelash. Actual Negroes are Negroes until the end, no matter what, so that box rarely cracks wider than the given persona or role – again, look at the reaction when Beyoncé dared to dabble in country music, a genre that was as much created out of the Blues as it was Appalachian folk.
Mars’s racial ambiguity also allows for songs with the exact same questionable lyrics as those by Black artists to be played in diners and hipster cafes, Wal-Mart’s and Home Depots, because the truth is he’s not an actual threatening Black body. He then wholly benefits from a racist system and is no less similarly complicit in that same system. And it isn’t an isolated event: non-Black persons of color, from artists to activists, often reap Black culture – especially the artistic and academic – for their own ideas and inspiration, while wholly benefiting from and even perpetuating anti-Black racism.
Many have asked: where is the line of cultural appreciation versus appropriation? That line is crossed with the power and privilege that allows you to benefit and profit off a subjugated culture. Our Black American culture is subjugated to the point where a non-Black person can take whatever they want from us and get elevated for it. They can make millions of dollars, get awards and accolades handed to them, wherein a Black artist doing similar music is not seen as being original or remarkable and is more often than not ignored. I can appreciate Native American culture without dressing up in a headdress, and I can be inspired by and pay homage to it without playing a peace pipe. Bruno can love, appreciate, and pay homage to Black American culture without doing a literal impersonation of artists and genres, and to be honest, with his amount of talent, the fact that Bruno Mars doesn’t do anything original is nothing short of lazy. Lin Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton is a prime example of appreciating various genres to make something fresh and new, with his historical rap musical.
Black Americans have created nearly every popular musical genre, from country to jazz to rock and roll, and the question is often raised: “Can’t other people partake?” People can certainly appreciate and partake in different genres of music. But does one need to dress up like us, head to toe, in order to partake? Mars is not only not Black but, worse, adds nothing of originality or interest to the genres he exploits. He merely impersonates and duplicates what already exists – a swindle he prefers to sanction as “paying homage, homie.”
Bruno represents a system that loves Black culture yet despises Black bodies, one that actively works to oppress and, at its apex, kill us. And he’s been rewarded in-kind with a kind of elevation that has allowed him to share a Super Bowl stage with Beyoncé, a woman who is hailed as probably the most recognizable and acclaimed Black American artist of this generation. Is it not strange, if not entirely suspect, that Mars, with his meager talent, is considered equal to or even worthy of sharing the same stage with Beyoncé? The amplification of this man’s career for wholesale appropriations and derivative impersonations of Black artists is entirely offensive.
And I find the concept of pointing fingers solely at the system while absolving Bruno, as if he were a babe in the woods, to be completely absurd. Mars, as noted, is an agent of the system. He allows himself to be remolded and remodeled in images that are entirely co-optive, and these are in fact his choices, no doubt stroked upon and eroticized by his agents and marketing execs. Mars willingly, consciously and profitably utilizes a system of anti-Black racism to elevate himself as a non-Black artist doing blackface karaoke for the ting of coins and the favor of sycophants upon his otherwise colorless – i.e. barren – stage.
I’m calling him out. I’m calling the label out – that’s you, Atlantic! I’m calling the system out. I’m calling everybody out. The gauntlet has been thrown. Who’s ready to pick it up?
[paypal_donation_button]
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Seren Sensei (@seren_sensei) is an activist, writer, cultural critic and new media maker. Focusing on finding the bonds between race, politics, and pop culture, Ms. Sensei creates race-based video content and also released her first book, entitled So, About That… A Year of Contemporary Essays on Race and Pop Culture, in 2015. She was a 2016-2017 fellow for at land’s edge, an art and activism fellowship program in Los Angeles, and her work has been exhibited in the art space human resources la as well as the Vincent Price Art Museum.
Yes indeed she is a racist HYPOCRITE and is an unhinged infantilized leftist moron!
Excellent tribute!
She’s a racist moron with a relentless black victimization narrative. Boring!
What white people are going around killing blacks other than blacks?
She is obviously the most outspoken racist I’ve heard in a while. Racist against other African Americans as well as whites.
Says the Gaijin with the Japanese pen name. If he’s guilty of “appropriation”, so are you.
I’m actually surprised at the fact that there are so few comments especially with the way everybody and their mother is blowing that specific part of the conversation that was being had out of proportion. Honestly this piece furthers the conversation that you were having on Bruno Mars specifically but I’ve also heard seren speak on the way Adele sounds and the way black artists that make similar music to Adele and Bruno Mars did not get the same recognition, Fame, and accolades for their music even though those people had chart-topping songs that was their original content.
I thought this was going to be more so a further expansion of the first part of the conversation that you were having in that video over more about Bruno Mars.
Seren Sensei Aishimetasu. Maybe this is a teachable moment. I will share with you a very celebrated type of music in Puerto Rico. Music from Africa left to us by our slaves African Forefather. Puerto Ricans are descendants of African slaves, and we are American. That means we are as African American as you or any others. Bruno Mars is Puerto Rican, which makes him a descendant of African slaves, which makes him African-American. You see, you are very mistaken. I hope that you take your time about your Puerto Rican cousins and that you are able to end your misconceptions. and even if we were not African Americans, you should be proud of others celebrating our cultures, because the more we share, the more we are the same. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but eventually we will see each other as the same. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqj1TkXvLVw
***African slave Forefathers
She said she wants Bruno Mars to die on Grapevine, and yet she also did not seem to be aware of Mars’ efforts to raise up black artists and give back. Attitude like “Sensei” who stole her name from the line of a movie and counters her entire arguement in some ways regardless of how she attempts to artistically justify. If you start out an intellectual argument suggesting someone should dis and speaking like you know everything about them based on distant judgement, then the discerning will not listen. Unfortunately there are alot of angry impressionable sheep out there that will listen to both Trump and Sensei. Easy to make alot of the good points without saying someone should die. Gota love when these types of folks try to speak for all of us.
#fakesocialactivists
#selfpraisingchegueverrawannabes
Lies. I never said, not once, that I wanted Bruno Mars to die or that he should die.
I want to contextualize the “Puerto Rican pimp” quote that this article used from Latina Magazine (Feb 2017):
His outfit is straight Fania-era salsa/blaxploitation swag—Gucci cap over his curls; sunglasses; an open shirt, floral and teal; tan shorts; dress shoes (no socks, to accentuate those smooth legs); and minimal gold jewelry…
Mars learned about charm, confidence, and estilo early in life. “My whole sense of rhythm is because my dad was teaching me bongos as a kid,” he says of his father, Pedro Hernandez. “He’s an old-school working musician, so that’s where the pinky rings come from, the patent-leather shoes, the suits, and the pompadour. It all stems from watching my father. I remember at the time, me and my sisters would be a little embarrassed when he would take us to school in his big-ass Cadillac. No one had Cadillacs in Hawaii. But my dad would show up in some boat-looking Caddy wearing some silky shit, and we’d run out into the car as soon as possible. And here I am wearing the swap-meet gold, driving Cadillacs,” he says with a laugh.
Take one quick look at Mars’ recent music (the omnipresent Mark Ronson collaboration “Uptown Funk,” which amassed more than 2 billion YouTube views, the fourth-most ever, or his critically acclaimed 24K Magic) and his style (“pinky rings to the moon”), and it’s easy to see that his persona is not only inspired by his father but delivered as a conscious ode to Latino and African American masculinity. Brown and black men have long dealt with the stereotype of being hot-blooded, suave, savage animals lusting after anything with a pulse. Now Mars, 31, is embracing the Latin Lover archetype (if you’re not treating your girl right, we’re Mr. Steal Ya Girl) and giving anyone who’s offended a big middle finger. Mars’ dominance in pop culture takes on even greater resonance now, when the leader of the free world has called Latino men “rapists,” “drug dealers,” and “bad hombres.”
“I hate that we’re even having a conversation about injustice in America,” he says of the current climate of social unrest. “That we are having a conversation about this in 2017; the same conversation that’s been had decades and decades ago.”
Yet Bruno Mars doesn’t want to drown you with his wokeness; he just wants to make you shake what your mami gave you. The man is a musical genius—he writes, produces, sings, dances, plays instruments, and puts on arguably the best performances in the universe.
But before he was Bruno Muhfuckin’ Mars, he was E-Panda’s lil’ bro, Peter Hernandez, born and bred in Hawaii to a beautiful Filipina and Spanish mom and Puerto Rock and Jewish papi from Brooklyn. His childhood musical career is well-documented on YouTube— at 4, he was the cutest Elvis Presley impersonator ever, performing with his family for oohing-and-ahhing tourists in Waikiki. As the years passed and his skills developed, Mars found himself dealing with racial-identity issues in the multicultural 50th state. “Growing up in Hawaii, there are not too many Puerto Ricans there,” says Mars, “so because of my hair, they thought I was black and white.”
The idea of not being easily categorized is something Mars has dealt with his entire life. When he moved to Los Angeles at 18 to make a serious go in the music industry, record label executives asked, “What are you? Are you urban? Are you Latin?”
“There are a lot of people who have this mixed background that are in this gray zone,” he says, leaning forward to make his point. “A lot of people think, ‘This is awesome. You’re in this gray zone, so you can pass for whatever the hell you want.’ But it’s not like that at all. It’s actually the exact opposite. What we’re trying to do is educate people to know what that feels like so they ’ll never make someone feel like that ever again. Which is a hard thing to do. Because no one can see what we see and no one can grow up with what we grew up with. I hope people of color can look at me, and they know that everything they’re going through, I went through. I promise you.”
All that to say that Mars is prouder than Manny Pacquiao to be Filipino, loves Hawaii more than Don Ho’s children, and, well, is as boricua as Marc Anthony eating a plate of arroz con gandules during his Todo a Su Tiempo era. Critics and those confused by his multiracial roots have insinuated that he’s ashamed of his Taino roots, truly a load of chupacabra crap, says Mars.
“I’d love to clear that up in Latina magazine,” he says, raising his voice. “I never once said I changed my last name to hide the fact that I’m Puerto Rican. Why would I fucking say that? Who are you fooling? And why would anyone say that? That’s so insulting to me, to my family. That’s ridiculous. My last name is Hernandez. My father’s name is Pedrito Hernandez, and he’s a Puerto Rican pimp. There’s no denying that. My dad nicknamed me Bruno since I was 2 years old. The real story is: I was going to go by ‘Bruno,’ one name. Mars just kind of came joking around because that sounds bigger than life. That was it, simple as that. I see people that don’t know what I am, and it’s so weird that it gets them upset. It’s an oxymoron—the music business; like the art business. You’re making a business out of these songs that I’m writing. And how are you going to tell me that this song that I’m writing is only going to be catered to Puerto Ricans or to white people or only Asian people. How are you going to tell me that? My music is for anybody who wants to listen to it.”
An incredible number of people want to do just that. Mars’ combined sales for his first three albums are more than 100 million, along with his 2013 Moonshine Jungle Tour and his upcoming 100-date 24K Magic World Tour, which begins in late March and sold more than a million tickets in one day. Concertgoers will be treated to the Mars stage presence—an aura influenced by his family and the greats: Michael Jackson, James Brown, and Prince. Needless to say, Mars’ music is undoubtedly black.
“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. Watching them made me feel like I had to be as great as they were in order to even stand a chance in this music business. You gotta sing as if Jodeci is performing after you and dance as if Bobby Brown is coming up next.”
It’s refreshing to hear a pop star say it loud and proud: black music is American pop culture. Latinos and African Americans aren’t just connected by the racism and dis- enfranchisement we’ve dealt with historically; we’re also connected by our music and traditions. We hear it in J Balvin’s reggaeton heaters and in Rihanna’s Caribbean patois, as well as in the eloquent, piercing words written by Ta-Nehisi Coates and Junot Díaz. We’re one. And Bruno Mars combines the best of all of our aspirations and goals into one super artist.
Source: http://www.latina.com/entertainment/celebrity/bruno-mars-latina-magazine-february-2017-cover
All the awards for you for this Seren!! Yesss!!!
MARCH 23, 2018 AT 12:29 PM
Maybe this is a teachable moment. I will share with you a very celebrated type of music in Puerto Rico. Music from Africa left to us by our African Slaves Forefathers. Puerto Ricans are descendants of African slaves, and we are American. That means we are as African American as you or any others. Bruno Mars is Puerto Rican, which makes him a descendant of African slaves, which makes him African-American. You see, you are very mistaken. I hope that you take your time about your Puerto Rican cousins and that you are able to end your misconceptions. and even if we were not African Americans, you should be proud of others celebrating our cultures, because the more we share, the more we are the same. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but eventually we will see each other as the same. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqj1TkXvLVw
Whoa…this a piece terrific. I saw the Grapevine’s discussion on this subject and thought it was a terrific segment and long overdue. Mars reminds me of Justin Timberlake, who previously changed his style of music to bring in black dollars and rake in the awards. Timberlake did so successfully for some time, but has now discarded that image, no longer associating with rappers or wearing his hair in cornrows. I imagine Mars will continue as he currently is as long as he can continue to profit.
What I found disturbing is how staunchly he was defended. I mean Mars’ cultural appropriation was defended by his fans as if he had paid their mortgages and college tuitions. So many people were unwillingly to call out his appropriation simply because he has brown skin.
This is such a weak argument. Last I checked Puerto Ricans are African Americans. We are Americans, and we are descendants of African slaves. That means that our culture is Black culture lady! We fought alongside the Tuskegee Airmen and the Harlem Hellfires! You have no idea how great is our African American heritage! Why would you attack another black person? Even Paul Mooney says it! Puerto Ricans are ****Black people that can swim! (****he actually used the N word) There is wisdom in comedy! Why do you think that we use so much percussion in our music? We Puerto Ricans inherited percussion form our fore fathers who were African Slaves! Have you ever heard “Bomba y Plena” music? That is Puerto Rican music and there is no other African beats like this that I have heard all over the United States! Seren Sensei is being an ignorant racist for attacking another African-American just because he doesn’t have a certain look that she approves as the only look African-Americans have. That my friend is pure and unadulterated racism. The ironically called by a Japanese phrase “:Seren Sensei Aishitemasu” which means “Good Bye Dear Teacher” which by her standards, should be “cultural appropriation” (Unless she happens to be Japanese) accuses another African-American of cultural appropriation of his own culture! How very idiotic of her.
Maybe this is a teachable moment. I will share with you a very celebrated type of music in Puerto Rico. Music from Africa left to us by our African Slaves Forefathers. Puerto Ricans are descendants of African slaves, and we are American. That means we are as African American as you or any others. Bruno Mars is Puerto Rican, which makes him a descendant of African slaves, which makes him African-American. You see, you are very mistaken. I hope that you take your time about your Puerto Rican cousins and that you are able to end your misconceptions. and even if we were not African Americans, you should be proud of others celebrating our cultures, because the more we share, the more we are the same. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but eventually we will see each other as the same. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqj1TkXvLVw
African American denotes a specific group of people who went through chattel slavery circumstances in the United States of America not just the Americas. To simply say that if you’re of African descent and are American that you’re now African American is NOT true. That erases both the cultural significance of African Americans and the people who co-op into the culture.
You have your own culture as a Puerto Rican. It isn’t solely derived from African culture either. In fact alot of influence comes from indigenous and spaniard influence clearly as people there speak Spanish.
Also the idea that you can just jump into African American culture with little regard to the people is troubling. Let this be a teaching moment for YOU. You have every right to listen to music from all over the world. However it doesn’t mean that you’re the same. So you’re of African descent? Did your experience mirror that of the African American culture you consumed? Within your own family were these same dynamics playing out? Were you making thr same jokes eating the same foods? Were the family holidays the same that youve watched in African American communities? Probably not. We often forget that while we consume culture sometimes our daily interactions offer no linkage to the culture we claim to be able to be apart of outright claim is ours. You can be black and have a non black American experience while partaking in the culture.
You simplified African American to include people who dont fit in the box and that is insulting to the people who have this identifier used against them in their lives.