Something thats been bothering me is this idea that black artist always have to be "innovative" and "pushing the envelope" while white artist literally get to rehash old music tropes and be hailed as "The Next Big Thing"

I was reading old reviews of Lenny Kravitz's albums and every criticism was how he relied too heavily on his influences of older music, while a band like Oasis who came out the at the same time, literally took Beatles chord progressions and were hailed as saviors

All these white kids in rock bands sounding like the 70's are reviewed as "new", while if a black kid made a record that was influenced by 90's music, it would immediately be called "throwback". Thats insane to me. Black artist don't have the liberty to just create freely

They always have to wonder, "is my shit modern enough", "does it sound contemporary", "will it be considered old". I actually think thats what kills diversity. Like, everyone one doesn't have to innovative. If all you do is make burgers, make the best burger you can

The Strokes came out in 2001 sounding like a band that came out in 1969 and everyone said they were gonna save the music industry. Let a group of black kids come out sounding like 1989 and I guarantee most of the critiques will say they are relying on old "musical ideas"

Part of it is because the majority of black art is seen through a white lens, so you're always at the mercy of what a white critic thinks of your music, which is why I always wondered why black artist gave a fuck about what a platform like Pitchfork thought of them

Anyway, I had to get that off my chest. Black artist, continue to be great and dont worry about always having to reinvent the wheel. Influence and innovation is often times delayed anyway. No one thought the sound of 90's Memphis would be the sound of todays music, but yet it is