The "Not Like Us" of It All

Reclaiming Black Spaces

Over the past year, I have been disturbed by the anti-African American sentiment I’ve seen specifically within the Black diaspora that exists in Europe (London, England). With the release and acclaim of “Not Like Us” by Kendrick Lamar, I feel it is necessary to drive the point home: African Americans do have culture. Not recognizing (or paying respect to) African American culture and its global relevance makes you a culture vulture—and is also rooted in racism.

Drake is one of my favorite examples of a culture vulture because it shows the diaspora of Blackness. Throughout his career, he has been called “corny,” but he has twisted that criticism into claims of being hated on and envied—covering up the fact that he was taking up space from more talented and authentic rappers. Although the term “culture vulture” has been around in this context since around 2003, rappers never truly used it, only alluding to it by criticizing Drake’s origins in Canada, being from an upper-middle-class family with a white mother, and becoming an actor in a teen drama. Throughout his career, Drake has chosen to portray a life of struggle that aligns with the common African American stereotype of growing up in the inner city, surrounded by gun violence, gangs, and strife. This sloppy imitation—really a caricature—of African American culture is what makes Drake corny.

When we look back on Drake’s career and see the ways in which he tries to provoke African American rappers—specifically, buying Pharrell’s chain that was put up for charity auction and then taunting Pharrell in his music video “Jumbotron Sh*t Poppin”—we see how he mocks African American gang culture. In that culture, there’s the concept of “chain snatching”—forcefully taking a chain from a rival and parading it as a token. But Drake legally bought something that was for sale and wore it, while knowingly trying to present the transaction in a vague and menacing light. While rap is intrinsically tied to—and will never be fully separated from—African American gang culture, not all rap revolves around violent ideas. Yet these ideas of violence within African American communities are being parodied and perpetuated in a way that represents African Americans from an outsider’s perspective.

Not only by Drake, but also through his influence, he has contributed to the “act Black” culture—where behaving with negative attributes such as speaking in broken English, using aggressive tones, and wearing ill-fitted clothing are now seen as criteria for being “Black.” (Quotation marks around “Black” because only African Americans are expected to behave according to these stereotypes to maintain the integrity of our identity). Drake didn’t start this—much of the damage had already been done by white people during the Jim Crow South with Blackface and minstrel shows. What a lot of people, including African Americans, don’t know is that later, as Black people began participating in Hollywood, the only roles they could get besides maids and butlers were minstrel roles. African Americans played the stereotypes created by white Americans—for a paycheck. If I can’t make this connection any clearer, that same practice still happens today—and it’s exactly what Drake has done his entire career.

Drake has played the role of the “palatable Black,” watering down African American culture and feeding it to other races. African Americans are often pushed to share genres like rap, hip-hop, and R&B with non-African Americans (Hispanics, Latinos, and other Black groups within the diaspora), whose actual contributions are few and far between—blurring the lines of African American culture. This weakening of the African American identity allows Drake to make music with the intent of mass consumption, while African American counterparts like Kendrick make music specifically for African American people. This contributes to an authenticity within other rappers’ music that Drake has repeatedly been called out for lacking. That authenticity makes the words “They Not Like Us”—an African American anthem about reclaiming our identity—so respected and exciting. While the progression of the rap beef garners global attention and you find yourself singing “Not Like Us,” ask yourself: were you ever one of us to begin with?

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