Jesy Nelson and Why the Term ‘Blackfishing’ is Divisive
As a DJ and music fan I’m always intrigued by the way a band-mate-breaking-free makes their mark with their solo career. It normally sets the tone for their career and is always one of their biggest hits (see Justin Timberlake leaving N’Sync with Like I Love You or Michael Jackson with Don’t Stop ’til You Get Enough).
Jesy Nelson’s foray into the pop/R&B world has already caused controversy with her video for song ‘Boyz’ which features Nicki Minaj.
Despite having Diddy in the video, most probably because the song samples his mega-hit Bad Boys For Life, the track has drawn accusations of blackfishing and cultural appropriation for many of the visuals in the video and Jesy’s personal appearance.
But, in a time where Western societies seek to achieve racial harmony, parity and equality — is this really a debate we should still be having when a white artist celebrates black culture?
In 1992, the world fell in love with Whitney Houston when she released I Will Always Love You.
The song, which is easily one of the best of all time, wasn’t a song she wrote.
In fact, the song was written by country legend Dolly Parton and produced by David Foster.
Country music is considered to be “three chords and the truth” according to Harlan Howard, but it’s also considered to be white music.
How can we possibly qualify what is black or white music when we have such a hybrid of genre crossovers and a mixed set of writers and producers all contributing to an artform which I deem to be the universal human language: music.
When Eminem released The Real Slim Shady in 2000, the first line in the song is “Y’all act like you’ve never seen a white person before,” which is really a genuine sign of respect to a hip-hop culture dominated by black rappers.
There were some genuine struggles for Dr Dre signing Eminem, along with Interscope boss Jimmy Iovine, because they were concerned about how his skin colour would be perceived.
“I didn’t know how many racists I had around,” Dre said. “My general manager had these eight by ten pictures of him, and he’s like, “Dre, this boy got blue eyes! What are we doin’?”
The sonic production of Dr. Dre and Eminem’s incredible talent created a similar hip-hop synergy that Michael Jackson had with Quincy Jones with both pairs enduring racism at multiple points of their careers.
Eminem went on to enjoy a HUGE career despite many detractors putting his success down to his skin tone rather than his skill on the microphone.
50 Cent, whom Eminem brought back from the music industry wilderness by signing him, has said that “for some people it’s tough to accept that you’ve got a white artist that does it better than black artists.”
Before Dre took a credibility gamble on Em in the late 90's, Michael Jackson was breaking down racial barriers in the early 80’s.
With MTV initially turning down anything black because they only played rock music (boy, how times change), Beat It was the perfect ‘troll-record’ for the era because it was a rock song and came out after the success of Billie Jean due to Walter Yetnikoff (MJ’s label boss at the time) threatening to pull all his white artists if they didn’t.
And, whilst rock music is considered to be white music its roots are grounded with black performers — like pretty much all other genres.
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Fast-forward to the ‘backlash’ against Jesy Nelson in this new video for her tanned skin, bigger lips and blown-out hair I’m beginning to see how racism permeates through society — and how ‘colour fishing’ and racism is definitely a two-way street.
I posted a series of tweets on October 9th and 10th, 2021, relating to this subject but was called a mayo monkey, a cracker, ugly and fat for daring to enter this debate as a white man.
I deleted the tweets, despite reaching half-a-million people, because I wanted to write a long-piece article without having my points taken out of context.
For example, Michael Jackson surgically altering his face to look more caucasian, wearing wigs, make up and fake eyelashes to look more feminine and somewhat adrogynous could be seen as ‘whitefishing’.
It sounds ludicrous, but why not? If a white girl gets a tan and a Brazilian bum lift she’s accused of wanting to be black.
Does the fact that Beyonce’s dad saying that the lighter tone of his daughter’s skin has made her more successful equate to the same thing or are we not playing the same game?
Did Justin Timberlake really blackfish when he wore cornrows back in 2000 despite the historic origins of the style being found in Greece.
Craig David was told to get a black guitarist when promoting his album Slicker Than Your Average in the United States because his friend and music producer Fraser T Smith was white and the optics wouldn’t work. Craig David flatly refused and promoted the album with him anyway.
We now live in a society where offence is subjective to who is more popular, has the most money or is most successful.
‘Blackfishing’ is another way of segregating people and quieting the opinions and actions of white people by stipulating what we can do, say or think. That would never work in reverse.
In an egalitarian society, one that seeks as much societal cohesion as possible, how can anyone — black or white — say what’s acceptable and not when it comes to art, expression and personal appearance.
When Pharrell Williams produces songs for No Doubt or when Timbaland works with Madonna, or, if we flip the script to when David Foster writes and produces songs for Earth, Wind & Fire — I’m struggling to see the problem when the musicians don’t.
Music culture isn’t determined by skin colour, it’s determined by who listens to the music, goes to the concerts and buys the overpriced T-shirts from the fan store.
Many of the greats have fought for racial acceptance from Frank Sinatra in Las Vegas, Muhammad Ali making a stand against the Vietnam War, Michael Jackson with MTV, Craig David with Fraser T Smith — but if you press play on your favourite artist, wear some headphones and close your eyes it’s all black anyway.
In closing, I’ll leave you with some of Nicki Minaj’s remarks on the matter as she left a few of her own online — and my final thought.
Do I think any of the artists I’ve mentioned in this article have done anything wrong? No. Do I think they’ve been dishonourable, disrespectful or insensitive to other cultures? No. Do I think any of them deserve criticism? No.
Music is music is music.
If you need to bring colour into it before you can enjoy it, I’d suggest asking yourself why.
My name is Charlie Sansom. I’m a singer and DJ from the UK. Visit: charliesansom.com or email me direct: charlie@charliesansom.com
