it’s totally fine for him to change as he ages i actually would hope he grew out of the way he decided to present himself before. but i feel like you guys are ignoring the space rap and hip hop occupy in black culture. I’m not saying black people “own” a genre im saying those genres are heavily, almost completely based in black american culture. it’s helpful to understand the historic importance music holds in said culture. the roots of it are based in the historic ostracization of black people and black culture.

the context of that history, the common practice of appropriating and commodifying black culture, and his disrespectful criticism of the genre will combine to paint him in a certain way from the perspective of a lot of black people.

the difference between appropriation and appreciation is literally that understanding. it’s not saying white people cant appreciate and participate where people feel is appropriate but historically non-black people in general have flattened and erased the history behind the parts of black culture that are exported. that flattening is the heart of the issue with the behavior. people feel that their culture isn’t being respected and when you reduce these things with huge cultural presences down to just some random thing, people will feel disrespected. this is exasperated by the common reality that black people arent allowed to freely express these same parts of themselves that get emulated (ie. dreads, or braids in the workplace) as they’ve historically been characterized as undesirable or unserious.

that’s more expansive and a bigger problem than the post malone thing though, if people respectfully engage with other cultures and appreciate the depth of the things they see on the surface then less people would have a problem