Nitasha Tamar Sharma, a professor at Northwestern University who studies hip-hop, says she’s not that interested in talking about when appropriation is right or wrong. She’s not really interested in talking about why Eminem is controversial but Adele, who borrows from the tradition of soul, is not. She said ultimately what she thinks is important is the effect that thoughtless appropriation — perpetrated by a white person or a person of color — has beyond culture.
When we’re presented with caricatures of other cultures, she says, it’s easier for people to view them as sub-human. It’s easier to pass unfair economic policies, for example, or even to start a war.
“I think when people of color and dominated groups just become a backdrop with no voice and context, no humanity,” she said, “I think that’s the problem.”