As a black person, hearing non-black people use blaccent is almost unbearably painful. And, you can definitely tell if it's someone genuine way of speaking or not. Eminem clearly just speaks how he speaks because of where and how he grew up. A lot of people are just speaking that way for clout, and it's so cringe.

I grew up in the “hood” so I didn’t know I myself did that until I got a job in a more predominantly Caucasian community. I found myself having to “fix” the way I speak and I would be embarrassed to let my guard down. Which made me realize that I was wrong because unfortunately that’s who I am. I can’t fix something that I picked up my whole life.

In high school there were cliques, of course. There was a black group with just one super white, Nordic blonde girl. She had the timbre, spoke in AAVE, she had braids. I got to know her a bit. Apparently she grew up in a mostly black home and neighborhood. She wasn’t adopting or faking anything.

As a white actor, I played a character from Mississippi in a period piece, and I found that the white MS dialect was very similar to AAVE. The Black actors I worked with confirmed that they shared a lot of similarities, but were still distinct. AAVE itself is also not universal and is quite different depending on the region in which it is spoken.

Forgot to mention hip hop. Hip Hop has had a big cultural impact on young Americans for the last 30+ yrs or so. That's why we see alot more people of this generation speaking in a tone more associated with how some black people speak. To certain extent it can be considerd a complement as to say the greatest form of flattery is imitation. But at the same time some people take it too far which makes them disingenuous. I believe the coolest thing anybody can do is be yourself. Don't try and be something you're not.

Can’t wait for the civil, productive discourse in the comments!

I grew up poor in Louisiana. This is how i talk. The sounds of the English language erupt from our faces before we can know or say what color we are. We mirror what we hear in every moment around us, we mimic those we idolise, and even code switch for efficacy and survival as we age. Usage hopefully indicates a tone of sincere intent/identification, but that's dependent on the ability of others to not automatically scream offence by default.

I have a white gurl at my job who only does blaccent when she’s around her black coworkers and I called her out on it. Especially when I heard her true self when she got around our white coworkers. I didn’t mind at first because there are whites who grew up in black neighborhoods and speak with a blaccent all their lives but it’s something completely different when they only use it around us. How ironic is it that this country as a whole don’t wanna give black folks equal rights and the denial of racism yet are fascinated with every form of our culture.

The problem is when they’re using that “voice” to fit in or sound cool when they don’t talk like that on a regular basis and definitely didn’t grow up speaking that way . People who naturally talk in that way get criticized for improper grammar, get told that they “sound ghetto,” or that people can’t understand them .. it does get frustrating at times to see the double standard.

i think that people have to understand the difference between a someone who grew up around people who spoke standard american english with a standard american dialect who use aave to sound cool and trendy (which makes me uncomfortable/ makes me cringe) and someone who grew up in an area where aave is the common way to speak because for those individuals it’s simply how they talk and how they’ve always spoken which in my opinion is understandable. i grew up around both forms of speech so i sound like a mixture of both it just depends on the person, who they are around and where they’re from.

I have a naive question about the topic. (mentioning this because I'm sure there are plenty of ill-intentioned questions in here) Is there a way to guess where the line is between actual appropriation on one side, and just the organic process of cultures permeating into one-another on the other side? I'm asking as a non-native english speaker. I probably don't have the experience needed to discern between those who impersonate African-American people, and those who come from a background where there's just a lot of linguistic co-evolution between communities. I guess I'm asking because I may pick-up expressions from English language media, without knowing if it's AAVE or not.

I could listen to her for a long time talking about topics I'm less interested in and making it engaging and more interesting. I love the way she speaks and how eloquent she is 🥺

This subject hurts on so many levels! My grandmother came from a family of sharecroppers, could not attend school. Her vernacular was used to mock her, but what could she do? That didn't mean she appreciated it because she had to take it! But now, it was acceptable? No! She was in night school when I was in kindergarten, had basically taught herself to read and count, but had to learn to write her name! It hurts because, I was teased for talking white my whole childhood, by family! She was always so proud, but gave me grief that I wasn't black enough. We are all different, embrace, don't mock and call it admiration!

I would really want to see a linguists take on this as well. Because there is a fine line between exploitative appropriation and the adoption of certain linguistic elements just from cultural osmosis and the natural shifts of language.

Short answer, people started doing it because black culture became pop culture.

some videos shouldn’t allow a comment section. the willfully obtuse and dense will always find each other and congregate. 🤦🏾‍♀️ this video was spot on👏🏾

It's also worth noting that Nick Stewart was fired from Amos and Andy for creating a theatre company in Los Angeles where Black actors could have a space to just be artists and not stereotypes. A lot of actors of all ethnicities had their start there. He and Johnny Lee (also in these clips) wrote plays and musicals together. I don't think they get enough credit for what they were trying to do with the little they had to work with.

Awafina got in trouble about her blaccent because she talked about how speaking in a stereotypical Asian accent is like degrading to her.

I'm not American but I tend to slowly adopting the accent of the people around whom I live. How does it make this a problem?

Nat King Cole was a jazz crooner, one of my favorite singers. It’s really upsetting that people in my hometown of Birmingham hurt him. It happened before I was born and I didn’t know about it until recently. He was one of the nicest celebrities of all time. Also, Elvis may be covering a black artist, but I’m not sure if he’s guilty of blaccent. It’s a bluesy voice and he would have been heavily influenced by the local Memphis scene.

The internet slang and Blaccent/AAVE thing is an interesting discussion since a lot of people probably don't even know that it is linked. Like the first time it happened to me was I was quoting a online joke and my brother asked, "Why are you talking like a black guy?" (for context i am 110% white) and I was like, 'What? I'm just saying a thing I saw online?' and it wasn't until I actively researched into a lot of meme origins that I realized that most things in all of society, memes/music/fashion/culture, start in black communities and circles, get adopted by queer black communities, get adopted by white queer communities, then they finally are adopted by the mainstream. The distilling and strain of the original ideas causing them to be mostly lost by the time it is in the mainstream.

My problem with “blaccents” is that people will shame black people for the way some of us normally talk, but when someone non-black uses its “trendy Gen z slang” and “just how they talk” (which I get is the case for some but NOT all) Were expected to be okay with it but it isn’t fair, it isn’t flattering, it honestly it just feels like a mockery to many of us.

Elvis was from a poor rural background where he grew up with gospel and Blues with the Black neighborhood kids, Awkwafina was brought up in Queens. I think its a different matter when it's your upbringing (I still have a southern accent thanks to growing up with jim crow elders that moved to DC). As a 1/2 Central American, DC native, White Southern dad raised and born in Anacostia DC during riots, I confuse people a lot😂❤

This was very informative. Thank you for explaining this so simply.

I'm not from the US, I'm from the Netherlands. In my personal experience we don't really have blaccent here (well, I'm sure there are people who adopt Black English but that's not what I mean), but of course we do have ethnic minorities who each bring accents and slang from their native language to Dutch. And on that note I do remember from my high school period that I had white classmates who wanted to show off how "street" they were by adopting stereotypical accents associated with certain immigrant minorities, like Moroccan or Turkish Dutch (or some kind of mix because it all sounded "the same" to them). So it seems this somehow tends to pop up whenever there is structural racism in a society.

As a black girl who’s been told she talks white because I speak English with no slang. I find telling people they have a blaccent the same thing. Especially if they’re from a part of town where people in general talk like that. Although there are some exceptions where I agree people fake their accent to sound “cool” That’s very true But People sometimes sound like their environments. My mom’s in laws are Indian I lived in Noida for only a little while but her S.I.L says I sound more “desi” than her NRI sons💀. So if a white person grows up in a predominantly black community they can pick some things up.

She said having a blaccent makes you famous in the entertainment business, but in the real world is preventing people of getting a job. In my time in Mexico there is something similar when Mexicans use hood Spanish and it has the same effect like in the U.S. It’s like making fun of the uneducated

African Americans are not African please stop calling us that the majority of us didn’t agree with that term “African American “ we are black Americans 🗣🗣

When Awkwafina plays more serious roles, like in the phenomenal The Farewell, she speaks with her regular accent which makes the comedic performances she does with the ultra affected blaccent feel even more minstrely.

I dated a southern guy for 3 years and after a while I found myself pronouncing words just like him. A New Yorker with a twang wasn’t something I was aiming for but it’s strangely just naturally happened. There is a huge difference between putting on an accent for laughs, as opposed to those who grew up around it and naturally speak that way. I liked this video, was great to see Mister Chuck Berry👌 Can’t wait to see what’s next

Black's or African American's, however you relate to the name, gave so much to the country of America. They helped build it and are a huge part of the culture. ❤ This is coming from a 64 yr old white woman.

Wow, this video was really insightful and edited wonderfully. It's the first one I've come across that shows this channel, I'll definitely be looking out for more of your videos!

This video was interesting but i think it would have been helpful to talk about regional and socio-economics in relation to this. There is a difference between a calculated blaccent and an authentic regional accent. Also so much of the perception of the blaccent is really rooted in socio-economics. It would have also been interesting to talk about black people who adopt the blaccent or over exaggerate it for cache.

What people seem to fail to understand is that when you have a cultural melting pot such as the United States, culture is going to unavoidably be adopted and practiced by people it might not have belonged to initially. That’s not something that can be controlled. From my perspective, the actual issue is the part of society that demeans and views people of color as inferior for aspects of their culture, yet awards white people for doing the same. That being said, the problem isn’t white or non-black people adopting a ‘blaccent’. This is simply an example of addressing the wrong crowd.

As a music lover and follower; the more I learn about old music that I love, the more interracial I discover music has been. Black artists singing songs written by white writers, baked by white studio musicians, and white artists covering songs of black artists utilizing black musicians in the studio. Even Hound Dog was written by 2 Jewish writers Leiber and Stoller for Mamma Thornton. Behind the scenes music was actually more color blind. Because at the end of the day, if music is good it’s good.

Thinking every black person has to have the “blaccent” or else they’re white is crazy tho💀 i mean people are just like going against themselves, Not realizing how they sound. Black people aren’t all the same, They’re very diverse just like all the other races. An accent is an accent. A person has no control over which accent they have. I think most people definitely acknowledge the fact that black people exist and they sort of were the first one’s to have that accent.

Instead of preventing people from adopting it, I think it would be better to help people stop judging it as inferior, cause it's not. In America, it's probably one of the most influential accents. It deserves respect for inspiring so much of American pop culture.

What I can't stand is that I'd take my hat off when I go into a store, I'll greet the employees respectfully, I'll have my wallet in my hand, and STILL get followed around, and they'll go back around their friends and try to act like me, try to talk like me, and have no issues when they go in a store to provide for themselves and their family. Me and my family spent years walking in a store and the store announcing to watch the cameras on the intercom. I'm here to pay with the same money you have, trying to feed my family like you do, and get treated like I'm a thief. I make enough money to have my groceries and appliances delivered now, so I don't have to feel like s#!t everytime I get food, but it shouldn't have to be like that. I should be able to walk in a store and pick and pay for what I need without being followed or watched.

The ideology of America is supposed to be a melting pot of cultures. We need to share cultures, not keep it all to ourselves.

This is a very interesting video. I do want people to understand that adopting other groups accents and dialog is perfectly normal linguinstic behaviour. For instance, many gay lingo has been adopted by pop culture after the fact. The common use of french phrases by non French speakers.

The issue specifically with aquafina is the hypocrisy...she refused to lean into broken English stereotypes regarding asians in order to get ahead but failed to see how she was super okay with using black stereotypes in speach dress nd mannerisms

The aesthetics of the set for this show is fantastic! Have really missed your presence on KZfaq and I'm really glad you're back!

Ppl use blaccent bcoz it sounds so cool. Pretty simply really

What a fascinating episode. I didn't know about any of this. Thanks for producing it.

As a gay man, I was not aware that the common phrases of "gay speak" like "yaas" or "period" or "sis" were adopted from black culture and AAVE. I knew that a lot of it was a part of drag culture, which itself came from ball culture, which was indeed part of black culture in metropolitan areas.

As an an immigrant, I learned to speak english in an inner city of Los Angeles, where black urban culture was dominant. I sometimes slip into that manner of speech whenever I feel relaxed with friends, because that's the speech pattern I was comfortable with as a kid. I'm not trying to make money or grab attention by talking in blaccent; it's just a reflection of the environment that I grew up in. I don't see how that is appropriation.

Hip hop is at the top of the music industry right now. I'm sure that's a powerful influence on everybody to pick up bits and pieces in admiration and aspiration of the whole movement. I feel like there's more to it than is exposed in this video. But I'm not a scholar and I'm not even from the US, so I'm always open to hear on the topic

What annoys me to no end are the people who pretend as if Black English/AAVE/Ebonics is not a living dialect of English and that just because pop culture has gotten hold of it, it's origins somehow disappear. As if you won't get the side eye for not only speaking it incorrectly, but also using it as an accessory for whatever you consider to be trendy, cool, or rebellious. Remember, people actually speak this dialect every day of their lives.

As always, love your vids, I agree with most ppl here that this topic needed a longer video, and to atleast touch on the topic of folks that came by our “blaccent” naturally. I’m not offended or feeling attacked! But as a white southern woman who grew up with literally only one white friend, with all my other friends being black I would really hate for someone to say I was using/doing “vocal blackface” though I will say I when I moved to the west coast for a few years, I did have a few ppl ask my why I talked so “ thug”. I 💯 support and understand your point about entertainers, but again if I became TikTok famous tomorrow I’d hate to be featured in a vid like this for simply being my authentic self.

This reminds me of the awesome James Baldwin article “if Black English isn’t a language, then tell me what is?” He explained the development and spread of African American English through the analysis of French throughout their colonies…absolutely fascinating and should be taught in schools (of course some thick heads would call it critical race theory and through a childish tantrum but we need to proceed anyway)

Commenting specifically in reference to the continuing trashing of Elvis Presley based merely on his race. First, "Hound Dog" was written by the very prolific, very successful Pop songwriting team of Leiber and Stroller, two white men. Big Mama Thornton was thus performing a song by white songwriters. Nothing unusual about that, then or now. I mention this because the presenter in the video claims people are surprised to learn that it was not an original Elvis song. Why would that surprise anyone? Elvis was a singer, not a songwriter. Furthermore, covers are a routine aspect of music. Her comment also implies that Big Mama Thornton wrote the song, when in fact she did not. As a matter of fact I bet more people get that wrong impression than ever had the impression that Elvis was writing all his songs. Secondly, there were around nine covers of Hound Dog (written by Leiber and Stoller) between 1952 and Elvis's 1956 version, some by African American artists and some by white artists. Elvis's cover was inspired by the white artist Freddie Bell and The Bellboys' version, which bordered on parody. Listen to it, and you'll hear the strong similarity. Finally, Elvis's way of talking and his musical expression were authentic, and easy to comprehend when one learns about his background.

For the wage inequality part, comparing white social media stars to black people looking for jobs doesn’t make sense no? Social media is quite sporadic when it comes to who becomes famous while black people have struggled with wage inequality for a long time

I'm jamaican and irish, and as a mixed kid I always felt like I was expected to talk or act a certain way depending on the company. I've never been a fan of people who didn't grow up surrounded by a community or were part of a culture, adopt it becuase it's cool. My one critique with this videos argument is that it culturally appropriates how people are supposed to talk or act based on their racial identity. Growing up I'd see black kids that played hockey, that wore popped collar american eagle polos, who talked whiter than I did, and the joke would be that he's white. As I got older I realized how fucked that was. Like he grew up in the burbs, in a wealthy family and played hockey his whole life. He was living his authentic self. Then you'd have white kids who grew up in the projects who talked like they were black, and people that didn't know them would automatically call them "wiggers" (which in itself is such a racist ass term). If someone isn't from that culture, or didnt grow up with it, then they should totally be criticized for it. But if someone grew up in it, and is from that culture, leave them alone. Let them live authentically.

The penultimate linguistic question on this topic has always been: where does "Cultural Appropriation" end, and " Cultural Diffusion" begin?

I grew up around new Yorkers, southerners, Hispanics, and depending on my mood is the accent that just happens to come out. There's no "vocal blackface" if sometimes I sound black, vs all the above.

Black culture is dominant in American culture. You cannot separate black culture from everything else when black culture is the mainstream culture.

Its so frustrating that Awkwafina is involved in this conversation in the way she is. You don't once talk about or consider the environment she grew up in and how that plays a big part of why she has a "blaccent". Come to Queens, NY (where she's from)... everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, who is raised here no matter what race you are - has a "blaccent". Can you blame her for adopting the local vernacular?? Can you blame her for taking on the mannerisms/humor of those around her? As children of immigrant parents, we're taught to CONFORM and just try to "fit in" because whenever we share our own culture, we're made fun of. So we conform and take on the culture of the environment we're in and we're told its wrong to have a "blaccent". There is no winning.

I grew up in a heavily impoverished town as a Latina. I’ve been told that I have a blaccent which is frustrating because I’ve always spoken like this. You can go back in family tapes and hear me and my family speak like this. I lived in that little town on the outskirts of LA for a long time and no one said a thing because we all spoke like that. It’s frustrating because I don’t know if it is a blaccent or just where I grew up. I hate being told to “drop the accent” when this is how I speak. It’s made me even more stressed to communicate with new people.

Thanks for the education drop. I'm Filipino and I grew up with a lot of Asians during high school. It irked me why a decent amount of them adopted the blaccent tone. Especially we had a blacks vs Asian war going about, lol. I personally don't find it appealing when the person outside the group goes deliberately out of their way to talk like that. Only because I see it as them self depreciating. I play jazz piano (shouts to oscar peterson) and I give respect to the founders of jazz by educating non listeners what's it about and how much soul derived from this culture. But speaking of blaccents, I just feel there's this connotation of "looking" or "sounding" cool.

So… if a black person, like me, talks more white, I have a whiteccent??? I literally had friends growing up ask me, “why don’t you talk more black???” The host on this show sounds white when you close your eyes and don’t look at her. It’s honestly the environment you were raised in.

The Elvis/Hound Dog narrative is always inaccurately oversimplified. Elvis didn’t write it but Big Mama Thornton didn’t write it either, Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller did. And in fact Elvis’ version was actually inspired by a cover of the Freddie Bell and The Bell boys version.

I'll admit that I feel conflicted about this. For context, I work as a teacher in a school where over 90% of the student body is POC. I have noticed when I use AAVE to explain concepts or in the instructions, my students do significantly better on the work and seem to be more engaged in what they are learning. I started doing this in order to make my lessons more fun and engaging and the improvement of my students being able to do math is incredible! But, is this something I shouldn’t do, being a white teacher? Edit: People brought up a lot of good points in the comments. I worked in ABQ, NM in the South Valley at a Dual-Language School. The New Mexico Department of Education doesn't restrict what teachers can or cannot do in the classroom very much, and rely on a peer review culture at the schools to keep standards. So long as your administrators are on board with your lesson plans, it's fine according to the NMDE. Since half our classes are already in Spanish and there is an afterschool Navajo club, my admin didn't see an issue with me using a dialect of English to talk to the students, especially since it seem to help though my admin is white or Hispanic-descent. I will admit though, I did stop for a few days and my students called me out on it. One notable comment was "I like it how'd you talked real." As it is his education, I feel he has a say in how I should teach him. I will keep in mind everything said here, however I'm going back to using AAVE in my classroom. My students deserve me being "real" with them.

im guilty of this... as a non english native speaker i also thought it was just an internet lingo. that was totally my ignorance. now im learning about it.

The amount of people here defending vocal black face is disgusting

I found this a very eye-opening video, but would really be interested in hearing more about how "Blaccent" is expressed in internet-speach. May be I've grown too accustomed to it having gone online at the very first opportunity that was presented in my country, in the early 1990s, or may be I'm just too old already. But I think this'd make a very interesting topic to discuss further.

I'm so glad you're back! I can't wait to see the other content you make. It always seemed hypocritical to me that my paternal grandmother LOVED Elvis but was extremely racist and hateful towards the black community. The very aspects she loved about Elvis were taken from black culture. The only thing different was his skin color. After a while I couldn't be around her. The hate she spewed was toxic. I didn't have a choice as a child but when I got older I cut her out of my life. I also think it needs to be acknowledged that even if it makes white people uncomfortable, we need to talk about the pervasive racism in our society today. It's not gone.

The topics discussed in this video are what I was searching for. Being a lifelong fan of the music genre and sub-culture of rap music and seeing that genre and sub-culture take over the world. With the rise of J-rap & J-pop, K-rap & K-pop and the new music from the Latin American countries. How does this phenomenon fit in to the conversation?

I remember in around late 1996 or early 1997, some people wanted "ebonics" to be recognized as a language. Some people, even African Americans made fun of it while some of my white coworkers ( I was an intern then) scolded some other coworkers who mocked it.

I really appreciate the conversation being brought forth with this video, but it largely ignores how spoken English varies significantly in the United States based on your geographical upbringing, the cultures you are surrounded by in your youth, and socio-economic status. As a white person who grew up in the most diverse city in the country, the entirety of my family and friends spanned significant racial, ethnic, linguistic, and socio-economic differences. The overwhelming majority of my early influences were black and brown educators, friends, family members, neighbors, and classmates. As a result, my way of speaking is entirely different from that of my Midwest born-and-raised white partner, and upon moving to the Midwest several years ago, it was abundantly clear that my way of speaking was not typical of white people in other areas of the country. There was no internet or social media or cell phones growing up, so I learned to speak purely based on what I heard around me. There was no moment of “discovering” AAVE and thinking it would make me sound cool, then shifting my speech to mimic that manner of speaking. And I believe the same is largely true of Awkwafina - someone who grew up in the diverse world of Queens, New York. The expectation that my skin color alone means I should speak in a “white” manner or she should speak in a manner typical of Chinese/Korean Americans completely erases the geographical, cultural, and socioeconomic realities of linguistics. Because the reality is that anywhere in America, two people with the same skin color in the same city are going to speak differently depending on how much money their caretakers have, what neighborhood they grow up in, where they go to school, and whom they are surrounded by. I’d love to see PBS do another episode expanding on this topic that includes numerous linguists and sociologists as it could be a wonderful conversation starter. The way we speak and why simply isn’t black and white, literally.

I see many people making the argument out to be "Oh this is the natural evolution of language". "Oh this happens naturally". Which is true and I totally understand. I'm not sure that is what she is talking about though. I think this discussion seems to be more about this phenomenon of people trying to reproduce something that is inauthentic to them. While also discussing the power dynamics that go into play and effect Black Americans in a society such as the U.S.

Why is Elvis here, he grew up around black people so I makes sense he spoke the way he did he wasn’t faking it.

So happy to see this show back on. And as usual, diving into a controversial topic with aplomb and nuance. Two things we need a lot more of on the Internet. Brava!

I have always found it interesting when people attempt to reclaim this accent or view it as a sort of modern blackface. As black person who does not have this accent, I, along with many other black people, have always faced frustration with the fact that many black people represented in media are represented with this manner of speaking and the personality traits that go with it, so it becomes interesting to me that actual black people are beginning to claim that this is our accent exclusively and anyone who is not black that has this accent is parading around as a racist symbol which I personally disagree with. If we collectively have been fighting to have more nuanced portrayals of black people as different and from all sects of life then why do people want to go back on that- claiming that this way of speaking is entirely accurate to how we speak and belongs to us. The notion of calling it an accent has also been thrown back and forth from time to time, as there is still conversation if this is more of a dialect then an accent. An accent is emblematic of a *type* of person, a group from a single area, with one real way of life that has effected how they naturally talk. Lumping people of a certain skin color into a *type* of accent is nonsensical. If you are from a place like U.K. you are likely to have a certain accent, but this doesn’t mean that someone from the U.K. would have the same accent as someone from the Caribbean like Grenada solely because you share a skin color. Isn’t the fact that people of differing races are able to reshape it into simply being a dialect associated with being ‘cool’ and dismantle this stereotype of black people sounding like this in every form of media by attempting to change the characteristics around that dialect better for black people at large since it forces out of touch or ill informed writers to get more creative and broad in representing black people instead of using this lazy shorthand of making the character “sound black”. The fact that we are beginning to view this as a form of cultural appropriation simply reenforces the notion (primary carried by ill informed white people) that black people have a stereotypically “black voice”. The imbalance of power discussed in the video is true but mislabeled as the fault of the accent and how this accent is synonymous with the stealing of black racial identity so anyone who is born into having it his accent should be demonized because of it. It wasn’t the accent that was drawing in more people, it was the fact that these were white artist with the privilege of being more accessible and likable to a society based on systemic racism. These white artists are “selling black music” because they are often born in/around black communities and picked up an accent as a result, these people aren’t planning on or aware that they could be benefiting on the fact that a majority white audience is usually not exposed to the great aspects of black cultures. These aspects are always things like music and food that grip people who may see this stuff as new or revolutionary not because the artist has this accent. This is not the fault of the artists, if anything, this is the fault of the audience and a system that favors white faces

If they're using 'blacent' which I think they are, is the historian then using 'whiteaccent'?

Hey im a high schooler rn and the reaskn blaccent is so used w teens is because black culture is cool. A lot of ppl in my generation r obsessed w black culture and it sort of engrained itself into our generation. Its not something where ppl r making fun of/appropriating black culture its the opposielte. Black culture is very popular and prevelant w my generation

While I agree with the ugliness of the double standard that could come with cultural appropriation, I also believe that cultures have blended with each other throughout history, it's a natural sociological phenomena. That blending and influence is what enriches our experience as part of the great pack that is the human race; it's only bad when it's tainted with negative discrimination. As for asking awkwafina to say sorry for her "cultural appropriation" (which I believe to be a natural result of her social developmental environment), I've never heard an argument for making the Wu Tang clan, or every black kung fu movie, apologize for their cultural appropriation. Again, this is not to invalidate the argument against the discrimination people of color have been a subject of in the US, but just to acknowledge that people of every race and every background take bits of other cultures they come in contact with and try to make them their own.

This video goes In depth about the history of blacents. However I fear that the black community will be quick to watch this and condemn anyone who speaks "Like a black person". I'm black, And I know white friends who grew up around us and adopted some of our phrases and tonal patterns. Their not putting on a character or "Stealing our culture" it's ok to recognize that some non black people will inevitably integrate some of our language in their vocabulary. It only becomes problematic when it's a put on for character

On solidarity, Asian people pls consider fairness and equality requires solidarity with the fight for black rights today. Our personal traumas, opinions, or prejudices cannot contaminate shared mission of equality for everyone here. We have way too much in common than to be splintered and therefore more powerless

So Elvis isn't allowed to cover a song cause hes white and it was by a black artist? Last I checked he was good friends with James Brown Little Richard and other black musicians of his time and none of them had a problem with him or what he was doing with his music.

Honestly, an entire show about Black Music and the real origins of styles that were later on attributed to white musicians. 🙏🏻😊 Cheers from Switzerland 🇨🇭

How was Elvis doing a "blaccent?" He grew up in the South among the poorest of the poor. This "Black" accent you think you're talking about was just the way poor Black and White folks spoke in the South. There is a lot more nuance regarding the "Hound Dog" debate. You guys want to "correct" history but can't bring up the fact that Big Mama Thornton didn't write the song? It was two white dudes. Please do more research.

I grew up in the same area as aqwafina and it's common for younger poc who aren't black to speak like this. It's doing them no favors. I like aqwa specifically and want to see her make a come back with even more clarity on who she is and what she personally has to offer, which imo is a lot. My asian and yt friends don't use aave b/c we live in the city and most blk people have a different accent in cities than in the south. I know it's hard for some Asians to assimilate and I'm sure she got a tongue lashing from her family and community so there's no need to continue to publicly flog or cancel ❌ imo. Yt ppl and sometimes even other poc sometimes don't understand that black people have INCREDIBLE EARS. That is--we can hear the nuance in an affectation in your voice. No, the southern accent isnt the only black style of speak but for some reason it's the only type of accent most people take on when imitating blk voices. In reality... It ends up sounding strange to us. If ur a 20-something who grew up in NY or LA there's no reason your imitation of a blk person should sound like a 58 year old man from Mississippi. 😂This is where the "accent work" and the fake aave start to sound really awkward. When they do this they forget we are American, Caribbean, Latino and some blk ppl even hail from Asia and Europe. Imitating us with that same, one, strange accent like the Ariana grande & catch me outside girl's is just-- 👀

As someone who grew up with the internet, I can say with certainty that AAVE and “internet lingo” are definitely NOT the same thing. There’s a lot of overlap, but it’s not the same. I naturally use certain phrases that originated from AAVE but I couldn’t speak the whole dialect if I tried to. For example I use phrases like “imma” in irl conversations and even when talking to myself, but I can’t understand the nuances of the habitual be. I can usually tell the difference between a white millenial, genz or alpha speaking in ways that have been ingrained in them over the years, and a white person straight up speaking in a blaccent for the sake of comedy or coolness. And basically all of the examples in the video are the second. But also, i wanna remind people that aave and u.s. southern speech have a lot of overlap too! I’ve seen quite a few non-black southerners online be mistaken for faking or exaggerating an accent when it’s just their natural voice

Before starting the video, my thoughts based on the title were -i get cultural appropriation, but whats wrong with blaccent? Its just a way new gen is communicating. Now I get it. - When a Black person talks with a blackccent, its bad grammer and uncultured etc, but when someone from another culture uses it, they are considered cool. Its the double standards that are hurting Black people is what the problem is

Thoroughly enjoyed this! I do think that we as a society have normalized that certain races should speak a specific way, when it's literally based on socioeconomic status and where you're from. I think people are just code switching to be palatable for a broader audience when minorities do it to survive .

Thank you. I was searching for some info on this, because I heard BlackPink Money song and that's a KPOP band, from Korea. the singer was using Blaccent so much, I felt a kind of misappropriation. this video explains the phenomenon. On a lighter note, I would want Mr Garvey to take some classes for these appropriators to make them learn a lesson or two.

I always forget the word portmanteau, and I need to commit it to memory, it's useful.

The best part about Awkwafina is that she said she will never accept a role that portrays a stereotypical Asian character because it would be disrespectful. So at some level, she does understand what she's doing is problematic, she just doesn't care.

I found this fascinating. As a black Canadian, I've had a completely different experience around my skin colour. As for my accent, think Ryan Reynolds, Ryan Gosling, Keanu. I sound like those guys. I haven't faced 10% of the racism nor the feelings of "being slighted" typically expressed by black Americans. It's helpful to know the ways suffering or injury is perceived by people who look like me so I can empathize with their pain and perspective.

"Blaccent" refers to a dialect, commonly known as AAVE (African American Vernacular English). While many who employ this dialect are African American, it's important to note that individuals of any skin color, depending on their upbringing, may speak it. However, the issue arises when "blaccent" is treated as a mere trend in media, particularly by individuals who have no firsthand experience or connection to the communities where this dialect originates and thrives, but mainly use it as a way for commercial success. A prime example is Billie Eilish's evolved speech/mannerism that mimicked "blaccent" or AAVE.

Thank you so much for this video. Like the prior videos you have made I found this to be very informative .

I think some of the people who take issue with this don't realize there's a difference between some words, phrases, and mechanisms used in AAVE entering your vocabulary from the environment you live in and the popular culture vs. copying the entire sound, inflection, and everything thing in a clearly affected, unnatural way. It's like the difference between growing up around a lot of Chinese people and occasionally using Chinese sayings and words vs. going around like "oOoOO most exerrent"

This also happens with the Spanish language, especially with reggaeton/ Latin music on the rise, many nonblack artists are reaping profits from using black Spanish vernacular.

Having an accent that could hold you back economically is very common in the UK, although it is more of a class based rather than race based phenomenon. Oscar Wilde originally spoke with an Irish lilt which he changed to an Oxbridge one when he became a student at Oxford.

I speak three languages and my accent doesn’t change much in Spanish or Japanese, but having grown up in the south, going to black majority schools and then spending the bulk of my adult life working labor jobs in Hawaii as well as then attending university there and then working as a teacher there and in Japan, my accent changes depending on the environment. I hate to fall into the reactionary category or whatever it would be called but I get scams for money and the intense entrenched systemic racism in America (as well as the rest of the world), but sometimes the appropriation narrative seems convenient for corporate sales. Since wearing anything but western style corporate garb etc. can get people called out nowadays!! Anyway these are interesting topics, I’d love to see more of them as a real back and forth instead just one opinion. I guess it’s not in the media algorithms these days though!

Forgot to mention where Elvis grew up and in what environment was he raised

Elvis wasn’t using a blaccent that was his accent. He was from Tupelo, Mississippi. He grew up poor and spent a lot of time around other poor people who were black. It was just how he talked.

I'm a black man, and with the exception of the double standard, it doesn't bother me when people of other races use a Blaccent unless they're doing so mockingly. From my childhood all the way through my twenties, I was often told that I sounded white simply because I spoke grammatically correct English and lacked a Southern accent. I don't perceive myself as "sounding white" at all; this is just the way I talk. I think the same is true for many (though not all) non-black people who use a Blaccent.

Big Mama Thornton's song was good but Elvis's cover was something else entirely. He sped it up, rejuvenated it, turned it into something much more exciting than the original version. You've got to admit it. True, Elvis would have been nothing without her or Arthur Crudup or Amos Millburn but when he adapted their songs, he transformed them completely. That's the magic of rock'n'roll which he did not really invent. He just was himself. And Elvis never set out to 'appropriate' black culture. He was a working class kid from the American south, he didn't know what to do with his money, was exploited by Colonel Parker and died early in ignominious circumstances.

I always found ridiculous the term “blaccent”, you can’t change the color of your skin nor exchange it. But accents can come regardless of your color.