When and why did white pop singers start to sound ghetto?

It cause dey all wanna be me OP.

Stupid phresh jiggy and down wif my peeps yo!

What does sloppy enunciation have to do with "ghetto". Is that code for black, or what? Many black rappers and singers have great enunciation.

Lack of education, honey.

Pop music is so damn bad these days that I can't even listen. Who knew how great Sophie B Hawkins was in retrospective?

I think Ariana's lack of enunciation is a personal choice, although we will never know the extent that producers encouraged it. She talks a lot about the process she went through finding her own style after starting out with no control of her image. And she's demonstrated the ability to sing in many different styles, so there must have been a choice somewhere along the line.

Ariana Grande sounds like a ghetto queen.

When did the racist trolls start popping up on DL trying to sound like they’re not racist trolls?

Yet, here you are OP. Go back to sewing your Klan hood, mkay?

About 10 years ago.

I switched to country music and I don't regret it.

Doesn't this go way back - like Mick Jagger early 60s?

If you look at the charts in the iTunes Store, it’s all ghetto trash.

OP, clearly hasn't spent any time in a suburban white neighborhood in the last 10-15 years.

R2, Whitney Houston didn’t sound ghetto. John Legend doesn’t sound ghetto.

That’s why I said ghetto and not black.

Hip hop, trap, is the most popular style of music right now, so if these pop artists (many of whom cant sing a damn anyway) have to fit themselves in somehow

R12 Whitney Houston was heavily coached by her managers and producers, basically the opposite of the scenario you asked about in the OP. They wanted her to be more appealing to white audiences. Her music and image became less whitewashed over time.

Pop music went ghetto at the same time as white-boy Matt Damon went black.

Didn't Eminen start this stuff ?

In the old days when Kathy Griffin was still funny she had a good bit about Eminen's black accent triggering her into replying with a thick Irish accent.

OP, clearly the time is ripe for MY COMEBACK!!!

Blacks are to blame. 🧔🏿

[quote]Many black rappers and singers have great enunciation.

Fuck right they is.

I be literate and shit.

Sorry what exactly is "sounding ghetto?" Is that like sounding white?

“Sounding ghetto” = sounding black. I love black people and have many black friends but I think everyone can admit they talk ghetto.

Apparently, there's only one way to be black?

R21 you're a jackass. I pity any minority that mistakenly considers you a friend.

Could have sworn this guy was black when I first heard this song on the radio

Justin Timberlake was a good example. He grew up as a vanilla white boy in the suburbs, far from any urban culture. When he went solo, he started acting like he was from the ‘hood. I think a lot of young white performers, like Timberlake and Bieber, start to pick up mannerisms from their bodyguards.

I thought Vanilla Ice started it.

OP yearns for the days of Pat Boone and Lawrence Welk.

R25 Justin and Britney are both Southern, y'all. They are just kind of country. Hence the matching denim outfits.

Can anyone name these 'rappers' who have 'great enunciation'?

As much as I liked Teena Marie, she was the first white singer that I can think of that talked with an exaggerated “black accent.”

The first white singer who was sold as "sounding black" was Elvis. It's the foundation of rock 'n' roll: white people trying to sound black.

It started in the 2000s, when our culture descended into being complete trash in ways that it never had before.

Ghetto? I'm triggered.

It's a new sound called "mumble rap".

You people are awful

Even the old rappers don't like it.

The essence of being young is to do something that will offend the ancients.

You're old? Do not feel relevant?

Jump off that cliff, it is about time.

Racists are so timid these days. They have to couch their prejudices and bigotry in the form of "concern".

I imagine being racist, looking into myself and realizing there is nothing there but an unrelenting terror; not even a scintilla of self worth.

I imagine being R37, looking into myself and realizing there is nothing there but an unrelenting idiocy; not even a scintilla of intelligent self-expression.

Okay, if we look at it from an anthropological point of view, it’s about tribes.

Tribes have their own way of speaking and dressing and music they like and food they eat. And since we live in a modern world, teens (and other people!) are able to view and choose from a vast array of tribes with which they can identify.

So we are seeing people born into one tribe choose to take up the customs of another.

My chosen tribe happens to place a higher value on being intelligible and unmarked.

[quote]love black people and have many black friends but I think everyone can admit they talk ghetto.

You are truly a racist fuck.

F&F OP.

[quote]love black people and have many black friends but I think everyone can admit they talk ghetto.

You wrote the following, you racist fuck:

“White Woman FLIPS THE BIRD To Black Woman - "Go Back To Where You Came From"

I’m by no means defending the cow’s deplorable behavior, but I wonder what the black lady did to set her off. Let’s not pass judgment until we know the whole story. The rush to judgement from a few seconds of video is what is causing so much racial divisiveness today.

I am certain that the white Woman was tainted and ridiculed by the black woman......hopefully more video will come out from other Park guests.

The white lady reminds me of my sweet Nana, and she would NEVER act like that. I’m sure she was pushed to the edge by that black lady. Let’s get the whole story first, people!

Doesn’t anyone find it interesting that there’s always a black person involved in some form or fashion in these leaked videos? I always go by the caution “where there’s smoke, there’s fire. We’d have to be idiots to not see that the blacks are the common thread in 99% of these cases. I’m not racist, but it’s something to be

I honestly think there’s black people out there with cell phone in hand, just looking for an opportunity to instigate a possibly viral video. People are PAID for these nowadays. On a parallel example, black people here in Houston drive around and try and get other drivers to rear-end them on purpose. They then hire an attorney to sue for neck and back pain and emotional distress and disability. It’s a sad common practice here. I think this particular pool park event was someone looking for a payout.

And it’s a Texan:

I’ve been a Texan all my life. In the summer we have pool parties, go to the lake, get cruised at Barton Springs pool, get your dick sucked at Hippie Hollow (look it up), or ride inner tubes down the river in San Marcos/New Braunfels and drool over the frat boys in swim trunks drinking Lone Star Beer. At the end of the day when they are sunburnt and buzzed, they get very horny and flirtatious with anyone. That’s when it’s my opportunity to strike!

Wow! I can’t believe all the Texas hate here. I’m a 49 year old gay man and I absolutely LOVE it here (live in Houston part-time and Austin the rest.) I make just under 6 figures and have two nice vehicles, a house, vacation every 2 months, and have no state tax. I travel frequently to both coasts and enjoy it, but am so very happy to get home to inexpensive gasoline, food, and living expenses. I wouldn’t move to California OR NYC even if I won the powerball lottery.

OP wrote:

“Tucker Carlson says white supremacy isn't a real problem and it's a hoax like the Russia hoax to divide the country”

The meaning of white supremacist has been so diluted, You’re a white supremacist if you don’t support affirmative action. You’re a white supremacist if you think immigration should slow down.

R41 He hasn't the courage of conviction to fully own his racism. Which tells me he knows it's wrong but still wants to express those view without being accurately labeled what he is - which makes it worse in my opinion. It's one thing to be ignorant and espouse such views it's another when you do it with full knowledge that it's not right.

Dearest Dame Julie at R17, your crisp, bell-like rendition of "Bodak Yellow" beats Cardi B's by a country mile.

R41. Is her really racist or his he wearing so many layers of Spanx it’s cut off his oxygen?

Thank you for your comment, R44, but I'm still waiting for someone to tell us about a "rapper" whom can enunciate the spoken words.

Harry Styles has crisp, English enunciation, but Liam Payne and Zayn have gone ghetto.

[quote]Hip hop, trap, is the most popular style of music right now

God, STILL?

Things DON'T MOVE ON these days, do they?

[quote]Hip hop, trap, is the most popular style of trash right now

Fixed.

R48 - best comment of the day 👏 👏

[quote]Whitney Houston was heavily coached by her managers and producers,

Here's a very polished Whitney Houston talking to Rolling Stone in 1986. Some say this is this is the real Whitney and the later one came from years with Bobby Brown and their new friends rubbing off on her. FWIW, Whitney went to a private all-white Catholic girls school so who knows what's real or not?

You're right R37 but the new way is the Drill way!

When Mariah left Tommy and had a rapper on every song after that, which inspired Christina, that was the gateway

Reminds me of the Christina Mariah feud.

[quote]When Mariah left Tommy and had a rapper on every song after that, which inspired Christina, that was the gateway

Pink came on the scene with her wigger act around the same time in early 2000.

Ariane Grande IS ghetto. That brother as well. It's frankly appalling she's the new face of Givenchy. A very poor man's Audrey Hepburn.

^ Ariana

R55 - I agree with you, but let’s not even compare her to the timeless perfection that is Hepburn.

R54, fortunately, she whitened up in 2001 and has sounded pretty white since.

I’m sorry, but black artists these days are just bad role models for black people.

Black people will never have equality with white people. Not because they’re black, but because the music industry perpetuates trashy ghetto culture for them to aspire to.

Black people need to aspire to be like Asians. They don’t break the law, whether you think the laws are just or not, even though they’re poor.

R59 is the dumbest post I've ever seen on DL. To say the entire race of black people should aspire to be like any music star is anout as ignorant as you can get. Yes, nevermind Toni Morrison children look too Nicki Minaj.......

R59 - I agree. They rap about “red bottoms, chasin’ checks, livin’ large, and anacondas.” These 12 year old black children are listening to this and thinking it must be something to aspire to because it’s on the radio so it must be true!

I can't believe how dumb some of you are

[quote]Pink came on the scene with her wigger act around the same time in early 2000.

LOL I'd forgotten about that Pink

Instead of complaing about "ghetto", which is coded for racist, how about discussing the idea that language from minority communities that are getting adopted for popular use?

Middle and upper-middle class black people use "ghetto" all the time in a derogatory manner.

Ghetto = blacks

Trailer trash = whites

Rednecks, hillbillies and deplorables are also whites.

True, but there’s a lot of HOT red necks and hillbillies.

R65 I'm sure there are people who are surprised there is such a thing as middle and upper middle class black people.

R69 - I’m pretty sure middle and upper class blacks only comprise less than a percentage point of the population.

Of course r70 😒

R64, THAT kind of racist is acceptable and moral, if it really is racist to not like bad parts of what we tradition think of as black culture. What’s immoral is to hold that viewpoint as something bad to have.

[quote]Taylor Swift originally sang with nice clean English, but over the last few years, her pronunciation of English has started to sound more ghetto. Listen to her sing her song “Delicate” for example.

[quote]Is it their personal artistic choice, or are they being directed to sound that way by their producers? Why? These singers all sound like they’re bran damaged!

*sigh* OP and the bigots who love him must be terribly young. From at least the 1920s to present, many of the top recording artists acquired a "black" vocal tone to sound more "authentic" for their jazz and big band recordings and live performances.

With that in mind, listen to Dinah Shore, Bing Crosby, the Boswell Sisters, or earlier jazz/blues performers like Marion Harris and Al Jolson. Every one of them affected a so-called "black accent."

Whereas actual Black singers like Ella Fitzgerald, Dinah Washington, Nat "King" Cole, Billy Eckstine, Joe Williams, Etta James, Lou Rawls, and many others enunciate quite clearly, even in their scat-type runs.

R14 Whitney was raised in a two story house with a swimming pool in a middle class neighborhood and went to an expensive private school. She was never ghetto and she wasn’t coached by anyone. It’s a dumb and racist narrative because people would rather believe that her behavior as an addict was the “real her”.