OUGD505 Studio Brief 2 - Cultural Appropriation of the Working Class

OUGD505 Studio Brief 2 - Cultural Appropriation of the Working Class

- Grime isn’t just music - it’s about working-class struggle - and its new middle-class fans need to recognise the genre’s social importance

• The middle-class university students who attend live grime shows now, in 2015, probably don’t even recognise the form of cultural appropriation they’re actively taking part in: wearing a North Face snapback to a rave and singing along to Stormzy probably doesn’t sound out any alarm bells - but it should.

• The appropriation of working-class culture - whether that be through grime, slang, or clothing - is a legitimate problem and, therefore, must be treated as such. The issue is personified by these new grime fans: the students who attend these gigs, but actually grew up in suburbia, in comfortable middle-class homes with parents who wouldn’t have dared let their offspring wear tracksuits growing up, who would have shouted in response to ‘thug’ music being played from their rooms.

• This current trend may be just that, a trend, but for a large sector of society,it remains a way of life. In inner-city areas where grime materialised, this music remains the voice of disillusioned teenagers and young people. 

- Why Fashion's Reappropriation of British Working Class Culture Isn't a Bad Thing

• Now everybody loves the Working Class. ‘Roadman’, a word I first remember hearing in the early 00s (but much like ‘Rude Boy’ it had probably been around a lot longer) to describe a street-level dealer, is now being quoted by trusted media outlets as ‘on-trend’. Nike Air Max, jogging bottoms tucked into socks and Stone Island now make up the uniform of the young media professional. Fashion shoots seem to exclusively take place on council estates, often produced by people who never would’ve stepped foot on one unless it was for the pages of an expensive magazine. It’s this overnight change in attitude from the upper echelons of society, from mistrust to fetishisation, which leaves many with a sense of injustice, with accusations of hypocrisy amid offensive levels of appropriation. I however, am not one of them.

• I feel a different emotion: pride. Pride that once again, despite the backlash from small minded middle England, we did our thing, we created our identity. While the decline of industry and changes in our social fabric may mean the Working Class has evolved into an unrecognisable entity from our grandparents’ equivalent, the youth are still a confident, creative bunch with our own heroes and ideas that don’t need the approval of the establishment to validate them. Equals, not victims. In need of nobody’s pity.

• UK street kids have a celebrated history of taking the clothes of the rich and powerful and making them their own, from Casuals in eye-wateringly expensive leisurewear to the Teds in Edwardian tailoring. To cry foul when it happens the other way is not a dignified response and just plays to the hierarchy of the old class system. We don’t need anyone’s sympathy, thanks. We’re doing alright.