We also had more Black movies by Black producers and all Black casts with larger push in the 80s. Who's doing "Coming To America" now? Who's your Spike Lee who doesn't have to place a gay character or Black female/white male relationship front and center? It's like that kind of Black production has been shut down. It's not because we aren't still doing it, and I can't call exactly what it is (and Double 0 and BigReg, please spare me the "AIN'T NOBODY DOING IT" bs), but it seems to be a concerted effort to shut us out. This is why the whole Jay-Z and Puffy "do it like I did it" stuff is misguided. Those kinds of Black moguls and millionaires aren't being created anymore. In pop music, the gatekeepers seem to be only allowing a certain type in. With all the Black talent out here, how Sam Smith and Adele the most "soulful" singers on radio? That's not an accident. Bruno Mars is racially ambiguous like they like 'em now. Tori Kelly stay getting placement. Do you know who Curtis Harding is tho? Stacey Barthe? Brandee Younger?


>The biggest pop star of all time was a black man. His name was
>Michael Jackson. So I don't understand the argument that a
>black artist doing the type of music Bruno Mars is doing would
>never blow up as large as Bruno when in fact a black artist
>blew up to levels that Bruno has not reached.
>
>You can also point to Prince. Or Lionel Richie in the 80s.


Prince was also racially ambiguous, Lionel was light skinned, and MJ lightened himself for Thriller and continued to lighten himself. Terence Trent D'arby spoke in the late 80s/early 90s on how he was surprised at Seal's success since he was so dark, and the industry didn't usually get behind that.