Bruno Mars Speaks Frankly on Racism and his Multicultural Music

Posted by Juan, 08 Feb

Credit: shutterstock.com

Coming from multiracial roots, Bruno Mars is no stranger to racism. He admits to have personally experienced racial discrimination as a struggling artist. Born to a Filipina-Spanish mother and a Puerto Rican-Jewish father, like most mixed race individuals, he had to deal with issues of identity; "not being easily categorized".

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In a recent interview with Latina magazine, the pop superstar opened up about this saying:

"A lot of people think, 'This is awesome. You're in this gray zone, so you can pass for whatever the hell you want.' But it's not like that at all. It's actually the exact opposite. What we're trying to do is educate people to know what that feels like so they'll never make someone feel like that ever again... I hope people of color can look at me, and they know that everything they're going through, I went through"

This doesn't mean Mars is not proud of his roots. He totally is, especially of his Puerto Rican roots. He hails his father for inspiring his music and personality.

Additionally, he expounded on his multicultural roots which he incorporates in his music asking:

"...how are you going to tell me that this song that I'm writing is only going to be catered to Puerto Ricans or to white people or only Asian people? My music is for anybody who wants to listen to it."

His music has always been classified as "Black Music". To this he told Latina magazine:

"When you say 'black music,' understand that you are talking about rock, jazz, R&B, reggae, funk, doo-wop, hip-hop, and Motown. Black people created it all. Being Puerto Rican, even salsa music stems back to the Motherland [Africa]. So, in my world, black music means everything. It's what gives America its swag."

Latina magazine describes his music as a "conscious ode to Latino and African American masculinity"

Now that's true multiculturalism, don't you agree? Its the reason why the song "Uptown Funk" is one of the most watched videos on YouTube; over 2 billion views!!! Like he said: his music is for everyone.

1 responses to "Bruno Mars Speaks Frankly on Racism and his Multicultural Music"

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  1.   Mosiah7 says:
    Posted: 18 Feb 17

    Thank you Bruno Mars for educating them even though a lot of people didn't like it when he said "black people created it all", including rock and salsa.

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