Cultural ownership. So what exactly does it mean? Is it a term that we use to credit the creators of a culture? or has it become a term that allows identity politics to help people who don't go outside win arguments on Twitter? I'm gonna say it's increasingly becoming the latter. We now discuss culture in such linear and absolute terms when in reality culture doesn't happen in a vacuum and ownership is a very nuanced and complex discussion. Often several stars have to align to birth a culture of multiple things come into play to nurture it. If you look at Hip Hop for example, it was birthed from multiple factors that go beyond simplified racial or class identities. The political climate in that specific location at that specific time are key ingredients to the creation of that particular culture. That's not to say hip hop isn’t Black music or isn't native to New York City, It absolutely is, But to simplify focus solely on those two things is simplistic and hugely reductive. Picking the convenient ingredient in a culture that relates to your own personal identity maybe a great way to silence a discussion on social media but in reality it bares little relevant to the wider conversation. When Grandmaster Caz was asked to comment on the discussion around guests in Hip Hop, his response was that everybody outside of those who were instrumental in creating if are guests. Now when you remove the constant need to center yourself in a conversation that makes perfect sense. Whether it's race, class, sexuality, location or religion, those things may represent a shared experience among people but to suggest they are representative of a monolithic experience is hugely misinformed. Culture is a malleable concept that takes shape through multiple factors. if it only consisted of one ingredient, it would stay exactly as is and would never have evolved into anything new.

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