Rapper Tyga, whose ‘on-again’off-again’romance with Kylie Jenner has kept him in mainstream media headlines lately, has just dropped a video for his new tune “1 of 1”, and landed himself in fresh controversy.
Asides constant comparisons to Drake’s hit “Controlla” and the vibes of “One Dance” (which Seyi Shay recently claimed belonged to Wizkid, who features on the track), Tyga’s video is being accused of misappropriation, having been set in Jamaica yet starring a light-skinned (who fans believe is a white) woman as the main muse, wearing her hair in bantu knots.
READ MORE: WIZKID TELLS SEYI SHAY TO “SHUT UP” OVER “ONE DANCE” CLAIMSThe video begins with a monologue about where Tyga’s ‘from’ – Jamaica’s Kingston town – with the rapper saying;
“We wanted to come fuck with the people. I didn’t think I’d find a reason to stay – that’s when I met Amina… Badting.”
The beauty (a model named Amina Blue who grew in fame following her feature in Kanye West’s “Yeezy” collection showcase) is then seen dancing with Tyga and hugging on him throughout the video, and also plays the part of the protagonist’s daughter – a black man who interrupts the onscreen couple’s fun at a night club.
While he sings about wanting to go “back to the front” with Amina, fans have accused Tyga of getting the situation back-to-front, and are wondering why the light-skinned model was picked for the video, rather than a black model or one of the local girls he used in the background.
Comments online range from digs about the tune being a “Great budget Controlla” to comments about Tyga’s choice of Amina as the video’s muse, with fans remarking;
“I just find it funny that he picks a white girl when you see black women in the background from the same country [he’s] in.”
“Nar I ain’t fucking [with] the video Tyga. You should’ve had a thick black girl to break down stereotypes or a slim black gyal cause your in JA, don’t ever touch the jamrock sound again, this record was made not from the heart! But to gain chart success, just cause dancehall is back popping in the popular media’s eye and the yute are taking it next places.”
“A white girl in Jamaica? Really Tyga”
The stunner, who is said to be mixd race (one site reporting she’s of Pakistani and German origin) has an incredible online following, having amassed 363K followers on Instagram alone. On her page, where she writes “I AM THE INFLUENCE” in her bio, “1 of 1” viewers have been expressing their disappointment in her feature, with one user commenting that;
“…The message the video is what really subconsciously affects black women and men and the way we think about each other […] The fact that he’d take a white woman with black features over an actual black woman…
[He] filmed the video in Jamaica and used the black women as background props…”
This is not the first time that appropriation of culture has arisen around Tyga, with his is-she-isn’t-she girlfriend Kylie Jenner accused of misappropriation by Amandla Stenberg, for wearing cornrows – Kylie’s sister Kendall also caught up in similar accusations, when featuring in Mango’s Spring/Summer’16 ‘Africa-inspired’ campaign. And more recently, Lupita Nyong’o clapped back at Vogue following the 2016 Met Gala, for their claim that the star’s hairstyle had been inspired by Audrey Hepburn, after Lupita had already explained she’d been inspired by traditional African styling.
READ MORE: LUPITA NYONG’O CLAPS BACK AT VOGUE OVER AUDREY HEPBURN COMPARISONSBut what do you think? Should a black model have been featured simply because the video took place in Jamaica? Watch it below and tell us your thoughts on Tyga’s “1 of 1”, those bantu knots and misappropriation, by tagging us in your thoughts online using @SPICETVAFRICA.
Video & image source: Youtube.com,