Source: Santiago Felipe / Getty
Mathew Knowles helped guide the career of his daughter Beyoncé and her Destiny’s Child bandmates early on and dropped a bombshell of a statement regarding the issue of colorism in music. In essence, Knowles says that Beyoncé may have positively benefitted in music due to her lighter complexion versus Kelly Rowland, although she has enjoyed significant success around the world as well.
As a guest on The Clay Cane Show via SiriusXM Urban View, Knowles, who has taught a class on examining the presence of colorism in entertainment at Texas Southern University, said that the standard of beauty placed on lighter complexions has been going on for years in the music business.
“In the music industry there’s still segregation,” Knowles said. “Programmers, especially at pop radio, have this imagery of what beauty looks like. … If you look back even at Whitney Houston, if you look at those photos, how they lightened her to make her look lighter-complexioned.”
He added after saying his daughter may be a beneficiary of this so-called segregation,”And I use Kelly Rowland as an example. She’s a great example. But you know, the great thing is, Kelly did exceptional outside of America, especially in Australia. Kelly sold over 4 million records.”
Interesting points.
Listen to The Clay Cane Show audio below.
https://soundcloud.com/siriusxm/mathew-knowles-on-colorism-in-the-music-industry-and-beyonce-knowles
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Photo: Getty
Mathew Knowles Says Beyoncé’s & Kelly Rowland’s Careers Affected By Colorism was originally published on hiphopwired.com
