Black Folks Dislike J. Lo For Reasons You’d Never Expect…If You’re White

Even as she navigates one of the hardest periods any human can endure — the end of her marriage to Ben Affleck — Jennifer Lopez has remained under fire from her many detractors on social media, many of whom are enjoying seeing Jenny From The Block lose her latest “great love.”

Lopez’s reputation after decades of fame precedes her, and it’s not a pretty one: attention-seeking, unrelatable and inauthentic are a few adjectives used to describe her. As the public at large opines on why her once-fairy tale marriage is coming to an end, Black folks, per usual, are reminding the world of some sloppy liberties Lopez has taken throughout her music career at the expense of People of color. Let’s get started:

One of the earliest examples is when Lopez released her debut album, “On the 6 in the summer of 1999. The airy R&B lead single “If You Had My Love” took the industry by storm. Although well received by fans, legendary R&B singer Chanté Moore shared that she recorded a near-identical song “If I Gave Love” in 1998.

Though reports imply that the No. 1 Billboard Hot 100-charting song was handed to J-Lo after producer Rodney Jerkins wrote the copycat, it was the start of a pattern.

Black Help With Her Singing:

Despite admirable effort (Lopez’s years of singing lessons has been well-documented), her vocal abilities has been widely panned for years. Because of this, the majority of her songs have featured strong supporting vocals from predominantly Black female vocalists. An example of this is when veteran background vocalist Natasha Ramos revealed on TikTok that her voice dominates “Jenny From The Block,” a popular song Lopez released in 2002.

Although the use of background isn’t uncommon in the music business, Lopez continually positioned the vocals of others as her own, which some can say is underhanded, or even worse, fraud.

Similarly, renowned singer/songwriter Ashanti got candid about being Lopez’s double when in 2014 she pointed out that not only did she write Lopez’s 2001 single “Ain’t It Funny,” her practice vocals were used in the final version and passed off as J-Lo’s.

“I demoed the record for her before I was signed to Murder Inc, and they kept my hook, and some of the backgrounds and ad libs, and stuff like that,” Ashanti said.

Thankfully, Ashanti went on to build a name for herself as a solo artist, but others haven’t been as lucky. Black women creatives have been notoriously overlooked when receiving the financial and cultural capital they deserve. Research shows they earn the lowest average salary in creative industries and often face significant challenges in receiving the sponsorship needed to elevate their professional journeys.

While Lopez’s work ethic is undeniable, it doesn’t negate the blatant dishonesty that has colored her career through the years, usually off the backs of Black creatives. No one likes to see another get lambasted, but this era of radical transparency we’re in now is proving to be calling even the most mighty to the carpet – and Lopez is no exception.