Tory Lanez Is Being Accused of Staging an Incident to Address Colorism in Hip-Hop
Colorism is still alive in popular music. Even after Michelle Obama was in the White House, it’s still an anomaly to see women with a darker complexion front-and-center in music videos, onstage, and regularly on the Billboard charts. Last weekend, rapper Tory Lanez revealed that he’s fully aware of colorism in hip-hop, but what was supposed to be a declaration of wokeness quickly fell flat.
On Sunday, the Canadian rapper shared via Instagram a video of him refusing to switch out a darker-skinned lead model for a fairer-skinned model.
The clip, which Tory posted on his personal Instagram, shows filming for his single “Good Love,” and while the original deeper-toned model poses next to him, you can see the shadowed silhouette of the director suggesting a change and motioning for the lighter-skinned model to step into the shot. Upon realizing this, Tory instantly demands a cut to production, and brings the original model back to the front of the shot.
Tory captioned the clip with a passionate statement, saying “[colorism] is an ongoing problem in our community of entertainment that needs to stop” and the “countless times I’ve seen directors swap out our women of color for women of lighter complexion or women with straighter hair, etc. ... IT IS OUR RESPONSIBILITY AS ARTIST[S] TO STAND UP AND NOT LET THIS HAPPEN.”
Soon after, the darker-skinned model from the shoot, Sultry Shen, took to her Instagram story to dispute the story. She inferred that Tory staged the interaction and filmed the behind-the-scenes video to make it seem as if it was the director’s decision when, in reality, she alleges that both girls filmed solo scenes with the musician and hers apparently didn’t make the final cut.
“Where is the scene then if @torylanez wanted me so bad?!!! #fakenews,” Shen called out on her Instagram story.
If the incident was indeed staged and Tory’s intentions weren’t for the sake of the women on set but about being a semi-woke savior for the day, it makes the complications surrounding colorism in the entertainment industry — and especially the hip-hop community — all the more frustrating.
For years, the quintessential hip-hop video vixen was a lighter-skinned Black woman or a bronzed but never brown Latina, and darker-complexioned dancers were reserved for b-roll and background dancers. For a musical genre that is centered on the existence and livelihood of being Black, it doesn’t make sense that Black women are not at the visual forefront of the music.
Whether the music is socially conscious or simply meant to spread good vibes and help start the party, the visual representation of Black women in hip-hop does matter, because when young Black girls look at a screen and see little to no representation of women who look like them, it subconsciously teaches them that their existence is undesirable and an afterthought, when the truth is the complete opposite.
Hopefully, this social media fiasco serves as a lesson to those in the industry. The case to fix colorism isn’t made by gaining retweets and applause from Twitter users, but rather reshaping the system that built this pattern, and bringing beautiful dark-skinned women to the front.
Originally Appeared on Teen Vogue
