Rapper Yung Berg has found himself in the hot seat after audio was released from his appearance on the "Lip Service" satellite radio show. During his interview he made comments that he was "racist" and that he didn't like "dark butts'.
"I’m kinda racist… I don’t really like dark butts too much… It’s rare that I do dark butts. Like really rare… It’s like, no darker than me. No darker than me. I love the pool test…. If you can be like ‘Yo, baby. I met you in the club. Let’s go back to my house. Jump in the pool exactly like you are.’–And you don’t come looking better wet than you were before you got in the pool then that’s not a good look. Any girls that use brown gel to lay down her baby hair is not poppin"
I had to sit back and ask myself if Yung Berg's statement was an example of preference or is it another example of "colorism" in the African-American culture. "Colorism" refers to when a person of a lighter skin tone is seen as being more desireable than a darker one. Did his statement set us back to the civil rights era when the "Brown Paper Bag Test" was used to determine if a person was "too black"? Some organizations actually used this practice to decide if a person was worthy of acceptance. Only if their skin tone was lighter than a brown paper bag were they able to get in. Back in the day, "The Pencil Test" could also be used to determine if someone was "too black" by inserting a penci in the person's hair. If the pencil got stuck, that person's hair was "too kinky" which placed them in the "too black" category.
Yung Berg's "Pool Test" is similar to the old "Brown Paper Bag" and "Pencil" tests--as he determines if a woman is worth his attention based on what she looked like when she exits a pool. Although he didn't come right out and say it, what he meant was if her hair laid wavy or straight when exiting the pool, she passed. But if her hair was kinky (the type that you have to lay down with the brown gel as he says) then she probably wasn't "light enough" to gain his attention.
Pictures circulated earlier this week of he and America's Next Top Model winner Jaslene Gonzalez shopping in New York alluding that the two were a couple. Fortunately for Jaslene, who is of Puerto Rican descent, she passes Yung Berg's modern day "Paper Bag Test".
Do you consider Yung Berg's choice in women to be a preference or another example of "colorism" in Today's society?
-Necole Bitchie