Selected YouTube Discussion Thread Comments From Afro B's Drogba (Joanna) That Mention Black People's Skin Color

Edited by Azizi Powell

This is Part III of a three part pancocojams series on Afro B's 2018 hit song "Drogba" (Joanna).

Part III showcases Afro B's official music video "Drogba" ("Joanna") and provides selected comments about Black people's skin color that are found in that discussion thread.

A YouTube video of a light skinned girl dancing to Afro B's Drogba (Joanna) song is also included in this post along with my Editor's note about some skin color referents that are used by African Americans.

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2019/05/hit-2018-afrobeats-song-by-united.html for Part I of this series. Part I showcases the official video of that song and includes lyrics and information about that song. Information about Afro B is also included in this post along with information about the song's featured artist Nigerian recording star Wizkid, about Ivory Coast footballer (soccer player) Didier, and about Afrobeats music.

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2019/05/selected-youtube-discussion-thread.html for Part II showcases the official video of Afro B's song "Drogba" (Joanna) and presents selected comments from this video's discussion thread. General comments are featured in Part A and Part B features comments about this video trending online and some probably internet influences on it trending online, particularly a video on the YouTube Channel "Lily's Petal World" that included this song.

That "Lily's Petal World" video is given in the Addendum to that post.

The content of this post is presented for socio-cultural purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to Afro B, Wizkid, and all those who were involved with this video and thanks to all those who are quoted in this post, and thanks to the publishers of these videos on YouTube.

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PANCOCOJAMS EDITOR'S NOTE
I think discussions about skin color among Black people from different parts of the world are interesting and important, but might be misinterpreted because of cultural differences. In particular, who is or isn't a light skinned or a dark skinned Black person might mean something different to different populations of Black people throughout the world -not to mention the different meanings and connotations that those terms might have among White people in those same cultures and White people in other cultures.

In the United States, it's considered impolite and racially insensitive to directly refer to a person's skin color unless it's done as a means of helping to identify that particular person. In those cases, referents that mention skin color usually have no positive or negative connotations.

For example, this conversation is usually considered to be socially appropriate among Black Americans who know each other:
1st person- "Have you seen Jasmine today?"
2nd person- "Which Jasmine?"
1st person- "the light skin one..."
-snip-
But to demonstrate the potential for misunderstanding racial referents among Black people throughout the world, here's an excerpt from a 2013 pancocojams post about certain skin color referents in Jamaica http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/08/what-redbone-yellowbone-and-browning.html What "Redbone", "Yellowbone", and "Browning" Mean:
"Yesterday as I was YouTube searching through classic Dancehall Reggae songs, I happened upon two records - Buju Banton's "I Love My Browning" and Nardo Ranks "Them A Bleach".* Both 1992 songs from Jamaica include the word "browning". From the lyrics to both of those songs I understood that "browning" refers to a person or people with a particular skin color. However, as an African American, I thought that "browning" meant a Black person who has a brown skin color which was lighter than dark chocolate. I was wrong. That's what "brown" means in the United States, but the very similar term "browning" ("brownin") doesn't have that meaning in Jamaica, and therefore is an example of how a skin color referent can mean different things in different parts of the world.

*Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/08/buju-baton-i-love-my-browning-nardo.html for a pancocojams post that features those two Dancehall Reggae songs.

It turns out that in Jamaica, and it seems in some or most other Caribbean nations, "browning" means a Black person who is light skinned (fair complexioned).

[...]

Buju Banton's now classic 1992 song "I Love My Browning" was composed to honor that vocalist's light skinned girlfriend. However, that song probably increased the amount of skin bleaching to obtain a lighter skin color that occurred in Jamaica prior to that record's release and that song probably still influences skin bleaching that continues to be done in Jamaica and in other parts of the Caribbean.

Furthermore, "Controversy erupted over "Love Me Browning" which spoke of Banton's penchant for light-skinned women*: "I love my car I love my bike I love my money and ting, but most of all I love my browning." Some accused Banton of promoting a colonialist mindset and denigrating the beauty of dark skinned black women. In response, he released "Love Black Woman" which spoke of his love for dark-skinned beauties: "Mi nuh Stop cry, fi all black women, respect all the girls dem with dark complexion"." -http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buju_Banton

Nardo Ranks song "Them A Bleach" addressed the issue of Black females bleaching their skin to lighten it:
"Dem ah bleach out dem skin
Gal me honour you!
A you nuh bleach out yuh skin
You nuh use no chemical fi look like a brownin"
-end of excerpt-

Of course, what is meant by "light skinned" in one culture, might be considered "brown skinned" in other cultures. I've noticed that some commenters in discussion threads for Nigerian Afrobeats music describing a person in that video as being "light skin" when African American would have described that person as being "brown skinned" (i.e. not "light skinned"). That may also be the case in Jamaica. It depends on what skin colors people are used to seeing as to how they would describe a person as light skinned or dark skinned or as "medium brown skin" or "regular" brown skin" ("regular" brown skin" is a term that is used among African Americans which has some perhaps unintended but still built in positive/negative connotations).

The terms "red bone" and "yellow bone" are less often used among African Americans as a means of describing certain skin tones that Black people have. A "red bone" is a Black person who has a reddish tinge to his or her skin. A "yellow bone" is a very light skinned Black person. That referent may have once referred to people who have a yellow hue to their skin, but now doesn't necessarily mean that. I think that these terms-and particularly "yellow bone" are less socially acceptable among African Americans than the skin color referents that I previously listed. The term "high yellow" which was used by African Americans to describe very light skinned Black people (most of whom could "pass for White" has been considered socially inappropriate since at least the 1990s if not earlier.

With regard to bleaching one's skin, I don't think that custom is common anymore in the United States among African Americans (since at least the 1990s if not earlier), but I'm not certain of that. However, from what I've read online "skin bleaching" appears to be quite common in Africa, in the Caribbean, and in Asian nations such as India.

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SHOWCASE VIDEO #1 : Afro B - Drogba (Joanna) Prod by Team Salut [Official Music Video]



Afro B, Published on Aug 2, 2018
-snip-
Statistics: May 19, 2019 as of 9:08 AM
Total # of views - 20,726,984
Total # of likes - 181,000
Total # of dislikes - 6,000
Total # of comments- 3,844

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SELECTED COMMENTS FROM THIS VIDEO'S DISCUSSION THREAD
(Numbers are added for referencing purposes only.)
1. Adeola Adeola, 2018
"I love how the main lady is a Black Queen, very beautiful and confident and none of this cosmetically enhanced bs. Just a Queen confident in her self. The energy throughout the vid was A1 - love it 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾"

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REPLY
2. Kizzyy S, 2018
"All that natural hair ✊🏽"

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REPLY
3. solfamilyj, 2018
"The first lady is Sherrie Silver. Who choreographed 'This is america-Childish Gambino'. Earlier this year.


#dancingqueen"

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4. Shawte14, 2018
"See CHOCOLATE EVERYWHERE 😍🍫✊🏾"

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5. too manyfishb, 2018
"Dark skin and brow skin representation 😍😍😍😍😍😍😍"
-snip-
"brow" is probably a typo for "brown"

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6. MostGorgeousOne, 2018
"Mobolaji Babalola I'm here for it!!
👍🏿👌🏾"

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7. Teal Tension, 2018
"I am pleasantly surprised😊"

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8. NANA TAKYI COLLINS, 2018
"Which one you prefer. Dark skin or light Skin?"
-snip-
Given her name, I believe that this commenter is probably from Ghana, West Africa.

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9. vyvianne Dame, 2018
"Dark skin baby"

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10. HORSEPOWER 305, 2019
"How about blacks are killing it. That sounds like to much division, if I'm dark, light, brown and every thing under the shade."

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11. james anderson, 2019
"@NANA TAKYI COLLINS Dark deep rich melanine women all day. I love them all 💯🔥💯🔥💯💯🔥💯😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍"


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12. Mr3Run4Fun, 2019
"It's funny we differentiate ourselves yet were nothing but black in the eyes of a white man. Do yourself a favour and stop discrimating amongst ourselves."

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REPLY
13. NANA TAKYI COLLINS, 2019
"james anderson you damn right bro. That chocolate chip skin hmmmmmmm fine girls"

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14. NANA TAKYI COLLINS. 2019
"money way loooool damn bro 😂. 👍. We all have a preference. Natural light skin is nice. I hate bleached light skin"

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15. Taco Lover, 2019
"NANA TAKYI COLLINS I wish ppl didn’t bleach natural skin is the best skin 👏🏽💯"

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REPLY
16. NANA TAKYI COLLINS, 2019
"Taco Lover loads of people bleach because of their insecurities. It just looks horrible when you look at them outside in the natural light you could really just tell the bleaching by looking at the pigmentation on the face against the pigmentation on their hands it’s like two different colours and can tell the pigmentation on the face has been lightened"

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17. Taco Lover, 2019
"NANA TAKYI COLLINS yeah it’s a shame black women need to start feeling secure and loving the skin they were born in, bc black is beautiful ❤️✊🏼✊🏽✊🏾✊🏿"

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18. NANA TAKYI COLLINS, 2019
"Taco Lover yeah man!! 💪🏿💪🏿. Coz at the end of the day bleaching does more harm than good. Black beauty is a blessing!! skin is smooth like a cup of coffee and the Melanin stays strong"

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19. Taco Lover, 2019
"NANA TAKYI COLLINS honestly we gotta love the skin we were born in no matter the shade ❤️ happy black history month brother ✊🏽✊🏿"

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20. NANA TAKYI COLLINS, 2019
"Taco Lover same to you brother! One love💪🏿"

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21. FIJI Water, 2019
"too manyfishb why does the color of there skin matter"

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22. Help ok, 2019
"@NANA TAKYI COLLINS both"

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23. Chocolate drop, 2019
"This music video give me life everytime i watch it.... respect to you bro for having dark skin women that resemble your mother, and sister in the video.. every little darkkk skin girl that sees this video is going to feel amazing"

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REPLY
24. inesita365, 2019
"A usual thing in african music videos"
-snip-
I don't agree with this commenter that African music videos generally feature brown skin or dark brown skin women. Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2016/02/comments-about-skin-color-in-youtube.html for a 2016 pancocojams post entitled "Comments About Skin Color In A YouTube Discussion Thread of the South African Song "Easy To Love" By Bucie"

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25. Desiree Walters Live Your Journey, 2019
"Team darkskin 😍"

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26. Rcahel Jarell, 2019
"Yes i agree pretty dark woman for a change"

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27. Reinstalled, 2019
"Who’s here from the lightskin girl dancing ?"

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28. DaMzEeyore, 2019
"Watching that light skin girl on FB dancing to this song brought me here. No naked ladies, no weed.. drugs.. I LOVE IT"

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SHOWCASE VIDEO #2: AfroNation™ Afro B Drogba Dance Cover



Elbrokis17, Published on Jun 20, 2018
-statistics as of May 19, 2019 at 11:34 AM-
total # of views - 10,612
total # of like - 222
total # of dislikes - 6
total # of comments - 3
-snip-
This might be the video that is referenced in comments #26 and #27 above which was later described in that discussion thread as Hennessy Caroline (sister to rapper Cardi B) dancing to Afro B's "Drogba" ("Joanna"). That video was posted to instagram.

Be that as it may, this video shows a woman who African Americans would describe as being light skinned (She also would be described as being "yellow boned", although I think that that term is less socially appropriate than "light skinned".)

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This concludes Part III of this pancocojams series on Afro B's song "Drogba" ("Joanna").

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