MEMES, Part 7: Dead Giveaway

In 2013, four white musicians turned a news clip featuring a Black man, Charles Ramsey, into a song. The meme erupted, but when Ramsey discovered it, he couldn’t tell if it was flattery or mockery. We examine The Gregory Brothers and the lives of Ramsey and other Black “unintentional singers” as examples of the appropriation inherent in memes.