Here are some of the comments rooted in ignorance, denial and contempt: And the majority of comments were angry at the statements in the song saying the rock 'n' roll was black and saying the line, ' I am taking my culture back.'" Others stated that it didn’t matter who started it because white people did it better.
Thousands of people claimed that the statement of Black people making rock music was false and that the creation of rock 'n' roll came from artists such as Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley. "This statement and the song's lyrics caused a frenzy. I wrote the caption that rock is Black music and it was made by Black artists," says Maya. It topped 800,000 views on the second day with over 10,000 comments in total. The music video had over half a million views in one day. "When I posted a clip from my music video 'Rock 'N' Roll Is Black' it went crazy on TikTok. A lot of the comments were saying, 'I’ve never heard or seen racism in the metal community ever.'"Īt press time, the TikTok clip featuring a portion of the "Rock 'N' Roll Is Black" music video (seen below) has racked up nearly 900,000 views and has drawn a wide range of criticism and support.
Maya continues, "Then in the TikTok video I said, 'Despite facing some racism and hate, I still make the music I love.' This angered thousands of people – most of the comments are filled with people claiming how metal and rock has absolutely no racism within it and how there’s no way I’d ever change discrimination or racism trying to be a Black woman in metal and rock music. "The first thing I posted prior to the music video clip was a TikTok video that said, 'I was afraid to join rock and metal because I didn’t think I’d be accepted,'" she tells us. In a remarkable display of gross ignorance and hate, comments flooded in doubting the significance of Black peoples' contributions to the genre, proving that a great deal of the rock and metal community is not at all as open-minded, accepting or knowledgeable as it often claims to be.Įven so, a few comments were supportive and uplifting and Maya offers up her thoughts on it all exclusively with Loudwire.