This is a case of how deeply African American pop culture penetrates American popular culture while at the same time not being recognized for that contribution. Which is something that has been a complaint forever in American society. Swift will likely end up settling the case but this could be a mini flash point in illustrating something that's been going on in America since the rise of American popular culture on the world stage.
Swift claims that the phrases
"players gonna play" and "haters gonna hate" were part of popular culture as she was growing up, and often used "to express the idea that one can or should shrug off negativity." The reality is those phrases came from BLACK popular culture and was used by BLACK youth to express shrugging off negativity.
Just take the word Player/Playa.....you can trace the playas gonna play line as a slight deviation on the opening line in Christión's Full Of Smoke from 1996
And you can trace the word Player/playa back to 70s Blaxploitation most notably the movie the Mack.
Hell Swift was clearly nodding and appropriating black pop all thru out her Shake It Off video. In fact there's really no way for her even visually perform the song without wading waist deep in the way black youth express themselves in walk, talk, attitude and posture etc.
The issue here, that same expression is what white America and blacks like Thomas Sewell and John McWhorter assert that is indicative of the pathology of the black community. Literally saying that the walk, talk, attitude and posture etc. black youth express is why blacks as a group are failing. We don't walk right, talk right, have a shitty attitude and encourage or play into the wrong things. Then white america cherry picks what THEY like, imitate it, call it cool then say its
part of the culture they grew up in.
This type of case isn't new...its old...it goes back to rag time and jazz on thru to rock and roll and disco and thru to hip hop and R&B and their major influence on "boy bands" from New Kids On The Block thru to K-POP's BTS (I'm looking in your direction too).
Its not surprising that a young suburban rich white woman can use aspects of a pop culture that derived from neighborhoods and people she avoided like the plague when she was growing up....then turned around and USE that same pop culture while OMITTING where it came from.
The 3LW case is really bigger than just plagiarism on a couple of lyrics when you really look at it.
www.npr.org
