Naima Adedapo

I've started watching American Idol, and there is a jem of a contestant this season named Naima Adedapo. She is the daughter of jazz singer Adekola Adedapo.

According to her Wiki entry, you know Idol has a history of keeping biographical info to themselves to that they can 'manage' their contestants identities, she is a mother of 5 children, with 2 biological children, and three step-children. She studied Dance at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee and continues to dance in Ko-Thi an African Dance Company, and sings in a band with her husband. 

This girl sings and dances. Her signature Afrocentric ascethetic cannot be denied. Despite being on a mainstream show that is famous for candy-coating its contestants, she remains true to her style. However, it is evident that American Idol did make her cut her dreads shorter. Other than that, she stills stands in contrast to the Eurocentricism standard that is usually upheld on the show. Beyond Naima's dress, she brings an afrocentricism to her performances that have been unseen in previous seasons. She did a reggae number in the middle of performing Rihanna's "Umbrella," and added African Dance to her performance of Lionel Richie's "Dancing in the Street."

Based on those performances, it is clear that she is stretching the boundaries of American Idol karaoke style performances. But this is in the midst of one of AI's least diverse season's to date. The only African American performers left are Naima and Jacob Lusk. Ashton Jones, another African American contestant was voted off March 10th. Thia Megia is repping for Asian Americans, she is a Filipina, and Karen Rodriguez, who was voted off on March 17th, was repping for the Latin@s. And of the entire top twenty-something, there were 4 more people of color.

Although she is turning the standard on its head, it is quite obvious that she has a very light complexion and blue/green or hazel eyes. It begs the question, could dark skinned contestant of African descent break with the Eurocentric standard of dress and hair style. Is Naima given a pass because she has light skin?


Racism and white ideals still prevail in much of popular culture, but there are cracks. And I'll keep looking for them.