A new “rap yoga” class has ruffled a few feathers in midtown Sacramento. The yoga class featuring rap music would have been taught by a white woman and the Sacramento Chapter of Black Lives Matter viewed it as cultural appropriation.
Solfire Yoga canceled the class after the uproar but that didn’t prevent a protest in front the studio early Saturday.
Darrell Spence, the husband of the rap yoga instructor, defended his wife saying, “My wife and I we listen to rap music in our home. And we enjoy the music, we respect the music, we love the music.” He further explained, “She wanted to marry her love with hip-hop with her love of yoga. And combine the two and teach a class with a hip-hop theme.”
Founder of BLM Sacramento Chapter Tanya Faison said, “Historically rap music has been a way of expression for black folks to talk about the pain that they go through in their neighborhoods and their lives.” Faison continued, “We’re just trying to make change and we’re trying to get them to acknowledge what they’re doing and be accountable.”
