Racial stereotypes were a common theme back in the mid 20th century. One stereotype in particular was the watermelon and how it related to the blacks in a racially segregated country. What musician Duke Ellington did was create a song called “Watermelon Man,” where he found a way to turn the stereotype, and find a way to take control of it. By making a song and embracing the idea, it allowed society to realize that it was going to take more to ridicule a certain group of people. Eventually, other people started creating their own versions of the song, adding their take to it. The idea is that as music travels, if people enjoy it, it will get reused and adapted to different styles. This goes back to the topic of property rights and who has authority over a song. I don’t think it’s a problem if people take a song and repurpose it to their liking. The point of music is for entertainment, and if people want to alter it so it entertains them, so be it.