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"Nevertheless, for the most part, the British ought to stay away from the R&B, soul, and hip-hop until they've sorted out the ramifications of the loss of the Empire."
I don't understand your need to request that musicians go out of their way to stick to their national identities--it's the opposite of the cross fertilization that's created so many new genres from things that previously never mingled: the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Effect!
I for one love the way that native musics get ripped off, bowlderized and mutated when taken across national identity membranes. The "fakes" are often just as interesting as the "pure" source music. What they lack in authenticity, they gain in both intentional and accidental metamorphoses.
For example: Kodwo Eshun pointed out that the great trick of Detroit techno was to treat the native European symphonically oriented Kraftwerk the same way that the Beatles and Stones ripped off/misinterpreted Delta blues. And this bastardization turned into great alchemy, spawning an entirely new aesthetic.
Long live ripping off other cultures! The only alternative is mind numbing musical monoculture.
