When Brands Try to Tap into AAVE

“It’s not clocking to you that I’m standing on business.”
—Justin Bieber*, probably confusing half your comms team

Let’s talk about language, tone, and cultural fluency in brand voice.

Before I go any further, let’s clear something up: I said AAVE (African American Vernacular English)—not “Gen Z slang.” That could (and probably will) be its own post, but let me say this here:

🗣️ What’s often labeled “Gen Z slang” is frequently borrowed—or outright stolen—from AAVE. But AAVE isn’t just a trendy list of buzzwords. It’s a dialect with its own grammar, structure, and cultural significance. (Yes, I still have my textbooks from my African American English class—African American Studies minor here—and I’d love to talk more about it.)

Back to the point:

Not every brand needs to sound like it was run through Gen Z AI or Urban Dictionary. (Please don’t. We’re cringing.) As a comms pro, I get the temptation. You want your brand to sound current. Relevant. “With it.” Here’s the problem:
👉🏽 If your brand voice doesn’t align with your identity or audience?
It doesn’t clock. It clunks.

Here’s what works instead:

🧠 Know your voice
🫶🏽 Respect the origins of cultural language (especially AAVE)
🎯 Use tone strategically—not performatively

Your brand doesn’t have to “talk like the timeline” to connect with your audience. You need to understand:

• What they care about
• How they communicate
• And where your brand naturally fits in

Because not every post needs a meme or slang to work. But it does need intentionality. That’s how you actually stand on business. 

*Apologies for the language if you watch the video of Justin