Well, let's call it "non standard english." But I think that this really gets to the center that the article was circling about; how do artists from a higher socio-economic class cover artists whose fanbase is in a lower socio-economic class, without being unintentionally disrespectful?

Changing the focus a bit: covers used to be much more common (the first 2 Beatles albums had 6 covers each, and tons of artists didn't even write their own songs) in american music, so maybe as the cover has become rarer, it's also become much more of a statement, and thus subject to more scrutiny?