Hip-Hop’s Huge Problem With Iggy Azalea Just Blew Up. Does She Deserve It?

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Vandita
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Written by: Vandita

 

Forbes in May had declared that “Hip-Hop Is Run by a White, Blonde, Australian Woman” referring to Iggy Azalea. That appeared to be a mistake then, but now it seems Forbes had made a sick forecast inadvertently. Azalea does run the rap game today – she has shattered records, released a platinum single and is nominated for multiple Grammy Awards, including Best Rap Album.  Howbeit, she is accused of stealing black musical sounds and styles and using her whiteness to sell them to the masses. The hip-hop community believes Azalea has done little to actually give back to the community except be blatantly racist. And black hip-hop artists aren’t standing for it any longer.

Early December, rapper Azealia Banks dubbed Azalea ‘Igloo Australia’ and lashed out at her for ignoring black issues and for showing no empathy about the Eric Garner and Ferguson indictments.

Suddenly, she wasn’t alone anymore criticising Azalea publically. The reason perhaps could be that Azalea fired back at her with comments that outraged many in the hip-hop community.

Azalea added further fuel to the controversy by arrogantly declaring that her feud with Banks was the only means fans were discovering Banks.

Many in the hip-hop community feel that Azalea is actively working against black interests because she appropriates traditionally black styles and totally divorces them from their political content. That’s why rapper Q-Tip, Tyler, The Creator, and Solange Knowles all came to Banks’ defense, thanking her for speaking passionately about the issue of cultural appropriation in an interview with Hot 97 wherein Banks got emotional discussing the “scrubbing” of concepts by white artists originally created by black artists.

  Rapper Kreayshawn also accused Azalea of ignoring racism in her home country as well as in America.

Hip-hop legend Q-Tip went on to give Azalea a full hip-hop history lesson in 40 tweets. Hip-hop is always political; he intended to feed into Azalea’s brain. So, he started since the beginning – why and how hip-hop was born. He described the conditions black people were living under in 1970s New York, which hip-hop sought to address. He cited Vietnam, the rampant drug trade in New York’s ghettos and their crumbling school systems that not only crippled children’s support structures, but also weakened their parents forcing children to turn to the streets and gangs for support.  As a result, hip-hop was born giving youth a direction, and a way to channel their energies in a positive direction.

“Hip-hop is fun,” he said, “but one thing it can never detach itself from is being a socio-political movement.” He described how the music industry encouraged black rappers to rap about “being criminals or uneducated” to sell records. That’s the reason why Azalea, a white rapper making traditionally black-sounding music, enjoys extreme success when numerous talented black rappers go unnoticed.

However, not everyone was against Azalea. After Q-Tip finished, T.I. — Azalea’s label boss and biggest supporter — took to Twitter for his own rant, defending and pacifying her.

That, in turn, provoked a viral hash tag on Twitter, #WhenTipTweets, piercing T.I. and Azalea.

Does Azalea deserve this loathing? Perhaps, yes. While she continues to manipulate hip-hop culture for her selfish interests, she gives a damn about the hip-hop community. She’s taken hip-hop’s sounds, but hasn’t given back to the culture significantly when several white rappers have done the opposite. Rapper Macklemore marched in protest after the decision not to indict the Darren Wilson, Ferguson police officer who shot and killed Michael Brown. Rapper Action Bronson took to Twitter to vent his anger soon after the news broke that police officer Daniel Pantaleo would not be indicted after murdering Eric Garner.

This ugly Twitter war involving Iggy Azalea has brought attention to a key issue in the genre, one that stretches beyond race. Hip-hop cannot lose its revolutionary origins even if many believe it has become more mainstream and commodified. Hip-hop artists must use social platforms to speak out on social and political issues important to underprivileged communities. Or else it will soon be reduced to empty dance music than an art form.

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Source:

http://mic.com/articles/107012/hip-hop-s-huge-problem-with-iggy-azalea-just-blew-up-and-she-completely-deserves-it

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39 COMMENTS

  2. Really? Because she is white and not singing about political things, she shouldn’t do hip hop??? Or if she is doing hip hop she should be doing politics? Really?

    She is not allowed to make the music that she likes because then she is ‘appropriating’ black culture?? really??

    My god, what a bunch of whiners are you.

    • Keep racism alive? Please, white people think us defending OUR culture and heritage is racist. You think us REMEMBERING fact about the ill treatment we had to endure in this country is “racism”. No it is being AWARE of what happened and IS happening. If anyone keeps racism alive it is YOU and YOURS.

      • Your culture? Ever herd of Rick Ruben or the beasties boys? Hip hop wouldn’t be what it is with out white people just as much as black people…it’s an American culture not a color s culture.

        • Rick Ruben jumped in on a cash cow because he had the money to put behind Russell Simons,sponsor it. Same things White Men been doing every since they heard the first black man sing the Blues. The Beastie Boys did the same in doing the Music. They could have never come up with Hip Hop, they copied it in their own voice and all the White kids bought it, which made the record company put money behind it If white kids would have never bought it they would never have gotten a record deal. Hip Hop came up from the Ghettos, Poverty and Pain, from the people that you claim was getting Welfare. Well a lot of them are rich now. Mothers and Fathers jobs went overseas, factories shut down, fathers left, some mothers turned into drug addicts or worked three jobs, kids on the corners dancing, singing, some doing it while running drugs for older guys to make money to feed the household. No she don’t know a thing about Hip Hop and nor do you. It is a Black Experience born out of the Black Ghetto. That is where it will die. If Blacks stop doing Hip Hop it will be dead. Rock and Roll is now Generic, Jazz, Generic, Blues Generic unless done by the people who created it because it comes from Black Life.

    • Since White people along with all the illegals paid to come into the country and getting all the Welfare, selling and benefiting from all the selling of drugs, along with doing more drugs than anyone. The Welfare Crown belong to you not Black people. She is not doing Hip Hop Music and never will She is attempting to do POP. You can’t tell people who created this Music what it is The thing is this is a new day and Hip Hop can’t be taken like Jazz, Rock and Roll and even the Blues was taken. The Black people of today are not having that Shit.

      • Illegals? You have no fucking clue. Look at this shit, and try to say that bs welfare shit. > https://youtu.be/sWGOcSZsiSA dna-explained.com/2013/08/30mexican-womens-dna-primarily-native-american/ I’m fucking tired of having to defend my people against people like you, especially because we have been your biggest supporters & allies. Mexico gave refuge & protected runaway slaves. Shit we lost Texas partly because Mexico took a stand against slavery. When Mexico allowed the Anglos to immigrate to Texas, they wanted to practice slavery there, but Mexico said no, and the Anglo Texans rebelled, then eventually succeeded in taking Texas. When the fuck have you ever lost land & life defending us you ungrateful asshole? Here’s a link with Professor Grif, and Zaza Ali talking about the refuge we gave you Skip to the 12:00 minute mark. > https://youtu.be/q_3SoZZwL3E

  4. Jealousy. Lame attempt at attacking her….because she DIDN’T get involved in the current hot topic. Come on! Ridiculous. Not everyone, celebrity or not, wants to weigh in on heated issues in a public forum. Not is she required to. How about any other hip-hop artist who also didn’t have anything to say? Is that just fine, so long as they’re not white? Smh.

  5. An ART FORM? Tyler the Creator raps “rape a pregnant bitch, tell my friends I had a threesome”, and you want to describe what he does as “art”? Tell about the socio-political issues that made him say that.

    This vendetta against Iggy Azalea is pathetic. Anonymous is better than this. Going after one woman, who makes no difference in the grand scheme of things, will not change anything. And the threats made by whatever vigilante/s against Iggy to release sex tape stills is absolutely disgusting. Stay out of celebrity feuds and pay attention to the things that actually matter.

    • To his credit, from what was posted at least, it doesn’t look like Tyler actually weighed in on the situation at all, more that this shite article made a weak attempt to lump an unrelated tweet of his in with the whining of other notable people to make the ‘backlash’ look like more than a couple whiners.

  6. IDK what your talking about with her but in my opinion she is 100 percent not involved with Rap/Hip Hop she is a POP STAR and the reason she is so popular is because every brain washed fucking retard likes this talentless form of music! If you the author of this article and these people who are mad at this bitch, should go listen to REAL Hip Hop (there are 1000’s of amazing vinyl’s from 1990 New York) they would know that she is not biting off any talented artist and if she is, she is not doing in even the slightest bit of equivalence!

  7. Ohhh…so it´s “your culture”. Funny how black people can always be racist with out being called out for it.

    So if I get this right, any other genre where white´s human being are in majority, it´s white music a.k.a “our culture”? Saying that kind of stuff on Twitter would really get you in trouble…

  8. Ok, I am not a fan Of Iggy’s music nor am I racist. However, faulting her for choosing not to get involved in what can best be described as a clouded issue with many sides, many opinions and much Violence and attaching her for using a style that Banks and other artists feel entitled to because of the color of there skin sounds pretty racist to me. Rap music is in no way related to the Ferguson situation other than the ways that are projected on to it by delusioned lowlifes on both sides of the conflict who are twisting words and making assumptions based on emotion and racial tension and acting out in the heat of the moment. I don’t blame Iggy for not wanting to get involved. Those who do not ask to be part of a conflict should not be forced to fight it’s battles, and should not be branded a racist for their indifference.

  9. I think Iggy is a mockary to black people everywhere and T.I. is only backing her because he invested in that idiot which therefore makes him an idiot. Iggy Azalea is a gimmick, that’s it! Her rhyme skills are mediocre, she only looks good because of her ass, have you seen her without makeup; and she hasn’t done anything for the people she strives to mimic; so pretty much FUCK IGGY AZALEA!!!!

    • I don’t like her music. But jesus man, she got successful and people like her.. so obviously she’s doing something right. Why do you care so much about someone else’s private life? And how would you like to be spoken about like this if you were a black man who wanted to play rock and roll.

  10. This is fucking ridiculous, no she doesn’t deserve it, she’s just out to make money like everyone else in the music industry. who the fuck cares about furgeson? Shit happens!! That’s life! Im so tired of this shit especially you ignorant fuckers making every god damn thing about whites against blacks. Who don’t you read the statistics of who kills who and do you hear white people making a big deal when a black man killd a white man? Fuck jo cause that’s the way the world turns get the fuck over it!

    • Brittany Your disgustingly arrogant. Shut your fucking herpes ridden mouth coz everytime it opens it offends someone who’s thought out opinion actually matters. Your willingness to defend someone superficial like iggy azalea who deserves critisism, but dismissal of the happenings in ferguson, which made me and my mates who live in Australia feel sick, proves that your just another air headed self obsessed bimbo. People like you who talk more than you think should do eeeeeveryone a big big favor and kill urself because your uneducated opinion is dragging the rest of us down. Keep talking about twerking and stay out of conversations that matter coz you stick out like a sore thumb

  11. Hip hop is black people music only? Right, from now on black people should only listen to black music and white people to white music… is that not some kind of sick musical apartide or however you spell it?

  12. I li Ske iggy cause she is a new face to the game. She Is Doing Well For Herself also. And to be honest that is the only reason people have chosen to lash out at her. Cause if she was in fact not doing so well. Neither QTip, Banks, or Solange, wouldn’t be saying anything. And let be serious. Tyler the creator……. he’s not even an artist. So his criticism means nothing. Let that women continue to make music and live her life.

  14. not to mention its propaganda when the ‘white cop kills black man’ thing from i believe its CNN that said it and some anons litterally believe and fall for it like watch out for the distortion and udilatural use of minipulations no debates *emotional conversations* only dialectics *critical thinking arguements* guys everyone here study alot of philosophy i recommend it gets you out of your self of steem bubble and getn shit easier seen. Also Hector from that Whole LULZSec, Lizard Squad and AntiSec thing were actually created purposely because the Federal Bureau made him create them or else they would take his kids away Illegaly. have some empathy on both red pill ppl (Infowars) and blue pill ppl (CBS) please 🙂

  16. The problem as I see it is not a cultural one, instead it is an economic one. The goal of many black artist is to get their work into the mainstream. Wider distributions mean more money. As long as hip-hop and rap retained counter-culture or sub-cultural status, this potential for maximum distribution could not be realized. The commodification of culture is necessary to make the transition from low-brow to high brow (mainstream)…it happened with Jazz, the blues, and during the Bohemian phase of the Harlem Renaissance. Without this commodification Beyonce, Jay-Z, P-diddy, and Usher could not have attained the distributions that they have and all other these artist have wide crossover appeal. Is it so unusual that as R&B, Hip Hop and Rap reach the mainstream’s wider audiences that White, Hispanic, or Asian children that grew up listening to this music would not emulate the art form. The perpetuation of the art form and the increasing distribution increases the profits of black artists too. I don’t know if Iggy understands major issues in the black community and although I think it important that she offer accolades to the artists that inspired her, I do no feel that she is required to respond to political or social movements that she may not understand.

  17. this is pretty freaking silly. So because hip hop is only for black people Iggy Azalea (whom I don’t particularly care for either way) is suddenly a bad guy because she doesn’t protest politics or other black culture concerns? Music is music. I don’t bitch that EDM has become a complete joke and nothing like PLUR was meant to be. Is this because it’s a “white people” genre? No, it’s because music is music. I am severely disappointed that this was published to anonhq because this is not a concern for the people or humanity. Just something against music. Why don’t you guys post articles about every other white music band who doesn’t stand against racism? Or talk about how demeaning hip hop and rap are to women? Because it’s music, an expression of whatever the fuck an artist wants to say or make. Facepalm motherfuckers. Good job.

  19. Put it this way, I’m Hawaiian, born and raised in Hawaii. When ppl move here, they adapt to the culture. They better. Otherwise GTFO. So same thing here! She is not adapting to the culture. She’s just a damn pop star who thinks she got a tight flow. I can’t believe they think that she’s “hip-hop/rap.” It’s disrespectful to the culture, T.I. Is being just as disrespectful. All for the $$$.

  20. Black people created hip-hop to use to speak out against injustice and uplift their people. This girl is coming in and exploiting it for her own gain. They have every right to be pissed! If they’re not gonna use it properly then they need to leave it the hell alone!

  21. Truthfully this feud is overall retarded. We are all human beings, doesn’t matter what color you are. Yes, rap is a way to talk about politics but blaming a girl for not involving herself in it is stupid. Some black rappers don’t talk about social problems, politics and whatever. They talk about sex. This conversation is racist. We should stop being racist and love each other. I personally don’t care about Iggy’s music but she has.the right to rap. Who cares if she’s white? Who cares if she doesn’t want to involve herself in the Ferguson bull shit. She’s a human being and all of us should respect that fact. I don’t care if some of you start arguing with me. I know that i have a point and that point is to stop being racist and love each other.

    • I agree with Aileen. Why does race (we are all the human race)have anything to do with it. So according to “Excessive”, Black people can’t did white people songs an visa versa. How do you think “Rock and Roll” got started. Blacks and Whites influencing each other. This why Rock and Roll is here to stay. Does “Excessive” think that only Blacks have issues, that are worth writing songs about. Practically every ethnic group (Asian, Irish, French, Italian, Mexican, etc. etc. have had issues, after coming here to America. I do think Iggy’s song are strickly for shock value, but I’m not a song critic. I can listen to what I want and turn i9t off if I don’t like it.

  22. I don’t like white ppl but I like them allot more then black! blacks think they own everything and are perfect. Listen to most the hip hop they put out there it’s pure SHIT! Then claim it their “Culture”?? Culture of shit maybe!

  24. Eminem and yelawolf is real rap/hip hop. They sing about struggles which is what the music genre was suppose to be about, not robbing peoples grandmothers and doing drugs and killing people for fun.

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