Once upon a time in a universe far, far away, HipHopDX used to host blogs. Through Meka, Brillyance, Aliya Ewing and others, readers got unfiltered opinions on the most current topics in and beyond Hip Hop. After a few years, a couple redesigns and the collective vision of three different Editors-In-Chief, blogs are back. Sort of. Since our blog section went the way of two-way pagers and physical mixtapes, Twitter, Instagram and Ustream have further accelerated the pace of current events in Hip Hop. Rappers beef with each other 140 characters at a time, entire mixtapes (and their associated artwork) can be released via Instagram, and sometimes these events require a rapid reaction.
As such, we’re reserving this space for a weekly reaction to Hip Hop’s current events. Or whatever else we deem worthy. And the “we” in question this week is myself Andre Grant, and freelance writer Ural Garrett. I serve as HipHopDX’s Features Staff. Aside from tackling stray topics, I may invite artists and other personalities in Hip Hop to join the conversation. Without further delay, here’s this week’s “Stray Shots.”
Why Is The “Smudging” Debate Raging Around Iggy Azalea?
Andre: Iggy Azalea is being demanded she answer for her success. Azealia Banks has called her out to the ends of the earth for some time now on Twitter, but things got real when Ebro and the crew dove in about her lashing out at Iggy. It even flew into territory about what it means to see a non-black person take home a Grammy in Hip Hop. Heavy stuff.
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The interview was sobering and strangely intimate, as we saw the knife-tongued Harlem artist tearing up on air for what can only be described as what she perceived as trite dismissal toward her views and plight as the entertainment world chose to side with Iggy Azalea — at least in their silence. She made some salient and rarely discussed points as Ebro leaned in on how cultural appropriation had always been there, “No, you’re desensitized to it,” she said. “They’re trying to erase us.” This whole thing began when, specifically, Iggy Azalea flipped Kendrick Lamar’s “runaway slave” line into “runaway slave… master.” (The first line is off K.Dot’s “Look Out For Detox,” the second is off Iggy Azalea’s “D.R.U.G.S.”) Since the interview, Lupe Fiasco, 9th Wonder, Q-Tip, T.I. and others have chimed in. Some jumped to her defense as T.I. called those with an axe to grind “hypocrites.” Lupe simply claimed that Iggy’s music had a “place in Hip Hop,” for which he was soundly derided on Twitter. 9th Wonder has been direct about his dislike for Azalea’s music and Q-Tip dropped an amazing history lesson on Twitter to the Australian entertainer. She has not made things easy on herself, though. Her rebuttals can only be described as tone deaf, as she refuses to confront the issues in front of her, calling Q’s olive branch “patronizing” and claiming she was “used to it.” Issues like her kind of blowing off Sway on his own show in 2013 at the thought of performing the “5 Fingers Of Death” freestyle. Which, most would say, is not a very Hip Hop thing to do.
Hip Hop is an all-inclusive sport. It always has been, and no one would doubt The Beastie Boys, Eminem, MC Serch, El-P, Slug, Statik Selektah, Brother Ali, Action Bronson and other emcees have contributed mightily to the genre. No one would also doubt the singers, songwriters, producers etc., that happen to be white and who have also devoted their lives and careers to Hip Hop are not culturally appropriating. Here’s the thing, this debate is more tied into what is happening in our collective lives right now than with Iggy Azalea.
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This is really about the fact that in 2013 there were no number one Billboard charting African American artists. And, this year, the highest selling Hip Hop album comes courtesy of J. Cole’s 2014 Forest Hills Dive, and although it has gone Gold, it has not yet achieved platinum status. And who was the sales leader before Mr. Cole? Iggy Azalea. This is about cops getting off without so much as a trial in the killings of Michael Brown and Eric Garner. And, most importantly, this is about Gen Y being shaken out of its apathy by these events. The “Millions March,”and the constant protesting in Ferguson that has now engulfed the country as well as the recent suing of NYC’s prison, Rikers Island, by the U.S. for mishandling minors all add up to all of us questioning what right Iggy Azalea has to be here in this space and at this time. Azealia Banks plea was simple: put her squarely in the Pop category. 9th Wonder’s was to buy the music you say you want to see be successful. There is truth in both of these suggestions. For my money, one of the answers comes down to millennials choosing who they wish to be. Can we find our way out of these woods? The rest of the decade should be very interesting.
Ural: The years were between 1990 and 1991. South Dallas born Robert Van Winkle was on top of the world. Dubbed Vanilla Ice, many saw him as the then ruler of Hip Hop as his debut single “Ice Ice Baby” became the first single in the genre to reach number one on the Billboard charts. There were plenty of iconic Hip Hop singles released around the time including from “Check The Rhime,” “The Humpty Dumpty Dance,” “Mind Playing Tricks On Me,” and “Amerikkka’s Most Wanted.” However, folks flocked heavily to the track sampling Queen and David Bowie’s “Under Pressure” along with Ice’s less technical and unhinged flow. Like former Source editor James Bernard said in an opinion piece for The New York Times, “But Vanilla Ice is white, sexy, palatable in the suburbs and thus highly marketable.” Many radio stations that disregarded Hip Hop at the time as something for poor blacks began to open up their musical repertoire. Hip Hop disregarded Ice simply because he was inauthentic, lacked skill and was seen as popular because he was a white guy who did a average job of emulating party raps. For many, he wasn’t as “down” or inoffensive as other white emcees like The Beastie Boys or 3rd Bass. Most importantly, he had support from one of the biggest rappers at the time, MC Hammer.
The more things change, the more things stay the same.
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Fast forward to 2014, Australia-U.S. transplant Amethyst Amelia Kelly or better known to the world as Iggy Azalea is riding high on the success of her Charli XCX assisted single “Fancy” from her major label debut The New Classic. In fact, the single was big enough for Forbes to call her the “Queen of Hip-Hop” and officially made her the top selling rapper of the year (before J. Cole, that is). Regardless of her album having substantially lower scores from both Hip Hop and mainstream music publications, I-g-g-y persevered. It’s easy to see why Iggy had an amazing year. Did she have a catchy pop hook from Charlie XCX? Check! Faux DJ Mustard beat? Check! Music video inspired by a film that lampooned the same white privilege she enjoyed? Check, Check, Check! It was a perfect recipe for success. Despite manyfalse starts, mainstream has its first successful white women in Hip Hop. For most listeners, Hip Hop sucked before Iggy, just as it did before “Ice Ice Baby.”
Like Mr. Winkle, Ms. Kelly’s level of authenticity gets called into question on many fronts. Hell, it’s quite easy when you consider her first video was this…
How does one go from that whisper Britney Spears vibe to this? The world may never know. Despite some inconsistent motives, one Harlem chick with a love for Hip House beats may have found an answer of her own and pretty much started a civil war within Hip Hop. Yup, as Andre mentioned above, Azealia Banks finally got what she wanted for the past couple of years in going after Iggy and people are noticing. Incidentally, the floodgates were open regarding the discussion of white appropriation of black art vs. those who seek cultural unification through artistic integration. This much-needed conversation has been around longer than the time R&B was dubbed jungle music by white listeners before evolving into rock and roll. And look at the genre now. Justin Timberlake and Robin Thicke essentially ruled it last year. Despite how many may feel about Iggy, Timberlake or Thicke, black men have facilitated all their successes. T.I.’s co-sign of Iggy, Timbaland’s production for Timberlake, and Pharrell’s investment into Thicke are indicative of that. As music sales scale downward, many get left behind regardless of talent and ability to make quality music. It doesn’t matter if on a major level, Y.G. and J. Cole had the best bodies of work released this year. They’ll go on to influence the next crop of MCs twenty or thirty years from now. Just like Ice-Cube, A Tribe Called Quest, and Geto Boys inspired this crop of MCs. Those who are saved today are ones that relate better toward the buying masses as 75 percent of music buyers are white and 11 percent black. This leads to the final question; who found themselves inspired by Vanilla Ice and who in the future will claim Iggy?
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Ural Garrett is an Los Angeles-based writer and photographer. For the past several years, he’s written for numerous publications ranging from HipHopDX to SoulTrain. When not covering music, video games, films and the community at large, he’s in the kitchen baking like Anita. Follow him on Twitter @Uralg.
Andre Grant is an NYC native turned L.A. transplant that has contributed to a few different properties on the web and is now the Features Editor for HipHopDX. He’s also trying to live it to the limit and love it a lot. Follow him on Twitter @drejones.
