VIDEO: Azealia Banks' interview with Hot 97 - talks about Iggy, Black Culture

[inuborg 4,136]

Isnt this the station of the jockey that introduces Desperado

yep

[Hexxx 2,244]

Iggy is a popstar not a rapper. Put her in the pop category please. That is what this is all about

[ryanmonster 28]

Iggy is a popstar not a rapper. Put her in the pop category please. That is what this is all about

THIS. 

 

 

Let's give a grammy award to white Macklemore instead of Kendrick or Drake who have more acclaimed albums and have sold more.

Let's sign and promote a white female rapper who creates pop songs and nominate her for best rap album in a world where black female rappers are struggling to get any recognition whatsoever.

Iggy can keep doing what she is doing, no problems, it would just be nice if she recognised her privilege and actually helped to open up conversations and help people from within the culture she is exploiting.

 

 

Exactly. This is why she completely lost any respect that I could have for her. Your commentary is spot on. Yeah, people may think that AB can be unapologetic and harsh, but AT LEAST she says that we NEED to talk about these issues...Meanwhile, Iggy only cares about herself. I mean, she LITERALLY tweeted something like "anyway back to things that matter...my tour is gonna be great nick jonas is gonna support, etc." Disgusting.

[ryanmonster 28]

I finally took the time to watch this entire interview. I do have to say I really admire the way azealia speaks her mind so freely even though at points she comes off as very rude and ignorant in the interview.

1. All this culture appropriation talk is annoying. It's more like being influenced off of another culture and admiring the culture more than anything.

2. The color of your skin shouldn't limit you to do certain things, acting certain ways, or making a specfic type of music

3. Azealia needs to stop acting like a know it all and needs to stop crying

 

1. Soo you think that Iggy is only admiring black culture when she talks in a completely different way than her natural speech?? You think she's just admiring it when she makes hundreds of thousands of dollars off of her character, while black girls are seen as "ghetto" and "ratchet" if they talk like that? Are you kidding me?

 

2. When a white artist rips off black culture and then doesn't engage in ANY type of conversation whatsoever about black issues, black people can be angry with that artist. (White people should be angry too, and should expect more from Iggy...These issues affect everyone. If you don't agree with that at least, then you are part of the problem.

 

3. Maybe, just maybe, Azealia is "acting like a know it all" because she has actually experienced discrimination...did you ever think about that? Like did you also say that Gaga should stop crying when she was promoting Born This Way???

[aaronyoji 2,007]

A white girl who grew up idolizing blacks, who moved half way around the world to be closer to their music scene, who probably has heard the N word uttered on rap CDs tens of thousands of times, who dates a black man ...

 

Basically her and Miley think everything black is cool, but the cool blacks kids don't want them at their table. (Weird how America is racist yet blackness is so cool. Americans are funny.)

but see, america thinks blackness is cool when white people water it down and make it appealing to white america. its cool when white people want it and say its cool. blackness is cool when its not an actual black person. 

[aaronyoji 2,007]

So Iggy isn't allowed to rap, but Jimmi Hendrix can be a rock'n'roll legend? Beyonce can do pop? Darius Rucker can do country?

 

It really bothers me that so many black people want to continue to blame white people for slavery that took place two hundred years ago. My ancestors never owned slaves, it's not my fault, and I don't owe you anything. 

because black people ****in invented rock n roll u buffoon.....

[Hexxx 2,244]

Race doesn't matter. I think White Rappers can win awards for their music....if it's real Hip-Hop/Rap

[Michael 533]

I just realised that it's funny how Azealia accuses Iggy of race appropriation and refusing to talk about the issues affecting blacks...when she sings in Spanish on her album, a language of which she is not a native speaker, nor does she talk about issues affecting Hispanics. So, I gather that Azealia thinks it's one rule for her, one rule for everyone else, especially non-blacks. Music is for everyone and no one should be stopped from doing a certain kind of music because it's not historically common within their race to do so. It is the mixing of races and ethnicities in music that have created so many amazing songs and collaborations. I have never seen a community that is so protective of their "heritage" music more than the black community. Everyone else just seems to live and let live, thinking that it's great when people from other races and cultures put their music on a world stage, opening up the door for their native artists to be noticed too. I don't consider whites experimenting with urban music to be "stealing" it. Music can't be stolen, it was nobody's property to begin with. "Blacks were once/still are oppressed" is irrelevant to the discussion of white people singing black music.

 

I'm sick of white people being constantly painted as ignorant in any situation where racial issues come up. Presumed that they couldn't possibly understand because they're not from a certain community. Presumed that they can't understand because they've never endured oppression. Even that we should withstand racial criticism because it's not like we've already endured years of it like blacks have. I've even seen fellow whites claiming the same thing. And black people are treated different worldwide - Americans tend to assume blacks are treated the same everywhere. And not everyone has such a stick about their a** concerning race as Americans do. I think it's going to be a long time, if ever, that Americans decide to chill on the whole race debate and just move on like the rest of the world has.

 

Nope, it isn't even the fact that Iggy is white that is Azealia's problem. It's the fact that she is successful because she's white. People can disagree with it, but it's true. It's a subconcious thing. White people have been regarded higher than black people for generations because of their skin colour, and now it's even happening in hip-hop which was created by black people to celebrate and liberate them from oppression they faced.

 

The colour of her skin isn't the end of the story. Azealia likes Eminem. Eminem is amazing and isn't making money from acting like he's black and trivializing the culture of an entire race.

Iggy is being favoured over black women in the industry. In reality, her rapping abilities are no where near the level of Azealia Banks, Angel Haze, Nicki Minaj or any of the other black women who are in rap today. Her colour is what made her so attractive to labels, managers, and the industry in general. "Here's a cute blonde white girl who we can market to the masses and play on pop radio, but let's 'black' her up a bit so that she also can be classed as hip-hop even though she isn't and let's take away the attention from black artists and their own genre. Let's also have her talk in an urban American accent even though she's Australian, just to make sure that she is mocking them enough to be playing them at their own music".

[Navy 495]

Nope, it isn't even the fact that Iggy is white that is Azealia's problem. It's the fact that she is successful because she's white. People can disagree with it, but it's true. It's a subconcious thing. White people have been regarded higher than black people for generations because of their skin colour, and now it's even happening in hip-hop which was created by black people to celebrate and liberate them from oppression they faced.

 

The colour of her skin isn't the end of the story. Azealia likes Eminem. Eminem is amazing and isn't making money from acting like he's black and trivializing the culture of an entire race.

Iggy is being favoured over black women in the industry. In reality, her rapping abilities are no where near the level of Azealia Banks, Angel Haze, Nicki Minaj or any of the other black women who are in rap today. Her colour is what made her so attractive to labels, managers, and the industry in general. "Here's a cute blonde white girl who we can market to the masses and play on pop radio, but let's 'black' her up a bit so that she also can be classed as hip-hop even though she isn't and let's take away the attention from black artists and their own genre. Let's also have her talk in an urban American accent even though she's Australian, just to make sure that she is mocking them enough to be playing them at their own music".

Have you listened to any of iggy's mixtapes? Iggy is hip-hop. End of story. She has 3 damn pop songs.

[miju 375]

Have you listened to any of iggy's mixtapes? Iggy is hip-hop. End of story. She has 3 damn pop songs.

Ever since she breached the mainstream she's only releasing pop singles. Which is the point, she's getting hailed as the new rap star for pop songs because she puts on enough of a stereotypical black girl character to still be classified as hip hop.

Even if she's made hip-hop before, she's not releasing it now and she won't be. Rap-influenced pop music is what sells for her. And it's not entirely her fault, no ones trying to blame Iggy for being the big evil here, it's the way that society is and the big labels that want to market her that way.

[Hexxx 2,244]

Nope, it isn't even the fact that Iggy is white that is Azealia's problem. It's the fact that she is successful because she's white. People can disagree with it, but it's true. It's a subconcious thing. White people have been regarded higher than black people for generations because of their skin colour, and now it's even happening in hip-hop which was created by black people to celebrate and liberate them from oppression they faced.

The colour of her skin isn't the end of the story. Azealia likes Eminem. Eminem is amazing and isn't making money from acting like he's black and trivializing the culture of an entire race.

Iggy is being favoured over black women in the industry. In reality, her rapping abilities are no where near the level of Azealia Banks, Angel Haze, Nicki Minaj or any of the other black women who are in rap today. Her colour is what made her so attractive to labels, managers, and the industry in general. "Here's a cute blonde white girl who we can market to the masses and play on pop radio, but let's 'black' her up a bit so that she also can be classed as hip-hop even though she isn't and let's take away the attention from black artists and their own genre. Let's also have her talk in an urban American accent even though she's Australian, just to make sure that she is mocking them enough to be playing them at their own music".

This. All this. Thank you so much. I hope everyone reads this.

[Michael 533]

Ever since she breached the mainstream she's only releasing pop singles. Which is the point, she's getting hailed as the new rap star for pop songs because she puts on enough of a stereotypical black girl character to still be classified as hip hop.

Even if she's made hip-hop before, she's not releasing it now and she won't be. Rap-influenced pop music is what sells for her. And it's not entirely her fault, no ones trying to blame Iggy for being the big evil here, it's the way that society is and the big labels that want to market her that way.

Exactly

[inuborg 4,136]

Nope, it isn't even the fact that Iggy is white that is Azealia's problem. It's the fact that she is successful because she's white. People can disagree with it, but it's true. It's a subconcious thing. White people have been regarded higher than black people for generations because of their skin colour, and now it's even happening in hip-hop which was created by black people to celebrate and liberate them from oppression they faced.

 

The colour of her skin isn't the end of the story. Azealia likes Eminem. Eminem is amazing and isn't making money from acting like he's black and trivializing the culture of an entire race.

Iggy is being favoured over black women in the industry. In reality, her rapping abilities are no where near the level of Azealia Banks, Angel Haze, Nicki Minaj or any of the other black women who are in rap today. Her colour is what made her so attractive to labels, managers, and the industry in general. "Here's a cute blonde white girl who we can market to the masses and play on pop radio, but let's 'black' her up a bit so that she also can be classed as hip-hop even though she isn't and let's take away the attention from black artists and their own genre. Let's also have her talk in an urban American accent even though she's Australian, just to make sure that she is mocking them enough to be playing them at their own music".

:applause:

 

Well said 

[Desperado 2,439]

Nope, it isn't even the fact that Iggy is white that is Azealia's problem. It's the fact that she is successful because she's white. People can disagree with it, but it's true. It's a subconcious thing. White people have been regarded higher than black people for generations because of their skin colour, and now it's even happening in hip-hop which was created by black people to celebrate and liberate them from oppression they faced.

 

The colour of her skin isn't the end of the story. Azealia likes Eminem. Eminem is amazing and isn't making money from acting like he's black and trivializing the culture of an entire race.

Iggy is being favoured over black women in the industry. In reality, her rapping abilities are no where near the level of Azealia Banks, Angel Haze, Nicki Minaj or any of the other black women who are in rap today. Her colour is what made her so attractive to labels, managers, and the industry in general. "Here's a cute blonde white girl who we can market to the masses and play on pop radio, but let's 'black' her up a bit so that she also can be classed as hip-hop even though she isn't and let's take away the attention from black artists and their own genre. Let's also have her talk in an urban American accent even though she's Australian, just to make sure that she is mocking them enough to be playing them at their own music".

.

[StrawberryBlond 14,233]

I agree that UK has a very different racial climate, but I don't know the specifics, because I don't live there. But there is a lot of racial tension in America ESPECIALLY right now. And I agree its a backwards to define someone by their race, but in America you can't really avoid it. Because in America there is a lot of injustice against blacks in general, and thats what gets Azealia so upset. How for the past 80 years everything the blacks have made for themselves in American was taken from them, flipped, made to carter the pop audience and the blacks never get their credit. THATS why I say Hip Hop is a very specific issue. Now yes Azealia's dismay for Iggy comes from a more shallow place. Back in 2011/12 she sees this white girl, with her name, mocking the accent of her people with a "runaway slave master line" and a whip motion...and its like who does this girl think she is. Now fast forward to 2014 and now she's all of sudden "the queen" of rap. She didn't earn it.... Her record wasn't better than Nicki's it wasn't better than Azealia's...It wasn't better than Angel Haze's either. So why is she the queen of rap? Oh its because she's benefiting from her white privilege. In America, a POC has to work MUCH harder to get to the same spot as a non POC not to mention all the extra obstacles. But its not Iggy's fault, and Azealia should blame her for that. Thats just how it works in America, its ****ed up, but theres nothing we can do about it. She is saying that Rap and Hip Hop are some of the only things African American are holding on to, but not in a way that white people CANT join in, (Eminem was an AMAZING lyricist, who never appropriated black culture and they just did his own thing, Ed Sheeran, Asher Roth, Watsky, too and MIA) it just stings how mediocrity is exalted to the forefront due to white privilege. And no one should take away how Azealia feels about it. Because a lot of black kids our age don't care, and they should.

 

Well, in the UK, the blacks do have their own identity, but they still mix with whites and don't have a problem with that. Yes, in the rougher areas of London and suchlike, there are black-only gangs, just like it is in America, but they're about the only ones who don't integrate. The others are perfectly fine with identifying as British (unlike in America, there's no term like African British) and focus on being a British citizen as opposed to a black British citizen. It's a terribly British thing to be afraid of using the word "black" as we're so afraid to be perceieved as defining someone by how they look. As far as I can see, I don't see any black British artists being up in arms about white artists stealing their music. A lot of them actually are part of a multi-racial group or associate with people of other races. You'll notice that a lot of British girl groups always have one or more black girl or even an Asian girl or Hispanic girl in them (Spice Girls, Sugababes, The Saturdays, Little Mix, Neon Jungle) because we know that a multi-racial group is a great business tactic as that way, every girl can see themselves in one of them and representing the public is the name of the game. There were some girl groups who were all-black (Cleopatra, Honeyz, Stooshe) but they never had the big success. I don't think it's because they were black, though, it's just that they didn't have the right marketing and their race exclusiveness maybe made them not as relatable (remember that there's a lot less black people in the UK than America). Destiny's Child were big here, so I think that's a sign that it was ultimately down to marketing and promotion if you want to be big.

 

I get what you're saying about the issue of hip hop in particular. But really, I think it's nothing compared to what blacks went through in the jazz era, when they were treated like second class citizens. Nat King Cole had to enter through the back door when he played at a venue, and he was the star. Nowadays black artists are pulling up in limos and get 5 star treatment, even the ones that aren't all that big. They get told by all different people that they're a king or a queen. It's a very different world now. Black artists now have a confidence that they didn't have years ago.

 

Iggy didn't steal Azealia's name (though I find it funny how two very similarly named artists were launched at the same time) because she got her name by fusing her dog's name (Iggy) and the street in which she grew up on (Azalea Street). So, talking about how Iggy potentially jacked some of Azealia's name is irrelevant. I still haven't found this slave master line, so if you can tell me where it is, that would be great. I really don't see Iggy calling herself the queen of rap, though she might consider herself the current queen, which would be understandable. In Heavy Crown, I thought she handled it very humbly and intelligently by saying that this crown isn't permanent, it gets passed around over generations, she's got it now, but understands that one day, she'll have to give it up. Other rappers just boast that they are the queen/king and act like it's permanent. And I certainly don't see anyone else, not even her fans, call her the queen. So, I don't know where this idea of her as a queen of rap is coming from. I don't know why you think she hasn't earned the title - she worked 8 years trying to be famous, released mixtapes, EPs and had her debut pushed back. That's more than some rappers do before making it. So, no, I don't see how her whiteness has helped her get to where she is, at least, nowhere near the extent that you're making it out to be. And it's pure opinion that her album wasn't as good as Nicki's, Azealia's and Angel's. You can't just say it did better because it was by a white artist. I'm not keen on a lot of rap by the supposed biggest rappers of the moment, but I don't always think highly of the pretentious, avant garde stuff that the alternative indie ones are making either. One side's too generic, the other side is gibberish to me. I'm not going to like a mainstream rapper just because the media tells me I should, nor will I like an alternative rapper just because they're "real." If it's my taste, I'll like it, if it's not, I won't. Azealia didn't sell because her album is extremely experimental and wasn't physically released or had any kind of promotion, that's it. Not because she's black. A white person would have gone through the very same thing - the music industry is harsh on everyone.

 

It's really not about that. You are missing the point. All anybody is asking for is for mainstream hip-hop culture to be more representative.

There is a white girl from Mullumbimby who can't even freestyle, who raps with a fake "black southern" accent, who twerks and refers to herself as a "runaway slave master" who is profiting off black culture.

Meanwhile there is a large group of authentic black female rappers who are not putting on fake accents and can freestyle who have more skills than Iggy, but they are not getting a chance to participate and are shut down as ratchet and ghetto for doing the exact same thing Iggy is doing, but better.

Why is this Australian girl, who is so far removed from African American culture, being given chances that people within the African American community are not?

It's cool for Iggy to pretend to be black, but it isn't cool for the people within the culture to do what she is doing. That is the problem.

 

Frankly I think it is poor that Iggy isn't doing anything to acknowledge her privilege and doesn't involve herself with issues that affect the people within the culture she is exploiting.

 

 

 

AB grew up around the Dominican community. Speaking in a little Spanish is different from her, lets say, creating a Latin American album (which actually also incorporates African influences) and claiming credit for her Hispanic influences while pushing out people from the Latin American community.

I'm sure you can understand the frustration of the black community when they have been responsible for creating Jazz, Rock and Roll and Rap music and then they are essentially pushed out from their own genres.

Let's give a grammy award to white Macklemore instead of Kendrick or Drake who have more acclaimed albums and have sold more.

Let's sign and promote a white female rapper who creates pop songs and nominate her for best rap album in a world where black female rappers are struggling to get any recognition whatsoever.

Iggy can keep doing what she is doing, no problems, it would just be nice if she recognised her privilege and actually helped to open up conversations and help people from within the culture she is exploiting.

 

If we're talking about mainstream hip hop being more representative, then the issue should be about, why aren't there more non-blacks in the genre? I don't know what eyes you're seeing through, but hip hop has always been predominantly black. Eminem and Iggy are the only white artists I can think of who had more than one hit. Everyone laughed at Vanilla Ice and Snow back in the day, they disappeared after one hit and don't have anything now. Emimen's been the only white rapper anyone's ever taken seriously and is that one big white rapper success story and who knows how much longer Iggy's going to be around? And that's not even touching on the Indian/Pakastani/Bangladeshi/Arab rappers who are virtually unknown of in the western world. Blacks rule the hip hop genre. If anything, it seems like non-blacks have to work even harder to make it than they do. People are acting as if Iggy is one of a long line of white female rappers that made it instead of black women. I have never seen a white female rapper that has been as big as Iggy. Seriously, look up the list of female rappers on Wikipedia. Not only are there not many, but the white ones just didn't get anywhere apart from her. I think it's more a feminism issue than a race issue here. It's no secret that making it as a female rapper is hard and they're viewed by labels as not profitable.

 

Iggy, just like plenty of others before her, is just lucky to have made it. The music business is brutal, no matter your race. You can't get signed, your label doesn't let you do what you want, you get your albums pushed back or canned, you're contractually obligated to do certain stuff, if you fail, you get dropped. Everyone is at risk of this. Only a tiny percentage make it, the rest don't. Some deserve it, some don't. Welcome to the music industry. You can't just cry "racial injustice" every time a black artist doesn't make it. On the contrary, I see a shocking amount of untalented hip hop artists come out of the UK and they're mostly all black. They may only get one totally undeserved hit and disappear, but they got something out of it. If it's so hard for a black person to make it in the business, why do I see so many untalented ones doing just that? There's a lot of untalented ones in America too. The best hip hop from black artists came from the 90's. Ever since then, there's been a constant stream of talentless nobodies with an inflated sense of importance calling themselves kings and queens on their debut album.

 

 

So, what you're saying is, it's fine for Azealia to cherrypick elements of Hispanic culture to put in her work just because she grew up with it? Someone who didn't grow up with it has no right? And what law states that a non-Hispanic can't make a Spanish album anyway? Art has no racial or ethnic boundaries. It sounds to me like you're excusing Azealia for stuff that you won't let others get away with.

 

Once again, we come down to opinions regarding albums. I preferred Macklemore's album more than Drake's and Kendrick's. I wouldn't say that they didn't deserve awards, they just weren't my taste. And Macklemore was critically acclaimed, had more hits and is something very different and he speaks about social issues. If he was black, you'd be praising him. And of course Iggy had to get nominated - there wasn't all that much rap released recently and she was a big star, so you can only snub people so much. You have to pad out a 5 nomination category, so you have to nominate the not so good ones too, just to fill up space. The only huge rap albums from late 2013/late 2014 were Eminem's, Drake's and Iggy's, so yeah, of course they had to be nominated or else there wouldn't be much else to put there. Black female rappers couldn't get nominated if they didn't release anything in this time frame or got any success, could they?

 

Here's the thing - telling white people to admit that they're privilaged isn't going to win you any points. It offends us deeply. We're not going to apologise for something our ancestors did generations ago. We didn't ask to be born white. When most of us hear the word "privilaged" we think of super-rich people, at least I do. I'm not rich at all, so I don't feel right calling myself privilaged. "Advantaged" would be a better word. I won't deny that being a white person is an easier life but to act like it makes life as easy as pie is delusional. Anyone can become poor and a lot of poor people are in their situation because of the decisions they made in life, not because of their race.