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


inuborg

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inuborg

Nah. AB fans and Iggy haters are only using this to actually go against her for an actual (poor) reason 6PVcLn1.png

 

The only people making it solely about Iggy is herself and her fans....

 

Most of what Azealia had to say was about black issues in general, mostly the smudging and erasure black culture and history, and the innocent killing of black individuals, and how the media scrutinizes black faults (Bill Cosby as opposed to Terry Richardson or That guy from 7th Heaven). And thats what Azealia got upset about. 

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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.

 

 

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.

 

There are vast differences between the UK and the US so i'm not even going to go there, it would take up far too much time and space. We are talking about the racial climate in the US where unarmed black teens are getting shot down by police, where black drivers are more likely to be pulled over, where black people are more likely to be sent to jail and where programs like stop and frisk are implemented in African American communities that unfairly target the black community more than it does the wall street businessmen with c-----e stuffed in their jacket pockets.

 

Hip-hop is predominantly black, yes. The demographic for hip-hop is generally black. Who do you think is more likely to be listening to rap music and practicing their rap skills, a white girl from Mullumbimby or a black girl from Brooklyn or Detroit?

The fact is that hip-hop culture originated in black communities and is a large part of that culture. Out of the two mainstream female rappers, we have Nicki and Iggy. Meanwhile there are thousands of black girls who have more skills than Iggy who are being called ratchet and ghetto for twerking and rapping like Iggy does. When these black girls speak like Iggy they are considered uneducated but when Iggy puts on a fake accent it's all cool and it's profitable.

Having a white girl and a black girl on mainstream rap might look representative at first glance, if you don't know much about the genre and the culture around it but it's not.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kb7jQ1Xf1w4

Flip through these videos and see how many white girls are in there.

Here is Biggie Smalls (The Notorious B.I.G) rapping on a brooklyn street corner

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxATyB6t-QY

This is an unknown homeless man rapping on the subway

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Qa5ogzQ2EY

 

This is another rap battle 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrDDZRrQn9Q

Do you think this is common in Mullumbimby? I don't think so. It would be like if the only mainstream female country singers where Carrie Underwood and some black girl from Detroit. It's a little bit of a different and a very unlikely situation but I'm sure a lot of people would be surprised, it isn't really representative of the country music culture. The people who sing and listen to country music usually are not black girls from Detroit. That case would be a bit different, but I was more trying to make a point on the fact that the African American community in some parts of America are heavily involved in hip-hop culture. The women of that culture are not being represented, they are being replaced by a less skilled white girl who calls herself a "runaway slave master" and who cannot freestyle. 

Surely you can see the difference between Azealia rapping a couple of lines of Spanish with Iggy Azalea creating a caricature of a black woman with her fake accent, twerking and rapping in a realm where blacks are discriminated against for those very aspects of themselves. Banks isn't cherry picking parts of Hispanic culture, she happens to know a little Spanish from growing up around the Dominican community and includes it in her songs. If you can't see the vast differences then I don't even know what to say.

 

Hip-hop is a space that the black community has created. The interview here talks about Jay Z and how he has laid down the brickwork for generations of African Americans. There are communities within the African American community that are not very well off. Hip-Hop is an art and culture that they created for themselves, a space that they can prosper in. What AB talks about in this interview is the fact that these black girls don't have the opportunity to profit from their own culture. It is taken from them and appropriated by some white girl who doesn't even bother to recognise her privilege and help people from within the culture she is exploiting for profit.

I'm not going to go completely into the award shows. Lets just say that when Kendrick has a metascore of 91 for his album, Yeezus was 84 Drake's Nothing Was The Same was 79 and has sold more copies of The Heist which, still had a decent metascore, of 74.

I'm not hating on Macklemore, his album was alright, but even he admitted Kendrick was robbed. The only album against Macklemore that had a worse critical reception was Magna Carta Holy Grail and that still sold more than The Heist. Infact, Kendrick Lamar with the most critically acclaimed and praised rap/hip-hop album of 2013 walked away with 0 grammys while Macklemore walked away with 4.

That's all i'm going to say about that. You can read articles like this for more information if you wish:

http://www.complex.com/music/2014/01/macklemore-white-privilege-grammy-best-rap-album

http://www.complex.com/music/2014/12/qtip-iggy-azalea-history-lesson

Being a female rapper is indeed very hard. Nicki Minaj is by far the most successful female rapper of all time. It's a little strange that, Iggy's real lead sing, Fancy holds the record for longest running #1 song by a female rapper. It's also pretty fair to say that that song was more of a pop song than a hip hop song. Great for Iggy, she worked hard. A lot of black girls have also worked very hard on their skills and have lived and breathed the culture their entire life, it would be nice to see them recognised.

Here is the thing - you shouldn't be offended at being called privileged. I'm a white male, I'm privileged. That doesn't mean my life was easy, I don't come from an wealthy family, I was raised by a single parent. I've struggled. At the end of the day though, employers are more likely to choose me with a name like "Liam" rather than someone equally qualified with the name "Muhammad". 

Nobody is trying to say that Iggy didn't struggle and had it super easy, but she had it easier than the women within the culture she is appropriating! She got signed to a major label and heavily promoted. Even after she called herself a runaway slave master... I mean come on.

 

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inuborg

I want another interview from her

They aint ready for another one 

I root for you. I love you. You, you, you, you.
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just been thinking about this stuff and the more i think about it the more i see how difficult it must be to grow up black in the US. it an odd feeling. i think we should definitely educate everyone on the history of slavery and civil rights but its pushed into our faces so much that it feels like its almost a weird form of control or something. in school you our history courses are all about war and civil rights/slavery, in english class we read to kill a mockingbird , movies like 12 years a slave, Lincoln, the help all deal with racism in america. its like a constant reminder to black people "your ancestors were enslaved, tortured beaten, murdered, lynched, they were not seen as equal, they were barely even seen as human" that has to **** with your head .

 

i'm mexican and we have had our issues over race too but it isnt pushed into our faces as often i mean the only guy anyone knows about is usually cesar chavez and we barely talk about the guy in history class. but we talk about MLK for an entire year or something. i mean we all know who robert e lee was but how many people know who james k polk was? how many people know who santa anna or zachary taylor were? but ulysses s grant and stonewall jackson are household names. 

 

all i'm saying is that i didnt have to grow up with a constant reminder that meixcan land was taken or that europeans enslaved your ancestors and treated them inhumanely. i had to seek out a history book from libraries to really learn about that stuff because my history classes never went into detail about it. like 90% of the native population of the americas was wiped out but there are no oscar winning movies about that being constantly pumped out by the film industry. 

 

reminding people that this stuff happened is important but i wonder if there is a negative effect of it that can come along with it.

I disapprove of what you say, but will defend to the death your right to say it.
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Hecturr

this mother ****ing thread. I agree that AB should think more about the way she tries to portray her message, but this is like the gaga x madonna issue where the interviewers are bringin up madonna all the time. AB is right that there is still a lot of racism going on and people like to pretend it isn't. I do however don't think that Iggy is using black culture and that it is something that is solely black.

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StrawberryBlond

Exactly, Iggy fits the bill for people who want their rap music water down. I believe you've said the reason why you disliked BWET was because it is "too experimental" for your taste, and thats fine, not everyone is going to understand her craft, Interscope sure didn't. Iggy is in no way more hip hop than Nicki, even on Nicki's more pop records like PnP or Bed of Lies her rap verses are better than Iggys and on her Urban records like Shanghai, Want Some More, Win Again, she DEMOLISHES Iggy. Even when Iggy tries to be Urban like on Iggy Szn, it just comes off like a parody or a caricature. But AGAIN the main issue isn't about Iggy. Its about how black lives, black issues, and black art is treated in America. And people, Iggy included, shouldn't mock Azealia for feeling so strongly for her own people.

 

 

Not everyone who likes her thinks that way, though. Before her, the only white rappers I liked were Eminem and Plan B, and they're certainly not watered down. I won't deny that labels saw her as someone much easier to market due to being white but there's no actual evidence that this was why the public bought her work. We can never say for sure what percentage of an artist's image and talent sells music. Ok, she may be a more watered down rapper, she may not make hardcore rap, but I don't think there's anything wrong with her presenting a lighter, girlie version of rap if that's what she wants. I don't mind a bit of relief from usual rap which, although good, can be violent and depressing. A song about being fancy can be a nice little respite. I think Azealia is talented, I just don't get what she's singing about half the time and her beats don't always appeal (I actually preferred Fantasea) along with her voice being a bit grating and off-key somewhat. I didn't dislike it because I'm not intelligent or cultured enough to get it, although that's what some of her fans seem to suggest about those who were critical. Interscope were likely worried that the rest of the public wouldn't like it either and find it too weird. I don't always support labels controlling their artists but now I can see why they were concerned about her releasing such an album that could have had a very polarising result. And I'm not saying that Iggy is a better rapper than Nicki, just that her overall style and beats can be more hip hop than Nicki at times. TNC is much more hip hop than Roman Reloaded was anyway and is about as pop as Pink Friday and The Pinkprint. The problem is, Azealia could have just said what she did about black culture without bringing Iggy into it. But this whole feud started by her picking on Iggy, she never brought up black issues first and then while she was at it, started going on a rant about her. She just set out to bring her down. Her opinions of black culture as a whole came later. Picking on Iggy was just the stepping stone to getting her opinions aired. It amounts to nothing more than bullying and opportunitism. And you don't seem to realise that.

 

Hip-hop is predominantly black, yes. The demographic for hip-hop is generally black. Who do you think is more likely to be listening to rap music and practicing their rap skills, a white girl from Mullumbimby or a black girl from Brooklyn or Detroit?

The fact is that hip-hop culture originated in black communities and is a large part of that culture. Out of the two mainstream female rappers, we have Nicki and Iggy. Meanwhile there are thousands of black girls who have more skills than Iggy who are being called ratchet and ghetto for twerking and rapping like Iggy does. When these black girls speak like Iggy they are considered uneducated but when Iggy puts on a fake accent it's all cool and it's profitable.

Do you think this is common in Mullumbimby? I don't think so. It would be like if the only mainstream female country singers where Carrie Underwood and some black girl from Detroit. It's a little bit of a different and a very unlikely situation but I'm sure a lot of people would be surprised, it isn't really representative of the country music culture. The people who sing and listen to country music usually are not black girls from Detroit. That case would be a bit different, but I was more trying to make a point on the fact that the African American community in some parts of America are heavily involved in hip-hop culture. The women of that culture are not being represented, they are being replaced by a less skilled white girl who calls herself a "runaway slave master" and who cannot freestyle. 

Surely you can see the difference between Azealia rapping a couple of lines of Spanish with Iggy Azalea creating a caricature of a black woman with her fake accent, twerking and rapping in a realm where blacks are discriminated against for those very aspects of themselves. Banks isn't cherry picking parts of Hispanic culture, she happens to know a little Spanish from growing up around the Dominican community and includes it in her songs. If you can't see the vast differences then I don't even know what to say.

 

Hip-hop is a space that the black community has created. The interview here talks about Jay Z and how he has laid down the brickwork for generations of African Americans. There are communities within the African American community that are not very well off. Hip-Hop is an art and culture that they created for themselves, a space that they can prosper in. What AB talks about in this interview is the fact that these black girls don't have the opportunity to profit from their own culture. It is taken from them and appropriated by some white girl who doesn't even bother to recognise her privilege and help people from within the culture she is exploiting for profit.

I'm not going to go completely into the award shows. Lets just say that when Kendrick has a metascore of 91 for his album, Yeezus was 84 Drake's Nothing Was The Same was 79 and has sold more copies of The Heist which, still had a decent metascore, of 74.

I'm not hating on Macklemore, his album was alright, but even he admitted Kendrick was robbed. The only album against Macklemore that had a worse critical reception was Magna Carta Holy Grail and that still sold more than The Heist. Infact, Kendrick Lamar with the most critically acclaimed and praised rap/hip-hop album of 2013 walked away with 0 grammys while Macklemore walked away with 4.

Being a female rapper is indeed very hard. Nicki Minaj is by far the most successful female rapper of all time. It's a little strange that, Iggy's real lead sing, Fancy holds the record for longest running #1 song by a female rapper. It's also pretty fair to say that that song was more of a pop song than a hip hop song. Great for Iggy, she worked hard. A lot of black girls have also worked very hard on their skills and have lived and breathed the culture their entire life, it would be nice to see them recognised.

Here is the thing - you shouldn't be offended at being called privileged. I'm a white male, I'm privileged. That doesn't mean my life was easy, I don't come from an wealthy family, I was raised by a single parent. I've struggled. At the end of the day though, employers are more likely to choose me with a name like "Liam" rather than someone equally qualified with the name "Muhammad". 

Nobody is trying to say that Iggy didn't struggle and had it super easy, but she had it easier than the women within the culture she is appropriating! She got signed to a major label and heavily promoted. Even after she called herself a runaway slave master... I mean come on.

 

I totally get what you're saying. But there's ultimately still lots of issues I have with it. You seem to believe that people of the native race and living in the native country where a genre was formed deserve success more than someone who isn't native. No, sorry, I believe that it's talent that defines how much success you ought to have and we didn't ask to be born a certain race or a certain country, so that should never be a barrier. I hate how Americans seem to think they exclusively own rap and think they're the best at it just because it started out there. Yes, it's true, black girls can be called ratchet and so on for doing things that white girls get acceptance for, but there are a lot of people who think they're equally trashy. Americans are really stuck on the idea of "white people find something more offensive if it's a black person doing it" but believe it or not, we're not all like that and don't make double standards.

 

Iggy obviously never grew up freestyling as there was nowhere she could do it where she was from. That's not her fault. Not all rappers can freestyle either. It just means they may not quite be on the level of others, but that doesn't make them bad. I do think black women do get represented in hip hop culture, it's just that it's on a lower level because the public just isn't here for a female rapper, not even Iggy (still hasn't got that gold certification, never mind platinum). Before 2008, black women got heavy representation in the genre when urban music was in. It's out now, and with that went the representation.

 

Ok, there may be differences in the way both women use elements of other cultures, but I just don't see why it's ok for one and not the other. I don't think Iggy's representation of herself involves mockery of black women. It's not a crime for a white woman to have a big butt and twerk. Genes determine body shape, dance is for everyone. And she raps how she does because her Australian accent would sound horrible. When most people sing, they sound American, regardless of their native tongue. It's because American accented singing is very melodic and is the accepted way of singing, so our voices naturally go towards that. Rapping is no different. Rapping is rarely accented in anything other than West coast/East cost American or London British because any other accent just doesn't sound right. I tried re-enacting some raps in my Glaswegian lilt and it sounded hilarious. Revert into the way the original artist sings it and it sounds good. Non-Americans rap in American accents to make their rap sound good and right. Plus, Iggy's lived in America and been surrounded by black people for the last 8 years. It's common to pick up accents and twangs in that time. Picking up on someone's accent isn't always done to mock, it's to empathise with the other person and have them understand you better.

 

The Grammys have always been corrupt on all genres, it's nothing new. A lot of people don't even put any stock in Grammys. It's based on the opinions of an invisible committee, a lot of whom are very old as membership is for life. If it comes down to taste, we can't keep saying there's some sort of agenda against certain artists. Plenty of artists have had lots of nominations for critically acclaimed works but never won. It's not just in the rap community.

 

Well, I think in rap, success isn't really measured by charts as rap is hard to chart. I think it's all about longevity and creating a classic, not necessarily a hit. Missy Elliott's probably the most successful based on that, Lil Kim a close second. I think Nicki's stuff is just too forgettable to the public and most of them really don't care about her, especially when she stopped making pop.

 

Well, even if we are privilaged, I see no reason to apologise for it. I'm not going to go down the white guilt route, though that's partly because I grew up in a culture that didn't teach that feeling. No race should have to feel shame or feel guilty for achieving their dreams just because not everyone had it that easy. I don't believe that a white person has to "own up" to their privilage to be considered a good person. I think it sounds more like you're rubbing it in for those who don't have your privilage.

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"whether it's hip hop or rap or Bill Cosby"

 

 

"and y'all ****ing talking about Bill Cosby like what the ****"

Cringe :awkney:

"I am the world's greatest person that does not want to let people into the country."—US President Donald J. Trump
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inuborg

I don't understand why the person with so much negativity has fans :duck:

Because more often than not she makes good points and surprise, her music is some of the best this decade

I root for you. I love you. You, you, you, you.
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Because more often than not she makes good points and surprise, her music is some of the best this decade

You win :lmao:

The best this decade :lmao:

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inuborg

You win :lmao:

The best this decade :lmao:

Wanna prove me wrong, go ahead, I'm waiting.... :madge:

I guess you meant condems 

No. She literally puts condoms on everyone. Safe Sex Is The best s-x 

I root for you. I love you. You, you, you, you.
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Chromatislaps

Wanna prove me wrong, go ahead, I'm waiting.... :madge:

No. She literally puts condoms on everyone. Safe Sex Is The best s-x 

:blehclausney:

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inuborg

:blehclausney:

Hit it from the front

Hit it from the side

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