Would Gaga be as popular if she was black?

[ItsTommyBitch 12,640]

​It's so easy to think "she doesn't make this style generally, so it must be a parody." As if an artist can't experiment with genres without being labelled. People aren't willing to think of popstars as versatile, so any deviation from the pop formula is met with a bit of confusion and a sense of "are they being serious?" Doesn't half make for a limiting genre when that's the case. Like Gaga said, she feels like she has be a good girl and fit into the popstar box but she wants to rebel as she's a fan of all different types of music.

I see why some people think of Iggy as more pop than rap, but honestly, if she were black, she would be considered full-on rap. She raps about the exact same things other black rap females are singing about and is using the same kind of beats, so how is she not rap? A lot of people don't like to call her rap because they don't think she's talented. But that's the bit I don't get: since when did you have to be talented to call yourself a participator in a genre? Iggy suffers a lot of s**t for doing rap and it's totally because she's white and it's ridiculous. Believe it or not, there are untalented black rappers out there and they make Iggy look like Missy Elliott and Lil Kim combined. If she were black, there would be no public fascination with calling her untalented, fact.

 

​Well Cake Like Lady Gaga was a just for fun kind of song...it IS a bit parody-like, or maybe even pastiche in nature and theres nothing wrong with that. She didn't release it because she was trying new genre's of music as far as I know, just to have fun and be crazy.

 

I think Iggy is still rap; she's still a rapper who really doesn't sing minus maybe light choruses and background vocals, and actually raps the majority of her songs... but I think shes hip-pop because sonically (at least her most recent album) her music tends to be made in a very pop-like structure, with Verse-Chorus-Verse-Chorus-Bridge (maybe) -Chorus, and the choruses are clearly made with hooks in mind (looking @ you katy, charli ). It doesnt make her any worse of a rapper, and I don't actually think shes THAT bad of a rapper anyway. Negative stigma around her DOES contribute to people looking down on her for many aspects of her career. I think shes got breathing problems when she performs live and needs to work on cleaning up her pronunciation when she raps fast, but thats about it. She CAN do it, and I personally dont ever subscribe to a "signature flow" because being able to do many or emulate/imitate others (or make new ones) makes the music more interesting. 

Other people might be so stereotypical, but I'm not one of those people. I think shes hip-pop ish sonically and i could care less that she's white  I got into her because I liked her music organically. I felt a little bit attacked and im not sure if you were talking about me or generally  

On a further note though, she does rap about the same thing other black female rappers do (generally). I think a lot of modern rap is overrun with gratuitous braggadocio and a lot of it isn't even clever enough to excuse the fact that its, imo, almost equivalent to the generic love song in pop music . I mean, some of it is mandatory, but other than songs like Work and maybe Black Widow, its kind of excessive. Its fine to have that quality; it makes for great rap music when done well, and it is also good filler + has historical context in why it exists in rap in the first place. I just don't like when rap songs are literally ALL about that and aren't even clever

But I got off topic  

[Sister 9,907]

I think that she would be, a lot of her music would still work, if she were a black girl with her same style, attitude and voice. When I had only just heard a couple of her songs, I thought that she was an urban artist rather than just another pop girl that people would put up against Britney Spears. I think I heard Love Game and Paparazzi first and then Poker Face.

[StrawberryBlond 14,874]

​Well Cake Like Lady Gaga was a just for fun kind of song...it IS a bit parody-like, or maybe even pastiche in nature and theres nothing wrong with that. She didn't release it because she was trying new genre's of music as far as I know, just to have fun and be crazy.

 

I think Iggy is still rap; she's still a rapper who really doesn't sing minus maybe light choruses and background vocals, and actually raps the majority of her songs... but I think shes hip-pop because sonically (at least her most recent album) her music tends to be made in a very pop-like structure, with Verse-Chorus-Verse-Chorus-Bridge (maybe) -Chorus, and the choruses are clearly made with hooks in mind (looking @ you katy, charli ). It doesnt make her any worse of a rapper, and I don't actually think shes THAT bad of a rapper anyway. Negative stigma around her DOES contribute to people looking down on her for many aspects of her career. I think shes got breathing problems when she performs live and needs to work on cleaning up her pronunciation when she raps fast, but thats about it. She CAN do it, and I personally dont ever subscribe to a "signature flow" because being able to do many or emulate/imitate others (or make new ones) makes the music more interesting. 

Other people might be so stereotypical, but I'm not one of those people. I think shes hip-pop ish sonically and i could care less that she's white  I got into her because I liked her music organically. I felt a little bit attacked and im not sure if you were talking about me or generally  

On a further note though, she does rap about the same thing other black female rappers do (generally). I think a lot of modern rap is overrun with gratuitous braggadocio and a lot of it isn't even clever enough to excuse the fact that its, imo, almost equivalent to the generic love song in pop music . I mean, some of it is mandatory, but other than songs like Work and maybe Black Widow, its kind of excessive. Its fine to have that quality; it makes for great rap music when done well, and it is also good filler + has historical context in why it exists in rap in the first place. I just don't like when rap songs are literally ALL about that and aren't even clever

But I got off topic  

​Yeah, I know she released it just for fun, but when you consider how a lot of other trap songs sound the same...maybe it didn't need to be written off as a joke so easlly. The public hadn't embraced trap at the time, so it was unlikely they'd take it seriously. Now, though, they totally could. That's all I'm saying.

Ultimately, I think Iggy should be regarded as a rapper considering that she only raps, she doesn't sing. This was something that someone brought up on a radio interview defending her. Female rappers like Nicki rose to prominence singing rap/pop crossover and she actually sang on her choruses, not rapped. Nicki even has an occasional song where there is no rap and it's a full on pop ballad (Grand Piano). Iggy never sings, she lets her featured singers sing the chorus while she speaks a backing phrase over it or just uses uncredited backing singers. Don't get me wrong, I would class Iggy as a rap/pop crossover and call her music hip hop as opposed to rap (only really learned the difference last year) but she definitely a rapper. If she keeps making music in this style and doesn't start making full on pop songs where she's singing, she'll have one up on Nicki Minaj anyway. I don't see a lot of the rap community giving Nicki s**t for doing an album that was 50% pop, yet they have the nerve to claim that Iggy, who only raps, is not a real rapper? Get outta here.

I didn't know if you were actually a fan of her or not, so I kept things general. I just think it's sad that a lot of Iggy's fans are laughed at for liking her when there's far worse rappers out there. And knowing that it's likely all down to race is really problematic. I've never seen a female rapper critised for her s-xual image or song content until Iggy. I figure it must be because it's accepted only when it's black girls doing it. Which is racism in and of itself.

[squeala 875]

no because there's this thing called racism. she'd face even more adversity

[Delete 258]

I'm not trying to come across as "pressed" or "butt hurt", but I find the concept of this question to be rather disgusting. To think that someone's popularity would be positively or negatively impacted by race is so...ugh. 

Who honestly cares? She could be green for all I care. If she has the same voice, heart and mind of the Gaga we have then I would be a fan. 

Im not implying any shade or hate against the OP, this more of my feelings towards the question itself. 

[Versace 7,978]

Ummm she technically wasn't white during TF era

[Dorothy Gale 7,575]

I'm not trying to come across as "pressed" or "butt hurt", but I find the concept of this question to be rather disgusting. To think that someone's popularity would be positively or negatively impacted by race is so...ugh. 

Who honestly cares? She could be green for all I care. If she has the same voice, heart and mind of the Gaga we have then I would be a fan. 

Im not implying any shade or hate against the OP, this more of my feelings towards the question itself. 

​Racism still exists. It's a legitimate question. Of course race doesn't matter, but it does to some people.

[ItsTommyBitch 12,640]

I'm not trying to come across as "pressed" or "butt hurt", but I find the concept of this question to be rather disgusting. To think that someone's popularity would be positively or negatively impacted by race is so...ugh. 

Who honestly cares? She could be green for all I care. If she has the same voice, heart and mind of the Gaga we have then I would be a fan. 

Im not implying any shade or hate against the OP, this more of my feelings towards the question itself. 

​Thats exactly the point though. Privilege can make things like actual merit (in this case quality of music, image, artistry, etc.) be disregarded in the bigger picture. It's unfortunate be true. She would be treated and reviewed differently if she were black. Its unfortunately part of the society we live in  

[Delete 258]

​Racism still exists. It's a legitimate question. Of course race doesn't matter, but it does to some people.

​Thats exactly the point though. Privilege can make things like actual merit (in this case quality of music, image, artistry, etc.) be disregarded in the bigger picture. It's unfortunate be true. She would be treated and reviewed differently if she were black. Its unfortunately part of the society we live in  

Freddy Fetish and ItsVenusBitch. I totally agree with you. I'm aware that racism and sterotypes still exist. It pains me to even witness it in modern culture. Even though there's nothing I can do about it, it still causes a major unrest in my heart. 

[Rae 86]

The OP is Al Sharpton  or his twin.