All the Hip-Hop recaps of the past week have played out
like a weird ending of a Dragon Ball Z
episode: Will Iggy Azalea speak up for black culture? Will Azealia Banks tone
down her “near trollish” rhetoric? Will T.I. continue to somehow sound like the
most articulate inarticulate emcee of all time? Will old heads have a say in
this? Find out on the next episode of “tell ‘em why you mad son!”
Not to marginalize anyone’s opinions, but I had to find a
moment of levity during all of this; the over-reaching and “you tried it”
dialogues, essays, tweets and conversations have reached a extraordinary
levels. Regardless of how you feel about the situation, it’s great to see
people so passionate with their ideas but the music (the most important aspect
of this discussion) gets lost.
I have a friend who will not be named who I know in my
heart of hearts would be the first person in line when and if the revolution
ever starts; I’m not kidding. She embraces other cultures, but at the end of
the day Black culture is the center of her world from her career to her
appearance. She immediately hopped into the Iggy Azalea versus Azealia Banks
argument, agreeing with Banks on the topic what in layman's terms is
characterized as “White people stealing Hip-Hop.” She made incredibly valid
points reaching back to the days of Elvis and so on to describe how innovative
music seems to trade cultures every few years. I had to interlude on her
twitter rant with a question of my own, since she seemed to know so much about
the two emcees, so I slid in her DMs with a four word question…
1991 or Ignorant Art?
She responded with, “What are those?”
The look on my face could best be described as a
disheartened grin; disheartened by the fact she hadn’t heard either artist’s
first legitimate piece of work, and a grin, because this bit of sophisticated
and blissful ignorance has become a household thing these days. We see
something on social media, act like we truly care, but seldom have the ability
to back up the crux of argument insisting on obtuse statements which just come
off as distracting.
I remember a friend sent me a link to Ignorant Art Iggy
Azalea’s first mixtape and this was right after Kreayshawn had popped off with
“Gucci Gucci” so I wasn’t expecting much - white chick spittin bars? It just
seemed too much of a gimmick after hearing Kreayshawn; however, after running
the tape through I was taken aback by her delivery, it was raw, definitely
needed some work but there was something there. The tape was incredibly
commercial, but it had rumblings that Iggy wasn't just a one hit wonder.
Fast forward a few months to Azealia Bank’s EP titled 1991. I hate using the word fresh, as I
feel it’s reached the commercial nature of the word “swag” but that is one of
the few ways to describe the 1991 EP. The title was perfect as the production
brought back a nostalgic vibe of the early 90’s CeCe Penniston vibe mixed with
lyrics both gritty and raunchy at times. I knew it wasn't for everyone, but it
definitely had a place at the table because it pushed the envelope. It was both
ahead of its time, and 20 years late; but somehow that was the beauty of the
project. It was dope and I was excited for Hip-Hop because I truly believe
women needed a voice, well not just one but many in this Hip-Hop game and
Azealia clearly had one both creative and refreshing.
Ignorant Art
had some decent reviews, but the album seemed more of work in progress (there
is a Dave Matthews sample with a verse from a younger YG…), while 1991 garnered
mostly critical acclaim from various news outlets.
Fast forward two years and the tables have turned. Iggy
has signed to T.I.’s label Grand Hustle and dropped a smash single in “Fancy,”
while Azealia Banks has sadly been seen as the mad rapper in various circles.
I say sadly, because things shouldn't have played out
this way. She shouldn't be looked at as the “angry black woman.” She shouldn't
be looked at as difficult to work with; she’s better than that. She shouldn't
be looked at for situations outside of the music; but as we all know perception
is everything.
I hate the fact that for many people watching this
situation play out, they only know Azealia Banks because of Iggy Azalea; hell,
if you look at the “who to follow” tab on Azealia’s timeline, the first name on
the list is Iggy. I wish people could have found out she was dope on her own
music merits (which honestly is tough for anyone these days) as opposed to this
back-and-forth between the two emcees.
Banks’ passion and emotions are put on display on twitter
in a way that is more troll-like than productive. She makes valid points about
cultural appropriation in Hip-Hop, a topic many tend to run from, but it’s her
delivery that turns people off, that loses the point of her message. I have a
vice-like respect for people who refuse to play it safe, to be what others want
them to be, but when the heart of one’s heartfelt argument can be mitigated
down to mere anger, the message is lost.
In her recent interview on Hot 97, I hoped the entire
thing wouldn't be about another rapper - what did Jay say, “Soon as you get a
front page article, ya’ll mention Jay-Z name (not to compare Iggy and Jay, you
know what I mean though…)” - but it wasn't, it gave her a platform to speak her
mind and dialogue with Ebro, Rosenberg and Laura Stylez.
She made numerous points, tearing up at times saying: “At the very fucking least, y'all owe me the
right to my identity. That's all we're holding on to in hip-hop and rap."
On Cultural Appropriation:
"In this
country, whenever it comes to our things — like black issues, or black
politics, or black music, or whatever — there's always this undercurrent of
kind of like a 'Fuck you,'" she said. "There's always a, ‘Fuck y'all
niggas; y'all don't really own shit, y'all don't have shit.'"
On The Grammys:
“When they give
these Grammys out, all it says to white kids is, ‘You’re great. You’re amazing.
You can do whatever you put your mind to.’ And it says to black kids, ‘You
don’t have shit. You don’t own shit, not even the shit you created yourself.’
And it makes me upset.”
If you call yourself a fan of Hip-Hop, its understood
this genre was a direct descendant of the civil rights movement and the
subsequent struggle of African-Americans. Sure, today’s music, from a
commercial standpoint has a way of negating the struggles of the past, but at a
foundational level Hip-Hop gave a voice to a voiceless generation. With most
things, I look to find the answer, I look to “how do we move forward,” and I
have a few questions:
Do we want her to
recognize the historical significance of Hip-Hop in relation to Black Culture?
Do we want Iggy
Azalea to drop a freestyle about white privilege?
Do we want Do we
want her to write The Grammys and say, “Hey you shouldn't have picked me for
this award that no real Hip-Hop fan cares about anyway?
Do we want her to
tell her fans not to support her?
Do we want to lie
to ourselves and hope that one day hard work alone will be all that’s
necessary?
I’m not looking to Iggy Azalea to speak on black culture.
I’m not looking to her to be some voice of reason in the midst of the growing
racial divide between common sense and blissful ignorance. I’m not looking to
her to be this voice, because I don’t look to the majority of rappers for this
sort of thing either. Sure, we may see a tweet or a staged photo-op, but for
the most part, I’m not checking for them; however, I do check for artists like
Q-Tip who dropped a bit of knowledge on Iggy on Twitter:
Believe it or not young black n Latino lives specifically weren't acknowledged in mainstream American culture unless Of course.. the convo was abt gangs , being criminals or uneducated. And hey! Like I stated early our families were rushed our schools sucked and we were left to put devices to survive… but HIPHOP showed that we had DEPTH, fire, and BRILLIANCE… the music was undeniable! It moved from NY N became national and even GLOBAL." "Hiphop now was FOR EVERYBODY!!" he added. "Now u are fulfilling your dreams … BUT! you have to take into account the HISTORY as you move underneath the banner of hiphop... U may ask why … Well once you are born black your existence I believe is joined with socio-political epitaph and philos based on the tangled and treacherous history SLAVERY alone this is the case it never leaves our conversation… Ever. WeAther in our universities our dinner tables our studios or jail cells… the effects still resonates with us... We get emotional and angry and melancholy… When certain 'niceties' r extended your way because of how u look? Isn't that crazy?... I say this 2 say u are a hiphop artist who has the right 2 express herself however she wishes… this is not a chastisement this is not admonishment at ALL this is just one artist reaching to another hoping to spark insight into the field youre in. I say this in the spirit of a hopeful healthy dialogue that maybe one day we can continue.
White privilege freestyle? Nah, but I know Lil Dicky
would kill it.
Who is checking for The Grammy’s in relation to Hip-Hop?
Kendrick put out arguably the best album of the year (arguably the best Hip-Hop
album of the past five years) and he lost. I’m not losing any sleep over that
pipe dream scheme known as a Grammy nomination.
Fan support and Hip-Hop has always been a slippery slope,
but one thing is for sure... Iggy’s fans buy singles and albums. I heard
“Fancy” earlier this year and although it isn't for me, I know a smash single
when I hear one. I knew from a commercial standpoint the song was going to be
huge.
Hard work alone will not break an artist. It takes a
collective of hard work, talent, timing and the propensity to move forward.
As stated previously, I’m into solutions not taking
sides; so I can say I do think it’s odd Iggy’s voice is totally different in
her music than her interviews and I’m not a big fan of her songs, but I can
acknowledge her ability to make content that sells. On the converse, I did
enjoy Azealia Bank’s first EP, and her most recent work Broke With Expensive Taste is growing on me, but when you get more
retweets than album sales, that’s a problem.
One man's compassion, can be seen as another man’s
complaint, so whichever side you sit on when it comes to Azealia Banks, I
wonder who buys her albums? People can be upset about cultural appropriation
all day, but I can’t be mad at her fans who support Iggy Azalea, I can’t be mad
when they at least cop a single on iTunes. Thousands of people are ranting and
raving on Twitter wanting emcees like Azealia Banks to garner more buzz, to get
Grammy nods, and claim how “real” they are, but they don’t buy albums. Sure
supporting a cause is great, but the music is what suffers. Buying music
produces the change everyone wants. We can complain about how “Fancy” is
"trash," but who went and copped Broke
With Expensive Taste? Rapsody’s album on iTunes? Who copped Dej Loaf’s
single? Who buys music from emcees like Nyemiah Supreme, Detroit Che, Angel
Haze and so on?
If we set twitter aside and focus on the music, it’s
overwhelmingly clear there are some Black women emcees who have been dropping
bars for years, but Hip-Hop is mad at Iggy. We’re (speaking generally) mad
because she took “our” culture and her fans flocked to the stores. The
frustration is understandable due to the history of Hip-Hop but opinions,
support and complaints, seldom translate into dollars. I was taught early on if
there is a creative person who takes the time to produce something you like,
the least you can do is make a purchase.
Can we just get back to the music?
