Has Hip-Hop Fallen Victim To White Privilege?

Iggy Azalea

Last week Harlem rapper Azealia Banks went on the Hot 97 morning show and spent near enough the whole 40 minutes talking about her feelings towards Iggy Azalea and that state of hip hop music today. She cried, she ranted and she struck up a very heated debate, specifically aimed towards Iggy, amongst rappers and hip hop fans that has dominated media news and twitter for the past week.
J.Cole, Will.I.Am, Q-tip, T.I, Solange Knowles, Lupe Fiasco and many more have all had something to say on the matter, as do I.

This whole Azealia Banks/Iggy Azalea fued started many years ago before either of them were charting on Billboard or circulating on the radio. Many believe it isn't just a coincidence that they share the same name. Iggy is accused of taking Azealia's name to fire up her rap career and considering she debuted a little after Banks it could have some truth to it.
But it was a questionable lyric in one of Iggy's Youtube videos that got Azealia all riled up and I don't particularly blame her. I know rap is all about controversy and playing on words but for Iggy to call herself a 'runaway slave master' wasn't all that impressive. Now I don't know Iggy personally but I would be very shocked if I found out that she is racist in anyway.
However, Azealia was offended, and rightly so, she called her out on it and from that day forward the girls have not had a kind word to say about each other.

Azealia Banks

I believe that there is more than a hint of bitterness in Azealia's hatred towards Iggy because the two girls started around the same time and their around the same age but Iggy is the only one getting number one singles and Grammy nominations when Azealia is far more talented than the Australian rapper. So race aside, there was always going to be some jealousy on Azealia's part.
But throw in the fact that Iggy is white and born in Australia, it rubs a whole lot more salt in the wound because, as Azealia has stated many a time, Iggy is not what hip hop culture is about and she is taking that away from black people.

Now I can completely understand and appreciate Azealia's argument as I was one of the many hip hop fans who was deeply frustrated when Macklemore stole a Grammy from Kendrick last year. It would be equally upsetting if Iggy walks away with Grammy's that she doesn't deserve over some really talented rappers/artists.
I am not saying that Iggy isn't talented because she is a great popstar but just because she 'raps' it does not make her a rapper or a hip hop artist. Her music, by definition, is commercially successful pop music so, by definition, she should be competing with the Taylor Swifts and Katy Perrys certainly not the Nicki Minajs and Azealia Banks.
Iggy may be a hip hop fan and appreciate the culture but she is not technically a part of it based on her debut album filled with everything but inspiring, original hip-hop music.
I know people often bring Eminem into this argument. Why is he accepted? Why does he get a pass? Well, to put it simply, because he is one of the best rappers and lyricists of all time regardless of his skin colour. Besides, he was raised within the culture, competing in rap battles and such, he is not appropriating black culture. Whereas, Iggy gets all of this flack because she is from a white privileged background and she isn't all that great of a rapper. If Iggy was making great hip-hop music and writing high quality lyrics then I doubt that this debate would have ever happened because we would have to give her credit and respect for being amazingly talented just like we do for Eminem and Justin Timberlake. We don't even really consider the colour of their skin even though they compete in genres built and dominated by black people because they are great at what they do and musicians respect other great musicians. Unfortunately Iggy is not a talented artist within the genre mainstream society have placed her in.
That being said, Iggy has never claimed to be a hip-hop star and it isn't her fault that she is put in these categories for awards and then wins them. Just as Macklemore shouldn't get the blame for winning the Grammy.

So, on the one hand, I strongly agree with the point that Azealia is making; HOWEVER, why is this all being put on Iggy's shoulders.
At the end of the day, she is just a 24 year old musician trying to make some money by following her dream and all of a sudden she is at the centre of a race row.
One white woman is not going to erase the decades of history hip-hop has engraved in music culture and she is certainly not trying to do that either - well, at least not consciously.
I am hard pressed to believe that when Iggy moved to America all them years ago her aim was to change the face of hip-hop music by making it a 'white thing'. I am sure she is aware of the challenges she would face because of her race and I am sure she wanted to open a few doors for other aspiring white rappers. But she not only seems to embrace the black culture, she has unarguably introduced it to a new audience.

So all in all, Azealia Banks makes some great points and I was glad to see that she was so passionate about the issue she calls 'cultural smudging'. She has sparked an interesting debate that I have found to be both educational and thought-provoking. But can we please see the conversation, and that same passion, being aimed at everything else that demeans the black race and our culture, which isn't necessarily Iggy Azalea.
J.Cole sums it up best on a line from his latest album. On the song Fire Squad, J raps 'watch Iggy win a Grammy as I try to crack a smile' which is most definitely a premonition based on last years awards season. He quickly follows this lyric with 'I'm just playing' but then backtracks once again by stating that there is some truth in every joke. J.Cole's sentiment is the exact same as mine - if I am right in assuming I understand how he feels about the topic based on these lyrics.
Yes, it is annoying, frustrating and upsetting to watch pop artists, who just so happen to rap, win awards and accolades ahead of real, talented and authentic hip hop artists. It must be even more blood-boiling when you are that artist losing out seemingly based on white privilege.
But I am not going to get worked up to the point of twitter ranting and publicly crying over a few white people who rap with successful music careers because there are far more important issues I can be concerning myself with.
Instead of complaining about Iggy, why don't we keep our focus and attention on the cases of Eric Garner and Mike Brown.
Instead of debating Grammy awards, why don't we discuss the issue of inequality in the prison system and the prejudice in the educational system.
Maybe if we addressed the more concerning, life-threatening issues that black people all over the world face every day, our worries about great black artists being underrated and the hip hop culture being 'erased' won't exist anymore.

Wake up, Grammys !

The Grammy’s have always dealt with criticism and controversy when it comes to their support of hip-hop. It is a genre which is always hugely under-represented especially being that it is one of the biggest and most influential genres of this generation.

This year was no different. Kendrick Lamar, who released arguably the best rap album of the last five years, walked away with no trophies. Instead, the rap categories awards were all won by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis who don’t even make rap music. Yes, they may rap but they’re music is not aimed at the same audience that Kanye, Jay-Z, Kendrick and Drake reach out to. Macklemore is safe rap made for the masses and the mainstream.

As a result of this, when it came to the voting, many people would have felt more comfortable choosing someone who was better known and more popular even if that meant their album was not the best rap album amongst their peers.

Ben from Macklemore himself admitted he didn’t deserve to win in a text to Kendrick which he shared via Instagram. In the text he said ‘You got robbed’ and ‘It sucks I robbed you’ adding later that he wanted to say this on stage but he was cut off by the cue music. Well, I say, if you really felt that strongly about it then it would have been the first thing you said when you collected your unwarranted award and not an afterthought.

Maybe he truly is upset about winning over his ‘friend’ Kendrick, or maybe he knew there would be a massive backlash, so to save his own skin he opted for the ‘it’s not my fault and I agree with everyone’ card.

I’m not blaming the win on Macklemore and I don’t have anything against his music. In fact, I applaud what he represents and the hustle he had to endure to get to where he is today. But surely such a respected award ceremony as the Grammy’s would realise that they make pop music and not place them in a category where they don’t belong.

This is not the first, and probably not the last, time that the Grammy’s has disappointed and angered the hip-hop community.

Over the past week, statistics have been thrown around just to prove how irrelevant Grammy awards actually are because some of the greatest artists in the world don’t even have one. Tupac, Notorious B.I.G, Nas and Snoop are just some of the rap legends who have never received this momentous accolade in their careers spanning decades.

Furthermore, did anyone notice that Kanye, Drake, Justin Timberlake and Rihanna, to name a few, were absent from this year’s ceremony; all of whom were nominated. It seems they’re all one step ahead in realising the shambles that the Grammy’s is in regards to rap and hip-hop, and knowing that they were not going to win, decided not to waste their time. I don’t blame them.

Next year, I am hoping the public cries from the hip-hop community and rappers themselves are enough to shake up the Grammy’s and make them respect and represent the rap industry a whole lot more. If not, it will only be a couple more years until it loses a large proportion of its audience in the hip-hop community, and its importance will quickly come into question.

Defending Trap Music : With the example of 2 Chainz

Dumb down for my audience and double my dollars - Jay-Z

I find myself constantly trying to defend 2 Chainz against criticism such as 'he can't rap', 'he's annoying' and 'that's not real hip-hop', because I am a fan of his music.
I don't feel that all hip-hop should be poignant and meaningful because then it just becomes boring. As with any genre of music, hip-hop needs variety and trap music offers this. It's important to have artists who don't take themselves too seriously and aren't always concerned with sending a message or telling some personal, multi-layered story. As impressive and brilliant as that can be, sometimes you just need a ratchet, meaningless hook to get you hyped for the club or lift your spirits when you're feeling down.
This doesn't make trap music any more or less real in regards to its relation with hip-hop just because it isn't inundated with wordplay and metaphors. 

A frequent misconception amongst my peers is the relevance and intelligence of certain artists. 
2 Chainz is not stupid. He graduated from a state university with honors and in interviews he always speaks eloquently and presents himself very well so he obviously is a smart guy. I am sure he is aware of his critics and he could probably quite easily pen a decent verse and prove them all wrong.
But that is not what he represents and it wouldn't be authentic to the character he has created.
Sometimes playing the dumb role can actually be a very smart move which is evident in the success and fortune that 2 Chainz has accumulated in the last 18 months. The fact that he can charge $100,000 for a feature and still has artists like Drake, Robin Thicke and The Game knocking at his door with offers is proof that he knows what he is doing and he is doing it well.

Unfortunately, I can't say the same for some artists like Soulja Boy and Chief Keef because they have never showed me any signs of intellect within, or outside of, their music but hey, they're still rich and famous so they're not completely incompetent. 
But they're music, unlike 2 Chainz, is not entertaining or amusing on any level because I feel that it is a failure in hip-hop...even by trap music standards. Furthermore, they are both young and inexperienced in life and the entertainment industry so I don't feel that they are playing the same smart game as the far more mature 2 Chainz.

Obviously music is subjective and there will always be people who don't buy into, or enjoy, the trap music scene for whatever reason. 
But to accuse 2 Chainz of being stupid or a mockery to hip-hop is inaccurate because, as Malcom X once said, 'the clown never imitates the wise man but the wise man can imitate the clown'.

Misogyny ?! In Music ?!

So everyone has been kicking and fussing over Robin Thicke's summer hit, Blurred Lines, because of the misogynistic lyrics and sexist video.
Anyone would think that Robin is the first male artist to ever feature women in a video as sexual objects or sing about having sex with a girl who, apparently, 'wants it'. In actual fact, it's harder for me to name a song that doesn't refer to females as bitches or hoes than it is to find several that do.
In my opinion, it doesn't even seem as though Robin was demeaning women in any way in his summer smash, as he clearly sings 'that man is not your maker' - could there actually be a message of female empowerment hidden amongst the controversial lyrics?

One genre of music which has always been swarmed in controversy is hip-hop, for both its overtly sexual lyrics and derogatory display of females in music videos, and it's become so common that the women that feature in the videos are commonly known as 'video hoes'.
It is a very rare occurence to find a video where there isn't a girl in a bikini or a curvaceous lady shaking her booty next to the rapper or singer of the track (congratulations Jay-Z, your Holy Grail video was a nice break from the female nudity). In most cases, it is only expected that a girl will be twerking for at least 75% of the video seeing as the song is called, Twerk It, or, Clappers, so I can't really be all that surprised, they are relating the lyrics of the song to the video.
With women and sex being at the forefront of the majority of hip-hop music over the past decade or so, you would think that the media and public have become accustomed to it, but this doesn't seem to be the case what with all the journalists and music fans labelling Blurred Lines 'disgusting' and 'demeaning'.

Even though it's a far less mainstream genre, dancehall deserves a mention seeing as it thrives on objectifying women by asking them to 'whine on male genitalia' amongst other sexual deeds. This is most probably because it is a genre fiercely dominated by men and as an audience we have been saturated with these sexual lyrics so much, that they aren't that shocking any more.
Dancehall is less about having clever lyrical content and more about the 'riddims' and catchy hooks, but now that the dance craze which accompanies these songs - twerking - has become a mainstream phenomenon, it wasn't going to be long before outrage spread amongst many people who aren't so familiar with this culture.
I'm not denying that the way females are represented in the songs and videos of dancehall artists, and the overtly sexual dances that go with that, isn't derogatory towards women, and at times shocking; however, once you realise that no harm is meant by these lyrics (it is just simply a celebration of physical intimacy and the female body) you stop taking offence and start to enjoy the music.

Other genres have their fair share of misogynistic themes and undertones too. For example, 'Smack My Bitch Up' by The Prodigy and even country music, such as 'Stand By Your Man' by Tammy Wynette, uses demeaning lyrics towards women. You can find examples of female objectification in the lyrics and music videos of all genres of music if you look and listen closely enough, and this has been the case for near on 30 years now.


I'm not saying that I don't get up and pretend I can twerk when a French Montana song drops in the club or I don't find myself singing along to, FDB by Young Dro, on full volume in the car because I don't take certain types of music - trap hip hop and dancehall - ,or some artists, too seriously.
I am just confused as to why a lot of people are in uproar over Blurred Lines when there are a lot worse things being said and done in music videos and it has been that way for quite a few years. It should come as no surprise by now that music can be derogatory towards women, it can even be derogatory towards men on rare occasions, it just needs to be taken with a pinch of salt and accepted as a light-hearted form of entertainment. Lil Wayne is not running for president or working in the education system; therefore, there is no need to worry about how a few lyrics are going to effect the progression of equality amongst genders in society.

Good Music, Bad Attitude

With more and more musicians unveiling their big egos and bad attitudes to the public, is it time for consumers to boycott the music of those whose actions we disagree with ?
Azealia Banks is starting Twitter fights with everyone in the industry before she has even released a studio album, Rick Ross is writing date rape lyrics and Nicki Minaj is renowned for her over-dramatics and diva tendencies. Maybe it's time these artists faced some consequences for their disrespectful behaviour...

This is a debate that emerged most recently after the horrible violent attack that Chris Brown endured on his then-girlfriend, Rihanna, in February 2008. As a result of this domestic abuse, Chris Brown faced an onslaught of abuse from the media, criminal charges and a lot of making up to do to his fans around the world. Many consumers decided to boycott his music for a while, but most chose to stick by him and over the years he has garnered even more fans, which is made obvious by his continued success in the industry, without even having to clean up his image.
It seems as though there is a new negative story about him in the blogs every week, from fights in nightclubs to hit and runs, and even though it's obvious that there are a few people who are out to get him and paint him as the villain of r'n'b music, he does make it really easy for people to hate on him.

Kanye West is another artist who is constantly exposing his anger issues and oversized ego to the public yet he continues to sell out arenas, top the charts and win awards no matter how often he compares himself to Jesus or attacks paparazzi.
Some may find his behaviour entertaining and harmless but there have been many occasions when this is not the case, like his infamous Taylor Swift VMA award speech interruption where he publicly humiliated the young winner and ruined her moment on stage. It was rude and obnoxious behaviour that clearly upset Taylor but Kanye's abuse from the watching world was brief and there were no real repercussions for his actions as it wasn't long before he was back to making millions and releasing critically acclaimed music. Has his attitude improved over the years ? No, just like Chris, Kanye has remained egotistical, annoying and rude yet shows no signs of slowing down career-wise.

There are endless names that come to mind when I think of bad attitudes in the music scene and some, such as Keri Hilson and Keyshia Cole, who have faced such a huge backlash for their criticism of Beyonce, do end up ruining their music careers.
But most artists are unaffected when they start unnecessary beef or find themselves hitting the headlines for despicable behaviour (like peeing in a mop bucket, Justin), whether it's because they are too talented and their music is so great that we disassociate the person from the product or that they have enough support from the music industry and endorsers that they can overcome any negativity in their personal lives.

Although I can appreciate the moral reasoning some may have for boycotting an artists music; in the 21st Century, we, as consumers, don't have that much of an effect on the profit and success of musicians by refusing to purchase their songs. In fact, record sales are probably the least profitable sector of a performers income since most of their earnings come from sponsorship deals and endorsements so it isn't until big companies and media corporations decide to separate themselves from an artist that we will see any impact on their career.

Personally, I believe that listening to/enjoying Chris Brown's music, for example, does not make you a supporter of domestic abuse neither does it mean you accept his volatile behaviour or forgive him for what he has done in the past. All it shows is that you appreciate good music and talent. There really is no need to delete music off your ipod or sit down in a club when the music of a certain artist comes on in order to make a point. The only person that will lose out is you, not the artist.
Obviously when they start receiving hateful messages on Twitter and can't sell out arenas any more because the public aren't buying the tickets, the artist may begin to feel some type of remorse for their actions as they see it affecting parts of their career. But, when it comes to the enjoyment of their records, we have to be able to separate the artist from the art and appreciate the music for what it is, good music, without attaching it too heavily to the artist behind it with the bad attitude.

Should musicians be labelled 'role models' ?

                    

Whether it be self-proclaimed or not, many artists in the music industry are looked at as role models for children and young adults. But is this a fair label to attach to them ?

It's easy to understand why children look up to celebrities who are beautiful, talented, wealthy and often portrayed as having perfect lives. However, there is an uprising of parents who believe that there are more negative connotations attached to the celebrity lifestyle such as drinking, tattoos and promiscuity.
Rihanna has recently spoken out against accusations made by journalists about her being a 'bad role model' for young female fans of hers by stating that she has never claimed to be a role model and doesn't feel that she should have the responsibility of helping to raise other peoples children.
I can understand her point and agree that musicians, whose job it is to entertain the public not educate children, should not be criticised when they act in a way that may not be seen as 'responsible' in the eyes of parents. Rihanna is a young, childless female who makes music about love, sex and abuse which are all topics that aren't particularly aimed at twelve year olds so she isn't trying to appeal to the young and impressionable.
Her outspoken personality, provocative dancing and unique sense of style are quite clearly not appropriate for anyone below the age of sixteen; hence, why are adults allowing their child to listen to or watch Rihanna in the first place, especially if they feel that their child is easily influenced by other people.
If they have any issues with her lyrics or videos than it is easy to steer their child away from it - is it not the parents responsibility to filter the musical content that their child has access to ?

Furthermore, how can any person in the entertainment industry be titled a role model no matter how age appropriate they appear. Let's say, for example, Taylor Swift who presents herself as a good girl and doesn't seem to give parents any reason to accuse her of being a bad influence on their children. Although we don't see her partying, her music steers clear of parental advisory stickers and her red-carpet attire remains classy, she is still a 22 year old female. She is bound to mess up at some point - maybe she'll swear on stage or flash a bit of cleavage - somewhere along the line she will make a mistake as any human being does and seeing as she is in the public eye, we will all hear about it.
These celebrities have no control over natural human tendencies like messing up, but it is ultimately the media who make the final decision over whether to expose these flaws and share them with the rest of the world.
Ok, so maybe thanks to Twitter and Instagram, Rihanna and everyone else can make the decision whether or not to post a picture of themselves smoking weed or not but would anyone really hear about every picture uploaded and every tweet post if it wasn't for the blogs and magazines that exploit them and make headlines out of them.

Taking on the label of role model is a huge responsibility because it puts you on a pedestal so high that even the slightest wobble will open up the flood gates for attack...and nobody is perfect.
Obviously children are easily influenced by what they see in the media and you can't control absolutely everything that your child sees and hears; however, as a parent, it is your responsibility to raise your child to know right from wrong and not pass the responsibility on to the entertainment industry and the people within it.