Opinion of Iggy Azalea

[Anti Democrat Democrat Club]

Beyond awful. Talk about her music all you want - unlike other white rappers, like Slug or Macklemore, she blatantly tries to appropriate and exploit African-American culture to make money. Slug had his story-telling ability, Eminem had funny quips, Yelawolf has "redneck rap", and Macklemore has a SJW/indie-pop edge to him. However, Iggy Azalea has a stunning lack of substance that doesn't set her apart from any other rapper, and seems to only be getting by on the color of her skin.

grossly misogynistic SJWs.

lol what

Let's not pretend they don't have a history of disproportionately going after young women.

Get the f**k out of here. There's a huge difference between a black American appropriating a Cockney accent and a white American adopting an African-American/Atlanta accent.

[Anti Democrat Democrat Club]

Beyond awful. Talk about her music all you want - unlike other white rappers, like Slug or Macklemore, she blatantly tries to appropriate and exploit African-American culture to make money. Slug had his story-telling ability, Eminem had funny quips, Yelawolf has "redneck rap", and Macklemore has a SJW/indie-pop edge to him. However, Iggy Azalea has a stunning lack of substance that doesn't set her apart from any other rapper, and seems to only be getting by on the color of her skin.

grossly misogynistic SJWs.

lol what

Let's not pretend they don't have a history of disproportionately going after young women.

Get the f**k out of here. There's a huge difference between a black American appropriating a Cockney accent and a white American adopting an African-American/Atlanta accent.

Sure, but Goldfield's point was about misogyny specifically. I respect your knowledge on this subject, so I'll ask you this as from a student to teacher (and nathan feel free to chime in as well) do you think there's any reason why the numerous rappers you held up as "good" rapper alternatives to a problematic female rapper, are all men?

I'm fairly sure you misunderstood the last sentence (I didn't outright say her name, but I was basically describing Nicki Minaj there). I mentioned the other male rappers in the first part because they all were white and had ways to set themselves apart. Hell, if you want female rappers, there's the whole "hipster rap" thing going on with Kreayshawn and that crowd. What I was trying to say was that most white rappers simply put their own spin on a genre that's predominantly African-American. However, Iggy Azalea is a white girl's shameless, awful imitation of southern rap, and her music is nothing short of blackface without the makeup.

I guarantee you - in ten years, she will be the Vanilla Ice of our time.

[Anti Democrat Democrat Club]

Ok, so basically the rap world is still so male-dominated that once we start talking about any subset (such as "white rappers with ways to set themselves apart") we get an overwhelmingly if not exclusively male group. (Not that that excuses any of Iggy's appropriation as you've outlined.)

Yes - especially among white rappers in general.

[Anti Democrat Democrat Club]

Get the f**k out of here. There's a huge difference between a black American appropriating a Cockney accent and a white American adopting an African-American/Atlanta accent.

Well, there shouldn't be. Time to move on.

Of course. The situation of the people of the East End of London is on par with the suffering of the black community in America. How could I be so foolish?

[Anti Democrat Democrat Club]

Get the f**k out of here. There's a huge difference between a black American appropriating a Cockney accent and a white American adopting an African-American/Atlanta accent.

Well, there shouldn't be. Time to move on.

Of course. The situation of the people of the East End of London is on par with the suffering of the black community in America. How could I be so foolish?

Seriously, people fetishize British people. They're in love with the culture. That's not true for black culture. When someone "talks black", most people view them as being less intelligent. When a white person plays off of that, without people actually thinking they're less intelligent, that's wrong. It's essentially saying "hey, I want to be black so I can be cool, but I don't really care if I don't have to deal with the negative stereotypes"

Especially when she straight-up accused Azealia Banks (who actually called her out over this sh*t on Twitter and the radio) of "making it racial" and "making it political" when she said the same thing. Let's not try and use any euphemisms here - Iggy Azalea is blaxploitation in musical form.

[Anti Democrat Democrat Club]

This is a weird criticism. Popular music by white people has been using African-American styles - including accent - since, basically, forever.

Where I draw the line between emulation and blaxploitation is when an artist who's emulating them gets criticized for being racist and basically accuses the people making these claims of playing the race card. I'm fairly sure we all know that when white people use the term "race card" or "make it racial" when they're talking about African-American issues, it usually means "BAWWWWWW, I'M NOT RACIST BECAUSE RACE ISN'T AN ISSUE HERE. THEY'RE JUST TRYING TO USE THEIR SKIN COLOR TO MAKE ME LOOK BAD."

But if race really wasn't an issue in her music, would a white girl from Hicktown, Australia really be trying to sound like a black woman from Atlanta?

[Anti Democrat Democrat Club]

But for the original topic, I'll just say some dumb Australian white girl rapping in a fake accent is something I'll rank pretty damn low on my list of priorities.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_privilege

Even within the context of race relations, a white rapper who no one will care about in a year is a joke of an issue compared to police brutality or mass incarceration.

That's cute. Tell me when you show up at a #BlackLivesMatter rally.

[Anti Democrat Democrat Club]

Cultural appropriation is bullsh#t and anyone legitimately engaging that kind of pseudo-Maoist nonsense is terrible and should be ashamed of themselves.

My issue isn't with "cultural appropriation". It's that she's actively working to undermine the culture she's imitating.

[Anti Democrat Democrat Club]

Cultural appropriation is bullsh#t and anyone legitimately engaging that kind of pseudo-Maoist nonsense is terrible and should be ashamed of themselves.

My issue isn't with "cultural appropriation". It's that she's actively working to undermine the culture she's imitating.

I expect I will regret this, but please explain you reasoning.

Essentially, I believe that Iggy Azalea is different from all these other artists in that her version of appropriation (and her actions) work to undermine black culture, not uplift it. Elvis Presley, Amy Winehouse, Adele - hell, any white singer with an element of soul sets themselves apart by putting their own spin on it. You can hear their voices - even when they try to take on a black accent, and they're still relatively distinguishable. You can hear the Elvis in Elvis. You can hear the Adele in Adele. You can hear the Amy in Amy. You can't hear the Iggy in Iggy. You don't hear a blend of Aussie hip-hop and thumping Atlanta bass. You hear someone who has projected another image of themselves - an image that has been, and still is being oppressed by her race for centuries.

And even if you don't think there's anything wrong with that, there's clearly something wrong with her rapping in another accent, and then putting on her real Australian accent to dismiss this criticism of her as African-American rappers trying to "make it racial". The problem with Iggy Azalea isn't that she's a white-washed version of hip-hop. It's that she's whining about how people are making her race an issue when she's already made it one through her music.

[Anti Democrat Democrat Club]

Cultural appropriation is bullsh#t and anyone legitimately engaging that kind of pseudo-Maoist nonsense is terrible and should be ashamed of themselves.

My issue isn't with "cultural appropriation". It's that she's actively working to undermine the culture she's imitating.

I expect I will regret this, but please explain you reasoning.

Essentially, I believe that Iggy Azalea is different from all these other artists in that her version of appropriation (and her actions) work to undermine black culture, not uplift it. Elvis Presley, Amy Winehouse, Adele - hell, any white singer with an element of soul sets themselves apart by putting their own spin on it. You can hear their voices - even when they try to take on a black accent, and they're still relatively distinguishable. You can hear the Elvis in Elvis. You can hear the Adele in Adele. You can hear the Amy in Amy. You can't hear the Iggy in Iggy. You don't hear a blend of Aussie hip-hop and thumping Atlanta bass. You hear someone who has projected another image of themselves - an image that has been, and still is being oppressed by her race for centuries.

And even if you don't think there's anything wrong with that, there's clearly something wrong with her rapping in another accent, and then putting on her real Australian accent to dismiss this criticism of her as African-American rappers trying to "make it racial". The problem with Iggy Azalea isn't that she's a white-washed version of hip-hop. It's that she's whining about how people are making her race an issue when she's already made it one through her music.

The idea that all white people are somehow collectively responsible for suppressing blacks and should therefore share in a common guilt is very alien to most non-Americans.

Would that also include a Slovak, Ukrainian or others from countries with no part in the slave trade/colonialism?

I never said anything about white guilt, slave trade, or colonialism, and in fact, is completely irrelevant to the topic. There is racism against Africans in Ukraine, and in the nearby Czech Republic, racist chants do exist.

[Anti Democrat Democrat Club]

This is one of the weirdest threads in quite awhile. I don't think I've seen this many strawmen or bizarre arguments in a long time and it's not even over something important or relevant. The most weird being the idea that SJWs are fans of Eminem, WTF? Not to mention Eminem ceased being relevant long before SJWs were even a thing.

No one said SJWs are fans of Eminem... but a number of news articles appeared saying that SJWs on Twitter were celebrating when Eminem won a grammy that Iggy Azalea was expected to win. Granted, they were more celebrating Iggy's loss than Eminem's win, but the idea that either one of them is much better than the other is pretty suspect, IMO. I would hardly say a guy who's still winning awards and putting out hit songs is irrelevant.

Oh so that's what this is about. I put about as much credibility in the Grammys as the MTV Movie Awards (which gave Kristen Stewart the Best Actress award four times for her performance in Twilight) and don't care one iota about hip hop music at all, so I can easily miss it. As for Eminem, he's struck me as a leftover 90s relic, he might still be well known, but it's like saying Aerosmith was still a big band in the 90s. Maybe not technically untrue but you know....

As for Iggy, I'll point out that rapping in an Australian accent sounds silly, so if someone is going to fake one, it's likely to be the most common one used in rap music, so yes reminiscent of black rappers. It seems kind of weird, not to mention also racist to insist that she rap in one of the many white American accents instead that is no more natural to her anyway. Now if you want to attack her simply for being terrible, go ahead.

Actually, rapping in an Australian accent isn't silly at all. It's basically rap blended with some sort of indie/alternative elements and has a distinct Aussie flavor to it. Stuff like this or this or this certainly doesn't "sound silly", and even has broken through to America a bit.

[Anti Democrat Democrat Club]

I have many thoughts about Iggy Azalea

I don't and I feel much better.

I wish. Mama Sawx plays her around the house. Like I don't even think about this cultural appropropriaton stuff. I just hate sh8t music

[Anti Democrat Democrat Club]

Again, this is just a case of intersectionalists wanting White people to apologize for being White every time they do anything.

Iggy Azalea can rap but only if she acknowledges that rap was invited by Black people? Everyone knows rap was invited by Black people. Azalea knows that and she does not try to claim otherwise.

Frankly she was too soft on Q-tip, his comments were insulting. Everyone said he "schooled her" as if she was unaware rap is Black thing.

It's really bizarre that intersectionalists simultaneously accuse her of "trying to be Black" and not admitting that Black people invited rap.

bruh.