Iggy Alazea and hip hop's problem with her whiteness

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When Forbes declared in May that "Hip-Hop Is Run by a White, Blonde, Australian Woman," they quickly realized their mistake. Yet in the months since, that mistake has come to seem like a sick prophesy: Iggy Azalea has, in fact, run the rap game from a numerical perspective. She has made history by shattering records. She released a platinum single. She snagged fistfuls of Grammy nominations. And this weekend, she lit a fuse on the powder keg of race issues in hip-hop. The whole hip-hop community has finally taken Azalea to task for building her career by stealing black musical sounds and styles and using her whiteness to sell them to the masses. In the process, she has done little to actually give back to the hip-hop community except be flagrantly offensive. And black hip-hop artists aren't standing for it any longer.

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It turns out many people in the hip-hop community feel that Azalea is actively working against black interests because she appropriates traditionally black styles and totally divorces them from their political content. That's why rapper Tyler, The Creator, A Tribe Called Quest's Q-Tip and R&B singer Solange Knowles all came to Banks' defense, thanking her for speaking openly and passionately about the issue of cultural appropriation. Kreayshawn also stepped up to the plate, accusing Azalea of ignoring racism in her home country as well as in America.

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It may seem mean, but she completely deserves it. Azalea has been manipulating hip-hop culture for her own gain, and she cares not at all for the broader hip-hop community or the music's place in our culture. She's taken hip-hop's sounds, but hasn't given back to the culture in any meaningful way when many white rappers have done the opposite. Macklemore has showed support for Ferguson protesters. Action Bronson passed judgment on the Eric Garner ruling, calling it "disgusting."

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