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In reply to the discussion: White hip hop artist under fire [View all]Number23
(24,544 posts)She is not a bad rapper but she seems like an incredibly ridiculous person. She has tweeted some EXTREMELY questionable comments about black people and other people of color, has been very quiet on the issues affecting black Americans, and yet for the life of her seems genuinely confused that so many black people won't give her the time of day.
Not that it matters. White people have been all too quick and happy to "anoint" her the Great White Hope of hip hop. I look at her and see a woman who is average looking (at the ABSOLUTE best) and yet, she's the first female rapper to have a modelling contract with Wilhemina, one of the largest and most accomplished modelling agencies in the world. And I'm sure that it's a coincidence that 20 years earlier, Marky Mark was the first male rapper to have a modelling contract too. Yeah. Coincidence.
So the fact that she is a modern day minstrel, seems to be an incredibly ignorant and unlikeable person, is mildly talented at best and is still winning awards and $$$ from white people right and left, are black people NOT supposed to notice this? And this has nothing to do with her being white. Every black person I know has LOVED Eminem from the get go. As well as the Beastie Boys and Third Bass (back in the day. Real hip hop heads know who I'm talking about). The difference between these guys and Iggy is that they have never pretended to be anything other than what they were.
More broadly, this conversation is about the elevation and adulation of white mediocrity, whilst black talent continues to flounder on the margins. This is how structural racism thrives.
The author is spot on here. Iggy has skated in on the virtue of having a thin body and her skin and hair color and acts as though she's worked for what she's gotten. And I will never forgive T.I. for inflicting her on the world, same as Usher with Justin Bieber.