The Conspiracy to Whitewash Hip-Hop

The Root ^ | June 18 2014 | TRAVIS L. GOSA, PH.D

[nickcarraway]

Why Iggy Azalea’s music is so popular and problematic.

hen asked about Forbes’ claim that hip-hop is run by a white, blond, Australian rapper named Iggy Azalea, incumbent queen bee Nicki Minaj laughed hysterically. The financial magazine may be qualified to calculate the $250 million valuation of Nicki’s Myx Fusions Moscato wine coolers, Nicki reasoned, but only the hip-hop community can bequeath the throne to Iggy.

One week later, Iggy Azalea became the only artist since the 1964 Beatles to have her first two singles occupy the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and the fourth female emcee to hit No. 1 on the chart. Nicki has yet to claim the No. 1 spot.

However, the coronation of Iggy as one of the most successful rappers in history has occurred without much support from the imagined hip-hop community or from black people not invested in her brand. Funkmaster Flex has called her music “trash,” and Iggy’s hit singles have received little airplay on Top 40 “urban,” hip-hop radio stations. Reviews of her album The New Classic have been lukewarm at best. Even XXL, which made her the first female inductee of the magazine’s Freshman Class, admits that the music doesn’t live up to the hype.

If Iggy isn’t a great rapper, why is she so popular? Is it her whiteness? And is her reign part of a larger industry plot to whitewash black music with the likes of Justin Timberlake and Robin Thicke?

Iggy’s meteoric rise is due, in part, to the music industry’s willingness to promote only a handful of super-sexy female artists. The twerk videos, cake Instagrams and a track literally named “P---y” is a recipe for profit in a hypersexist marketplace. It has worked so well that men and women are buying tickets to Iggy concerts with

[OldNewYork]

I stand corrected, partially.

[nickcarraway]

There were a couple of Clash songs at that time that might be considered rap. They may have been hits in the U.K., but not the U.S. I think they are This is Radio Clash and The Magnificent Seven.

[uglybiker]

The real conspiracy is to convince everyone that hip hop doesn’t suck.

[uglybiker]

The first rap to make the charts was a country song!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65_-vNtWLLs

[nickcarraway]

I never heard this version, but I ‘vI’ve heard the one by Phil Harrism

[uglybiker]

That one is the original, but almost everybody did a cover at some time.

I'm kinda partial to this version. :-P