Screengrab via YouTube
Something weird is happening in 2016 to all the critically maligned white artists we’ve accused of cultural appropriation in the past: They’re all flopping. Meghan Trainor’s latest album, Thank You, was met sales-wise with a resounding “No thanks”—and when’s the last time you heard anyone ask Macklemore to mackle less?
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The same goes for Iggy Azalea, who has spent much of 2016 (and the latter half of 2015) trying to promote not one, but two failed singles attached to an album that, increasingly, seems like it will never exist. Even as her former engagement to Nick Young continues to publicly and fascinatingly implode, it’s hard to feel bad for Iggy—she does, after all, own horses, a telltale sign that someone probably has more money than you—but you could argue that continuing to hate on her is a fruitless effort. The damage is done, she’s over with—let her rest in peace.
But no! People simply won’t leave Iggy alone. Case in point: this video of some asshole approaching Iggy in an airport—literally the worst place to be approached by a stranger, by the way—specifically to “thank” her for “ruining” hip-hop.
I don’t know, man… Iggy is, as has been proven, a terrible rapper, and it’s true that she’s given a few obnoxious, unlikable interviews that have made it easier to pile on her for her lack of musical prowess. But let’s ask ourselves: When it comes to fighting the good fight for hip-hop, is she the real enemy in 2016? Is it possible that, in order to find the real enemy, we have to look in the mirrors? Maybe I should drop a freestyle about it.
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