FORBES:"Hip Hop Is Run By A White, Blonde Australian Woman”

Fa real?? :smt105

The contributing reporter got so much backlash, he changed the title.. to....


Hip-Hop's Unlikely New Star: A White, Blonde, Australian Woman

By Hugh McIntyre

Iggy Azalea is one of hip hop’s most exciting new artists, as well as one of the genre’s most unexpected success stories. Her rise to prominence is notable not only for what seems like its immediacy, but for how infrequently someone like her makes it to the top. If you’re not keeping up to date on your rap culture or much into top 40 radio, you should know that she is not your typical hip hop star.

Just a few weeks ago, her album “The New Classic” became the highest charting debut album by a female rapper since Nicki Minaj back in 2010, starting at number three. The position is impressive considering she is a brand new name in this country, and she had only achieved her first top 40 hit a few weeks prior.

Making a name for yourself as a woman and hip hop is laudable enough, forget the fact that she is a white, blonde, Australian woman. In a genre dominated almost exclusively by African American men she sticks out like a statuesque thumb.


In fact, women are so few and far between in the field that the Grammys had to discard their separate category, which many genres had up for years.
For a few years there was a Best Female Rap Solo Performance and one for men, but it was discontinued after only two trophies were given out (both to Missy Elliott). After that, both rap and rock only gave out one trophy, and almost always to a man.


In addition to her album’s success, just this past charting week she also became the first woman in hip hop to have two simultaneous hits in the top five of the Billboard Hot 100. Her single “Fancy (ft. Charli XCX)” has quickly risen the ranks to number three, and she is featured on the new Ariana Grande cut “Problem”, which debuted at the same ranking last week and is presently sitting at number four. It is rare for any artist to achieve such a feat, let alone a female rapper.

Iggy isn’t the first woman to find success in the genre, but she is the latest and currently the only one representing the gender on the charts. For the past several years, Nicki Minaj has been the prominent woman in hip hop, but it seems there has been a change. Not only has Minaj been oddly quiet for months, she has said she will no longer be releasing radio-ready pop/hip hop blends, instead going back to her pure rap roots, leaving a void to be filled by none other than Iggy.

While this is all happening very quickly for her in America, she has actually been honing her craft for a decade now, first rapping at the age of 14. In the ten years since, she has seen and been through all the trials and tribulations of the industry. While “Fancy” is her first real hit in the United States, she has been commercially successful in other parts of the world for years now. She has actually had four top 20 hits in the UK, and is just beginning the promotion of “The New Classic”.

With so much buzz–and not to mention measurable success–Iggy Azalea is poised to be this year’s breakout music star.

UPDATE: The title of this article has been changed from its original version — “Hip Hop Is Run By A White, Blonde, Australian Woman” — because it did not accurately reflect the content of the piece. The author offers sincere apologies to anyone who was offended by it. (Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.)

*********************

 

My sentiments on the OP support a succinct blogger's opinion, with his following comment -


ChocolateSoul™

Hugh, rather than fire a missile at you over this article, maybe you’d be interested in having a conversation about modern Hip Hop and who some current male/female talents are? Hip Hop has traditionally divorced itself from what is exalted by the mainstream, even though there are many Hip Hop artists that do well there.
In other words, looking at a pop chart and seeing Iggy Azalea climbing it does not mean that she is running the genre. I can understand what you’d make that association but Hip Hop simply doesn’t work that way. Hip Hop is not measured in terms of pop success; it is a movement that is measured in terms of creativity, lyricism, musicality, skill and roots in the authenticity of the culture.


(He nailed it, IMO)

 

*Waits for Donny J to come troll the thread & rant non stop about the evils of hip hop since this is an actual thread discussing hip hop*

 

Lol

 

A Dissenting Opinion Piece..

Hip Hop Is Not 'Run' By Iggy Azalea, But It Sure Is Run By White Privilege

By Evette Dionne

Excerpt...

"With just 10 words, Forbes managed to both overlook the important contributions of a legion of hip hop artists, while also appointing Azalea hip hop’s white female savior — a position that, in my opinion, need never be filled....More...
http://www.bustle.com/articles/2540...-azalea-but-it-sure-is-run-by-white-privilege

 

She's not bad, not great (so far) either. The fact that she is white is very important to her success, but can still admire her hustle. Coming here to become a rapper was a gamble.

 

He can try, but the roots are too deep and wide to dub it under one subset of rap. His loss if he chooses to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

 

Shiiiiiit. Not only will he throw the baby out but he'll throw it under a bus. And he'll make sure that the bus is in reverse to run over the baby. Repeatedly.

 

LOL.
Maybe he's been hearing the wrong kind of Rap. Perhaps he might not realize/understand that Rap didn't create the streets.. that its roots were born of the streets, and not the other way around?

 

Lol, really?

'Most of you have done NOTHING with your lives':
Iggy Azalea hits back at critics who slam her
for achieving same chart topping feat as The Beatles

She ranted more, but this was the meat.


As one blogger Kate noted...
"you have done nothing with your lives' sounds like a cheap insult from an insecure woman. Anyway, the Beatles achieved that feat with two of their own singles, while "Problem" is a track released by Ariana Grande, on which Iggy is merely featured."


And another, Karen said...
"I wonder if people will still sing her songs 25 years from now? That will be the true test of success."

 

I don't think he actually cares. He's more interested in throwing shade on anything & anyone just for his own selfish amusement more than having any actual discussions about anything.

 

I would like to listen to you guys rap playlist. I'm dead serious. Throw me a few tracks.

 

Why? You already have all of us figured out. We all listen to that "Chief Keef" type of rap......

 

It depends...

Which sub-genre would you like to hear? There's conscious rap, street rap, Unity rap, beat rap............

 

Your favorites.

 

Donny's ass. :smt042

 

Donny J,

Rather than researching your posts that contained your contempt for rap that RA is calling you out on, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt that you are sincere, in that you are willing to open your mind to it, even though your dismissive post above warns me you aren't serious bout this.

See I, along with many others here no doubt about it, have our playlist/s of rap, from old school to new school; greats like Tupac, Rakim, KRS-1, P.E, Ice Cube, J Cole, Mos Def, Biggie, to name a very select few. We also have Nas masters here like Deniro who could introduce you to the best of Nasir's work...and then we have the unknowns, the undergrounds and the undiscovered of which ironically, RA is a connoisseur of - too bad you choose to disrespect it before you hear it.

So I'll tell you what... I'll gladly post some of mine (and others theirs if they want)..if you agree to listen and comment what you think. If you're not, then it's moot and our time better served.

*Also, you may want to check out this thread that might show you it aint all evil -

http://www.whitewomenblackmen.com/forum/showthread.php?t=24015

 

Bliss! :smt060

 

"In the same week, she became the first female performer to simultaneously hold the top two places on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart with "Foolish", and "What's Luv?" (with Fat Joe). Ashanti broke records again by having three top ten songs, "Foolish," "What's Luv?" and "Always on Time", on the Billboard Hot 100 charts in the same week, being the first woman to accomplish this feat and being second only to the Beatles"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashanti_(singer)