"she's not hip hop" says hip hop star

http://www.hotnewhiphop.com/rah-dig...p-update-iggy-azalea-responds-news.12186.html

Rah digga says iggy is not hip hop. Read article and see why.

Question(s):

What is hip hop?

Who really is qualified to say?

Should iggy care?

Should we care?

Should the standard be if the song is good....

Minaj criticized her for not wroting her on shit. Should ee care?

 

In the traditional sense it's hard to except her as hip hop because she's emulating a caracture of a hip hop artist meaning you can tell when she interviews she's putting on a persona unlike lets say a Big Sean, Jay-Z, Eminem, Nas etc. She's not about that life as they say and I guess we're witnessing an evolution to the culture which is hard for a lot of us who have lived through hip hop being about truth and authenticity. It was the music of the people, not just another corporate mechanism to extract money from people but now it's gone the way of rock music and become so commercial that even the most early appreciators of the music no longer recognize it.
Truth is if you care then support another artist because lets face it Iggy won't care she's making money hand over fist right now as she should. If people support it why shouldn't she capitalize?

 

She's more about that life than I am. She left home at 16 for a foreign country. Spent years in the south observing how they do, and could easily emulate their styles. She's clearly a star. Nobody could tell me Onyx was about that life. They were barbers for god's sake.

Hip-Hop isn't so much about authenticity than it is creativity. We can't even say rap battles, the most consequential aspect of Hip-Hop, are based on authenticity. Yeah, if you're 'keeping it real', it's a plus, but imagination takes you a lot further. Rah Digga is nice and all, but she's jelly, plain and simple.

 

She's a star for all the WRONG reasons, she's blonde and blue eyed emulating a culture and a style that could never happen in reverse. And she may be more about that life than you but you ain't trying to rap are you? And my point was coming from the perspective of people who were rapping during the error where if you were a "poser" like a Vanilla Ice you wouldn't last long. And Onyx was hip hop they may not have been "gangsta" but they emulated the culture which sorry to bring race into it was is an important thing. It's a form of expression born out of struggle and people yearning to be heard. Hip hop has made black people far visible than any other vehicle before it and when the vehicle is bum rushed by commercialism what happens to the passengers and the drivers. I get commerce and think Iggy should make her music because if she doesn't someone else will but I definitely get what Digga is saying. It's something I notice as well where they can consume our style and our music but reject as fricking human beings. They said it on Blackish and it rang really true, what happens to us when the top R&B artists are two blue eyed white guys, what happens when the top hip hop acts are white? We take it for granted because we grew up with it but if it weren't for hip hop there would have been next to know curiosity to get know anything about black people from white society

 

I can dig what yall are saying but my 2 cents is back in the day rap was just about partying and politics/social commentary. Everyone had their own sound.

Now its nothing more than gangsta shit. Hell, about that life? What life? Shooting someone? I never slang stuff....so i would rap about whats cool for me.

According to their rules im not allowed to rap cause im not about that life. Thus, will smith (jazzy jeff and fresh prince) wouldnt be allowed to exist.

Correct me if im wrong.

 

These days, it is somewhat pointless to truly define a genre of music. The only difference is the voice of the performer. Some genres are clearly defined, others are evolving. It all depends on the performer. Jazz, for instance is evolving into many different styles(compositions, arrangements, vocal and instrumental approaches). Hip-Hop is no exception. Like blues, rock, classical, country/ western, bluegrass and gospel, it is about the music that is new, yet familiar to most fans. Hip Hop was established as a "urban" creation that enjoyed an underground success in the black and Latin/Hispanic communities when it came out in the late 1970's. And when it came out into the mainstream, thanks to the group Blondie, led by Debra Harry, she gave rap the spotlight with the song Rapture and it had an adventurous and otherworldly vibe(it's influential tone and beats were heard in many hardcore and softcore porno films). I am surprised none of these guys ever gave thanks to Blondie for helping them get through. Eminem, pretty much lived and participated in the rap/hip hop genre, thus establishing himself there. In the final analysis, it isn't about the race of the performer, it is about the music. Sure, some genres like country/western and bluegrass remain true to the music and the spirit and traditions of those that came before. Now, things have opened up for people of all races and ethnicities in the music industry. So, it is fair to say that no one, established or not, has any say as to who is genuine. That is for the fans to decide.

 

When I say about that life I'm talking about the culture not so much the violence and gangsta rap is loooonng gone that's why joints like Happy and Fancy dominated the charts all summer. It's not even really hip hop anymore as much as it's hip pop, hip popular music with interchangeable faces over similar beats with the same topics. It's not like the 90s when dudes had a sound, Snoop sounded way different than Biggie, even dudes in the same area had their own styles like TI and Luda sounded nothing alike, but now it doesn't matter. It's like a damn lottery, skills mean next to nothing.

 

I agree in reference to it seems gangsta rap my be running its course. Hell i was kind od happy when b.o.b did nothing on you and travis did billionaire. I got so sick of gangsta shit. Call me pop or what
ever but damn that get shit old and theres a need for variety.

 

Back in the 90's, I recall a white woman saying that Gangster Rap will soon run it's course and rap would enter another phase in it's evolution. Well, with songs like works of Will Smith and Pharrell's Happy, it's slowly moving into that next phase. Gangster Rap will be no more than a distant memory and hip pop will reign.

 

I think gangsta rap will stay but it will strink....and other types will come around.

Dont you guys think they may feel a little pressure from iggy in thats it a change coming in rap. Remember beasty boys were cool and still are. Also 3rd bass. Look at mclemore. I think its because its a ww.

They say oh her accent and then no accent. Well mel tillis was a stutterer until he sang.

Im just asking for thought.

 

Not enough pressure to change. But resentment for a non-black or Latin/Hispanic who succeeds in their genre and not recognizing where they got their inspiration from. Eminem listed all the rappers who influenced him on his journey. The music industry is a BIG BUSINESS. It's as big as our own known universe and anything is possible. Susan Boyle was a very good example of her talent that defied looks but focused on her vocal ability. And there are rules and lessons to be learned. It is hard work. It is not about the trappings of fame and all it entails. It is about the work ethic, the creativity, the willingness and open-mindedness to listen to new ideas, the willingness to collaborate and not settling for less as an artist. Mel Tillis had the stuttering problem long before he became a country star(he was even in the U.S. Air Force as a perimeter guard). It is important to focus on the work and not the bling or drama.

 

Why i mention mel is because they say iggy has an accent but loses it when she raps. Well mel tillis lost his stitter while he sang and aaron hall said he had a speech impediment but u didnt hear it when he sang

 

Yes. There is a difference when you here him sing and when you here him talk. I heard some of his stuttering in a song he sung in a film made for the Florida Highway Patrol about driver safety shown in Driver's Education class in high school. He even stuttered when he was pitching his song collection albums on vinyl, 8-track and cassette on television. It was funny at first, but it then became an interesting quality that we all accepted at the time when everyone(black and white) listened to country and western music. German singers Peter Schilling(who sang the song Major Tom(Coming Home) and Falco(Rock Me, Amadeus and Vienna Calling) had singing voices that were not distinctly German, but the their sound was German. No complaints. Some British singers like Spandau Ballet, had a lead singer and others who didn't sound British but like a soulful American. Sometimes the performers do slip up vocally. Amy Winehouse, God Rest Her Soul, sounded like a black/ Latin person when I first heard her classic Rehab. So did Sheena Easton back in the day.

 

Like TDK said this has already happened. The era of gangsta rap is over. "Pop-Hop" is now the in thing. Most of the violence & ignorant bullshit nowadays that may be played out either by rappers or fans is just that, ignorant muthafukkas being ignorant. It has nothing to do with trying to "keep it real" or reppin' some gang/thug life anymore.

 

Music sounds "dumbed down" now. Smh

 

I's not about life or culture as far as the music business is concerned. It is about a genre. And Iggy is a hip-hop artist even if she doesn't look the part of come from a particular racial/cultural background. This defensiveness bullshit that she "ain't real" is the same crap that come sup every time a white artist becomes successful in a genre created and dominated (initially at least) by black folks. And that is especially the case when it comes to white women, the claws really come out then. This whole Iggy backlash reminds me of the hating that white sorority had to deal with after the won a damn stepping contest. All that whining about stealing culture nonsense. Hey, once you put something out there for the public to consume it is fair game for anyone to take part of it and claim it for themselves. I mean should certain things be hands-off if you are a member of a race that did not create an event or a form of entertainment? Should black people then be excluded from making films as a result of not creating that industry? Should non-Asians be excluded from certain martial arts? Should non-whites not be allowed to try performing country music? Should black women be excluded from Miss America Pageants? We are going down a slippery slope as black folks when we practically demand that white people must meet some type of purity test in order to be accepted as legitimate when taking up forms of expressions dominated by blacks.

I get why we feel this way considering our past. In America our music for example has been taken up and overran by white people for the longest time. Jazz. Rock'n'roll. Disco. Blues. And so on and so on. Black people can create the artform but typically only whites have been able to take such music genres to new commercial ($$$) heights. That's a hard truth but nonetheless when black celebs start getting vocal by publicly discounting the white artists who dabble in so-called black music, an argument can be made that their negative reaction is nothing more than a form of racism that white celebs could not get away with if the situation was reversed.

I don't like Iggy's music; I don't buy any of her music. But she has every right to do what she damn pleases. And if she s successful at it simply because the white females who dominate music buying like her material than so be it. Let it go.

 

That's what happens when you don't need any actual vocal talent or lyrical skills to make music. A bullshit catchy hook and someone to produce a half way decent beat and BOOM. Throw in the autotune to make them sound cool (from their perspective at least) and you are a star now.

 

Yeah. I just hope the bros can cash in on it.this is nothing new to a point. People trashed hammer for being pop.....ie ice cube now hes making family movies. Damn aint that a bitch. Goes to show you the same mofos dissing are the same ones wishing and will later on

 

So fucking true.

 

As much as I hate new shit, I can't really say "this is hip-hop and this isn't". I can say that it's shit, but hip-hop is no longer rocking parties and DJ's calling b-boys to the floor n' shit. Although, the rapping over techno, dubstep, EDM beats, I will still say I don't feel that is hip-hop. The lines have become so blurred these days.