Is Iggy Azalea Really “White Washing” Hip-Hop Music? — Can’t We All Just Get Along?

Nationwide — 24-year old Australian recording artist Iggy Azalea has been the subject of controversy in recent weeks as some are starting to accuse her of “white washing” rap music. Signed in 2012 to T.I.’s Grand Hustle Records, Iggy has several hits under her belt including “Black Widow”, “Work”, “Bounce”, and “Change Your Life”.

It all started with rapper Azealia Banks who criticized Iggy for trying to sabotage “black music”. During an interview on New York’s Hot 97, Azealia said, “I feel, just like in this country, whenever it comes to our things, like black issues or black politics or black music or whatever, there’s always this undercurrent of kind of like a, ‘F–k you,'” She went to say, “That Iggy Azalea s-t isn’t better than any f-king black girl that’s rapping today, you know? … Iggy Azalea is not excellent.”

But several other artists came to her defense

Rapper/producer Q-Tip told Iggy in a publicized tweet, “You are a hip hop artist who has the right 2 express herself however she wishes.”

Rapper T.I., who helped discover Iggy, also chimed in. He tweeted, “I know u don’t deserve all da negative s-t that comes your way. But like I’ve told u before, it just kinda comes wit da territory when u gain so much positive attn SO FAST! … I know u know just like I do it COULD BE A LOT WORSE.”

Meanwhile a controversial dialogue has started on local radio stations across the country, debating on whether or not white artists have the right to become rappers.

“It Doesn’t Matter If You Are Black or White”

Black Eyed Pea rapper/songwriter Will.i.am tweeted Iggy saying: “Hip-Hop Is global now…it doesn’t matter if your white or black…thanks for contributing & spreading our culture positively.” He added in another tweet, “It saddens me that people are making a big deal about race in hiphop & not ethics…today’s ethics goes against our foundation”

Meanwhile, rapper Lupe Fiasco tweeted similarly, saying: “Iggy has a place in HipHop…her place….” He later added, “Leave that girl alone unless you gonna beat her ass in a one on one. Until then, she ain’t the first and will not be the last.”

And Iggy Said…

“Thanks Lupe and Will.i.am what you guys said was really nice and i appreciate it.”

“It’s completely fine and I’m used to it by now. i don’t lose any sleep over it.”

“How you feel about me blending musical genres together doesn’t bother me, no one is making you support or buy pop rap albums.”

So just how successful is Iggy Azalea?

In just two years, Iggy became only the fourth solo female rapper ever to top the Hot 100. She also joined The Beatles as the only acts to rank at numbers one and two simultaneously with their first two Hot 100 hits. Even more, she has already passed Lil’ Kim as the female rapper with the longest-leading number one single on the Billboard Hot 100.

Her “Fancy” song has already been certified platinum with more than 1 million copies sold. The video on YouTube has more than 400 million views.

Learn more about Iggy Azela at www.iggyazalea.com or follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/iggyazalea