Culture Talk Volume 1: Cultural Appropriation

Page 18

PAGE 18

MUSIC

INFORMATION

The Authenticity of Iggy Azalea and Multicultural Rappers BY : YOOJIN HAN

As Iggy Azalea topped global music charts, made international headlines, and received Billboard’s 2015 Top Streaming Artist Award as well as 2016’s Woman of the Year Award, her future seemed nothing but promising. Two years later in a 2018 Billboard interview, the Australian rapper opened up about her faulty, inconsiderate actions towards the Black community and confessed,"I have regrets, yes, tons, of course.” Her music career seemed to have appeared devoid of her once solidified, glorified reputation. In 2015, her old tweets, remarks, and lyrics resurfaced all around social media for insulting Black accents and disrespecting Black culture. Her name made headlines once again, however this time, for a diametrically different reason: misusing her platform and being completely insensitive to an entire community and the cultural, symbolic elements behind them. Unfortunately, she stirred up even more controversy when she responded with the backlash with “cultural appropriation is subjective… I’m not sorry for my behavior”. Haters emerged all across the


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