Iggy Azalea Regrets Unintended Racist Lyric
By Lora Neng
WWW.STREETGANGS.COM STAFF WRITER
March 12, 2012
Iggy Azalea publicly apologized for her rookie mistake of writing a highly charged rap lyric in her song “D.R.U.G.S.” which ran, “When the relay starts I’m a runaway slave-master/ S—ing on the past, gotta spit like a pastor.” Her characterization as a white rapper acting to be a slave-master did not go over well in the hip-hop community. The greatest outcry came from another female rapper named, coincidentally, Azealia Banks.
When the 21-year-old Australian Iggy Azalea became the first female rapper to make the annual freshman cover of XXL magazine, Banks chided, “I’m not anti white girl, but I’m also not here for any1 outside of my culture trying to trivialize very serious aspects of it. In any capacity.” While Iggy Azalea’s first reaction was to interpret the criticism as an act of competition vying for recognition as a female rap artist, she soon realized that the criticism was shared by the public at large and changed her tone from celebration to one of contrition.
Azalea explained that her lyric was a nod to the greatly admired Kendrick Lamar’s “when the relay starts I’m a runaway slave…” adding her own personal, “Master, shitting on the past gotta spit it like a pastor.” Her intention was to declare master in overcoming history, and she apologized for having said “a tacky and careless thing” in trying to bridge the gap. “People should get a fair shot at whatever they want to do no matter what color they are; rap and hip hop as a culture is not exempt from this.”
Tags: Australian rapper, Azealia Banks, D.R.U.G.S. song, Iggy Azalea, racism, XXL freshman cover
Posted by Lora
on Mar 12 2012. Filed under Entertainment.
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