White Rappers

Cultural appropriation is a very serious issue within mainstream popular culture. Often famous white people utilize other cultures because they think it looks cool or exotic, but they don’t understand the cultural meanings behind what they are appropriating, or recognize that they are benefiting from using other cultures which white people, as the dominant group, have in the past and continue to oppress. A particular aspect in reference to cultural appropriation, which has come up in lectures and tutorials, is white rappers. In particular, Eminem and Iggy Azalea have both been accused of cultural appropriation, however Eminem seems to be far more accepted within the Hip Hop community than Iggy Azalea and I am interested as to why this is.

It is a given that when white people rap, and succeed commercially from rapping, it is cultural appropriation. They are utilizing a form of music that was born out of the African American experience. Rap and Hip Hop is ingrained within black culture in America as a form of cultural expression. Therefore even though Iggy and Eminem obviously love rap music, and identify with this culture, they are not black and do not experience oppression due to their race, making their financial success from rap music problematic. However, Iggy Azalea cops a lot more flack for this within the media and from other rappers than Eminem does. I think this largely has to do with issues of awareness and authenticity. Iggy has said many things on social media or in interviews that demonstrates her lack of awareness of cultural appropriation, white privilege, or the fact that racism is an issue at all. For example:

Why Iggy thinks she has the right to school black people on why white people should be able to use the term ‘nigga’ I am not sure. Regardless of what she thinks the term means, it is pretty obvious the historical context the word is linked with so you would think she might have some idea of why the word is problematic for her to use. Iggy makes it sound as though it is a special  privilege that black people can say the word ‘nigga’ because she can’t, even though she evidently does anyway. Eminem has said plenty of extremely offensive things during his career, however he readily acknowledges his white privilege and use of cultural appropriation. For example in his song Without Me, Eminem raps “I am the worst thing since Elvis Presley, to do Black Music so selfishly, and use it to get myself wealthy”. In his song White America (appropriately titled to show his awareness), Eminem raps “look at my sales, let's do the math, if I was black, I would've sold half”. It is evident Eminem is aware of how he has benefited from both white privilege and cultural appropriation, and how this has lead to his commercial success. I think this awareness has helped him to fit into rap culture as other rappers respect this, where Iggy’s lack of awareness has only garnered criticism.

Alongside awareness is issues of authenticity. Eminem was discovered by Dr. Dre, a rap legend. Dr. Dre backing him gave Eminem credibility as a rapper. Eminem then went on to discover 50 Cent, helping him to start his career. Granted, Iggy has’t been around long enough to discover anyone yet, but the point is Eminem is involved in the Hip Hop world with other African American rappers which lends him more authenticity as a white rapper. While in comparison, rappers such as Eve have spoken out against Iggy’s use of cultural appropriation. Eve questioned Iggy’s authenticity in an interview where she speaks out about Iggy’s use of a  “blaccent” in her songs, using black slang and ways of speaking when rapping, but not actually speaking like this in reality when she is interviewed. Therefore Eminem’s awareness of his cultural appropriation and white privilege, and his image as an authentic rapper, has allowed him to succeed with credibility in the Hip Hop world and thus within the media, while Iggy currently does not.

Would love to hear your thoughts on the matter!

http://newsone.com/3088029/eve-and-jill-scott-iggy-azalea-blaccent/

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/feb/11/hip-hop-appropriation-eminem-iggy-azalea

https://myhyperreality.com/2014/12/23/iggy-azalea-2014s-answer-to-black-face/