A few days ago, people were talking about Erykah Badu at the Soul Train Awards and how she dissed the hell out of everyone’s favorite punching bag, Iggy Azalea. When Badu was on stage at the Soul Train Awards, she did a bit where she talked on a phone to “Iggy” and told her she could come to the show because “what you’re doing definitely ain’t rap.” Badu got a huge laugh for the bit. Here’s a low-quality video:
So, obviously, Iggy felt she had to respond. Iggy is in desperate need of someone taking away her social media, and she still hasn’t learned that it’s best not to respond to every single slight. So, yes, Iggy went on a Twitter rant. Here you go (I condensed the tweets for space):
Hi guys i know its been a while.
We are days from 2016, but i came online today and saw its still cool to try and discredit my 2014 accomplishments. LOL, f–king hell.
Seems exhausting. Anyway – Ive been enjoying the holiday season and i hope you all have too.
I dont really know what im doing with my music release; but im finished (except for getting the features recorded)
Right now i live in america and am very close to the Def Jam team; but im actually signed out of the UK. Things are complicated.
Im ready with my music but i am also trying to restructure some things to work smoother and better for me.
So we are all kind of still just figuring out how things should work and id guess thats going to take a few weeks.
After that she just meanders around, talking about her horse and Lady Gaga and some other stuff. I think it’s funny/sad that Iggy feels the need to defend herself yet again on Twitter – she’s so thin-skinned, it’s sort of crazy. But it’s just flat-out sad that she thinks Badu was trying to “discredit my 2014 accomplishments.” Dear Iggy: please learn how to not be a culture-appropriating dumbass and please learn how to take a joke.
Here are some photos of Iggy from a few weeks ago. Hand to God, it looks like she’s tweaked her face so much more in the past few months.
Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.
Lol.
Erykah wasn’t even talking about whatever new music Iggy is or isn’t about to release. She was just taking a shot, like, “Listen girl, we all know you can’t rap.”
The fact that Iggy had to take it so much deeper speaks volumes. The fact that she felt the need to justify her entire past, present and future music career just shows how insecure she is about her own utter talentlessness.
Get off Twitter for once, get a nice book, and enjoy your quiet ride on the train to irrelevancy.
But why even bother? Isn’t Erica a grown women, much older than Igggy? SHE should know better — why even make fun of anyone? And what the H is she wearing? She always looks awful.
I don’t see any “rant” from Iggy.
Why does everyone hate this girl? I don’t follow her but seems like she can’t even fart without something making a huge deal of it. Just ignore her if you don’t like her music?
Well every awards show host makes jokes about the audience and artists. Is Erykah not allowed to do so because she’s a grown woman and iggy is a has-been? This is the equivalent of Tina Fey/Amy Poehler joking about butt-hurt Taylor Swift.
When Iggy’s raps she imitates a black Southern accent which many people find reminiscent of minstrel shows and called it verbal blackface. The problem was how Iggy’s responded. Instead of being sensitive to what is a painful history for many people, she was confrontational. There were also complaints about her succeeding only due to white privilege. I don’t think that’s the case though. there arent very many black rappers making rap aimed at the pop market that’s why so few become as big as Iggy’s did. The few black rappers that have done pop rap like Nicki Minaj and Flo Rida became massive so I don’t think Iggy’s enjoyed any kind of white privilege. There are other white rappers who’ve never made it big so being white in rap is far from a guarantee of success. There’s also the cultural appropriation argument which is nonsense as well. The view is rap belongs to black culture therefore whites shouldn’t really be doing it. But rap is global, people of a races grow up listening to it, meaning it’s part of everyone’s culture now. I think most of the criticism she’s received outside of verbal blackface hasn’t been valid. She’s actually a decent rapper when it comes to flow as well. But I still feel like she deserves the backlash due to her own mishandling of criticism.
It’s not people being immature. They legit want to drive her away, and take her racist tweets and vocal blackface with her. There’s a lot of justifications for those feelings.
“there arent very many black rappers making rap aimed at the pop market that’s why so few become as big as Iggy’s did.”
I’m not sure I understand this comment. Do you know how many black rappers have crossed over to mainstream pop? Even your comments here talk about how rap is now “global”, meaning it crossed over into mainstream music and pop culture a LONG-ass time ago. You’re right that being a white rapper is far from a guarantee for success, quite the opposite and it has nothing to do with anything more than the sheer fact that most white rappers suck at rapping but are masters of appropriation.
Sorry but it’s true.
Iggy had success for a lot of reasons: she had a black man backing her, she had the sheer luck of one catchy song that came around at the right time and she’s a pretty white chick so of course, young white women were drawn to her. She is so far from talented and her flow is pure shite.
Where is Mimif and her youtube links? I think you need to see Iggy “free-styling” to truly understand how terrible she is. Mimicry is the only f*cking thing this chick can do.
Sorry if my comment seems harsh towards you, it wasn’t meant to be but as a true hip hop fan, Iggy enrages me. lol
Oh please, it was just a little joke at an awards show. As far as Iggy reads go, this is one of the tamest ones she’s gotten.
I bet she doesn’t even know who Erykah Badu is. Man, I miss the 90s.
People hate inauthenticity. A lot of ppl in/from other countries just suck at rap. They don’t get the origins. They don’t get America. It becomes something else altogether when they do it–in large part mimicry, and hopefully eventually it takes on a discrete identity/meaning of its own.
Eminem made it through because he was authentic…and authentically skilled, before he even met Dre. And that’s fine. But he should be a minority. The equation shouldn’t be every white a$$hole who wants to be a rapper finds embrace. And it definitely shouldn’t be every white a$$hole who can’t be bothered to stop talking and listen and learn about a culture she doesn’t understand–its more than a Brazilian butt lift and some cute poppy “rap” songs.
I have to agree with Hadleyb!
Stop with the fillers! Wth? She does not need them.
Iggy Kardarshian. That is all.
Did anyone else notice that in the pictures she is actually in front of a plastic surgery clinic? A quick Google tells you that it’s home to Kim K’s face filler MD
Ikr? It really seems like she does not have smart people around her, advising her on all the things she needs advising on.
Stupid girl! When Erykah Badu references you at the Soul Train awards, your tweet should read “Honored to be roasted by a living breathing legend. Erykah Badu is oxygen. #blessed”.
But seriously what kind of rapper is this who takes all her beef to twitter. Thats what mix tapes are for, doofus.
Meek Mill and we all know how that worked out…lol
Lmao at your mock tweet. #blessed
no but seriously, it shouldn’t have been a mock tweet, it should have been her reaction.
Totally should have been her reaction. Seriously. It would have been the perfect way to throw props to the amazing Badu and also show that she’s tough sh*t. Thing is, she’s not tough sh*t, she’s soft as hell and not particularly smart IMO.
Oh, and she can’t rap to save her life–I never miss an opportunity to point that out.
As much as I dislike Iggy, I would never claim she can’t rap. She actually has a decent flow. She miles better than Pitbull that’s for sure.
no EMMA …. just NO
LOL!
(you weren’t serious, were you? Please PLEASE tell me you were kidding…)
Being better than Pitbull is not an accomplishment (and she definitely isn’t). Iggy can’t rap. Not writing your own lyrics and not being able to freestyle = can’t rap. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2oGADsQ_P0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFPUqXrztS8
hahahahaha.
Lol no
Anyone who cannot get on the mike and freestyle is not a rapper. No ifs ands or buts
LMFAO!!! Thanks for the laugh.
I’m not even a Badu fan and I totally agree with you.
+1 It’s that notion of taking the high road. Should be done whenever possible. How sad that she doesn’t have people around her guiding her towards good decisions. Her media presence is a disaster.
@NAYA Your comment is everything!!! That is how a person with CLASS would respond! You should be a PR advisor!
Her eyes are so beady…and what has she done to her lips??
At least she knew better than to try and diss Ms Badu. She drags people shamelessly on Twitter
Yeah all the work she’s had done just emphasizes her deep and somewhat closely-set eyes. The lower half of her face looks much bigger with her new chin, etc. It’s bad, man…throws her once naturally-pretty face completely off-balance.
@Shelley It’s possible she learned a lesson from the Q Tip debacle.
Ok Iggy your 2014 accomplishments includes appropriating culture, failing to make a song that doesn’t have a hook sung by a superior singer and failing to tour because you aren’t all that.
Have several seats
Rap is part of everyone’s culture nowadays so she didn’t appropriate anything. And to be fair everyone appropriates from other cultures often multiple times a day so why pick on Iggy for doing it. She can’t sing that’s why she relies on hooks but other acts like Flo Rida and Pitbull have relied on talented singers to sing their hooks with far less criticism. I dislike Iggy because she’s immature, lacks self awareness and is confrontational and whiny. But I’m not going to make up fake complaints against her.
yea no.
Rap is not what the appropriation part is…I’m personally a huge fan of Eminem. And if you don’t know the complaints about Iggy appropriating black culture I won’t waste my breath. There’s many pieces detailing the problem with her
Alex- perfectly said!
+1
Yayyyyyyyy Badu. Mystical Goddess.
At this point Iggy is low hanging fruit.
Agree. Can we leave Iggy disses..and Iggy in 2015
Erykah Badu is incredible. Y’all are so right that Iggy should have treated this as an honor. She is insecure as hell and both her Twitter persona (defensive, tone-deaf, try-hard) and her obvious plastic surgery addiction only serve to underscore this.
+1. I couldn’t agree with you more!
Can people just leave her alone? I mean we are beating a dead horse. She gets it, we get it. I don’t think it’s really funny anymore. It’s starting to get a bit mean spirited. Do I think she earned it? Totally! She is guilty of many things, including cultural appropriation and I think after comments she has made about homosexuality and some of her mean spirited tweets, I do think she put a huge target on her back. But I think after a while it’s things start to get stale and this is one of those things!
Yes to all of this. Sing a new song, people.
I’m sorry, but how can she be “appropriating” a culture that her ancestors or she never oppressed? She’s Australian, for the love of God. Or every white person is automatically racist and guilty of American history? I’m actually asking. I don’t like her, she’s very dumb and her “art” is awful, but really, her rapping is as much offensive as black guy playing violin (not very African instrument, isn’t it? )
you must not know much about Australian history for one nor does her not being from the US exempt her. But your last sentence was just ridiculous so I won’t even bother
I know history pretty well. There were South Pacific slaves, not black slaves.
My last sentence was intentionally ridiculous to compare to the situation how everyone is blamed of cultural appropriation when the whole concept can be applicable only to those who “oppressed” the other race. Look at the definition of it.
It’s not the rapping in and of itself that’s the cultural appropriation. It’s the faking of a Black, Southern United States accent that’s the cultural appropriation. Eminem is wildly successful as a white male rapper because (1) he can rap well; (2) he writes his own raps; (3) he can freestyle; and (4) he doesn’t put on any airs (i.e. try to sound like an urban Black male) when he raps. He raps exactly as he speaks. As did Third Bass and The Beastie Boys. Therein lies the difference.
Maria, thank you! that makes everything more clear.
Rapping in an Aussie accent sounds ridiculous for the most part- and I say that as an Aussie who is a fan of several Aussie rap artists. Iggy is mimicking a sound that to her sounds like the authentic sound of rap. It’s just as simple as that. If she was making fun of the accent, fair enough, be upset, but she’s emulating an accent because she values it so highly and because the validity of rap is diminished somewhat when not performed with the accent apropos to the culture that gave birth to rap.
Americans can’t sell their culture to the world and then complain convincingly about cultural appropration. You sold us your culture as a product- and we bought it. So we own it now, too because we literally paid for it when we purchased your literature, your tv shows, your music, your food, your fashion, your movies. It’s a sign of the success and strength of your culture that it has been adopted by other cultures.
And since when does someone not get to be upset by being bullied by someone? Iggy should have taken the high road? How about not shitting all over someone else’s achievements, Badu?
Jonathan I pretty much agree with you. Someone mentioned on another site that Keith Urban sings with an American southern country twang, even though he grew up in Australia. Iggy probably does her “stage voice” for the same reason he does: because performing in her genre in her native accent sounds ridiculous. She probably should have mimicked a New York accent instead though, it would have been safer.
All I know is, regardless of her talent or lack of, it’s not cool for anybody to outright discredit another artist while on stage at an awards show. It’s just foul! Imagine if the roles were reversed and a white artist totally dissed a black artist on national television. The backlash would take over the airwaves and the Internet. Seriously, be honest with yourselves and think about the overwhelming outrage you would feel if some white female artist, even a well-respected one, like say Celine Dion, had taken the opportunity while on stage hostinig an awards show, and totally dissed let’s say Missy Elliott for singing a ballad. I have way more respect for Iggy than I do Badu and it has nothing to do with either of their music or talent. The awards are not a roast either. I’ve seen plenty of hosts take friendly jabs at other artists, but they don’t blatantly discredit them.
And, seeing support for Badu’s actions and the actual taking of pleasure in it is really disturbing. Some of you need to question your motives and ask yourselves why you really liked it. I suspect it feels good to some of you to see a black person attack a white person for no reason at all. That aint cool!
Agree! Mean spirited. I read comments of people not liking how she has a southern accent when she raps, but can’t the same thing be said about Adele. To me she sounds like a American singer and the first time I heard her I thought she would be black.
No because for one Adele’s singing voice actually does have that timbre so she’s not faking anything. Her singing accent is debatable but even if she does sound vaguely American she’s not doing the ebonic thing that Iggy does which is a clear mimicry of a culture she’s not a part of.
Your post seems right on the mark but I don’t like rap in general so I don’t feel that bad for Iggy. Plus she tries to create Twitter controversies in a stupid way (like dissing Britney Spears, her duet partner), so who’s going to work with her now? I agree she’s probably gotten more flak because she’s a white woman in a black-dominated field though. She made it all worse with her ill-conceived Twitter controversies. And that cultural appropriation cloud will haunt her career forever. I’m not saying she is appropriating or she isn’t because I don’t really understand the context or know much about rap, but I’m saying it will overshadow everything she does.
Well said.
She’s thin skinned because her tours all had to be cancelled due to poor sales. She’s a one-hit-wonder at this stage.