As we discussed yesterday, Iggy Azalea doesn’t want to be called a Becky. She tried to make it sound like the whole “Becky” thing was about white women who love to give oral sex, but really… don’t most of us believe that Becky references a “bland, basic white woman”? Historically, in slang, Becky is just that – a basic white girl. And it does feel like “Becky doth protest too much” because Iggy is, historically, pretty basic. Anyway, after Iggy basically said two days ago that it’s racist to call a white girl “Becky,” she’s now changing her tune… slightly. To be clear, Iggy created a false equivalency at first, saying that calling someone Becky is the same as using racist stereotypes. After the media went a little bit crazy saying that Iggy was calling Beyonce a racist, Iggy went on Twitter to clarify some stuff last night.
No i dont think Beyonce is racist nor do i think calling someone "BECKY" is the same as a racial slur. I actually like her and the project.
— IGGY AZALEA (@IGGYAZALEA) April 27, 2016
BUT, no i dont think its great to use stereotypical names to describe ANY race. I think we can all agree on that.
— IGGY AZALEA (@IGGYAZALEA) April 27, 2016
AND WE ALL KNOW "becky" started because you all think white girls just go around slobbing on everyones dick. Im good on being called that.
— IGGY AZALEA (@IGGYAZALEA) April 27, 2016
AND YOU WILL ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL DEAL. because unless youre planning on walking up to me and calling me out my name, it doesnt affect you!
— IGGY AZALEA (@IGGYAZALEA) April 27, 2016
She also clarified to specific followers:
“Yeah i actually wasnt even talking about the song, i was talking to someone who called me that on twitter. YOU ALL made it about the song and beyonce. i merely said why i think its rude for that fan on twitter to call me out my name. i didnt, i said hey dont call me becky this is why i dont like it and think its rude. no shade to beyonce i love her. unrelated. and then everyone hoped on the bandwagon and was like IGGY THINKS BEYONCE IS BEING A RACIST! soooo yeah. never, ever came on her and said “f–k bey and her song lyrics” wasnt even TALKING about her to this person.
You know what I think is funny? Iggy has successfully hijacked the conversation because now we’re all debating the term Becky and whether Iggy IS Peak Becky or whether we should never, ever use the term Becky to describe someone basic. While I’ve enjoyed this little gossip-jaunt down the Becky Rabbit Hole, I do think Iggy and her followers are really missing the point about this and everything else. Also: considering how much time I’ve had to spend on Iggy’s Twitter feed in the past few days, I’d really like to ask her to put down the Twitter. It’s like old-school LeAnn Rimes in there – Iggy replies to everyone and she’s tweeting hundreds of times a day. So basic.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
What she needs, is a lesson on what racism means.
What she needs is to go away.
She needs to shut her gob, get off social media and to go away, taking that horrifying face with her.
Not to defend Iggy, but nowhere in her tweets did I see HER use the word racism (I may be wrong on this, if I am please let me know). She talked about the term “Becky” as a stereotype, but she did not say it was racist.
I don’t like Iggy but she’s right. It’s not cool to go around calling White girls Becky just like it’s not cool to go around calling Black girls Sheneneh as if we’re all hood and act like that.
I agree with you both, tealily and V4Real. I didn’t take it as racism, either. it just seems that every time there’s an article about her, it’s because she’s created another drama. She’s become annoying. Her face scares me.
What she needs is a lesson in when to hold her tongue. One doesn’t need to share all one’s thoughts.
Just to clarify – everything I said yesterday was stupid, so I’m trying to pretend that’s not what I meant.
Haha!
Like she’s trying to pretend she’s a rapper………..
LOL oh my god GNAT I feel the same. I said some really stupid sh*t yesterday too. I think I’m prone to that when I don’t have as much work so I’m going to actually do my job and refrain from over-commenting today.
You’re welcome, everyone.
Lol I say things that I don’t even agree with a week later. Or even the next day. No worries Kitten.
Exactly! What a dumba**!!!
People just need to stop talking. It’s a music album, not a political manifesto and it is not going to change the world.
But it already has changed the world. I’ve never seen an album cause this kind of reaction before, not musically or intellectually.
Then you aren’t old enough to remember early Prince, Madonna or David Bowie albums……..
The 70’s was a musical revolution. Women rockers, peace and love and all that.
Intellectually?
I’m not saying that music in the past hasn’t caused a strong reaction, but this? All of the think-pieces alone have been insane.
And Jules-you already made you thoughts on Beyoncé clear the other day so does it really matter what I say?
@ Jules or Nevermind.
@Marty that’s a result of the Internet. The reaction is more immediate because you don’t have to wait for Rolling Stone etc to react.
Then you never heard of The Last Poets or What’s Going on by Marvin Gaye both albums were revolutionary. Way before Prince.
@ Marty
I’m sorry, but the music inspired by the Vietnam war did far more than cause a strong reaction. It inspired protests, awakened women to their voice, ripped apart family’s and divided a nation. Its most definitely not the same thing.
Gossip around a woman called Becky is intelectual?
Y’all are trying to equate this solely from the past but try thinking of it this way:
When has a Black female artist ever caused this strong of a reaction? Both positive and negative. I literally saw 50 essays written on the intricacies of Lemonade. Not to mention the way it was presented, as a fully-conceptualized visual albums with an almost predominately black female appearances and talent. Not to mention the way it layed bare the issue of how said black woman are treated in this country by not just this society, but our own community.
Yes, I absolutely believe Lemonade was a game changer.
@josefina- so did you even watch Lemonade, or are you just trying to troll me?
@ Marty
I understand what you are saying and had you said in your original post that we were talking about black women in this decade, then I would agree she is making people think. Not a big fan of hers and tend to believe this was more a money/attention ploy on her part, but that doesn’t mean its not an important and useful tool to help bring about awareness.
Marian Anderson, Billie Holiday, Nina Simone, Aretha Franklin.
@Marty
I did and thought it was commercial pop music that dealt with a serious theme, not anywhere close to the revolutionary and edgy artistic masterpiece people are trying to pass it for.
And the Becky lyric IS what people are most talking about. That much is factual.
Just for the récord I like Bey and liked Lemonade and it’s good she makes pop music about serious issues instead of booty clappin (like she did in her first 4 and a half albums). But Bey’s a pop star, a crowd pleaser, a saleswoman. And because of that I refuse to call her a serious artist. Especially since she doesnt even write her music.
@Marty
It’s fine. We all know you can’t ever suggest Beyonce is talented or her music is good or that she’s a feminist without a dozen people correcting you that she’s absolutely none of those things because she doesn’t fit their image of the word.
I get what you’re saying. For music right now, from a black woman’s perspective this is huge. It doesn’t take away from any talented singers of the past, it is another layer to an ongoing conversation and dare I say a conversation in itself about the palatability of black music and message from someone who tried to be very inclusive and is now facing backlash for refusing to tone it down.
While I agree a lot of the focus has been on the gossipy part of Lemonade, there have also been some really great articles and conversations about the other themes it portrays.
The fact is black women have always struggled to have their voices heard in this country and whether you like her or not, Beyoncé contributed to that voice in a big way. Every black woman I know had a strong reaction to Lemonade, many to the point of tears. So dismiss it as just another “pop album” is incredibly narrow-minded.
@Eternal- yes, exactly. And thank you.
Well, I think it’s frickin’ fantastic and is enabling a conversation among women who have been crying out for that conversation, and perhaps it won’t change the world but perhaps perhaps perhaps it just might – for those many women who wanted to have this conversation.
It’s entirely beyond me that any woman would take any time out of her life to criticise or belittle another woman for singing to her sisters.
And, by the way, the actual music itself is so far from my taste that I’d change the station if it came on the radio.
And, by the way, by the way, I love you, Marty. I hope your world gets changed so it’s the way you want it to be.
Aww thank you Sixer, love you too!
@TESE
THIS is what I detest about Beyonce fans. The permanente victimization. You’re not allowed to like Beyonce. Beyonce is not heard. Beyonce is not taken seriously. Everyone hates Beyonce and the whole world is fixated on proving Beyonce is dumb and untalented. Except not. She’s an award winning, best selling performer and everytime someone dares say othwrwise, a fan ir two jump in her defense.
No. No. Just stop it. Beyonce is a pop star and NOT an untouchable deity.
I didnt think Lemonade was all of that. I think people are making it look like this huge artístic experience because she’s Beyonce and people have literally counted the days to the release of this. She couldve written a whole album about french fries and I am SURE a million articles wouldve been written about her. Because she’s Beyonce and, right now, she’s arguably the biggest thing in music.
This is my opinion and it’s valid and just because a bunch of her fans were illuminated by Lemonade it doesnt mean I have to be.
Beyonce is a pop star, she sells, she has a public image she protects. She’s done this for decades and is boss at it. So I still refuse to ser this as more than another pop, comercial album and if this makes me narrow minded then so be it. Sorry I use facts to base my opinion of people.
@Josephina- I just have one thing to say on behalf of me and Eternal then I’ma stop.
When you hurt me you hurt yourself.
When you lie to me you lie to yourself.
When you play me you play yourself.
Don’t play yourself.
And I got 5 G’s for you.
Good God get a grip girl.
@Marty
Aww thank you! That closing line tho right?
@Josefina
Lol, it always cracks me up when someone decides who and what I’m a fan of because I can defend a point of logic. Don’t cut yourself on that edge boo, it seems sharp.
So to clarify for you. I wasn’t even a big Beyonce fan before this. I liked her music the way I like all music that makes me happy but there was no special allegiance. THIS album and her recent musical efforts are what have made me start truly listening to and examining her both as an artist and as a statement about our world in general. Suggesting that the hate she sometimes gets is null and void because she’s rich and famous is like saying Obama isn’t dogged simply because he’s President. The two issues do not equate.
So for all this “I, me, me, I” talk from you, I don’t think I ever told you how to feel about a single thing. I told Marty I get why she as someone who loves this album and expressed that shouldn’t be surprised by the voices who immediately tell her she’s wrong because of a, b, and c. Whatever you want to do, feel, or be is all about you and has nothing to do with what I was saying.
Marty, I read your last comment and decided that I’m done with the Internet for today. I can’t take it. Perfect usage of that song lyric!
Josefina: You said “This is my opinion and it’s valid and just because a bunch of her fans were illuminated by Lemonade it doesnt mean I have to be.” You’re right, you don’t have to be. But you can respect it, right? Respect the fact that Bey touched on something that really struck and nerve and resonated with so many people. We’re each touched and illuminated by something different. I respect what speaks to you and you can also respect what speaks to me.
I think one of the most fun things about this album is getting immersed in other people’s experiences of it. I have truly enjoyed reading all the circulating think-pieces on Beyonce and what this album means, and personal reflections from fans describing how the lyrics, musical style, and film accompaniment resonated with them in a really profound way. I’ve almost cried from reading how strongly others feel about it, and that’s really something. I truly cannot understand how others would perceive it as a personal attack on their taste when fans or critics discuss the album and praise it.
Maybe there’s a weird musical class-ism underlying this. No, Beyonce isn’t Herbie Hancock or Wynton Marsalis. No, she isn’t the Beatles. Maybe her pop and R&B roots are the reason she is not being taken seriously by some, even now. But it’s so evident that she’s grown as a musician in her last two albums if you’re paying any kind of attention at all. And she’s had the marketing savvy to spin that musical growth into tremendous media events surrounding her albums, dropped on a Thursday and Sunday without any prior advertisement.
This is the only Beyonce album I’ve been able to listen to five times a day since it was released without tiring of it.
It hasn’t changed my world.
Agreed. I was thinking yesterday that:
a. A lot of this attention has been generated by the very intentional cheating storyline, which, in the case of anyone else, the public consensus would be “dump the serial cheater and get some self respect”. J Garner sure got a lot of that. For some reason when it comes to Bey all I read was “after his daughter was born he really started to behave”. I don’t care either way but it seems to me that if your man really stopped acting like a cheating loser four years ago, and you truly solved your private issues in counselling, and have moved on, dragging it all out in public now is… Well, inelegant. And unprivate. Unless, wait a second, it is all about money, and part of a very careful PR strategy, where a performer doesn’t do any (real) interviews but instead releases songs with purportedly very revealing, private lyrics instead.
b. If people are still talking about Lemonade in a 100 years, or if they reference it as a cause for some dramatic societal shifts, then we can say it was historic and life altering. Do I believe Hamilton will achieve the kind of immortality that Aida has, for example? Yes. IMO, Lemonade won’t. But since none of us will be here in 100 years to debate it, it is a moot point. We can all choose to believe what we will.
C. Iggy is boring, so boring that no matter how many stupid Twitter feuds she gets into, no one cares enough to buy her music or her concert tix. (Oh wait, what concert??). Hopefully she will soon be one of the has beens we don’t need to hear about.
Let me clear, I’ve seen you post on here before, I’ve thought you to be smart, thoughtful, and insightful. That hasn’t changed.
You don’t have to like or listen to Beyoncé, nor do you have to like or listen to Lemonade, but I will not tolerate my response to your original statement being dismissed just because you can not understand it. You reduced my later comments to the simplest of forms and then again dismissed them, even after I told you why this album has so much significance to me, and many others like me. I would never belittle someone’s connection to something the way that you did. That is my problem. Not that you disagreed with me, but that you were so quick to devalue my reasons for my original comment. And in your disregard you devauled those who did have such a strong connection to this album. Black women finding a message from a black artist.
@lilacflowers
@ Marty-
RE: the thread at the top
If someone told me that one of the most impactful, seminal, life-changing albums for me was essentially just commercialized nonsense I would have a strong reaction too.
I think if people want to post a negative opinion, it should be a stand-alone, not a reply to people who are all together sharing their enthusiasm and feeling the same vibe. There was something really confrontational about the way that went down and I don’t get why some people seemed almost taken aback that you and others would defend something meaningful to you. They should have expected that response because it’s so clear how passionate you and others are about Lemonade.
(if that made any sense)
Makes perfect sense, Kitten.
Yes it absolutely does.
I’ll also say Marty didn’t tell anyone else how to feel or judge the music, just what it meant for her. Obviously there’s songs about wars and other topics that are equally as ground breaking but for the CURRENT state of black women’s relationship to men, love, their personal respect, each other and treatment of police and society? To be this honest. To address this when there has been so little consideration for the black females even from those celebrities who are feminist and supportive of black men? To take hold and command the conversation unapologetically?
This is HUGE for us.
It doesn’t take away from anyone else or any other music, like others have said this music operates on a level of language that maybe doesn’t impress or effect others who aren’t minority women. It is a very bold choice.
@Kitten, Almond Joy, Eternal
Thank y’all so much for your responses, you made great points.
After thinking about it I could have definitely done a better job at making my original statement clearer and not such a generalized statement, so for that I apologize. But I still stand by my overall view.
Like Sixer said above she doesn’t care for Beyoncé and her music and would likely change the radio if she came on, which is totally fine by me. I just don’t like seeing something that resonates so deeply, with black women in particular, being dismissed as commercial crap just because you can’t relate to the message of the album. Just because something isn’t for you doesn’t mean it doesn’t have significance to someone else. That is my point.
Marty, you expressed yourself just fine. Honestly I’m completely frustrated with the way the comments are going. So now it’s fine to completely dismiss what moves and inspires another person. And it’s like people are actually looking down on you for being touched and deeply affected by something that didn’t affect them in the same way. I just don’t get it. Really disappointing.
I’m white and bald. Several years ago, a black man called me “Powder” because of that film in the ’90s, though I’m more ruddy than pale.
LOL! Well I hope you clarified the difference with him.
Hey. HEY! YOU GUYS! I’m still here! I’m still talking about stuff!!!
But don’t go around saying I say stuff. YOU say stuff!!! I only say thing s and then everyone says I say things, when I didn’t. I only said CERTAIN things, which don’t mean what you think they mean.
Why is everyone always dragging me into everything?
-every tweet IA has ever made about anything.
LOL! Thanks!
LMAO. Perfect.
She should just cut and paste that.
I love this.
Lol Pretty much that.
Thank you for expending the brainpower to translate this for us. I got halfway through her screed and was like, “this is too much effort to read and understand a sentiment so poorly thought through.”
LMFAO!!
Why is she still being covered? I was doing just fine forgetting about her. Ugh.
In her defense, if I was a bland, white girl I wouldn’t want people calling me Becky either.
If a white person referred to a black woman as LaQisha or Shaniqua with a weave we would find it offensive So what is the difference? And yes I am black and hate being called names that stereotype me. I don’t snap my fingers, I don’t roll my eyes nor chicken neck or twerk. Then we shouldn’t reduce white women to a name or physical attribute.
I’m a black woman and I stand by what I said yesterday. It’s derogatory because it’s disrespectful. It’s a slur because it’s an insult. Its not racist because it doesn’t have the same power differential and historical context as a racist slur but it’s still a disrespectful and stereotypical way to speak someone.
I agree with you, it’s a very rude thing to say to someone. Unfortunately, I don’t have much respect for Iggy and find myself being flippant in my posts about her but I get your point completely.
@Decorative item ita said person above I’ve got zero respect or interest in her.
Thank you. Reducing people to snide generalities and flippant, insulting nicknames is rude and wrong.
@Luca76 I agree with you. Iggy was not wrong is this. She didn’t use the word “racist” herself, and she has every right to call out disrespect. The problem is that she doesn’t have the greatest track record and nobody wants to hear it from her, but I’d like to think that she’s learned. If only she could learn to take a step back from social media…
I agree, I just wish another person was calling out this term.
Had never heard the term Becky until yesterday. When I heard it I thought of Becky Conner from Roseanne.
This could have all been avoided if AMETHYST knew how to stay in her lane.
It seems like all the famewhores out there want a piece of this fame. Kudos to Beyonce’s PR team for putting up this stunt.
Well played indeed.
I personally think “Becky” came from the Sir mix- a lot song.
Anyway, I agree with her to a point. I don’t think its cool to make fun of or use derogatory statements to any race.
THANK YOU Marianne! People are making this way more complicated than it is. True, Sir Mix a Lot played on a stereotype of the white valley girl, but still. This is not newsworthy.
I saw a video yesterday on Baller Alert of Izzy rapping about a Becky in one of songs.I wonder if she changed her tune after that was posted online.So she can call women ,Becky, in her song but don’t call her one? I get it.
Why does this not surprise me? She sucks.
Why did I not see your comment before I made mine 😩
That’s what happens when people write your songs. You don’t know you being made fun of, you just keep singing like a parrot.
some people are addicted to social media.
The culprit is dopamine. The internet lights up the same neural pathways as drugs. No wonder people can’t stay off their phones and will risk getting hit by cars or offending the people they’re with to keep looking at them.
What’s even more hilarious is that she called herself a Becky in a song and a clip of it was posted on Instagram. Everybody started tagging her in it like hmmmm 🤔🤔 isn’t that interesting!
“YOU GON’ RESPECK MY NAME. MY NAME IS NOT BECKY! MY NAME IS AMET – IGGY!”
She’s so predictable, only gives a damn about discussions of race and respect when it’s her sensitive butt being targeted.
I bet she’s even used the term insultingly since she suddenly invented the idea it had anything to do with oral sex.
Most sensitive ‘rapper’ in the game.
TESE: You have me screaming! I can’t stop imagining Iggy using her Birdman voice 😭
#PutSomeRESPECKOnIt
#ICouldaPulledUp
#IAintGonSayItAgain #IsWeDoneOrIsWeFinished
Seriously though, Iggy only cares about racism when she thinks she’s on the receiving end of it. On all other matters, she keeps quiet. (Unless of course it’s to hurl racist words at others)
*eye roll*
You know what’s funny my about Iggy?
The woman who wants so badly to be a rapper and hang in hip hop circles and be taken seriously as someone in them culture has absolutely NO clue what urban slang means.
All this time yesterday I kept wondering where people were suddenly getting this new definition of Becky from where it has ANYTHING to do with oral sex and look at that. It came from Ms. Clueless herself.
THAT is white privelage. When you’re comfortable being a racist jackass to everyone else but start whimpering for your binky over the term Becky. Good luck with that hip hop career AMETHYST.
It honestly seems to me like it means different things to different people. I’ve seen people on other gossip sites use it in a way I interpreted as being a “not nice” way to say ‘white girl’. And in articles and posts that have come after “Lemonade” I’ve again seen people explain that it means ‘white girl’ or ‘white girl who give bjs’. They could all be wrong, of course, but that’s what I’ve read on the interwebs.
I do think she is a hypocrite (as her past tweets have shown she has said some pretty racist sh*t). However, regarding slang, she grew up in Australia, not America. Each country uses different slang. If you go to the U.K. you probably wouldn’t know half the slang words. I don’t expect her to know every American slang term.
WORD!!! I’m like oral sex? White Girl? Can she please hush now.
In North London slang Beck (short for Rebecca/Becky) is a racial slur. I am sure Beyonce has never actually been to that part of London though!
Is it a slur for a white woman ?
Doesn’t she have a flailing “music” career to rescue or nah?
But Iggy has a song where she’s referring to Becky’s……. I don’t fully understand what she’s saying in the song, but I think she’s calling herself a Becky in it.
Its a slur for a particular type of Jewish young woman. A bit like ‘Jewish princess’. OK if a Jewish woman refers to herself as a Beck not OK for anyone else to.
I heard the term when I traveled to England once and understood it to be a derogatory term. Like Jewish American Princess. It’s means a superficial materialistic obnoxious annoying Jewish girl. If someone called me that I would take it as an insult.
Exactly right Magnoliarose.
Everytime I read the word becky I only have that Taylor Swift meme in my mind.
I’m not White but I can see why some White women might be offended by being called a “Becky” IF it is meant as a reference to being a “basic White girl”. Can’t you be “basic” and be Black, or Latina, or Asian? I’m pretty sure you can. So what’s the term for non-White basic girls?
she looks like GOOP in the airport photo
I thought the same thing! So weird.
This is what happens when the two rocks in her head are allowed to roll around unsupervised trying to eke out a thought.
As an Australian, this woman is an embarrassment to me. She is so vapid and unintelligent but thirsty for fame and credit where credit is certainly not due.
She is inserting herself in this conversation and making it about her. It had absolutely nothing to do with her, but hey look!, now everyone is focusing on Iggy Piggy. Success, I guess….? (She’s a bloody moron!)
Please, Amethyst Kelly, sit down & shut up.
I can only say that people are moved by different thIngs for different reasons. Some people look at a painting and think it’s commercial crap and others see something moving and worthwhile.
I was moved by the message no matter the source or the intention. There are several movements in art over the centuries that address the meaning and authenticity of a piece or performance.
Who can honestly judge what something means to someone else on a personal level. You would have to understand their inner life and past to pass judgment.
If a work or artist isn’t for you that’s cool. We snark here and get feisty but I hope we never get to the point where we hurt each other’s feelings over celebrities.
i just thought it ‘Becky” meant ‘white girl/woman’.
i just thought ‘Becky” meant ‘white girl/woman’.
i just thought “Becky” meant ‘white girl/woman’.
Sorry, my computer wasn’t moving so I kept hitting enter!
So art is subjective. Who’d have thunk it?
My general rule of thumb is that anything that’s more accessible than what I’m into is too mainstream Anything less accessible is hipster.
Just. GO.AWAY!!!!
Hmmmm, I just wish she would clarify that lipstick and that outfit. Other than that, shut up and go away.