This week's "beef" between Azealia Banks and Igloo Australia Iggy Azalea was way more than just beef: it was about what it really means, on a socio-political level, that America's favorite rappers keep getting whiter (as exemplified by Azalea's Grammy nomination for Best Rap Album, mimicking Macklemore's success last year). Banks gave a brave, emotionally-charged Hot 97 interview earlier this week, during which she cried describing how she feared things like Azalea's Grammy nomination were contributing to the erasure of hip-hop's blackness, and blackness in general: "When they give these Grammys out, all it says to white kids is 'You're amazing, you're great, you can do anything you put your mind to,' she said. "And all it says to Black kids is 'You don't have shit, you don't own shit, not even the shit you created for yourself.' And it makes me upset." Azalea took to Twitter to respond (you can read her response here); it was flippant, wholly unempathetic, and re-defined missing the point.
Today, Q-Tip hit Azalea with a long, informed response—not as an a "chastisement" or "admonishment," he said, but simply for some context. It's worth reading for all of us. Azalea has yet to respond.
@IGGYAZALEA HipHop is a artistic and socio-political movement/culture that sprang from the disparate ghettos of NY in the early 70's
— QTip (@QtipTheAbstract) December 20, 2014
@IGGYAZALEA Coming off the heels of the CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT and approaching the end of the Vietnam war it was a crossroads 4 America
— QTip (@QtipTheAbstract) December 20, 2014
@IGGYAZALEA specially for blacks in the US our neighborhoods were PROLIFERATED w/a rush of HEROINE
— QTip (@QtipTheAbstract) December 20, 2014
@IGGYAZALEA our school systems here in NY dungeon traps with light for learning
— QTip (@QtipTheAbstract) December 20, 2014
@IGGYAZALEA blk men some of whom didn't return from tours of duty n the ones who did came w/war baggage (agent orange, addiction, ect..)
— QTip (@QtipTheAbstract) December 20, 2014
@IGGYAZALEA these men had families but due to these events and throw into the mix the public emasculation...
— QTip (@QtipTheAbstract) December 20, 2014
@IGGYAZALEA they proved to be handicapped parents. The surrogate parents? The STREETS
— QTip (@QtipTheAbstract) December 20, 2014
@IGGYAZALEA the streets of gangs, crimes, and the hustlers coddled us and swept us up
— QTip (@QtipTheAbstract) December 20, 2014
@IGGYAZALEA but! Being a spirited, rhythmic & expressive people music art dance outlined our existence
— QTip (@QtipTheAbstract) December 20, 2014
@IGGYAZALEA it proved a way for us to exhault to scream to dance to laugh and find OUR VOICE
— QTip (@QtipTheAbstract) December 20, 2014
@IGGYAZALEA we weren't at the time skilled musicians as kids. We had records, turntables, ideas and INGENUITY
— QTip (@QtipTheAbstract) December 20, 2014
@IGGYAZALEA being natural chemist we took from whatever was availed to us and we created something mighty and special
— QTip (@QtipTheAbstract) December 20, 2014
@IGGYAZALEA we cut breakbeats back n forth we took a hybrid of Jamaican toasting along w/ radio jock rap( hank Spann, Gary Byrd, ect.) and
— QTip (@QtipTheAbstract) December 20, 2014
@IGGYAZALEA we put our rap down..
— QTip (@QtipTheAbstract) December 20, 2014
@IGGYAZALEA it was a neighborhood thing really. Black and Latino Kids were carving out their space and it became infectious
— QTip (@QtipTheAbstract) December 20, 2014
@IGGYAZALEA eventually Keith Cowboy coined the phrase hiphop . Yrs later the first rap record was recorded and now we r moving
— QTip (@QtipTheAbstract) December 20, 2014
@IGGYAZALEA but during these strides this country still had the monster of racism and racial insensitivity breathing and ruling
— QTip (@QtipTheAbstract) December 20, 2014
@IGGYAZALEA believe it or not young black n Latino lives specifically weren't acknowledged in mainstream American culture unless Ofcourse..
— QTip (@QtipTheAbstract) December 20, 2014
@IGGYAZALEA the convo was abt gangs , being criminals or uneducated. And hey! Like I stated early our families were rushed our schools
— QTip (@QtipTheAbstract) December 20, 2014
@IGGYAZALEA sucked and we were left to put devices to survive
— QTip (@QtipTheAbstract) December 20, 2014
@IGGYAZALEA but HIPHOP showed that we had DEPTH, fire, and BRILLANCE
— QTip (@QtipTheAbstract) December 20, 2014
@IGGYAZALEA the music was undeniable! It moved from NY N became national and even GLOBAL
— QTip (@QtipTheAbstract) December 20, 2014
@IGGYAZALEA hiphop now was FOR EVERYBODY!! All of those who cld relate to the roots, the spirit, the history, the energy.. It reached YOU
— QTip (@QtipTheAbstract) December 20, 2014
@IGGYAZALEA it touched your spirit n took u up. We magnetized you! That's what BRILLANCE does
— QTip (@QtipTheAbstract) December 20, 2014
@IGGYAZALEA now u are fulfilling your dreams ... BUT!
— QTip (@QtipTheAbstract) December 20, 2014
@IGGYAZALEA you have to take into account the HISTORY as you move underneath the banner of hiphop. As I said before
— QTip (@QtipTheAbstract) December 20, 2014
@IGGYAZALEA hiphop is fun it's vile it's dance it's traditional it's light hearted but 1 thing it can never detach itself from
— QTip (@QtipTheAbstract) December 20, 2014
@IGGYAZALEA is being a SOCIO-Political movement. U may ask why ... Well
— QTip (@QtipTheAbstract) December 20, 2014
@IGGYAZALEA once you are born black your existence I believe is joined with socio-political epitaph and philos
— QTip (@QtipTheAbstract) December 20, 2014
@IGGYAZALEA based on the tangled and treacherous history SLAVERY alone this is the case
— QTip (@QtipTheAbstract) December 20, 2014
@IGGYAZALEA it never leaves our conversation... Ever. WeAther in our universities our dinner tables our studios or jail cells
— QTip (@QtipTheAbstract) December 20, 2014
@IGGYAZALEA the effects still resononates with us. It hurts... We get emotional and angry and melancholy
— QTip (@QtipTheAbstract) December 20, 2014
@IGGYAZALEA did u know president Clinton was the ONLY PRESIDENT to apologize for it?
— QTip (@QtipTheAbstract) December 20, 2014
@IGGYAZALEA did u know that remnants of slavery exist today thru white privilege? When certain "niceties" r extended your way because of
— QTip (@QtipTheAbstract) December 20, 2014
@IGGYAZALEA how u look? Isn't that crazy? I say this 2 say u are a hiphop artist who has the right 2 express herself however she wishes
— QTip (@QtipTheAbstract) December 20, 2014
@IGGYAZALEA this is not a chastisement this is not admonishment at ALL this is just one artist reaching to another hoping to spark insight
— QTip (@QtipTheAbstract) December 20, 2014
@IGGYAZALEA into the field you r in. I say this in the spirit of a hopeful healthy dialogue that maybe one day we can continue
— QTip (@QtipTheAbstract) December 20, 2014
@IGGYAZALEA I've been on twitter a long time and this will probably be my last series of tweets pretty much but
— QTip (@QtipTheAbstract) December 20, 2014
@IGGYAZALEA I'm Kool with it as long as I got to share this w u. Zzzzzzz's up! Peace!
— QTip (@QtipTheAbstract) December 20, 2014
