In a Wednesday radio interview, âWhatever You Likeâ rapper T.I. broke the news that his working relationship with Iggy Azalea is as over as, well, Iggy Azalea. T.I. later âclarifiedâ that Iggy is still his âpartnerâ and insisted that âweâre focused on making the next Iggy record,â but no oneânot T.I., and definitely not Iggy Azaleaâseems to know exactly whatâs going on between the performer and her longtime mentor.
Maybe it helps to understand the pairâs history. Way back in 2012, Iggy Azalea, with her blonde good looks and confusing southern drawl, was slated to be hip-hopâs next big thing. That was a simpler time, before Kanye West was a soon-to-be presidential candidate and âcultural appropriationâ had yet to infiltrate the pop culture think piece machine. Naturally, southern rapper T.I. agreed to executive produce Azaleaâs pseudo-southern âmasterpieceâ, The New Classic. When Interscope barred T.I. from the ongoing deal, Azalea decided not to sign with the major label.
The rest is hip-hop-lite history: the rapper released singles like âMurda Bizness,â âWork,â and âFancy,â revolutionizing sorority pregames across America. In 2014, The New Classic debuted at number three on the Billboard 200, and quickly became the highest-charting female rap album since Nicki Minajâs Pink Friday. Azalea was living a life that most passably talented blondes only dream of: dressing up as Cher Horowitz, wearing fun ponytail extensions, and even working with notorious donut criminal /woodland nymph Ariana Grande.
But like Icarus flying too close to the sun, or Ariana Grandeâs tongue sliding too close to the donut, Azalea was in for a rude awakening. When, in 2011, the rapper rhapsodized about being a ârunaway slave-masterâ on her remix track âD.R.U.G.S.,â the Internet quickly ran through all the stages of white lady rapper backlash, from âis this Kreayshawn?â to âWhy should I care?â to âWaitâŠWTF?â to âplease bring back Kreayshawn.â You donât need to read Emily Post to know that appropriating and commodifying a black sonic culture and then making a slave-master joke is simply bad manners. Azalea quickly apologized, admitting that âit was a tacky and careless thing to say.â
But the Internet, armed with schadenfreude and scandalous screenshots, quickly attacked Iggy with a number of her own âtacky,â racist, homophobic tweets, ranging from 2010 to 2012 (the golden years of saying stupid shit on the Internet). Iggyâs totally careless response? âRemember there was a time when my Twitter was just for my friends and family to see.â So, to sum things up: Iggy Azalea doesnât want to stop using racist stereotypes and making offensive jokesâshe just years for the privacy of a segregated Twitter account. The future of hip-hop is here, and itâs whites-only.
Azealia Banks, our patron saint of telling it like it is, wasnât about to let Iggy Azalea steal both her stage name and her entire culture. In the wake of Ferguson, Banks went fully off on Azalea, tweeting, âits funny to see people like Igloo Australia silent when these things happen...Black Culture is cool, but black issues sure arenât huh?â She also went on Hot 97 and did a must-see interview on black erasure and Iggy Azaleaâs general mediocrity. In addition to launching a thousand sassy, sarcastic âIgloo Australiaâ-themed Twitter handles, Banksâs crusade centralized all the anti-Iggy ire that had been floating around the interwebs. Suddenly, Iggy was more than just that omnipresent, hard-to-spell radio sensationâshe was a full â10â on the 1-to-Macklemore scale of white hip-hop horribleness.
A hip-hop history lesson from A Tribe Called Questâs Q-Tip, a losing streak at the Grammys, and an avalanche of online shade followed in quick succession. Instead of addressing the errors of her ways, Azalea fought back by criticizing Banksâ âpiss-poor attitude,â telling Q-Tip she was ânot going to sit on Twitter & play hip-hop squares with strangers to somehow prove I deserve to be a fan of or influenced by hip-hop,â and picking a fight with her Papa Johnâs delivery man.
Unlike everyone else and their mother, T.I. has stood by the melting Igloo Australia through thick and thin. Heâs gone on record attesting to Azaleaâs vision, insisting that âshe should be judged based on that rather than her creed, nationality, or what country sheâs from.â He even responded to Q-Tip with his own Twitter screed, explaining that Iggy, Eminem and other artists who âjust so happen to beâ white âallowed ME TO SEE, that not all white people out to steal our cultureâŠThere are some that merely wish to contribute to it.â He ended his Tweet-off with a message for Iggy to âKEEP SHINING, FOLLOW YOUR HEART, & STAY TRUE TO WHO U ARE!!!â
Even after Azalea cancelled her Great Escape Tour over the summer to take a much-needed âbreakâ (AKA was forced to scrap her plans after all her openers quit and ticket sales stalled), T.I. stayed by her side like a man with a vested financial interest in the matter. Defending her controversial decision, T.I. said, âI feel any artist deserves the right to postpone or reschedule any presentation of their art. Any true fan should appreciate that.â
Additionally, Iggy Azalea was pressured out of performing at a Pittsburgh Pride event due to her history of homophobia and added insult to injury by chastising Britney Spears for failing to promote their single âPretty Girls.â Gaining a reputation as a homophobe then proceeding to insult a gay icon isnât just stupidâitâs career suicide.
No wonder T.I. is finally making moves to jump off this sinking ship, citing his belief that Iggyâs team âneeded some time to adjust.â While Azalea swears that theyâre still going steady, it seems like T.I. is losing confidence in Iggyâs vision. With no tour, no upcoming hit, and T.I. threatening to leave her in the lurch, itâs hard to imagine Iggy Azalea ever getting her mojo back. Bad news for Iggy Azalea, great news for anyone whoâs looking to buy a tourâs worth of half-off, lightly used blonde ponytail extensions on eBayâor anyone who actually gives a damn about the future of hip-hop.