1. OMG HOW CAN YOU COMPARE RAPPERS LIKE IGGY AZALEA AND KREASHAWN TO BLACKFACE MINSTRELS?

(http://aamerrahman.tumblr.com/image/53915908191)

Blackface was all about white people acting out caricatured, fetishised depictions of black people for the entertainment of white audiences. Iggy Azalea, Kreashawn etc. are all about… well, you get the picture. Their entire careers rely on them perpetually acting, talking and behaving like college students at an ironic-not-racist-but-actually-racist ‘Ghetto Fabulous’ themed frat party.

2. ARE YOU SAYING IGGY AZALEA IS RACIST?

Let’s not even start on this: http://diaryofahollywoodstreetking.com/iggy-azalea-leads-racist-twitter-rant/

I’m sure Iggy Azalea doesn’t think Iggy Azalea is racist. In fact, she thinks SHE is the one being oppressed. These are her words in response to Eve saying she wasn’t a fan:

“Everybody is different, everybody hasn’t lived out of the box and for you to even know if it’s real, you have to kind of be an out-the-box person or somebody who likes something they’re not suppose to. A girl like her that raps is expected, so, how could you understand something so different?

Right. (1) Rap is some kind of forbidden love for a girl like Iggy, (2) OMG black people like Eve rapping are SO CLICHÉ! How could they possibly understand something as brilliant and original as an white Australian who makes money by doing a bad impression of a black woman? Also, you don’t call Eve 'girl.’

“I’m not mad at [Eve] for not understanding it,” she continued. “How could you if you’ve never been ostracized or loved something you weren’t suppose to love? Everything you’ve loved you’re allowed to love, so, how could you understand me? … I don’t give a fuck if you think I am (real) or not ’cause that girl in the crowd understand it and that’s who it’s for, if you don’t then it’s not for you.”

Okay, so (1) WHERE DOES A WHITE RAPPER GET OFF TELLING A BLACK WOMAN THAT SHE HAS ‘NEVER BEEN OSTRACISED’ AND ALWAYS BEEN ALLOWED TO LOVE WHAT SHE WANTS???

(2) WTF is this about ‘not being allowed to love’ rap??? Asher Roth predictably says similar things – that growing up he felt alienated by the Hip-Hop he listened to because he didn’t feel ‘represented.’

PLEASE UNDERSTAND THIS. COMMERCIAL HIP-HOP IS DESIGNED FOR WHITE PEOPLE. WHITE PEOPLE ARE THE VAST, OVERWHELMING MAJORITY OF HIP-HOP’S CONSUMER BASE. WHITE PEOPLE ARE THE OVERWHELMING MAJORITY OF WESTERN CONSUMERS, FULL STOP. HIP-HOP MUST MEET WHITE PEOPLE’S DEMANDS IN ORDER TO BE FINANCIALLY VIABLE CONTENT FOR ADVERTISERS ON TV, RADIO AND THE INTERNET. HIP-HOP AS AN INDUSTRY SURVIVES ON WHITE PEOPLE’S MONEY. HIP-HOP AS A PRODUCT RELIES ON APPEALING TO THE WHIMS OF ITS PREDOMINANTLY WHITE FANBASE. COMMERCIALLY SUCCESSFUL HIP-HOP REFLECTS THE DESIRES AND TASTES OF WHITE PEOPLE. HIP-HOP IS ONE OF WHITE AMERICA’S FAVOURITE FORMS OF ESCAPE, WHERE YOU GET TO PROJECT AND LIVE OUT FANTASIES ABOUT SEX AND VIOLENCE THROUGH PEOPLE OF COLOUR. YOU ARE NOT ‘OUTSIDERS’ TO HIP-HOP, YOU ACTUALLY CONTROL ITS PRODUCTION, FORM AND DISTRIBUTION JUST BY BEING WHITE.

You are not being excluded. I promise.

3. ARE YOU SAYING WHITE PEOPLE AREN’T ALLOWED TO RAP?

White people can and will do whatever the fuck they want regardless of what I might think or say.

This is one of my favourite gems from Iggy: “This idea that rap should be black… is worrying to me. It’s almost like segregation…isn’t that how conflict (!!?!) starts?”

Um, no. Actually, it’s nothing like segregation. And no, people thinking you and your fake, manufactured shit have no place in a culture built on authenticity is not how racism and wars started. Benevolent white people like you who want to forcibly colonise, appropriate and redefine other people’s culture and history are how racism and wars started.

4. REALLY? THE JIMMY FALLON/ JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE ‘HISTORY OF RAP’ SKITS? REACHING, BRAH.

If you say so. Two douchebag whiteboys doing Hip-Hop karaoke using THE ROOTS as a jukebox? Really? Presenting someone else’s art and history (badly) while the coloured folks play backup? While BLACK THOUGHT stands by and watches? Black Thought is one of the best MCs out and - if you’ve heard his mixtape with J. Period - can actually do incredible impersonations of other rappers. But that doesn’t matter, because being rich and white like Fallon and Timberlake means you can ride off other people’s talent, history and cultural capital just for kicks while a white studio audience cheers you on.

PART 2 of this is here: http://aamerrahman.tumblr.com/post/54317063776/white-rapper-faq-part-2