Huh?
The fact that Hugh McIntyre, the author of the Forbes article “Hip-Hop Is Run By A White, Blonde, Australian Woman”, felt the need to describe Iggy Azalea‘s race and appearance rather than just use her name, means there’s a much larger point that he’s trying to make here, rather than just raise awareness of Iggy Azalea’s “success”. It’s almost as if he’s trying to say despite the valiant efforts of other races, it is the white blonde girl that wins, yet again.
Well, Mr. McIntyre, you couldn’t be more wrong. Pointing to the fact that Iggy Azalea’s The New Classic album is the highest charting album by a female since Nicki Minaj‘s Pink Friday hit the charts in 2010 is not an accomplishment, it merely proves that she’s won a sad war of attrition. Other than Nicki Minaj, there are no other female emcees that have proved to have any stable mainstream success. Now, even in this era of Hip-Hop, which is defined by internet maneuvers and popularity more than it has ever been, artists that are really “running” things, find a way to sell records. Kendrick Lamar was an underground rapper from Compton in 2011, he recently went platinum and garnered 7 Grammy nominations. Drake, Kanye West, Rick Ross, J. Cole, and other members of hip-hop elite–50% of those guys, by the way, came up in the internet era just like Iggy did–are all selling records faster than they can make them. So how does that translate to Azalea “running” anything? She’s had one single chart in the Top 40–which, for the record, isn’t an effective barometer of success but you have to be reaching the people to run the genre they’re a part of–and The New Classic sold under 60,000 copies in its first week. She’s got a pretty good fanbase, true, but when it comes to “running’ Hip-Hop, Mr. McIntyre, she barely scratches the surface. ScHoolboy Q, the pinnacle of rough-around-the-edges, nearly doubled Azalea’s first-week total, and he’s had a total of zero songs in the Top 40 in his entire career. Sure, she came from Australia and shook up the place, she’s dating Nick Young–who is becoming a pop culture icon as quickly as the Lakers are becoming irrelevant–and from what I’ve heard, her shows are pretty dope. But Iggy Azalea isn’t “running” anything. Then again, hopefully the public should know better than to take advice and/or directive from a Forbes writer, who has written for MTV, Billboard, and Pop! Matters, none of whom are even close to being the authority on Hip-Hop matters.
Do better, Hugh.
You can read his article here. Go on, we dare you.
