In case the Internet needed another reason to go at Iggy Azalea, it sounds like Iggy’s “gibberish” was actually her massacring one of K Dot’s verses. Yikes.
Not too long ago in January 2015, Kendrick Lamar defended Iggy Azalea to Billboard, and offered her a word of encouragement:
“She’s doing her thing. Let her. People have to go through trials and tribulations to get where they at. Do your thing. Continue to rock it because obviously God wants you here.” –Kendrick Lamar
Unfortunately, it seems that maybe the hip hop neophyte grossly misinterpreted Lamar’s advice to her, and erroneously attributed his saying “Do your thing” as him green lighting her to do his thing.
In a vicious Anonymous-type move, Operation Igloo (#OPIGLOO) has made a scathing accusation against Ms. Azalea, and the backlash continues to grow as their latest video increases in popularity amongst hip hop heads worldwide. It seems Igloo (whoops, we mean Iggy!) may have (gasp!) plagiarized the people’s champ, Kendrick Lamar.
Now…you almost had to be living under a rock in March 2015 to not have seen the viral video of a 2013 Iggy performing ‘D.R.U.G.S.” Critics worldwide agreed that the lyrics were completely unintelligble. Most people called it gibberish. The artist’s long time critics used the video as proof that Azalea lacks any talent. Hip hop purists stewed over the video, making comments like “This is why we can’t have nice things” and “Yep, hip hop is dead.” Steadfast fans stood by their queen, and excused it as the use of a creative license. Conspiracy theorists blamed the Illuminati and vigilant, overzealous religious folks accused her of speaking in tongues and summoning Satan and/or being possessed.
Here’s the original performance that got everyone riled up:
One avid hip hop fan, however, who apparently speaks foreign languages (like gibberish), connected Iggy’s verse to something else that sounded strikingly similar, Kendrick Lamar’s “Look Out for Detox”. Subscribed to YouTube under the name “Silence is God,” the keen listener made a quick video exposing the origin of the lyrics bite for bite:
While artists often share and build upon each other’s lines (“I say a B.I.G. verse, I’m only bigging up my brother,” says Jay Z), plagiarism is generally frowned upon. It does seem that she straight jacked his verse and not to pay homage, either. If that were the case, wouldn’t she have made it intelligible? Iggy, Iggy, Iggy can’t you see? Seems like you’re plagiarizing.
What do you guys think?
— Sarah McLeod and April Ricchuito
Both Sarah and April thought Iggy’s performance was a travesty.
