Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Iggy Azalea and the Appropriative Ceiling

I'm not here to comment on the already exhausted arguements about Australian-born rapper Iggy Azalea not rapping in an Australian accent, in fact I support her doing it.

Where would Hugh Jackman be if he didn't switch to the american drawl in his blockbuster role 'Swordfish'. Aussies have been donning the american slang since Errol Flynn was in tights, so why should we be angry that an Aussie popstar has done the same.

That said, making Hip-Hop in an American accent probably disqualifies you from claiming you are making Australian music, much the way Hugh can't claim that X-Men is an Aussie Franchise. This may expain why Iggy has long since distanced herself from her heritage in as many ways as possible. 

"To be 100% honest, I don't have any friends in Australia, just my family. I identify with Australian culture, of course; I was raised there. But there are parts of other cultures I identify with more, which is why I moved". 



But I don't really want to talk about that, as fascinating as that conversation is. No, I want to talk about the other controversy plaguing the Iggy persona - cultural appropriation.

Much has been made of her story - Girl from a small town learns to rap to American Hip-Hop in an American accent, is pushed out of the local hip-hop scene and runs away to the USA to become a star. I make it sound like an overnight success, but to be clear, her road to success actually took quite a number of years. I digress.

Along the way, as we know, she developed what Oliver Wang described as “a hat trick of appropriation: not American, not black, not southern”. 

With this triumverate of acquired skills, she has accumulated a hit single and the co-sign of one America's most successful rappers. The question is then, where does she go from here? She has the skillset, work ethic and connects, but she's yet to make a compelling personal record. 

If she doesn't have the benefit of american cultural DNA and she's unwilling to discuss her Australian upbringing, where is she going to get her lyrical content from? she can't adopt much more from African-American culture you would think, but it's an interesting question -  what's Iggy's Appropriative ceiling?


Characteristics of a Classic

If you look at the best African American, Southern hip-hop albums of all time, you can start to paint the picture of the directions Iggy would have to take to actually record a new classic .
Here's the characteristics of some of the best known Southern Hip-Hop albums.
Personal self-reflection - (8 Ball & MJG - In Our Lifetime, Vol. 1, Scarface - The Fix, UGK -Ridin' Dirty)
Street persona - (Rick Ross - Teflon Don, Young Jeezy - Let’s Get It, T.I. - King)
Social commentary - (Outkast - Aquemini)
Spirituality (Goodie Mob - Soul Food)
Violence and mayhem (Geto Boys - We Can't be Stopped)

For most of these artists, and indeed Hip-Hop artists in general, their best albums were recorded early in their careers. The characteristics listed above are not adopted, they're ingrained in ones upbringing and provide a life-times worth of first-hand experience.

I find it hard to think that Iggy will be able to embed her lyrics with these same regionally specific characteristics. At best you can hope she imbues her content with more story-telling qualities, recounting her travels through her early years in Australia and the US with the specificity and soul her music currently lacks.




Country Grammar

Iggy's not lyrically complex, and this holds her back in any argument for her Hip Hop immortality, and it doesn't stop there. Although her flow is precise, it's very studied and not yet lived-in, a product of performance over naturality. 




There's a sense that her flow will relax with time, into something that feels more an exaggeration of her true self and less like a Siri-fied T.I.


The Dungeon Sound

Another interesting point is that The New Classic doesn't sound geographically southern either, an indicator of a more globally-focussed Hip-Hop industry and a commercial sound designed to appeal to the largest number of music fans.




As she gains more autonomy over her sound, there is a chance that she would find productions that better suit her flow and even more promising, producers who craft tracks specifically for her.


Respect M.E.

Apart from the Southern Hip-Hop artists listed previously, Iggy's most obvious female comparison would likely be to Missy Elliot. Whilst other female rappers have made sexuality the focus of their lyrics (Lil Kim, Gangsta Boo, Trina), Elliot carved her own way, through the tripped out party music of frequent collaborator Timbaland




Her distinctive style set her apart, and yet Elliot found that she was able to stay largely away from personal lyrics whilst still being commercially and critically successful.

However, Iggy doesn't have Missy's cartoonish personality or a frequent collaborator like Timbaland, she lives or dies on hot beats from a coterie of collaborators. This typically works short term, but in the long term just focusses peoples attention on your producer.


Future 

Iggy could refashion herself into a trend-setting,globe-trotting chameleon, much like Diplo or M.I.A.,  however for now she seems content to stay her lane. 

Wherever she goes from here, it will be an interesting ride. Lets just hope that her success leads to more homegrown American female rappers getting deals and making great albums and not to more thinkpieces like this one.

Appropriative Ceiling: The upper limit to which you can  take possession of or make use of exclusively for oneself, often without permission

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