Iggy Azalea has been a lightning rod for controversy ever since she was nominated for a Grammy for Best Rap Album. For better or worse, that controversy ends tonight at the Grammy Awards ceremony, where we will learn whether or not she’ll take home the gold.
Iggy’s troubles in the rap world seemingly began the minute she burst onto the scene. As an Australian-born white rapper, the first instance of beef with other black female artists started last year when Nicki Minaj called out Azalea at the BET Awards for supposedly not writing her own lyrics.
“My point is, what I want the world to know about Nicki Minaj is, that when you hear Nicki Minaj spit, Nicki Minaj wrote it,” a veiled shot at the “Fancy” singer.
And even though Minaj later apologized and clarified her remarks, the first stone was thrown at Iggy’s direction.
Following that incident, many famous rappers started coming out to blast Iggy in the press, including Snoop Dogg and Madd Mary.
However, the biggest shoe to drop was after Iggy Azalea was nominated for Best Rap Album. Immediately, the Grammy nod sparked controversy across the black female hip hop community, spearheaded by rapper Azealia Banks. Banks went on Hot 97 to diss the 24-year old extensively over what she felt was Azalea’s appropriation of black culture.
“The Grammys are supposed to be awards for artistic excellence… Iggy Azalea’s not excellent. When they give these Grammys out, all it says to white kids is, ‘You’re great. You’re amazing. You can do whatever you put your mind to.’ And it says to black kids, ‘You don’t have s***. You don’t own s***, not even the s*** you created yourself.’ And it makes me upset.
In the end, of course, Iggy Azalea could care less what people think of her. In a recent interview on Billboard’s web site, the Australian star admitted as much, pointing out that for her, it’s all about the honor of being nominated and not the controversy that comes with it.
“I didn’t think they would think of me four times. I’m happy they thought of me any times,” Azalea said. “There are so many other award shows that I appreciate winning awards for, but I think it really means something special just to be nominated by the people that you work with and are alongside every day. That’s a different thing. It’s a different level of respect… I don’t care if I get a Grammy for best album artwork. A Grammy is a Grammy, baby.”
[Iggy Azalea image via Just Jared . Azealia Banks image via Billboard ]
