Iggy Azalea

Iggy Azalea is talked about as being one of the next big rappers. However she is not what one would expect given that she’s a white girl from Australia. Drawn by the hip-hop culture, she bought a one-way ticket to America and moved to Atlanta to hone her craft. Lipsitz argues that in pop culture now “consumers of electronic mass media can experience a common heritage with people they have never seen; they can acquire memories of a past to which they have no geographic or biological connection”. Given that rap is historically a black art form, there are some serious discussions of cultural appropriation. This is even more evident when she is discussed with Azealia Banks, an upcoming black female rapper. The question comes up, can Iggy, with her fantastical costumes and “bubblegum lyrics” embody the genre. Lipsitz argues “the very same media that trivialize and distort culture, that turn art into commodities, and that obscure origins…. “ can provide meaningful connection to our pasts. In this sense, it can be said that Iggy found her own meaning and found rap as the genre to best express herself. In her song “Work” she discusses having no money when at 16 she came to the states. She draws upon common themes of hard work, and trying to survive in a way that echoes Lipsitz idea that popular culture is “not pure, authentic, or transient by themselves….[they] allow for the expression of collective popular memory and the reworking of tradition”.