As most may have heard, the big news in hip-hop this week, is Cardi B ascending to the top of the Billboard charts with her anthem Bodak Yellow. Cardi has since been praised by many fans, media, and other artists on social media and beyond. However, not everyone seemed pleased with the news, as we saw by the comments of the ever outspoken Azealia Banks. I want go into detail here on everything that Banks stated, or the clap back by Cardi, however there is one issue steamed from her comments I do want to highlight further. When she says that “black industry men” didn’t get behind Nicki Minaj and Remy Ma, the same way they got behind Cardi; and that “white guys buy black men away from black women’’; those statements bring up bigger issues that not only exists in hip-hop but in media as a whole. She is basically saying that the culture rallied behind Cardi because of the way she looks, suggesting that her latina background is instrumental in her support because of black men’s obsession with “foreign” women (I mean let’s call it how it is). Now, before we go too far down that rabbit hole with this issue, which btw is not my intent here, (that’s a whole different conversation for another day) let’s keep it with this specific situation. First, saying that black industry men didn’t get behind Nicki and Remy is something I don’t believe is totally accurate. Nicki has been the top female rapper in the game now for about like 7-8 years. That’s accomplishment you can’t really achieve without major industry support. And when Remy got released from jail, I felt the industry show much love. Even when she started beefing with Nicki and dropped ShETHER, the industry was all over it with coverage. But ShETHER was a dissed track and I think the industry has been waiting for the next big record from Remy….
There was a huge push for Bodak Yellow becoming number one because it’s actually a torch track. And if you ever been in the club to see when the song drop, you’ll know exactly what I mean. And that’s the reason as far as I can see, not anything else. And if there are those who may not like that she is a non-african american rap artists that’s achieving success, then that’s an issue as well.
In some ways but not entirely, this reminds me of a little of Macklemore’s situation. Let me explain. Macklemore has been a much debated about figure in hip-hop since he broke into the scene. Now I’ll be the first to admit that I do not think he should have beaten Kendrick for the Grammy, but let’s be honest the dude can actually rap… very well.
But there are some who won’t acknowledge it because of who he is. Maybe because he is a rap rapper he is actually “white” ( as in he’s not really trying to market himself to a black audience) The point is, if it’s dope it’s dope. Long as people are respecting the culture and spitting, it shouldn’t matter who you are. Or should it?
