I would go ahead and say Iggy and A$AP are a couple made in Hip-Hop Heaven (Side note: I really hope this place exists). Although Iggy is originally from Australia, she is currently living a West Coast lifestyle (only makes sense as she credits Tupac as one of her musical influences/obsessions). Her music video, "Pu$$y", filmed in Los Angeles, exemplifies that laid back West Coast living. Sitting on the porch with the sun beating down, laying back, slurping on an ice cream and chilling. A$AP, hailing from Harlem, reps his city in his "Peso" video. Go ahead and watch "Pu$$y" and "Peso" one after the other. Visually, these videos, and the artists behind them, are a match made in heaven.
Iggy has to tackle being white in a majority rules black world. She also has to endure being a woman in the male dominated world of hip-hop. In her interview with Complex, Iggy states "Hip-hop is, one, black culture, and two it's very male-dominated. The reason that white male rappers can survive and are accepted [is] because they can relate to the masculinity of it all. And the reason that black female rappers can survive is because they can relate to being black. Where can a white female fit in that and relate to it?". Word.
She goes on to say "I think that we are at a point where hip-hop has evolved. Now we are at a time where a white girl can put a song out and people will start to say, 'Oh, maybe this can work.'" Iggy explains that there are more white rappers today because "hip-hop used to be black culture, now it's so much more. Hip-hop evolved and so did the people that listened to it". She emphasizes the fact that we are in a different time in rap and hip-hop music. In 1964, Sam Cooke wrote the famous "A Change Is Gonna Come", covered by the likes of Otis Redding and Seal. Nearly 50 years later we are still changing and evolving as a society, surely "It's been a long time coming, But I know a change is gonna come, oh yes it will". Let's continue to break down barriers.
- Night Rider
