Iggy Azalea\u2019s \u201cKream\u201d is an example of a song that expresses no respect for African-American culture; it stands as an egregious example of cultural appropriation because of the ways that she alters other artists\u2019 voices and her own voice in it. Specifically, Azalea samples the vocals of Method Man, a member of Wu-Tang Clan, in the song \u201cC.R.E.A.M.<\/a>\u201d and uses his voice in her song in a way that robs the original meaning behind his vocals. It is important to recognize each song\u2019s context when considering the ways in which Azalea used the sample. The Wu-Tang song, just like so much hip-hop music from the early 1990s, centers around the inequalities that black citizens face in America. In particular, Inspectah Deck speaks on the troubles he faced in his experiences with the justice system as a young black man.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe court played\nme short, now I face incarceration<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pacin’, goin’\nupstate’s my destination<\/p>\n\n\n\n Handcuffed in the\nback of a bus, forty of us<\/p>\n\n\n\n Life as a shorty\nshouldn’t be so rough\u201d (genius.com).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Deck\u2019s lyrics communicate a strong message; black men are at a much greater risk of facing prison time in their lives. According to the NAACP\u2019s website, African-Americans are incarcerated at more than five times the rate of white Americans (naacp.org). Iggy Azalea samples this song, with its societal critique and racially significant context, and inserts it into a song with a fraction of the meaning. The song \u201cKream<\/a>\u201d, which clearly takes inspiration from the song it sampled with its title, is a meaningless flex piece in which Azalea talks about nothing but her copious amounts of money, sex, and power. The sample in particular is the all-famous line from Method Man, \u201cCash rules everything around me C.R.E.A.M., get the money, dollar dollar bill, y\u2019all\u201d (genius.com). This fact is significant, as the sample is not just of the beat but the voice of a performer. The fact that Method Man\u2019s voice is being used, rather than just the drum loop or the piano loop, makes the sample a less acceptable instance of cultural appropriation. Voice is often thought of as a part of one\u2019s identity. Azalea\u2019s use of Method Man\u2019s voice affects the way those lyrics are viewed in pop and hip-hop culture. She robs Method Man of his individuality and expression by using his voice in her new, comparatively meaningless song. Thus, the controversiality of Azalea\u2019s appropriation is only heightened by the fact Method Man\u2019s voice is viewed differently in her sample. Vocal appropriation, whether the majority of people realize it or not, makes instances of cultural appropriation less acceptable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Azalea\u2019s appropriation is also inherently more offensive due to the blaccent she dons every time she raps. Azalea hails from Australia, but when she appears in her songs, she abandons her Australian accent and adopts an unmistakable southern African-American accent. She attempts to sound as black as possible in her songs and sell her gangster personality. Maeve Eberhardt and Kara Freeman, in their essay on Iggy Azalea\u2019s hip-hop persona and linguistic appropriation, discuss white artists and what they do to appropriate African-American voice. \u201cLinguistic minstrelsy is a form of \u2018figurative blackface\u2019, in which white users of African American English (AAE) do not literally darken their skin with make\u2010up as in turn\u2010of\u2010the\u2010century minstrel shows (Lott 2013<\/strong><\/a>), but in essence perform in blackface, drawing on linguistic and other symbolic elements that signify racialized ideologies to a wide U.S. audience\u201d (Eberhardt and Freeman). The linguistic elements they mention, in particular, are put to use by Azalea. She sonically barges into the space that many African-American artists occupy in the hip-hop industry by copying their accent. Since voice is often considered proprietary, Azalea\u2019s encroachment on the southern African-American accent is extremely offensive and forces her music into a less acceptable sphere of cultural appropriation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While Iggy Azalea is the poster child for egregious cultural appropriation, Mac Miller is white artist that has earned the respect of the rap community due to his ability to avoid flagrant embezzlement. His song \u201cKool Aid and Frozen Pizza<\/a>\u201d is a much more tolerable example of cultural appropriation because he avoids vocal manipulation and appropriation. The song that Miller samples in it, \u201cHip 2 Da Game<\/a>\u201d by Lord Finesse, is an old hip-hop classic, but not one that gained mainstream success. As such, it was a sample that caught the attention of many hip-hop artists at the time that Miller released his album titled \u201cK.I.D.S\u201d. Though Miller avoided outrage because he does not alter Lord Finesse\u2019s message or voice or his own voice. \u201cHip 2 Da Game\u201d stands as a hip-hop classic, and Miller successfully borrows from the song without changing anything Finesse originally said. In a Rolling Stone article commemorating some of Miller\u2019s greatest work after his death, Tirhakah Love and Brendan Klinkenberg comment on \u201cKool Aid and Frozen Pizza\u201d in the same manner, \u201cFlipping Lord Finesse\u2019s seminal \u2018Hip 2 Da Game\u2019 without regurgitating the latter\u2019s flow or topicality at the age of 18, Miller paid tribute to the genre while staying squarely in his own lane\u201d (rollingstone.com). Importantly, the sample does not consist of any vocals from Lord Finesse. Miller simply borrows the beat of the song. The fact that he avoids sampling any of Finesse\u2019s vocals makes his borrowing of African-American music more acceptable. Miller also avoids using a blaccent or altering his voice in any way to identify with a different persona. In fact, that is one of the trademarks of his character. Miller garnered sustained success over his career because he was never anyone or anything but emphatically his own self. Miller mastered the ability to borrow only the elements of hip-hop music and culture that he could make his own. His lack of vocal appropriation and alteration with this song and much of the rest of his work allows for his music to be placed into a more acceptable sector of cultural appropriation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The term cultural appropriation is weakly defined, as evidenced by the fact that Mac Miller receives comparatively few accusations of appropriation when set side by side with Iggy Azalea. The term cultural appropriation has long been used in the hip-hop music industry (and in countless other areas of art and expression) as a way to discourage white artists from barging in and profiting from or reaping the benefits of a minority culture. Though its definition, or lack thereof, creates problems as artists can avoid the accusation with simple tweaks to their public persona and style of music. An article published in 2018 from The Economist <\/em>verbalizes this fact, \u201c\u2026 what is cultural appropriation? There is no agreed definition. Generally speaking, it\u2019s the idea that a \u2018dominant culture\u2019 wearing or using things from a \u2018minority culture\u2019 \u2026 is inherently disrespectful because the objects are taken out of their native context\u201d (economist.com). The solution to this issue is not to use the term more liberally, so as to flesh out its definition better. Rather, it should be to remove it from popular vocabulary and pick up the well-defined terms that already exist in order to describe people or artists who lack respect for minority cultures. The term also falls short in its equality of applicability. Artists who are already part of minority cultures never receive accusations of appropriation; 2 Chainz, an artist known for his rashness and unapologetic musical style, receives no accusations of cultural appropriation when he pilfers other cultures in his music. For example, in his song \u201cHere We Go Again<\/a>\u201d Chainz uses a beat clearly inspired from an East Asian style of music. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The song holds absolutely no cultural significance, as Genius tells us, \u201cOn this song, the rapper talks about his riches and his extravagant lifestyle which includes wearing fancy clothes and jewelry\u201d (genius.com). Yet 2 Chainz does not receive any pushback for such an affront. The term cultural appropriation fails to be applied to any demographic other than white people. This, along with its unclear definition, are reasons to eradicate the term, not cultivate it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As evidenced by Iggy Azalea\u2019s use of vocal appropriation and Mac Miller\u2019s lack thereof, Azalea exhibits little to no respect for African-American culture, while Mac Miller shows a substantial sense of respec for the culture from which he borrows. The action of appropriating another artist\u2019s vocals or altering one\u2019s own voice is much more offensive than borrowing from the instrumental styles of a minority culture. As a result, Azalea receives more accusations of cultural appropriation than Miller even though both steal from African-American culture in their music. This fact lends to the idea that the term cultural appropriation is poorly defined. Jennifer Lynn Stoever\u2019s The Sonic Color Line and the Listening Ear<\/em> describes the audial inequalities that African-Americans encounter in their lives. In the hip-hop industry, the social stigma against cultural appropriation is a manifestation of the Sonic Color Line and the inequalities Stoever delves into in her dissertation. The term cultural appropriation and its strength seem to be bolstered by Stoever\u2019s thesis, but the term breaks down when its effect on artists of all styles and demographics is examined. Thus, the term cultural appropriation is less useful than its commonality suggests and should be done away with. Works Cited<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c2 Chainz\n\u2013 Here We Go Again.\u201d Genius<\/em>, 28 Oct. 2016, https:\/\/genius.com\/2-chainz-here-we-go-again-lyrics<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Anonymous. \u201cWhen Respect for\nDiversity Is Taken to Crazy Extremes.\u201d The Economist<\/em>, The Economist\nNewspaper, 15 May 2018, www.economist.com\/open-future\/2018\/05\/15\/when-respect-for-diversity-is-taken-to-crazy-extremes<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Azalea,\nIggy. \u201cIggy Azalea – Kream Ft. Tyga (Official Music Video).\u201d YouTube<\/em>,\nYouTube, 6 July 2018, www.youtube.com\/watch?v=t7lM7Bn16Zg<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Chainz, 2. \u201c2 Chainz – Here We Go Again (Audio).\u201d YouTube<\/em>, YouTube, 27 Oct. 2016, www.youtube.com\/watch?v=fEA4XtsYB2A.<\/a> Clan,\nWu-Tang. \u201cWu-Tang Clan – C.R.E.A.M. (Official Music Video).\u201d YouTube<\/em>,\nYouTube, 21 Jan. 2014, www.youtube.com\/watch?v=PBwAxmrE194<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cCriminal Justice Fact\nSheet.\u201d Naacp.org<\/em>, NAACP, www.naacp.org\/criminal-justice-fact-sheet\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Eberhardt,\nMaeve, and Kara Freeman. “\u2018First things first, I’m the realest\u2019:\nLinguistic appropriation, white privilege, and the hip\u2010hop persona of Iggy Azalea.” Journal\nof Sociolinguistics <\/em>19.3 (2015): 303-327.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Klinkenberg,\nBrendan, and Tirhakah Love. \u201c10 Essential Mac Miller Songs.\u201d Rolling\nStone<\/em>, 9 Sept. 2018, www.rollingstone.com\/music\/music-news\/10-essential-mac-miller-songs-721709\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Miller,\nMac. \u201cMac Miller – Kool Aid & Frozen Pizza.\u201d YouTube<\/em>, YouTube,\n26 July 2010, www.youtube.com\/watch?v=UnAbszcy3bs<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n TheVisiting, and Lord Finesse. \u201cLord Finesse – Hip 2 Da Game 1995 HQ.\u201d YouTube<\/em>, YouTube, 24 Jan. 2010, www.youtube.com\/watch?v=1oQeg460wos.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.wri-101k-s19.andrewrippeon.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/2-Chainz-pic-1.jpg\")
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