Last week, Killer Mike of Run The Jewels gave a talk at MIT. It’s the latest in their series of hip-hop speakers, the next of which will be Wu-Tang Clan’s GZA.
In between talking about race relations, technology, Run The Jewels and more, Mike spent a little time talking about Azealia Banks and Iggy Azalea. He spoke about their music and brands as celebrities. He spoke about how he’s friends with Iggy Azalea’s management and that they make her money. Then he went on to say how interesting it was, that when he visited Australia, nobody was talking about Iggy Azalea. They were talking about Tkay Maidza.
“I remember thinking to myself, I’m in Australia, I’ve been here for two weeks, and not one person talked about Iggy Azalea – and I’m at a music festival! Not one person! The person that all the Australians were talking about was a black girl! Her name was Tkay something, I saw her perform, she rocked the house! So here I am in Australia, and the biggest rising star here is a pie-faced girl with a round nose and beautiful coco brown skin – that’s a compliment in my opinion, I think having a round face and a round nose is beautiful – so in America, people are asking me to be angry about the whole cultural appropriation of a white woman from Australia who just grew up liking hip hop… I’m angry and raging about that because I believe the whole world is American, and in Australia… there’s sold out shows for a little black girl who can dance her ass off. And she’s actually saying stuff when she raps!”