Iggy Azalea. Whether you think she’s an offensive rip-off artist, or harmless purveyor of hip-hop lite – she’s nonetheless become a veritable human punching bag due to her consistently being accused of appropriating black culture, and now her hip-hop highness herself, Erykah Badu has become the latest in a series of artists to jump on Azalea’s grave and call her out at this year’s Soul Train Awards.
Badu, the First Lady of Neo-Soul, was the host of this year’s Soul Train Awards, and to kick things off, she had prepared an opening monologue that saw her using a prop phone to field and receive calls from celebrities. The phone gimmick was a reference to Badu’s new mixtape But You Caint Use My Phone, which features Andre 3000 on track Hello and a Hotline Bling inspired jam Cell U Lar Device. Whilst Badu dropped several quality gags, there was one clear highlight.
“Who is this?” says Badu as she answers an flip phone, “Iggy Azalea? Yeah, hey…. No, no, no, you can come, ‘cause what you doin’ is definitely not rap.” You don’t have be able to lip read to see one dude drop a “ohhhh shit!” The Internet – a forum neither forgiving nor forgetful – was quick to immortalise the comment in meme and gif.
But given that Badu is a figure universally revered and Azalea is a figure universally reviled – this comes across much more like fly-swatting than mud-slinging. In fact, Azalea may even be slightly proud that her name is even being mentioned by Erykah Badu.