On Friday (Jan. 22), Macklemore had a good portion of the Internet in an uproar following the release of his new song “White Privilege II.” On the track, the Seattle rapper, who has been accused of being a culture vulture himself, called out Miley Cyrus, Elvis Presley and Iggy Azalea for appropriating black culture. Azalea presumably saw the namedrop as a diss and jumped on social media to give her opinion on the track. Rapper/activist Talib Kweli got wind of it and proceeded to blast the Aussie rhymer for her response.
"You're Miley, you're Elvis, you're Iggy Azalea / Fake and so plastic, you've heisted the magic," Macklemore rapped while referring to himself in the second person.
Following the song’s release, fans and curious listeners tweeted their thoughts and even asked Azalea if she’d heard the song, to which she replied, “He shouldn’t have spent the last 3 yrs having friendly convos and taking pictures together at events etc if those were his feelings.”
Shortly thereafter, another fan told Azalea "she shouldn't give a f*ck" about the song. She replied, writing, “Trust me, I don't. lol."
@lggysBae he shouldnt have spent the last 3 yrs having friendly convos and taking pictures together at events etc if those were his feelings
— IGGY AZALEA (@IGGYAZALEA) January 22, 2016
@iggy_lovers @lggysBae trust me, i dont. lol — IGGY AZALEA (@IGGYAZALEA) January 22, 2016
Apparently, her rebuttal rubbed Talib Kweli the wrong way and he promptly called her out on Twitter. The Brooklyn rapper was notably offended that Azalea took Macklemore’s lyric as a diss instead of considering its context. He capped off his first tweet with "f*ck Iggy Azalea."
The fact @iggyazalea thinks Macklemore song was a diss to her, instead of actually listening, is proof of her privilege. Fuck Iggy Azalea.
— Talib Kweli Greene (@TalibKweli) January 22, 2016
True story. I actually rooted for Iggy when she first came out. But she's disrespected hip hop culture one too many times. — Talib Kweli Greene (@TalibKweli) January 22, 2016
(Stole from Kendrick, tweets "nigga" dissed qtip, dismisses privilege) RT @ChellaChicago: what did she do to disrespect the culture ?
— Talib Kweli Greene (@TalibKweli) January 22, 2016
Later in the day, Azalea took it upon herself to respond to Kweli and the two exchanged a slew tweets varying from topics including the Flint water crisis, Azalea’s love of hip-hop and her prior spat with Q-Tip.
@workdeluxe @talibKweli ive never tweeted "ni**a" didnt "diss" qtip, just think he didnt understand the back story behind me and banks — IGGY AZALEA (@IGGYAZALEA) January 22, 2016
@TalibKweli you saw a "screen shot" and stan twitter makes tons of them, they arent real. ive never said that. am i perfect, no.
— IGGY AZALEA (@IGGYAZALEA) January 22, 2016
@IGGYAZALEA if you can't see you taking offense to Macklemore song is an exhibit of your privilege u only here for yourself, not the culture — Talib Kweli Greene (@TalibKweli) January 22, 2016
Miley Cyrus, who has been inactive on Twitter since Christmas Eve, has not chimed in.
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