Speaking with VladTV about this year’s Grammy prospects for Hip Hop albums, Charlamagne explained his take on the issue of Whiteness in the genre and the specific possibility of another white emcee winning the Grammy for Best Rap Album.
Asked about his reaction to J. Cole’s “Fire Squad” song and the rapper naming white artists as cultural appropriators in one of the verses, Charlamagne detailed why he thinks the discussion about White rappers is overblown.
“This is the thing, man,” he started, “White rappers in Hip Hop, the fear that Black rappers have of White rappers in Hip Hop is the same fear that America had over Ebola. The threat of Ebola in America was never really a threat. It was two people in America who died from America. Two! If this was West Africa, I could totally understand the media doing the fear-mongering they were doing…That’s how I feel about White rappers in Hip Hop. He named four people. He named Eminem, Macklemore, Iggy Azalea, Justin Timberlake whose not even a rapper. Let’s eliminate Eminem and Justin Timberlake for one reason: they’re talented. You can’t take away that Eminem and Justin Timberlake aren’t talented. I don’t care if Eminem was Spanish, I don’t care if he was Mexican. I don’t care if he was Indian. Eminem is dead nice. Period. Can’t nobody argue that. You could possibly argue that he don’t get the props he deserves because he’s White. I don’t ever mention Em as a GOAT. I just don’t.
“Iggy and Macklemore,” he continued. “Listen, I would have signed Iggy four years ago. I told y’all Iggy Azalea was gonna be a star. From a business standpoint I would have signed her. She really reminds of Charli Baltimore. Rapping-wise she reminds me of Charli Baltimore. Go listen to old Charli Baltimore and listen to Iggy. Charli wasn’t wack. And Iggy’s ain’t wack. I would have signed her.”
Speaking specifically about the Grammys, Charlamagne said, “Iggy probably is gonna win. But who gives a shit?”
“Why is all of a sudden this Grammy shit, why does it mean so much to y’all?” he said. “The Grammys have historically never gave a fuck about Hip Hop. They’ve never gotten it right when it comes to Hip Hop. I remember OutKast winning album of the year. I remember Lauryn Hill winning five Grammys. What I’ve noticed from the Grammys is they usually give it to the most commercial artist of that year. At that time OutKast was the most commercial artist of that year…Same thing with Lauryn Hill at that time. Listen, do we not remember when ODB rushed the stage at the Grammys? And took the Grammy and said, ‘Yo, Diddy is cool but Wu-Tang is for the children.’ P. Diddy’s No Way Out album beat Wu-Tang’s Forever that year. Like, c’mon.”
Later in the interview, Charlamagne joked that there are actually two White artists up for a Hip Hop Grammy this year.
“Let’s be clear, it’s two White people up for a Grammy this year: Iggy Azalea and Childish Gambino,” he said with a laugh. “I would much rather have Iggy win the award. If Childish wins, you think Kanye embarrasses himself when he goes on stage and tries to say some political deep shit? Childish Gambino gon’ go up there and you gon’ be like, ‘Boy I wish he was White.’ Y’all gon’ be saying, ‘Hey, trade Childish for Iggy please.’ Y’all gon’ be begging.”
Clarifying his stance on the because the internet rapper, Charlamagne said, “I don’t have no problem with Childish Gambino. For some reason he wants me to have a problem with him. I can be sitting there talking to Childish and it’s like he’ll be arguing with me, telling me that I keep hating on him. I’m like, ‘Childish, I like you.’ You know why I like him? He’s a free spirit. He stinks. Don’t get me wrong, he got a terrible smell. His odor is horrible.”
For additional Charlamagne coverage, watch the following DX Daily:
This dude is sounds like a clown… We are concerned because they are winning awards over talented black MCees… It says that we build it and they take it… Thats what it says… Damn dude… Get out that house and come help us in the fields… I don’t even know why I’m listening to this dude.
Brush, you just went full retard, you’re a fuckin moron
says the guy who been bleaching his skin to become light skinned
This dude is corny. Trying to be funny saying Childish is a white Rapper. Looking at this video he’s the one Literally trying to be white..Bleaching his skin..lol!!!..
MY man. Childish Gambino himself said he wanted to be white in the interview with the breakfast club. He’s just repeating what he said.
never understand why just c a black person isnt acting like a thug and holding guns all day making gangster rap theyre suddenly white..foh. every individual is different shits corny..and im white.
And that’s the problem today. We are held to a stereotype of what a black person is. Like we have to act a certain way to be “black”. There isn’t one mold to fit into. This is why we are viewed by others as a certain way. We don’t all have to wear hoodies and Timberlands. Just because someone don’t talk with certain slang or wear certain clothes doesn’t make them less black. Diversity people.
i agreed with him on eminem/JT shit.. i feel like black ppl paranoid for no reason hear 2-3 white rappers and like OMG LOSING IT lmao still 20/30 black artists daily on every radio station..mad 2 white ppl getting shine.
that said iggy is fake as fuck and its clear as day and night. if punjabi was poppin shed have an arab accent, if country was in shed pretend 2 be a hick with a cowboy hat..shes a fraud and this is coming form a white guy
macklemore although corny is in his own lane and doesnt pretend 2 be something he is not.
That’s the thing about Iggy that’s why she’s getting so much heat. She doesn’t write her own lines and she tries to sound black in her songs. Hip hop is all about being real, being yourself and representing what you truly are. Iggy thinks she’s paying homage by trying to imitate what other rap artists are doing but really by doing so she’s making a mockery of hip hop’s number one rule: keep it real. That’s what pisses me off so much about her.
“Hip hop is all about being real, being yourself and representing what you truly are”. Cause rappers with black skin only rap about what they’ve done yeah? give me a break.
Migos tyga rickross 2chainz all suburban frauds gree up rich fronting all day
The only thing people seem to point out about Iggy is that she uses a fake accent. But as Charlamagne said if we are going to call out authenticity we need to call out majority of these rappers who PRETEND to have sold drugs, grew up in the hood, gang banged, or shot somebody when they really haven’t. With Iggy, she raps about things that she relates to. I don’t hear Iggy rapping about the things Ive mentioned and if she were to do that people would REALLY say she’s fake. But Iggy stays in her lane and raps about things that she knows about. I would have more of a problem if Iggy pretended to be a thug. Iggy isnt trying to come off like a white girl who grew up in the hood. No one called out Paul Wall and while I think he was true to his environment he did in fact appropiate alot of things from black culture. It just seems like a double standard. Oh they can do it but Iggy cant.
childish is the most openly homo rapper I ever seen talk he one fruity bitch-nigga
meanwhile niggas is wearing skirts, painting their nails, kissing men on the mouth, rapping about penises…. shoutouts to young thug, kanye west, asap rocky, lil wayne
things are fucked up all over the real mc’s niggas and just real men period must be looking at this shit like what the fuck happened?!??! niggas be dressing like the prison-bitch on the hunt for dick to get a heron fix
Nicca bleaching his face to look lite, sit down please dude
says the bleaching ass nigga..FOH, clown
why do his eyes looks so fucked up now? is he wearing some weird contacts or is it the bleached skin?
It’s harder to bleach around your eyes, so he still has a bit of dark skin around them, making his eyes stand out more. It’s sort of like women’s maskara, but his is permanent. lol
whats happen is white control, we don’t get our messages across like the earlier rap acts, all you see is the worst portrayal of black people through the media
he said Childish is a free spirit cuz he stinks lmao
Childish is very black and he doesn’t do respectability. I think the hate on him is atrocious. He’s a good dude and makes incredible music that doesn’t need to be validated by the white grammys or radio or anyone but fans.
Ok so Childish Gambino is white?
apparently you white if you dont rap about selling drugs, busting guns and destroying your own communities
still an Uncle Tom. He wanted Iggy to win at the BET Awards against Nicki too.
Truthfully speaking… I think Iggy should have won against Nicki also at the BET Awards. Nicki was not releasing anything but collabs with other artists in which her collabs were not as successful as Iggy’s Fancy record. In previous years Nicki won that Best Female Hip Hop Artist award because she was the most successful that year out of all the nominees. The same should apply with Iggy Azalea. Regardless if you are a fan of Iggy or not she has had a great year. You can’t hate on success. Just like Im sure Nicki Minaj will win awards this year in 2015 because she is having a great run right now. Success deserves to be rewarded.
Is he trying to say Outkast and Lauryn Hill didn’t deserve their Grammy’s?
No I don’t think Charlamagne was saying Outkast and Lauryn Hill didnt deserve the awards. I think his point was that The Grammys give awards to whoever the most commercially successful artist of that year is and he is right. It’s not about just white rappers but some black rappers have won over other black rappers who were more lyriacally dope than them. The Grammys would reward Will Smith and MC Hammer before they would reward NWA back then because those two were rappers who #1 were less threatning and #2 were most commercially successful.
this dumbass just needs to shut the fuck up, whoever he is
holy shit he literally just talks out of his ass
this guy has no validation for what he says about rap. He has never rapped before or been successful. iggy rhymes one syllable per line and is whack. the fact that dj envy doesn’t fight him more on the radio is absurd. Charlamagne bleaches his skin and my girl Angie Martinez will back me up on that one.
He is right fuck the grammys who gives a shit about what white people think about music….in jcole’s defense don’t get caught up with the number of white rappers he mentioned, you have only so much to say in a few bars…he isn’t going to talk about Anticon and Young Black Teenagers in a few bars.
I mean old white people who know nothing about hip hop culture…