Back in 2013 Miley Cyrus was making headlines almost everyday, for better or worse. She was one of the most polarizing names in pop culture. During that time she took an affinity to hip-hop culture, even collaborating with artists such as Snoop Dogg. But what exactly happened to her connection to hip-hop since then? There hasn’t been much of a connection actually.
In the upcoming May 13 issue of Billboard, Cyrus is on the cover and opens up about her feelings toward hip-hop and the reason she has decided to remove herself from hip-hop culture though she still listens to Kendrick Lamar.
“But I also love that new Kendrick Lamar song “Humble,” says Cyrus. “Show me something real like an ass with some stretch marks. I love that because it’s not “come sit on my dick, suck on my cock. I can’t listen to that anymore. That’s what pushed me out of the hip-hop scene a little. It was too much “Lamborghini, got my Rolex, got a girl on my cock” I am so not that. I was torn on whether I was going to work with certain producers that I really like. But I feel if we’re not on the same page politically,” said Cyrus.
But wait, there is more. She even goes on to discuss the thought of her appropriating black culture with using black dancers for her tours and music videos.
“It’s mind-boggling to me that there was even a controversy around me having black dancers. That became a thing, where people said I was taking advantage of black culture, and with Mike Will Made It, what the fuck?” said Cyrus.
Her reasoning, at best, is misguided and at worst insincere and ignorant.
For one, Cyrus’ 2013 release Bangerz was executively produced by Mike Will Made It featuring the likes of Nelly, Big Sean, and French Montana. Bangerz debuted atop the Billboard charts selling 270,000 copies in its first week of release, marking her highest first week total since 2008 with her album Breakout. So when questions come into play about you taking advantage of black culture, they are warranted, Miley. You career was in a rut, you weren’t selling albums and nobody really cared for your music. So what do you go and do? You link up with the hottest producer in hip-hop at the time and reshape your entire image and sound to become more accessible to black people and tried to ingratiate yourself with a demographic that otherwise wouldn’t have paid you any mind. This is the exact definition of exploitation, to make full use of something and derive benefit. You aligned yourself with Mike Will and in turn sold records and became the most relevant you had been since Hannah Montana. Oh and we haven’t forgotten about this either.
Secondly, you said that the misogyny in hip-hop is what pushed you out of the “hip-hop scene”. Well my question is, who even invited you into said “hip-hop scene”? There wasn’t a soul on Earth who was asking for Miley Cyrus hip-hop records and collaborations with Future. So when you say you are removing yourself from hip-hop, that is fine but you were never really welcome.
And lastly, this speaks to a deeper issue with outsiders coming into hip-hop and either profiting off it or speaking on a culture that they have no real knowledge of. This has happened in the past with Kid Rock using hip-hop to gain prominence in the early 90’s before completely switching over to rock n’roll and country music, abandoning hip-hop once he milked it for what it was worth to him. Even as recently as Anthony Fantano, also know as “theneedledrop”, commenting on Wale’s song “My Love” from his latest album Shine. Fantano criticized Wale for trying to “capitalize on the Caribbean craze,” not even realizing that the track used an Afro Beat and is rooted in Wale’s Nigerian heritage and culture. This is ignorance at it’s finest, a complete lack of respect for a culture that isn’t your own.
Hip-Hop has to do a better job of policing who gets a voice in the culture and can’t continue to let people in the culture just to exploit it. When you aren’t careful you get situations like Kid Rock, or Miley Cyrus, or an Anthony Fantano, people who either only want a monetary gain from hip-hop or people who have an overreaching voice on a genre that they frankly don’t even understand or care to understand.
Miley Cyrus claims to really like Kendrick Lamar and his track “Humble”. Maybe she should take his advice.
Sit down. Be humble
Kameron Hay 