The Rise and Fall of Iggy Azalea

T.I. has finally parted ways with his breakout star. What took him so long?

In 2011, when radio and television personality Charlamagne Tha God said that Iggy Azalea — then fresh off the success of “Pussy” — was gonna be a star, I scoffed. Where he saw potential, I saw an explicit marketing ploy with little sustainability or long term success.

Iggy Azalea featured on the venerable XXL Freshman cover (2012)

I saw the gentrification of hip hop where white artists with some edge would be pushed before audiences before the audience pushed back. I saw cultural appropriation and cooptation, inauthenticity, and an obvious — if not desperate — attempt to turn a quick profit.

While I was clear in my interpretation of the Australian born rapper, others were not.

“Fancy,” her record breaking single, dominated airwaves in 2014. Clear Channel, the biggest radio outlet in the country, included her in their…