Santogold Too Cool for Hip-Hop?

Written by Rizoh. Posted in Gumbo

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Published on May 19, 2008 with 26 Comments">26 Comments

Santogold is getting bent outta shape because someone tried to tag her music as ‘hip-hop’. In her view, it’s racist.

That’s interesting because I recall her telling an NPR host that she used to write rap lyrics back in the day. What changed?

It’s not just rap she has issues with. She has a bigger bone to pick with the R&B label.

“I didn’t grow up as a big fan of R&B and, like, what is the big shocker? It’s stupid. In the beginning I thought that was funny. I’m an ‘MC’, I’m a ‘soul singer’, I’m a ‘dance hybrid artist’. And some guy said I looked like Kelly Rowland! My album is a pop record. I made sure it was.”

Seeing as she’s also known for correcting people on the pronunciation of her name. (“It’s San-TO-gold, ” she often points out), Santi sounds like a female version of Kanye. Boy, is it ever possible to have an artist who’s both unique and talented without all the baggage of overbearing high-handedness?

[Source: NME]

TRU

Rizoh

Rizoh is the most powerful man in all the lands. He lives in Houston where he earned a BS in Nerf Herding. He's the founder of The Rap Up, the editor of Roc4Life.com, and is in the Grammy-awaiting band Pervertable Disciples.

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  • thewallabeechamp

    Wow. See, this is why hipster bullshit needs to go away. You give an artist praise for what they do and all of a sudden YOU owe them something? For the record, in the world at large, “Santo” is NOT pronounced, “San-to.” Get a grip, goddamn.

  • thewallabeechamp

    Wow. See, this is why hipster bullshit needs to go away. You give an artist praise for what they do and all of a sudden YOU owe them something? For the record, in the world at large, “Santo” is NOT pronounced, “San-to.” Get a grip, goddamn.

  • DB’Ossi

    do you still believe Riz? Lol (cheap shot)

  • DB’Ossi

    do you still believe Riz? Lol (cheap shot)

  • http://www.therapup.net Rizoh

    ^Why, yes. Just like I still believe in Kanyeezy.

  • http://www.therapup.net Rizoh

    ^Why, yes. Just like I still believe in Kanyeezy.

  • http://my.rawkus.com/xn/detail/u_jarret JM

    Is she Kanye?

  • http://my.rawkus.com/xn/detail/u_jarret JM

    Is she Kanye?

  • Hip Hop Made Me Do It

    I bet she will not win Best New Artist and she will get a tantrum just like Kanyeezy.

  • Hip Hop Made Me Do It

    I bet she will not win Best New Artist and she will get a tantrum just like Kanyeezy.

  • esbee

    She sounds very stupid for equating being called hip hop = racist..

    My, my, my what is with some of these artists nowadays? Do they just lack intelligent quotients or have no common sense whatsoever? Like who does PR for these ppl?

    See why such artists should never be blogged about on a hip hop blog Riz?

  • esbee

    She sounds very stupid for equating being called hip hop = racist..

    My, my, my what is with some of these artists nowadays? Do they just lack intelligent quotients or have no common sense whatsoever? Like who does PR for these ppl?

    See why such artists should never be blogged about on a hip hop blog Riz?

  • Ninoy Brown

    Ummm… I clicked the link to NME, hoping to read a full length interview. Instead, I get a bunch of brief quotes. C’mon, y’all. You know better than to just draw conclusions based on bits and pieces of information.

    For all we know, Santogold had a longer explanation for the Hip-Hop label being a racist one. What if she was offering a deconstruction of the label as a fact that nowadays, a Black artist can only make Hip-Hop music? I can seriously see magazines ignoring deeper discourse for the purpose of generating controversy.

    I don’t know what was actually said, so I’m not going to automatically pull the crazy artist card.

  • Ninoy Brown

    Ummm… I clicked the link to NME, hoping to read a full length interview. Instead, I get a bunch of brief quotes. C’mon, y’all. You know better than to just draw conclusions based on bits and pieces of information.

    For all we know, Santogold had a longer explanation for the Hip-Hop label being a racist one. What if she was offering a deconstruction of the label as a fact that nowadays, a Black artist can only make Hip-Hop music? I can seriously see magazines ignoring deeper discourse for the purpose of generating controversy.

    I don’t know what was actually said, so I’m not going to automatically pull the crazy artist card.

  • J to the AAP

    Hmm… Like Ninoy said, it’s just quotes. And it may not be that far of a stretch to claim that labeling as such is a bit prejudiced at least.

    I don’t think she has a bone to pick with HipHop as such, given the fact of her writing raps back in the day and the tee she’s wearing in that pic. But her album is far from a bonafide HipHop album, still people see her and figure she has to do something heavily HipHop-related given her appearance.

    The whole argument does seem a bit overly pretentious though.

  • J to the AAP

    Hmm… Like Ninoy said, it’s just quotes. And it may not be that far of a stretch to claim that labeling as such is a bit prejudiced at least.

    I don’t think she has a bone to pick with HipHop as such, given the fact of her writing raps back in the day and the tee she’s wearing in that pic. But her album is far from a bonafide HipHop album, still people see her and figure she has to do something heavily HipHop-related given her appearance.

    The whole argument does seem a bit overly pretentious though.

  • Enigmatik

    no wonder everyone is stealing music.

  • Enigmatik

    no wonder everyone is stealing music.

  • esbee

    @Ninoy: For her sake let’s hope so..’cos there’s no kind of argument (at least in my mind)that can be made for equating being labeled as part of a music genre borne out of a culture to being racist..none whatsoever.

    I know sometimes some ppl in the media can be terrible when it comes to taking things out of context but we need some clarity on this issue. Like I said earlier the girl’s music is not hip hop..yet a lot of hip hop outlets champion her music..not that there’s anything wrong with that but I’m just saying..

  • esbee

    @Ninoy: For her sake let’s hope so..’cos there’s no kind of argument (at least in my mind)that can be made for equating being labeled as part of a music genre borne out of a culture to being racist..none whatsoever.

    I know sometimes some ppl in the media can be terrible when it comes to taking things out of context but we need some clarity on this issue. Like I said earlier the girl’s music is not hip hop..yet a lot of hip hop outlets champion her music..not that there’s anything wrong with that but I’m just saying..

  • Walter

    I just heard this chick on BBC today, and she didn’t even mention hip-hop as an influence on her music…I mean, I can understand people saying they feel her music, but I don’t like hearing that she’s “hip-hop”. She’s like indie-pop

  • Walter

    I just heard this chick on BBC today, and she didn’t even mention hip-hop as an influence on her music…I mean, I can understand people saying they feel her music, but I don’t like hearing that she’s “hip-hop”. She’s like indie-pop

  • Pingback: The Rap Up » N.E.R.D. + Santogold + Julian Casablancas = “My Drive Thru” (Video)

  • Cthulhu

    You guys are MISSING THE POINT. The point is that there is nothing about Santogold’s music that would give way to being considered “hip hop” were it not for her skin color. How annoying must it be for her to just know she is going to be generalized that way, maybe she doesn’t like R&B LIKE SHE SAID. She says she doesn’t like the genre. How would a white person feel if they came out with a thoroughly hip hop album only to have it labeled pop or worse, country? I’m sure she has intentionally strayed away from sounding “hip hop” because she wants to do something different and underline the point that yes, young black artists can in fact have nothing to do with hip hop. I find that refreshing, I am so sick of HIP HOP substituting for the word BLACK nowadays. It’s divisive, actually. I wouldn’t be surprised if Barack Obama was referred to as a “hip hop” Presidential Candidate. PLENTY OF BLACK PEOPLE DO NOT LIKE HIP HOP! It’s not a pre-requisite to being Black! So I totally see what she’s saying and I don’t think she came off rude.

  • Cthulhu

    You guys are MISSING THE POINT. The point is that there is nothing about Santogold’s music that would give way to being considered “hip hop” were it not for her skin color. How annoying must it be for her to just know she is going to be generalized that way, maybe she doesn’t like R&B LIKE SHE SAID. She says she doesn’t like the genre. How would a white person feel if they came out with a thoroughly hip hop album only to have it labeled pop or worse, country? I’m sure she has intentionally strayed away from sounding “hip hop” because she wants to do something different and underline the point that yes, young black artists can in fact have nothing to do with hip hop. I find that refreshing, I am so sick of HIP HOP substituting for the word BLACK nowadays. It’s divisive, actually. I wouldn’t be surprised if Barack Obama was referred to as a “hip hop” Presidential Candidate. PLENTY OF BLACK PEOPLE DO NOT LIKE HIP HOP! It’s not a pre-requisite to being Black! So I totally see what she’s saying and I don’t think she came off rude.

  • http://my.rawkus.com/profile/Rizoh Rizoh

    Well put, Cthulhu. You did a better job of conveying that point than Santogold.

  • http://my.rawkus.com/profile/Rizoh Rizoh

    Well put, Cthulhu. You did a better job of conveying that point than Santogold.

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