Miley Cyrus stopped by “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” earlier this week, and they both played the game “Musical Genre,” where celebs are asked to change the genre and sound of popular songs.
In this particular game, Cyrus was asked to turn Cardi B’s hit “Bodak Yellow” into a pop tune, which she did, although some might say she made it sound more like a showtune.
Regardless, it didn’t take long for the former “Hannah Montana” star to be blasted by rap fans. Not only for her rendition of Cardi’s song but also because she criticized hip-hop earlier this year during an interview with Billboard.
“I can’t listen to that anymore,” said Cyrus about rap music. “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 c–k’—. I am so not that.”
Cyrus uttered those words after she worked with hip-hop producer Mike Will Made-It on the rap cut “23,” featuring Wiz Khalifa and Juicy J. On it, the singer delivered the same type of lyrics that she would criticize four years later.
“I be in the club standing on the couch / In them Wolf Greys like it’s my house / Drinking out the bottle, I got no respect / Looking like a model who just got a check,” she rapped in the song.
After “23,” the singer’s career reached brand new heights, and she went from a pop singer who was still associated with her “Hannah Montana” character to a full-on star considered somewhat down with hip-hop.
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Cyrus’ career also got an incredible boost after she twerked at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards, a dance move created within urban culture. Plus, in recent years she worked with the rapper Big Sean on his video “Fire,” Future on his single “Real and True,” which also increased her brand and made her more famous.
It’s something that DJ Akademiks recently talked about on his show “Everyday Struggle.”
“I really hate this term, because I feel it’s used out of context and incorrectly sometimes, but Miley Cyrus is a culture vulture” he said. “She said that I’m deviating from hip-hop, because hip-hop is going some places that I don’t f— with … And I took that as strange, because she got a new spike in her career working with Mike Will Made-It. You got boosted from this hip-hop sh–, twerking on stage at the VMAs and she tried to pull a Justin Bieber, one of those caucasian restorations, where you just go back from being white, chilling with the n—-, to now I’m white again I don’t fuck with the n—-.”
Akademiks’ co-host and retired rapper Joe Budden also weighed in.
“What the f–k is that?” he said after watching a clip of the NBC show. “Miley Cyrus is trash. White privilege at its finest. She’s 100 percent a culture vulture. For once, I would like to see creativity guide her career and her not just f–king stealing some sh- and make a spectacle out of the culture that I love so much. I wish we would stop talking about Miley Cyrus and anything that she does.”
Of course, Cyrus and Bieber aren’t the only ones who’ve been accused of appropriating hip-hop culture, using it for their maximum benefit, then heading back to their much-less-criticized pop realms.
Britney Spears is certainly one of those people, working with everyone from Pharrell to the Ying Yang Twins. Christina Aguilera as well, recruiting Redman for her 2002 “Dirty” and Jessica Simpson worked with Jermaine Dupri and Bow Wow on the cut “Irresistible.” Since that 2001 song was released, it’s hard to recall Simpson being around hip-hop after that.
But because social media wasn’t part of the equation back then, neither Simpson, Spears or Aguilera received the same backlash as Cyrus. You can see a few of the Twitter responses after the singer’s “Bodak Yellow” performance below.
Nobody asked for this pic.twitter.com/ummTnnoPaJ
— Reguluh Deguluh (@TashurRaquel) October 4, 2017
No thanks. She was down for appropriation when it suited her and then when she was finished “being down” she had BS to say. No thanks Becky!
— TripleR 🇵🇷 (@R_R_R_Jr) October 3, 2017
https://twitter.com/RATEDAR/status/915394445125804032?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.vibe.com%2F2017%2F10%2Fmiley-cyrus-bodak-yellow-jimmy-fallon%2F
saw something about miley cyrus covering bodak yellow and I immediately thought about vegan oxtails
— Desus Nice (@desusnice) October 3, 2017
She really is a “culture vulture” in the words of joe budden. She needs to stay in her lane instead of being in everyone elses!!
— Reem toney (@Reemtoney1) October 6, 2017
