Rap mogul T.I. has distanced himself from pseudo rapper Iggy Azalea, whom he co-manages. The 34-year-old rapper was a guest on Ebro’s morning show on NY’s Hot 97, where he explained why he and Azalea, 25, haven’t spoken in months.
T.I. said he was simply tired of defending Azalea over allegations that she misappropriated hip hop culture for fame and fortune.
T.I. was Azalea’s mentor. But the road to the top wasn’t easy even though Azalea’s hit song “Fancy” was last year’s summer anthem.
“After the Q-Tip thing — after I kind of smoothed it over… everything was cool. And they just kinda came back and undid what I did,” he said, referring to Iggy’s team, aka “the world of Iggy Azalea.”
“I’m a loyal partner and if I rock with you I’m going to rock with you. If we right, wrong, we’ll discuss that in the car,” T.I. said. “We going to get out of here right now, though. That’s just how I am. Right now I’m going to block the bullets, now go. Now when I say ‘Go’ [really] go. Don’t stand around and talk while I’m blocking bullets. You slowing me down.”
Azalea got into it with followers on social media over her use of racial slurs and urban slang. Her association with T.I. was supposed to authorize her to use such sensitive language, but things didn’t work out.
