Twerk your way into the surprisingly endearing world of raunchy Aussie rap star, Iggy Azalea.
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We've survived Vanilla Ice, Eminem, and Macklemore together — I think we can handle Iggy Azalea. The tall, platinum blonde high school dropout from Australia is an unlikely rap success, riding a viral tidal wave of YouTube hits from her breakout track "Pu$$y." A Tupac-obsessed teenage runaway, Iggy saved money from cleaning hotels and left her humble hometown of Mullumbimby (population: 3,129) for America, following a manifest destiny of rap through the circuits of Miami, Houston, and Atlanta to eventually find herself presenting with Lil' Kim at the Video Music Awards and collaborating on a major label debut with T.I. Her album The New Classic was slated to be released later this month (October) but has, tragically, been pushed back till March so Iggy could "walk a mile in her Louboutins" on tour with Beyoncé. While it's sad we'll have to wait so long, this gives us plenty of time to obsessively listen to every song, watch every video, and read every interview she's ever done. To get y'all started, here are six reasons to love Iggy:
She stole her stage name from a dog.
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I (foolishly) thought it was a forgone conclusion that Iggy Azalea's stage name paid homage to the great shirtless one, Iggy Pop. Nope. According to Iggy, she's nicknamed after her childhood dog, which is somehow even better than being named after the famous Stooge. Via Complex:
Before immigrating, she was born Amethyst Amelia Kelly, and she didn't get her nickname from the decadent Stooges punk rocker — it came from a four-legged childhood friend.
"When I was a kid, Iggy was my dog," she says. "But he'd always get in fights and come home covered in blood. One time, he got bitten by a snake. I thought for sure he was going to die, but he'd always make it. Iggy was the runt of the litter, but he always survived. I really loved that dog. He was a tough, cool, determined fighter. He had all the characteristics I admire in people. When he got put down, I got a nameplate necklace with his name. People started calling me that, too."
Precious!
