Iggy Azalea, Talib Kweli argue over 'White Privilege'

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 25 (UPI) -- Iggy Azalea defended herself against new claims of cultural appropriation Friday.

The 25-year-old Australian rapper took to Twitter after American rapper Macklemore called her out in his new song, "White Privilege II." The track sees Macklemore reflect on racial tensions and claim Azalea, Miley Cyrus and Elvis Presley have "exploited" and "stole" black music.

"He shouldn't have spent the last 3 yrs having friendly convos and taking pictures together at events etc if those were his feelings," Azalea tweeted early Friday morning after Macklemore & Ryan Lewis released the song.

Azalea later argued with American rapper Talib Kweli over the track and her perceived white privilege. Kweli called Azalea "insensitive" for responding to the diss but not tweeting about racial issues, saying, "You profit off black music, imitating it. Yet you silent when black ppl die in the street due to state violence."

"I actually love hip hop, i wouldn't endure the amount of [expletive] i get if i didn't," Azalea responded. "Maybe i don't tweet as much about political issues or go about things the way macklamore does but that doesnt mean i don't respect something or even help with things behind the scenes because i do."

"Im also getting married to a black man and will probably have bi racial kids, i dont want them to be treated differently or have less opportunity for success because the system is not set up to benefit poc," she added. "I dont live in a bubble ... Its a complicated world that we live in, i just want people to give me some space to navigate it without judgement."

The Hunger Games star Amandla Stenberg previously criticized Azalea for cultural appropriation in a blog post about the topic in April. The actress called out Azalea, Cyrus, Katy Perry and Taylor Swift for using black culture to gain "attention" while remaining silent on important black issues.

Azalea got engaged to Los Angeles Lakers shooting guard Nick Young on his 30th birthday in June. The rapper last released The New Classic in 2014, which debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200, and will release new album Digital Distortion this year.