Billie Eilish Calls Out Rappers for 'Lying' in Their Lyrics
Billie Eilish is coming under fire from hip-hop fans.
The 18-year-old Grammy winner has caused an uproar following an interview she did for the March cover of Vogue in which she accuses hip-hop artists of “lying” about guns and women in their lyrics. The “Bad Guy” singer claims rappers are not keeping it real and are fabricating stories, something which she says she does not do.
“Just because the story isn’t real doesn’t mean it can’t be important,” she tells the magazine. “There’s a difference between lying in a song and writing a story. There are tons of songs where people are just lying. There’s a lot of that in rap right now, from people that I know who rap. It’s like, ‘I got my AK-47, and I’m fuckin’ . . .’ and I’m like, what? You don’t have a gun. ‘And all my bitches. . . .’ I’m like, which bitches? That’s posturing, and that’s not what I’m doing.”
Her comments were met with backlash from hip-hop fans, who called her out for her criticism while accusing her of stealing from hip-hop.
-uses hip hop-influenced music to become famous
-takes the aesthetic of hip hop to become a fashion icon
-shits on hip hopthe normal white woman pop career path. miley did the same thing. https://t.co/6kIXk1nTwU
— p.e. moskowitz (@_pem_pem) February 4, 2020
crazy she talkin like this when she be dressin like she thugnificent https://t.co/biRBT66aUE
— mu’minfromtheblock (@risemumin) February 4, 2020
Good point Billie. Also, why didn’t we arrest Johnny Cash for shooting a man in Reno. He confessed and everything. https://t.co/NbLZyjsc7p
— Nick Fane (@NickFaneMusic) February 4, 2020
Eilish has previously expressed her love for rappers including Tyler, The Creator and XXXTentacion. “He was like a beam of light and just tried to do everything for other people,” she said of the late X. “That was like the most selfless kid I’ve ever met in my life.”
Last fall, she revealed that she had been texting with Drake, 15 years her senior, which also caused a stir on social media. “The internet is such a stupid-ass mess right now,” Eilish told Vogue. “Everybody’s so sensitive. A grown man can’t be a fan of an artist? There are so many people that the internet should be more worried about. Like, you’re really going to say that Drake is creepy because he’s a fan of mine, and then you’re going to go vote for Trump? What the fuck is that shit?”
Last month, Eilish made history by becoming the first woman to win all four major categories in the same night at the Grammys.