Santogold shuns hip hop tag as"racist"

Tue 20th May, 2008 in International News

Philadelphia ‘It’ girl Santogold has earned widespread attention for her fiercely original self-titled debut album. However, she’s fed up with her music being classified – œhip hop’, decrying the pigeonholing as “racist”.

The singer is understandably miffed that online retail sites have labeled the LP – œhip hop’, – œR&B’ or – œrap’, despite its obvious punk, pop and new-wave leaning. “It’s racist. It’s totally racist,” she declared in a recent interview with The Lipster. “Everyone is just so shocked that I don’t like R&B. Why does R&B keep coming into my interviews? It’s pissing me off.”

In her recent chat with FasterLouder, Santogold – who formerly fronted cult punk outfit Stiffed – dismissed inaccurate comparisons with M.I.A.

“I didn’t grow up as a big fan of R&B and, like, what is the big shocker? It’s stupid,” she told the Lipster. “In the beginning I thought that was funny. I’m an ‘MC’, I’m a ‘soul singer’, I’m a ‘dance hybrid artist’. And some guy said I looked like Kelly Rowland!”