Miley Cyrus Apologized For Her Previous Comments About Hip-Hop, And The Internet Is Not Buying It

(Photo: EMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP/Getty Images)

By Danielle Ransom

June 13, 2019 / 7:26 PM

When Miley Cyrus told Vanity Fair that she was making a return to hip hop in her new album, it was a collective eye-rolling moment for many in the hip-hop community.

When Miley Cyrus dropped her rap-heavy Bangerz album (which she co-produced with Mike WiLL Made-It) in 2013, she was swiftly criticized for cultural appropriation and using hip-hop culture for popularity. Despite that, the album went on to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. After coasting high off its success and basking in her newfound popularity, Cyrus turned around and trashed the whole genre in 2017.
“It was too much ‘Lamborghini, got my Rolex, got a girl on my cock’ – I am so not that,” she told Billboard during an interview in 2017.
True to her word, the 26-year-old dropped her latest EP, She Is Coming, with a number of prominent hip-hop figures featured among its credits.
But the album’s press rollout has also come a moment of reckoning as critics continue to call the singer-actress out for her past comments. For many, her unwelcome return to hip-hop is yet another attempt to hop on to the genre for its popularity.
The singer issued an apology yesterday, June 12. Taking to the comment section of YouTube video a fan uploaded titled "Miley Cyrus Is My Problematic Fav...Sorry," she wrote a lengthy post acknowledging her “privilege” in being able “to dip in and out of the scene.”
“I want to start with saying I am sorry. I own the fact that saying ... "this pushed me out of the hip hop scene a little” was insensitive as it is a privilege to have the ability to dip in and out of “the scene,” she wrote. “There are decades of inequality that I am aware of, but still have alot learn about.”
Many are not buying her apology. Not only has she had over two years to do so but its questionable timing she chose to do so now when she has a new album to promote.
It’s also side-eye worthy she’s dropping Wu Tang-inspired song titled “D.R.E.A.M.“…….which stands for “Drugs Rule Everything Around Me.”
Even though it was produced by RZA with Ghostface Killah featuring on the track, the optics are still bad.
In the song, Miley toasts it up to living a party lifestyle.
“Hit the ghost, raise a toast, pop the molly / All the girls in my room look like Dolly” she croons airily.
It’s a stark contrast to the Wu-Tang Clan’s “C.R.E.A.M.”, which she sampled, where the rap group paints a harrowing life of growing up in poverty where money can mean the difference between life and death.