Since rapper Azealia Banks brought up the issue of racism in the music industry during a powerful interview with "Ebro in the AM" on Hot97, the topic no one wanted to address seems to be on the tip of everyone's tongue- especially those who love hip hop.

Watch the Azealia Banks Interview That Started the Conversation

For those of you who missed the interview, underneath the shade and disses thrown at T.I., Tiny and Iggy Azalea, Banks brought up various perspectives of race in terms of music popularity. In short, she discussed the underlying problem of cultural appropriation amongst white rap culture. It's a touchy subject but many supported her point of view.

So, when Macklemore came to New York City, Ebro invited him to have an open chat about that very topic with him and Peter Rosenberg on the radio. Macklemore happens to be one of the main rappers mentioned in the conversation of race and success within rap because his album won Best Rap Album of the Year at the 2014 Grammys over Kendrick Lamar's. He repeatedly has pointed out that he thinks Kendrick's album was better, but this time, he expanded his viewpoints on the issue at hand.

Iggy Responds to the Azealia Banks Interview on Twitter, Calls Her 'Miserable'

Here are some of his most profound statements from the interview:

On Talking About Race as a White Rapper in Hip Hop:

"For me, as a white dude-as a white rapper-I'm like, how do I participate in this conversation? How do I participate? How do I get involved on a level where I'm not co-opting the movement or I'm not making it about me, but also realizing the platform I have and the reach that I have, and doing it in an authentic, genuine way. Because race is uncomfortable to talk about. White people, we can just turn off the TV when we're sick of talking about race. We can be like, 'No, I'm done.'"

On the viewpoint of the liberal side:

"White 'liberal' people want to be nice. We don't want to mess up. We don't want to be racists. We want to be like, 'We're post-racial and we have a black president and we don't need to talk about white privilege. It's all good, right?' It's not the case."

On white privilege in America:

"Why am I safe? Why can I cuss on a record, have a parental advisory sticker on the cover of my album, yet parents are still like, 'You're the only rap I let my kids listen to. Why can I wear a hoodie and not be labeled a thug?...The privilege that exists in the music industry is just a greater symptom of the privilege that exists in America. There's no difference."

On the importance of being accepted in the culture:

"You need to know your place in the culture. Are you contributing or are you taking? Are you using it for your own advantage or are you contributing? I saw a tweet that said, 'Hip hop was birthed out of the civil rights movement.' This is a culture that came from pain and oppression. It was the byproduct [of white oppression]. We can say we've come a long way since the late '70s and early '80s, but we haven't. Just because there's been more successful white rappers, you cannot disregard where this culture came from and our place in it as white people. This is not my culture to begin with. As much as I have honed my craft...I do believe that I need to know my place."

Watch the full interview (in which he openly discusses Eric Garner and more) here:

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