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After a wave of disparaging remarks, influencer Alabama Barker took to social media to defend herself against the critics.
The 17-year-old gained some notoriety in the past couple of weeks for sharing snippets of rap songs she’s put together with her TikTok followers. While some expressed approval, many took her to task for coming off as an appropriator of Hip-Hop culture and rap music. It prompted her to make a since-deleted video to share on TikTok. “I’m tired of people saying I don’t know anything about rap music, I wasn’t raised around rap music, I wasn’t anything,” she begins. “So, let’s take a little field day into my life because you guys know it so well.”
The daughter of Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker and model Shanna Moakler shared photos of herself standing next to some of rap’s biggest artists beginning with Nicki Minaj during her father’s tour with the Pinkprint rapper on Lil Wayne’s I Am Music II Tour in 2011. “So, the first thing that I’m going to point out is this tour. This tour was when I was about 5 years old,” she recalled. “[I was] 5 years old watching her set every day. I knew every lyric.”
She followed up with more pictures of her posing with Lil Wayne, followed by a photo of the “Gimme Brain” single cover featuring Travis, Lil Wayne, and Rick Ross. “Another song I knew by heart when I was like 5 years old,” she said. (People Magazine did point out that the single dropped in 2019 when Alabama was 13.)
The stepdaughter of Kourtney Kardashian also addressed criticism of her hairstyle and her nail design, showcasing an older photo of her with similar choices. “For everybody telling me, ‘Oh, she wants to wear nails now,’ ‘She thinks she’s this, this and that,’ this was in 2012,” she said before continuing: “I know I am privileged, and I’m beyond grateful for that and blessed. It’s not OK for people to make fun of or disrespect any culture at all. So, if me being a rapper bugs you, then you can just keep moving and stop commenting.”
The young Barker had issued rebuttal videos to critics earlier this month, addressing those who were jabbing her over her use of heavy makeup. “When Kathryn with 3 kids only waterline liner, 4 different colored blonde & Tom shows, talk about my makeup or my age.”, the caption read. A fan tried to explain the concern in the comments by writing, “I think people are just concerned about the over-sexualization of youth in Hollywood/LA culture.”
