Like It or Not, Miley Cyrus is Hip-Hop’s New Bad Girl

Miley Cyrus may be the daughter of country music star Billy Ray Cyrus, but the five-foot-five-inch platinum blonde pop sensation wants more for herself than squeaky clean Disney fame or her dad's "achy-breaky" legacy and whether you like it or not she's hip-hop's new "it girl."

Like other Disney-bred hotties before her (see: Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears), Miley Cyrus has made the transition from innocent child star into a young woman who is comfortable expressing herself as she sees fit. She's grown increasingly edgy, sexual, and decidely hip-hop-friendly.

Some wonder why this blue-eyed songbird has become such a hit with the hip-hop crowd-- going so far as to accuse her of appropriating “Black” culture, but the truth is that rappers were checking for her long before she took notice of them.

In 2009, Young Money CEO Mack Maine made it clear that Miley Cyrus was going to be trouble when he shouted her out in the Young Money single, 'Every Girl in the World,'saying, “In about three years, holla at me Miley Cyrus.” Never mind that she was 16 when the song released-- but the YM president had it right because four years later he’s not the only rapper wanting to ring her phone.

Fast forward five months after the ‘Every Girl …’ release, and Miley dropped 'Party in the USA,' a single that put some distance between her and her Disney days and that catapulted her into her new, fun, bad girl image. “The taxi man turned on the radio, and the Jay Z song was on,” so Cyrus took her cut-off shorts, white tee and cowboy boots and line danced her way into every man’s dreams. And that’s when things got interesting.

In 2010, the now pixie-haired Southern belle took her first public bong hit—which made its way to video—as her parents decided to separate and file for divorce. Cyrus eventually apologized to her fans in a 2011 interview with ‘Marie Claire,’ and instead of getting teary-eyed over her parents divorce, the ‘Climb’ singer said “What’s up” to the culture that told her “Holla at me!”

As of late, Miley’s been twerking and shaking to every rap song she can when she’s not busy serving as the lead in Big Sean’s ‘Fire’ video or cutting records with Mike Will Made It.  Knowing that Mack Maine started this, we can only thank Juicy J for bringing the record exec’s dream to life when he let her drop it low on stage with him in June.

She’s gotten a lot of hate for her twerk tactics, but it’s clear she’s got talent—and that’s why people are mad. In fact, it’s safe to say she can probably jiggle and wiggle better than half the people annoyed with her bouncing backside. And because she paid homage to Jay for bringing ‘The Blueprint 3,’ in 2009, Hov paid it forward on his new album, ‘Magna Carta Holy Grail,’ and let the world know that “somewhere in America, Miley Cyrus is still twerking.” Her response to his shout out, “Call it what you want. But I don’t see Mr. Carter shoutin any of you b-tches out #twerkmileytwerk.” Once Shawn Carter shouts you out, there should be no questions asked.