Azealia Banks’ Twitter dramas are the stuff of legend at this point, but her latest series of Tweets were definitely something that any young artist, especially a young, black female artist, could relate to.
When Azealia Banks stepped on the scene with “212” in 2011, she gave me one of my favorite, super nasty, make-you-blush lines, “I guess that cunt’s gettin’ eaten”. It was a blatant, indelible, acknowledgement of queerness and all about female pleasure. It was something she couldn’t take back, unlike the “I’m bi or am I?” media game that a lot of female artists play early in their careers in order to arouse and make blog headlines. Naturally, I started consuming everything of hers I could find and she was quickly in heavy rotation on all of my playlists.
Then the fashion world came calling. Every “cool” fashion magazine had Azealia Banks on its cover or in it’s pages. She was a regular fixture on the runways and as she declared on “Van Vogue”, “Dolce crop tops, my play clothes now”. She released singles and collaborations in drips and drabs, and even gave us an EP, all while racking up Twitter beefs (Nicki Minaj, Lady Gaga, Iggy Azelea, Angel Haze, etc., etc.) along the way. The worst of which, was one involving the use of the word f**got, which personally offended and upset me as a fan, and cost her many business relationships.
Now here we are, 2 1/2 later, after so much buzz and so much press, fans are still begging for that album.
It seems that just like Angel Haze, who leaked her own album at the end of last year, as a result of frustrations with her record label, that this fierce MC is clearly not in the driver’s seat of her career.
Banks’ frustrations are something that many artists go through. Should you do something for the love of money or the love of art? Should you “play nice” even though playing the game doesn’t necessarily guarantee you anything in the long run? Regardless, Azealia, I’m still rooting for you and I hope you sort this out, because we need more female MC’s. Until then, all I can say is, enjoy those wings.