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     Some may call her offensive, some call her hilarious and some may say she’s just being honest– what is clear, however, is that Azealia Banks is setting herself up for a long career of controversy. Through her blatant honesty and subtly sexed up image, she’s definitely drawn crowds to lend their eyes and eventually ears to what she has to give to the industry. She started rapping only last year but since then, has been featured on The Fader, gained a roaring fan-base through radio play and internet hype and has subsequently been shopped around by labels. They’re all itching to latch on to the rare gem that is a skilled female emcee, but Banks has no plans to rush it– at only 18, she understands she needs time to steer “unguided America” towards this generation’s Lil’ Kim hopeful. Without any unwarranted praise or reservations, we present to you: Azealia Banks.

So you just graduated from a performing arts high school as a drama major, any plans right now with that?

     Nope, I’m gonna go for this rap shit. In the future, of course the drama part will come in. Once all of this starts poppin’, I don’t know– it switches up all the time. I can’t say I want to act in X many years. I switch it up all the time. That whole Gemini, jack-of-all-trades shit– I don’t know, I feel like that applies to me. I rap, I sing, I act.

When did you start rapping?

     I started March 2008. That’s when the remix for “Dey Know” came out. Weezy’s verse on that was so crazy and that was the verse that really made me want to be serious about rapping. That dude’s amazing. His wordplay, his flow, his diction– everything. Weezy’s got that aesthetic.

Do you produce too?

     Yeah. I started producing when I started rapping– it came hand in hand. People were pitching me beats that I thought were wack. So I decided to do something about it.

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What problems with the music industry do you have right now?

     I don’t want to say hip hop is dead, but it’s definitely lost right now. I feel like labels are trying really hard to fill this void and so they’re trying to pick up whatever looks appealing. And that’s the sad thing about the American audience. They need guidance. Americans can’t go out and–eh, that’s a general statement and I shouldn’t make a very general statement but–Fuck it. Americans need guidance. They need MTV to tell them it’s poppin’, and it’s not even like here’s WHY it’s poppin’. It’s like, “This is what we give you, this is what we put on your TV and this is what you’re going to believe”.

     Ever since I was a kid, I’ve always been intuitive and analytical and I tried to get in depth with everything. A questioning mind is good. Someone who has the audacity to question anything that’s supposed to be authoritative is good. You really need to ask questions and see what’s good because if you go off on what people are telling you, you’re going to miss out on a lot of stuff in life. This world is huge and there’s so many places and cultures and things to see. From my bedroom in New York, I’m just trying to see as much as I can– from my window, from my computer, from my LimeWire.

Do you have any faith in the newcomers to hip hop?

     For a while, Jay Z was the dude that every rapper wanted to be like. For a while, everyone was sounding like him, trying to be like him. Then you had Kanye come through, then Weezy. Now you have this whole new breed of rap. So many people are latching onto the flow: Drake, Fresh P, there’s a bunch of new artists. There’s Kid Cudi and all that, but I’m not really convinced.

     Here we go, I don’t want to be talking shit or nothing but this is just me: being real about what I think. That whole XXL shit was like, Jigga’s 40 and Weezy’s almost hit his saturation point and then someone like Charles Hamilton shows up. I feel like rap is a sport and they don’t understand it as a sport. They’re so wrapped up in this whole new nerd/wannabe/hipster– whatever the fuck that means–caught up in that whole hype. It’s hype. All of the mixtapes that came out from the rappers on XXL were severely hyped. Now I’m not saying that they weren’t good, I just feel like they were given a lot more credit than they deserved, all of them.

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How do you think being a female works into the equation?

     Would a female really be among a bunch of dudes? That’s another thing that I feel is wack about the rap game. I feel like rap and stand-up comedy and basketball, those are “men”, masculine things. In order for you to be a female and keep up there has to be some sort of relevance. For a minute you saw female rappers in and out of the scene, poor attempts trying to recreate the persona of Lil’ Kim. People can say what they want about Lil’ Kim, whether she writes her lines or not but that persona– sexed-up rap chick rollin’ with a bunch of dudes– she was the first. You can’t deny that. Out of all the female rappers that I’ve seen, Lauryn Hill disincluded, Kim and Foxy were the best to have existed in the game.

     I know it’s gonna be hard because they’ll say, “Oh you’re an 18 year old girl. What do you know about the streets? What do you know about sex? What do you know about this and that…” But people go through what they go through. Shit happens. I know there’s gonna be some media shit and some female, stupid bitch shit. This whole music stuff has come at me mad fast and I just gotta prepare myself. I haven’t even put out a mixtape out but I put a few songs on MySpace and all of a sudden had labels bangin’ my doors down, but it’s whatever. I’m just trying to follow suit because this is what I wanted. I knew from a young age I was gonna be someone important. I knew I was gonna be a very influential person. Once rapping came through, it was like– I can sing, I can act but there’s ton of bitches that can sing and act. There’s not a ton of bitches rapping.

What plans do you have in store for us?

     I’m working with Machinedrum, the guy who’s done all Theophilus London’s stuff. I can’t wait to drop this mixtape. It’s gonna be really good for the both of us. He’s very focused, very patient, very good–such a good person.

     A couple of labels are hitting me up and trying to see what’s good but I’m taking it slow. I don’t want to work with someone else’s agenda. I want a decent deal where nobody’s gonna try to take my publishing– it’s a fucking recession, n**gas gotta make money! I’m not gonna sign some bullshit deal and all my bread is just gone. At least if I sign an independent deal I’ll have more control.

     The UK is showing me a LOT of love. A label flew me out there, and we chatted up and I loved it all: the smell of the air, the vibe of the streets, everything is on point. Actually, fuck it– I really just wanna go out there and pick up the accent. Laughs.

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This all stemmed from The Fader exposure, right?

     I guess someone found my MySpace page and was like, what the fuck is this? This is hot. They played “Gimme A Chance” on East Village Radio and the next week The Fader gave me a write up. They bigged me up heavy– from that Fader shit, all of this shit spiraled.

What do you think your advantage is over male rappers?

     I just feel like naturally, women are just more calculating than men. Something as simple as the insult from a woman versus a guy. Guys will be like, “Fuck you man!” Females will be like, “Yeah, that’s why your left titty is bigger than your right titty,” that’s some shit that you can’t control. When guys rap, they rap just to be on the track. I feel like I work a lot harder. I put a lot of effort into my raps because I believe in the power of spoken word and I feel like music stays with you. Once someone hears your tracks, whether good or bad, it becomes a part of you. That’s the reason I don’t stare at ugly people in the street, I don’t want that to be a part of me. I don’t listen to bad music for the same reason, I turn that shit off.

What’s your advantage over female rappers?

     My youth, my look. I feel like the only other female rapper who’s holding weight is Nicki Minaj. I have to make a little more headway. It’s so easy for any female that raps to get love from anywhere and once they get that love, they feel like they’re the shit, that they gotta act tough. Some bitch shit. Then they flop. Things cannot stay on top forever. Laws of gravity, of physics. There’s nothing you can do to change it. You cannot control the weather, the moon, the sun. When your time is done, your time is done. It’s impossible for me to remain relevant as a rapper maybe after three albums. You go up and you come down. But if you go up, you can stay up by means of cheating the game; by staying afloat, being artistic and continuing to be which I plan to do. I plan to sing and act. When I stop rapping it won’t be the end of Azealia Banks.

To find out more about Azealia, visit her MySpace.

Words by SamSun
Photos by Nakeya B.