The LA-based Iggy Azalea is not who you’d expect to see as the up-and-coming face of hip hop. After all, she’s an Australian leggy blond bombshell — and a woman. A novelty perhaps, but she’s no fad. The 22-year-old initially tempted hip hop kids with smutty lyrics like “taste my Skittles” in the 2011 viral hit Pu$$y and followed up on her success in 2012 by being the first female to make hip hop magazine XXL’s Freshman Class (a big deal in the industry).
You may already have picked up that Azalea — real name Amethyst Kelly — is no prude, with a blokey ease for chatting about sex and swearing. It’s refreshingly charming rather than trashy, although perhaps parents wouldn’t approve of the potty mouth.
You’ve got an interesting look. What’s the thinking behind it and what are your influences?
I like bold prints and fun things like cartoons and movie characters: Grease, Looney Tunes, Space Jam, that kind of thing. When it comes to makeup, I have to have a full beat all the time — I call it “drag natural.” It’s where you have as much makeup as a drag queen but you try to make it look natural.
Are you insecure?
No, I just think why not look airbrushed? Things can always be better.
That’s a good point. Why not?
Before I go on stage wearing open toe shoes, I will put concealer on my toes — I’m psycho.
Why did you start rapping?
I think I just liked the aggressiveness of it and I liked that they kind of seemed to be the rebels of all the styles of music. I thought artists like Busta Rhymes, Missy Elliott, 2Pac, Ludacris and Outkast were really cool. I really liked song lyrics and I wanted to know them all. I find it annoying when song lyrics — including my own — are wrong online.
Are you a perfectionist?
Yeah, I’m meticulous.
How many times do you go over your lyrics? OCD levels?
OCD. It’ll take me a few days to even write a song and I listen to it back and there’ll be changes on my latest album — but I haven’t had time to get in the studio yet.
You use a lot of sexually-charged language on some tracks. Were you the rude kid at school who taught all the other kids about sex?
I was — yeah. I had a club in sixth grade, which was like a rude poetry club. I put out flyers and of course I had my contact information on this and it found its way back to the teacher and I remember getting called to the principal’s office for it.
Did you charge people to join the club?
No, I should have. I just wanted to have some friends. I only had one friend.
Why didn’t you have any friends?
It was because of my wacky fashions. They didn’t make me a good candidate for friendship. I liked my mom’s electric blue Chinese coat that went to the floor and I would wear it over everything, with green platform sneakers.
What’s the biggest blowout you’ve had with a label?
I haven’t had any fights. At (record label) Mercury the only thing that we fight about is budgets. I always want like $1 million and they’re like “No” and they give me about $100,000 for a video, which is fine. The biggest thing that we had a fight about was during the Work video where someone said my outfit was “too vagina-y”. That person got fired; she’s not on my projects anymore.
Obviously you’ve got a tough girl persona for the cameras, so what’s the worst fight that you’ve been involved in?
I’ve never been in a proper fight, I’m too smart for that (laughs). Only retards get in fights — that’s for idiots. I’m not a bad person, so I’ve never done anything to make someone want to punch me. In terms of rap beef, people that yap the most are the biggest ******* and would never swing a punch at you.
You mentioned your mum was very pleased to see your bank statements, so what’s been your biggest paycheque to-date?
I can’t say.
Ballpark figure?
I get a lot of big ones (laughs). The biggest check I’m about to get in one go is $250,000.
http://metronews.ca/scene/689424/igg...250000-checks/
She's so right. And the same thing happens with their fans. And not just in rap obviously
the typical bandwagon associated with the same users.
