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Celeb News: Azealia Banks Cashes In On Luxe Life
Member Since: 1/6/2011
Posts: 14,156
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Azealia Banks Cashes In On Luxe Life
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We’ve all heard the proverbial rags to riches stories of how rappers can go from hard knock lives to gold-plated roadways tricked out by overly-priced wheels. And oftentimes when said rapper is female, there is that unspoken protocol that she must be accompanied by some other larger-than-life rapper, who is “appropriately” male and more than willing to don her with the street cred necessary to get her career off and popping. But Harlem native Azealia Banks needs no cosign. After hustling her way as any D.I.Y. millennial would, via viral videos made by Miss Bank$ and company, the name Azealia—not to be attributed to any other rapper who may think think they hold the crown—spread through the playlists of influencers like wildfire.
Looking back on the last year in the making, some might attribute Azealia’s rise to fame to timing and the current creative wave flowing out of Harlem, the New York City neighborhood where she was born and bred. Others, like punk-rap phenom A$AP Rocky and mob, genre-bender DJ and co-founder of GHE20G0TH1K, Venu$ X and others are leading the pack of new era of talent out of the area, bearing the torch for those fallen ones who once shed a spotlight on the venerable uptown locale.
In fact it was Azealia’s homage to her own area code, the single “212″ which dropped last fall on the internet, that set her career soaring, while its accompanying video reinforced her cult-like drawing power. Classic black and white images of a New York swag long-forgotten led the way, reminiscent of the days before other hip-hop sub-genres and geographic-centric movements took the market by storm. A ’90s styled Azealia, bopping to her now infamous tune as if rocking out on house night at the world-famous and now closed NYC nightclub Palladium, spews raunchy, arrogant lyrics that no one on this side of Oz would have trouble trying to decipher.
“There’s always a scene in New York,” Azealia explains, as we drift just a few feet behind her artist trailer into an area further away from the noisy main stage. It’s now been a half-hour since her official debut at the Indio, California festival. Full-weave in, denim booty shorts on, aside from her artist wristband and the lime green fur brassiere that she’s rocking, Azealia looks like any other 20-year old out here in the desert. However pretty and petite, her personality is bold and you can tell that she only gives her all. “I don’t think it died, I just think that it became a little more like homogenized in terms of everything– style, rap, and even like the rave scenes.”
And she’s right. Whether it was a direct result of 9/11, the rabid dash to erect condominiums everywhere throughout the five boroughs, or the consistent influx of transplants in search of creative opportunities diluting its edgy appeal, something did happen. She quotes her friend and rapper Tennille: “‘We grew here, you flew here.’ It’s like we grew up in the jungle, in all the ********, all that extra ****, and y’all came here trying to like front like y’all are that down and that conflicted as real New Yorkers are.”
Until now, the scene in New York City had definitely seen better days. But lately from the outside looking in, there is an artistic renaissance happening especially in Harlem, albeit disjointed. “I mean, there really isn’t a scene [in Harlem] because we all aren’t really that close,” Azealia says. “We’re all kind of like separate entities, you know. And I’m just kind of like that art school girl, who was like always trying to do something to get famous, who like everyone knew, you know. And then Rocky was just that dude with the Moncler and the perm, you know what I mean? You know, like that pretty guy that like all the bitches wanted. And Venu$ [X] has just always been that really cool bitch with the green hair. We’re all just like randomly happening at the same time, but it isn’t like a collective scene or anything.”
True, it is interesting how cyclical some trends can be, but why is it that we’ve never seen an “Azealia” before now? Despite an earlier record deal with XL Recordings which ended in disagreement and taking her career into her own hands to create, the former LaGuardia High School of Performing Arts [most noted as the school that the film Fame was based upon] student has always been clear on what she stands for and who she is without ascribing to any particular movement or sound; and perhaps that alone is what sets her apart from other female emcees on the scene right now.
“I don’t know what the new sound of hip-hop is. I’m just being Azealia Banks and making my own stuff, you know,” she says brazenly. “I feel like music, like art, is like the only place where human minds can live outside of social structure and economical structure, and just whatever the **** we like call ourselves as a society. You know, it’s really like how you escape and like get the **** out of that. So with me, I definitely don’t follow a format or anything. If I follow the format, chances are I’ll get the same results as you got. And everyone’s journey is different, so I just gotta do my own thing.”
But the truth is, we have had other Azealia’s; those fearless street girls who encompass a witty spark of incredibleness and a refusal to back down. The fashion darlings who were savvy enough to work the “hood” in them, as opposed to just getting lost in the shuffle of trying to earn stripes (or cool points) to become hood celebs. If Lauryn, Salt, Latifah, Missy or even Eve had moments of it (and others I’m sure), then Azealia redefines it. And who doesn’t want to be associated with someone who doesn’t need you to tell them that they’re cool?
Nick Hook, Azealia’s engineer and one-third of the Brooklyn-based group Cubic Zirconia, recorded “212″ with Azealia by accident. “It was actually a magical day of my life,” he says describing the two hours it took to make the song. “When I look back on it, I kind of get the chills. I realize that we did something kind of weird that really hit.” Nick was also in the room working with Azealia when Missy Elliot called to collaborate, a moment in Azealia’s humble beginnings just like “212,” that could make a real difference in her staying power as an artist overall, no matter which side of the coin you fall on.
“There was a little part of me that just thought now would never happen, so I never really imagined what it would look like,” Azealia says. “I was just kind of like, ‘****!’ When ’212′ started to pop, I was just in that place accepting defeat. Like, ‘Alright, I got dropped from XL, ’212′ has been out, and alright it’s not going to happen. Like whatever, I’m just going to like figure it out. I’m going to go school, get a degree, I’ll figure it out,’ you know. So when it just started to pop, like when they played it on BBC Radio 1 the first time, I was like, ‘Aww that’s cute, and then they played it again. And then they added it to their rotation and I was like, ‘Oh ****.’”
Azealia is no slouch. To put it in perspective, just a few days ago she only had just a few singles, hardly much to really create a setlist in front of hundreds, but she’s hustling hard. She has already become a muse to Karl Lagerfeld after being personally invited to perform at his home, she has performed at the opening of a Chanel store in Tokyo, and less than a week ago, she performed at Prada’s post MET Ball celebration for the upper echelon of the fashion biz. Dare we mention that Azealia is already working with top level talent from Rankin and Nicola Formichetti, the Scissor Sisters and Missy?
With no master plan, Azealia Banks’ star is rising, as is her number of accolades by fans and stars alike, but this is where the idea of sudden fame starts to unnerve her. ”When all the celebrities started coming in, that’s when I started to get like, ‘Eh,’ because then people started to like attribute what I was doing with Kanye West shouting me out, or like Gwyneth Paltrow shouting me out. I was like, ‘What the ****? Yo, like damn. Like gimme my props! Gimme my muther****in props.’ I just wrote the illest song in hip-hop of all time in my opinion, of course in my opinion. [Laughs]”
While she’s not planning to do anything fashion-wise per se, something she says is “just happening” organically, there seems to be some rhyme and reason to how she’s going about dropping her music. We wait in dire anticipation for the total release of her forthcoming mixtape Fantastic, for which she’s been recently and randomly dropping singles; while the ever-delayed extended play 1991 and Broke with Expensive Taste, her debut album expected this fall, have so much buzz around them that Azealia will be a legend before either ever drops.
When asked to describe what she is made of and what keeps her moving, she says, “I’m made of a lot of different energies. I’m a very splintered personality, like I’m kind of all over the place. I’m a little bit of a hypocrite, I’m a gemini. [Laughs] I’m ****ing confused. [Laughs] I don’t know what I want and I probably don’t know what I am talking about right now.”
Before finishing our conversation and getting out of the sun’s direct path, we talked about cosigns and whether the kind of attention that her early celebrity has awarded her even matters anymore. In true star fashion, she replies rather starkly. “All my cosigns are by the important cosigns, by the guys who are cutting the checks. I don’t need some dumbass rapper– not that any rapper is dumbassed– but I don’t need some dude behind me, like ‘Oh yeah, this is my female artist.’ Nah, like **** you. You don’t own me.”
So who is she carrying the torch for? “I’m carrying the torch for Azealia Banks, and that’s like no offense or nothing, but like I’ve been through a lot in my life and I’m here at a point where I have a pretty decent job and I’ve got some money in my pocket. I’ve got like a roof over my head and I’ve got ****, you know what I mean? And none of ya’ll bitches helped me get here, you know. This is my dream.”
Nuff said.
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http://www.mtviggy.com/interviews/ar...e-shes-a-star/
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Member Since: 11/2/2010
Posts: 6,894
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she about to blow low key
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Member Since: 5/22/2010
Posts: 9,633
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Can you bold the important parts 
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Member Since: 1/6/2011
Posts: 14,156
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She threw shots at Iggy, joao is coming.
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“All my cosigns are by the important cosigns, by the guys who are cutting the checks. I don’t need some dumbass rapper– not that any rapper is dumbassed– but I don’t need some dude behind me, like ‘Oh yeah, this is my female artist.’ Nah, like **** you. You don’t own me.”
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Member Since: 2/8/2012
Posts: 10,532
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Originally posted by Owl
She threw shots at Iggy, joao is coming.
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I love Azealia. Great read. 
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Member Since: 12/2/2011
Posts: 52,765
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Quote:
Originally posted by Ahmed.
Can you bold the important parts |
+1
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Member Since: 4/10/2012
Posts: 14,915
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I actually read the whole thing lol. I love the way she talks and explains herself and that she answers questions so thoroughly and intelligently. She explains herself really well.
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ATRL Contributor
Member Since: 10/3/2010
Posts: 12,334
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the name Azealia—not to be attributed to any other rapper who may think think they hold the crown—spread through the playlists of influencers like wildfire.
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I liked this Iggy shade more, tbh.
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Member Since: 11/17/2011
Posts: 52,363
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I am not reading all of that right now
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Member Since: 8/22/2011
Posts: 27,495
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I swear to god Jumanji just came on a radio station as I was reading.
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Member Since: 5/14/2011
Posts: 14,089
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Originally posted by Belle
I swear to god Jumanji just came on a radio station as I was reading.
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WHAT?!?! Jumanji is OUT??!!
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Member Since: 2/16/2012
Posts: 8,740
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Member Since: 1/21/2010
Posts: 2,175
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She could really become massive with her album.
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