“No money, no family / Sixteen in the middle of Miami.” These are the starkly candid lyrics of Iggy Azalea’s new single “Work.” But talking to the Australian rapper, you quickly learn that she was, in fact, only fifteen years old when she first left her native town of Mullumbimby to move, without any parental supervision, to the United States. “I’d known since about eleven that I wanted to live in America,” she says. “At this point, I feel like I’m more from California than Australia. L.A. is my home.” In the eight years since Azalea’s stateside arrival, she has established herself as an unmistakable member of rap music’s next generation, joining ranks with the likes of Angeleno Kendrick Lamar, her recent collaborator Wale, Wiz Khalifa, and A$AP Rocky, a former flame whose name Azalea has tattooed, and crossed out, on her left pinky finger. Needless to say, the platinum blonde Azalea is the only female among them.

And it’s a distinction she owns. Her cultivated look could best be described as aggressively feminine. At her Bowery Ballroom concert earlier this week, for instance, she wore red lacquered stiletto nails, bangs gelled up like Cameron Diaz in There’s Something About Mary, and mid-show removed a floral A-line skirt to reveal matching hot pants while whipping her long ponytail like a helicopter. Her unabashed façade is matched only by her lyrics, which accompany singles like “Pu$$y” and “Murda Bizness.” “I naturally want to be provocative,” Azalea says of carving out her own niche. “[Women] don’t have a lot of ways to be portrayed and more times than not, you feel like you’ve been put in the wrong box.” She feels that the rapper Angel Haze, who has openly discussed her bisexuality, for instance, is a kindred spirit. “She’s more of a tomboy and I’m a girly girl, but I’d love to do something with her.”

Until that collaboration, look forward to Azalea’s debut album, The New Classic, out in the fall, and a summer tour that continues with two shows in Los Angeles next week. Also on the horizon? A music video visually inspired by Blade Runner and Showgirls: Azalea is obsessed with both.

http://www.vogue.com/culture/article...r-iggy-azalea/

Yas Vogue I'll be waiting for that future cover story

Originally posted by Michete They're giving Iggy too much credit. She's yet to have any real hits, she's not nearly as well-known as the rappers they grouped her in with. Rap fans all know who Wiz, A$AP, Wale, and Kendrick are. Iggy's still on her way up to that level, and I'd argue that Azealia is more well-known than her, and Angel Haze and Brooke Candy aren't too far behind. To say she's the "only" female in the next generation of rappers is a stretch.

I agree. Other female rappers of this generation have had bigger hits than her.

Originally posted by Michete They're giving Iggy too much credit. She's yet to have any real hits, she's not nearly as well-known as the rappers they grouped her in with. Rap fans all know who Wiz, A$AP, Wale, and Kendrick are. Iggy's still on her way up to that level, and I'd argue that Azealia is more well-known than her, and Angel Haze and Brooke Candy aren't too far behind. To say she's the "only" female in the next generation of rappers is a stretch.

!!!

The Fashion Bible already has the girls seething!

Originally posted by Michete They're giving Iggy too much credit. She's yet to have any real hits, she's not nearly as well-known as the rappers they grouped her in with. Rap fans all know who Wiz, A$AP, Wale, and Kendrick are. Iggy's still on her way up to that level, and I'd argue that Azealia is more well-known than her, and Angel Haze and Brooke Candy aren't too far behind. To say she's the "only" female in the next generation of rappers is a stretch.