Who Is Azealia Banks?

She's got cosigns from Kanye West and Karl Lagerfeld, and Twitter beef with Kreayshawn. Find out more about the feisty New York rapper behind "212."

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Image via Complex Original
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Intro

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Growing Up In Harlem

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Growing Up In Harlem

Azealia Banks: “Everyone thinks I’m from London but I’m not; I’m from Harlem. My childhood was good, I did a lot of artsy stuff—I wasn’t a street kid. Even though I did play on the streets, my mom definitely kept me in a lot of extracurricular stuff.


 

Everyone always thinks I’m a fucking alien.


 

"I went to LaGuardia. [So did Nicki Minaj, but] I don’t know Nicki Minaj. People say that because we went to the same high school but she graduated like 10 years ago. I was a drama major over there so I have a musical theatre background.

“Everyone always thinks I’m a fucking alien. I don’t even know what my accent sounds like. It’s so bad because I have buck teeth so I have a lisp. I grew up in Harlem but all my friends growing up were Spanish girls and my dad’s side of the family is from Barbados.

"I hang out in London, I have a lot of French friends, and I lived in Montreal for a while. So my whole language and [speech] is all fucked up.”

Acting

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Acting

Azealia Banks: “I did some small [acting roles] when I was 13. I wasn’t really getting anything but I was going on so many auditions. We had call-backs but it always would be liability shit. If they hire someone who’s not 18 they have to pay for their parents to come, pay for tutoring, and all this other shit. It would just be easier for them to pick 18-year-olds.


 

I was like, ‘I have to figure something out with this art shit. Am I going to sing or am I going to act?


 

“I was freelancing with Innovative Artists and my manager [managed] a couple of other black girls. Every time there would be an audition, I would see those girls and one of them would get it because they were 19 or 20. I would be like, ‘Fuck, am I just supposed to wait until I’m 18?’

“I was like, ‘What happens if I don’t wanna do this anymore?’ I felt myself not wanting to do it. I’m not into academics so I wasn’t trying to go to college. I was like, ‘I have to figure something out with this art shit. Am I going to sing or am I going to act? What am I gonna do?’ I wasn’t moving as quickly as I wanted it to move.”

Learning To Rap

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Learning To Rap

Azealia Banks: “I felt like I was gonna get lost in this world of just auditioning for parts that I was never going to get and parts that I didn’t even want. I decided to take matters into my own hands. When I was 16, I started off writing R&B songs because with the musical theatre background and all the vocal training I had, using my singing voice was the easiest thing for me to do.


 

I was gonna write R&B songs, sing some of them, and see if I could pitch them to other artists and make money to keep myself out of having to go to college.


 

“I decided to sing and be a songwriter. That was really my whole plan with the music world: I was gonna write R&B songs, sing some of them, and see if I could pitch them to other artists and make money to keep myself out of having to go to college and off my mom’s couch. It just turned into some hipster rap shit.

“I would date guys who would listen to all kinds of rap. I would just hang out with them and play video games and listen to rap music. Then I kind of just started spitting. I was really wack at first but then I just started paying more attention and getting more creative.”

Influences

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Influences

Azealia Banks: "I like all kinds of music. Personalities are more influential to me than music because I feel like I listen to a lot of shit in passing. Anything that I was really inspired by, I wouldn’t say in an interview because then like fucking X, Y, and Z female rappers would be listening to that shit. Any really popping shit, like art that I’m really inspired by, I wouldn’t say.

“I fuck with Styles P. Styles P is my shit. If there’s anything I need to do—like I need to wash my hair or wash the dishes—Styles P is like my ready, set, go music. Styles P is that nigga. He’s so underrated. He has these three old mixtapes—it’s like 88 songs—that I straight spin; The Ghost and The Machine, The Phantom Menace, and Ghost in the Shell.


 

Styles P is one of my two favorite rappers. And Homeboy Sandman. Like yo, any rapper you wanna get your mic ate, go see Homeboy Sandman... He's technically and lyrically the best rapper alive.


 

“He doesn’t try to be mad flashy but he’s that nigga. His shit is just so fly, it’s just so New York, and it’s like, ‘Yo fuck ya niggas. Anybody could get shot right now. Who wants it?’ [Laughs.] His shit is so gully. I fuck with him so much. Styles P is one of my two favorite rappers.

“Homeboy Sandman is that nigga. He’s really like the truth. He’s mad conscious. His wordplay is crazy. Like yo, any rapper you wanna get your mic ate, go see that nigga Homeboy Sandman. He's technically and lyrically the best rapper alive. Homeboy Sandman is better than everybody. Dead-ass. He’s, like, so good.

“But I mean, like, I get it. Niggas be on they bullshit. Niggas be mad ignorant, like chilling on the stoop all day. Niggas don’t got time to really comprehend words like that. But if you read books, drink water, and fucking eat vegetables, you’ll fuck with Homeboy Sandman.

“You listen to Homeboy Sandman and you hear words you didn’t even know before. When you listen to Styles P, you hear words and shit you forgot about.”

Meeting Diplo

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Meeting Diplo

Azealia Banks: “I met Diplo on MySpace on some creep shit. Dead-ass. You remember how creepy MySpace was? I was like 17 and I knew who he was, but I didn’t really know he was a big deal. Even though Diplo’s not a big deal. I love Diplo, but we have this thing where we’re always putting each other down.


 

I remember asking Diplo to be my DJ at one point because I didn’t know [who he was]. [Laughs.] He was just some dude hitting me on MySpace.


 

“I thought he was just some dude. I remember asking him to be my DJ at one point because I didn’t know [who he was]. [Laughs.] He was just some dude hitting me on MySpace.

“Anyhow, he found out about me and he's hitting me on MySpace to figure out what I was doing. He was just like, ‘Yo, you’re mad weird.’ I’m like, ‘Fuck you, what are you talking about?’

“He knew this guy I was dating at the time so it kind of all just tied in. I met him one time in the summer. He came to New York to a Fader party and we were kicking it with him and my boyfriend at the time. Eventually he started sending me beats and I was rapping on his beats.

“Diplo and Richard Russell—the guy who runs XL—were tight because of M.I.A. Diplo was trying to sign me at a point too. But Diplo has a big mouth and he was talking about me and other people started hitting me up too. At the end, Diplo was like, "You weren’t going to sign to Mad Decent?’ I’m like, ‘Nah, nigga." [Laughs.]

“I fuck with Diplo though, he’s so much fun. I always tell him he’s a black guy in a white guy’s body. He’s literally a jester. He needs a hat and a nose. [Laughs.] He’s so funny. We’re not that close—definitely not on no shit like that. We just have the same sense of humor.


 

I was like, ‘Yo Diplo is mad weird...' We were in the studio and we got into a fist fight. [Laughs.] We were like two little boys.


 

“I remember, in October 2009 I went to Philly to work with him. Philly is mad dirty. That city is industrial, with smoke stacks and brick buildings with mad cops and oppression and shit. [Laughs.] I was like, ‘What am I doing here? I need to get the fuck out of here.’

“It didn’t help that this niggas’ studio is in a mausoleum. I was like, ‘Yo this nigga's mad weird, I gonna deck this nigga.’ [Laughs.] We were in the studio and we got into a fist fight. [Laughs.] I forgot what it was over. We were like two little boys.

“We were in the studio and I like poked him or something, then he chopped me in the neck, and then I decked him. [Laughs.] I punched him in the face. [Laughs.] It was mad crazy. I got up and I was on the verge of tears. I was gonna leave and he was like, ‘Aw don’t leave, I’m sorry.’ [Laughs.]”

XL Recordings

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XL Recordings

Azealia Banks: “Around 2009, when I was 17, I put out my first song which was called ‘Seventeen’ and I got signed to XL. I went to London for the first time that year. That whole thing didn’t go as planned.

"I would send them stuff but they wouldn’t say anything because it was more traditional hip-hop and it wasn’t the hipster-y shit that they wanted me to do. This was when they had M.I.A., Santogold was big, and Diplo was hot shit.


 

XL would send me leftover beats. It’d be like, ‘Hey, I made this for Santi, do you like this?’ Automatically you’re like, ‘You made that for her, you didn’t make that for me. What am I really doing with this?’


 

“It was expected that I wanted to work with Diplo. I love Diplo and we do work together on stuff, but I didn’t really want my whole sound to be that because I didn’t want to be a part of that wave of people. No offense—there’s nothing wrong with that—I just wanted to stand out and do my own thing.

“They’d send me leftover beats. It’d be like, ‘Hey, I made this for Santi, do you like this?’ Automatically you’re like, ‘You made that for her, you didn’t make that for me. What am I really doing with this?’

Granted, when you’re a part of a scene—like when you truly honestly a part of a scene—it’s okay for that. But I wasn’t really a part of that scene. I didn’t have no legs in that scene. I didn’t have any friends in that scene. That wasn’t the kind of sound that I was trying to make.

“I’ve been around the industry for a while. I've always been that ghost floating around. I know a lot of people in different places. I’m new to the general public, but to the people in the offices—the real meat of the music industry—they know who I am. They know me as that girl from Uptown or that girl who raps.”

Fitting In vs. Standing Out

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Fitting In vs. Standing Out

Azealia Banks: “When I started rapping, I knew who M.I.A. was, but I wasn’t aware of all the other girls like Kid Sister, Amanda Blank, and Rye Rye. When I came out, that’s who everyone was comparing me to—even nowadays they do that. Who wants to be compared to somebody else?


 

I wanted to be my own thing. I didn't want to be Santi 2.0 or M.I.A. 2.0. Once Nicki started to develop, I didn’t want to be Nicki 2.0. I don’t want to look like a biter. My whole shit is that I have to be the anti- whatever is popping.


 

“Nowadays all the ignorant people are like, ‘You’re a Santogold rip-off,’ because that’s the only other weird black girl that they can pull out of their brain. It’s not even like an insult. Santi is mad fucking talented. That bitch is the illest songwriter out.

“I wanted to be my own thing. I didn't want to be Santi 2.0 or M.I.A. 2.0. Once Nicki started to develop, I didn’t want to be Nicki 2.0. I don’t want to look like a biter. My whole shit is that I have to be the anti- whatever is popping. I want to be different. I know that sounds corny and wack, but it’s true.

“I don’t like it and I don’t think any artist likes it, but they just try to be political about it. That was my thing. I was just trying to be political about it and be like, ‘This isn’t really for me.’

“People were like, 'Little bitch, what the fuck do you mean this isn’t for you? You’re 17, you don’t know what you’re talking about.’ It came off as arrogance, but it was me following my gut and doing what feels true and sounds forward.


 

People were like, 'Little bitch, what the fuck do you mean this isn’t for you? You’re 17, you don’t know what you’re talking about.’ It came off as arrogance but it was me following my gut.


 

“I had to think harder because I felt like there were so many people around me being creative. I didn’t want to ride on the coattail of their creativity. I was already doing my own thing, sampling LadyTron and shit like that. Why would I go from doing this—and this is the reason you all started fucking with me—to, like, doing Baltimore bass beats like Rye Rye?

“It’s not even to say with any amount of shame because I fuck with all of that stuff. It was moreso just me being like, ‘Am I trying to fit in or am I trying to stand out?’

“Once all that shit was happening, XL wasn’t returning my emails. I got really depressed. I gave up my manager, I gave up acting, and I started rapping to just get dropped from my label. I’m like, ‘What’s happening with my life?’ I felt like I was on such a good track and I lost it all. Like, ‘What am I gonna do?’”

Ratchet-Ass Teenage Days

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Ratchet-Ass Teenage Days

Azealia Banks: “I was having trouble in New York because I felt like I was off course. I was raving a lot and wasting time at parties. Doing that whole thing where you got like $300, you spend $200 on your hair, you buy a skirt, and you got $70 left for the week. Then you spend $30 of that at the party and then you’re running around the city with your Metrocard trying to get free weed and free booze and stopping at your mom’s to eat.


 

Once XL dropped me I was like what am I gonna do this for? I’ve already burned all my bridges in the music industry. But that was my small mind, thinking that XL was the music industry.


 

“That’s that ratchet-ass teenage shit. Where you’re just like, ‘Yo I’m fucking ratchet but I got my Metrocard and my cellphone—I’m good.’ I was like whatever. I’m 19 but I have so much more to give to the world and so much more to earn for myself.

“I was eating hot dogs, Chinese french fries, and pizza. That $1 shit. Niggas know. I would go to my mom’s house and I’d be like, ‘Ma, you got $5?’ Like, you know how you just a bum and you don’t wanna ask your mother for no real money like $100? But with $5 you could get on the train, get a slice of pizza, and a soda with that. And when I get to my destination, my homegirl got me on a train coming back. [Laughs.]

“Shit was grimy but those were like the best times of your life though. When shit was grimy, when you was smoking nickel bags and doing all kinds of other wack shit. When you was drinking Four Lokos and shopping at the thrift stores.

“But then I was like, ‘If I don’t stop partying so much now, I’m gonna be partying until I’m like 25. I’m not gonna have no man and I’m probably gonna look mad tired from partying OD.’ Or maybe not because, you know, black don’t crack. But I’m like, ‘Yo, I’m gonna look back in five years and be like I really didn’t get shit done because I gave up.’

“That’s pretty much what I was doing: Giving up. Once XL dropped me I was like, What am I gonna do this for? I’ve already burned all my bridges in the music industry. But that was my small mind, thinking that XL was the music industry.

"I was just gonna hang out in busted-ass New York City, go rave in fucking Greenpoint, and try to get with some rich nigga. That was the plan because I was depressed and I was giving up.”

Montreal

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Montreal

Azealia Banks: “Last summer, I went to Montreal. I needed to give myself a break. I had spent the last three years traveling, working in coffee shops, going to auditions, writing songs, and getting rejected. It was three years of uncertainty. I needed to get some clarity. I have some friends up there, so I went there and got my mind right. I literally went to Canada with $75.

“I stayed at my friend’s house and they cooked. I stayed in the house. I went up to the mountains in Mount Royal a few times, drank wine and smoked weed. I was mad heartbroken as well, my boyfriend had left me. I was single for like fucking forever. I was listening to Adele all summer and being very French; sitting on patios, eating cheese, drinking wine, smoking, wearing my hair up in buns, and crying. French misery.


 

I was mad heartbroken. I was single for like forever. I was listening to Adele all summer and being very French; sitting on patios, eating cheese, drinking wine, smoking, wearing my hair up in buns, and crying. French misery.


 

“I had a good time in Montreal over the summer because I didn’t have a boyfriend and I got to learn a bit of a different language. The scene in Montreal isn’t as volatile as the scene in New York City but there isn’t much negative energy. People aren’t trying to tear each other apart. Everyone in Montreal is easygoing.

“I went there, sang a lot, and just had a good time. A lot of my friends from Montreal are people that I still fuck with, like Jacques Greene and Lunice. Those are the two people in the ‘212’ video with me. Jacques Greene is the white guy and Lunice is the brown kid. That was just my little crew for the summer.

“I just had some time to smile and not deal with any bullshit. My mom would come down on me, being like, ‘You need to go back to school.’ When I came back down to New York, I was working at cafes again. Doing whatever to keep rapping. I was prepared to be underground.

“Then the ‘212’ video just started picking up steam. BBC was playing it, a lot of stations just started picking it up, and all of a sudden I’m on the radio regularly in Iceland, Australia, and Germany. Next thing you know I’m fucking booking Coachella and playing Chanel parties. Life is really good right now. And it turned around because I didn’t give up.”

212

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Her song, “212”

Azealia Banks: “Me and DJ Skeet Skeet were in L.A. working on some stuff in January 2010. He played me the beat for ‘212’ [which sampled] ‘Float My Boat’ by Lazy Jay. I thought it was crazy and if I could rap on it, I would kill it. But that was a long time ago and I was like, 'I can’t do this.'

“This was too homo. Like, ‘What the fuck am I really doing? Everyone’s gonna say I’m a fucking dyke.’ So I left it in my iTunes like whatever. I would listen to it and spit a few words but I wasn’t serious about writing it. Once it got closer to me dying to impress XL, I started going through my iTunes looking for something to rap on.


 

I wrote ‘212’ with the hopes of impressing XL and getting back on their good side but Richard Russell was like, ‘Good Luck.’ XL dropped me after I wrote ‘212.’


 

“I found that beat again and I decided to go for it. It took me two weeks of writing to perfect the song before I recorded it. A lot of things tied into writing ‘212.’ I was getting evicted at the end of the month from my first apartment, my boyfriend just left me, and I was like, I gotta put myself up.

“For days on end I was sleeping on the couch, showering every other day, eating every other day, and staying up with candles burning, like, ‘Don’t forget to feed the cat and write the song.’ I immersed myself in this song for two weeks and then magic happened.

“I prayed a lot over it. I prayed for that one to happen authentically because that could have easily been another bitch rapping on a house beat. It had to be cool, some fashion shit, some Euro shit, but it had to be street because I still need my people to fuck with this.

“I wrote ‘212’ with the hopes of impressing XL and getting back on their good side but Richard Russell was like, ‘Good Luck.’ XL dropped me after I wrote ‘212.’

“Last September we put the ‘212’ video out. Shit was kind of bubbling a little bit online but once the video came out, it kind of just added to everything.

“If you listen to the lyrics, you’ll see that ‘212’ is some real nigga shit. Everyone comes to New York with this fucking gassed up, glittery idea of what it is but New York is mad evil. There’s mad negative energy floating around New York. All the people that died in New York, their souls are still attached to it. There’s mad bad energy.


 

‘212’ is basically like you’re [willing to be] gay to get discovered. You’re a straight dude who wants to get discovered so bad.


 

“‘212’ is basically like you’re [willing to be] gay to get discovered. You’re a straight dude who wants to get discovered so bad that you’re gonna fuck this nigga. Or like this bitch is gonna snort that coke because she wants to be famous. Or that bitch is going to eat that other girl’s pussy because she wants to be famous. She wants to be accepted, like I want to come and hang out because I don’t have anything. I don’t have any money. I’m sure anything you’re doing is better than what I’m doing.

“Artists relate to that so much because every artist has had that time where they were just coming out and there are artists that don’t ever come out. Imagine having written 10 books and none of them ever seen the light of day? Imagine like you’re trying to be a model and you think you’re so beautiful, but then you can’t get any jobs. Or even with me, like me thinking that my acting skills are top-notch, and I can’t even get a job.

“Underneath it all, ‘212’ is about this artist who is struggling to keep herself focused and entertained. She’s struggling because you come to New York and you’re trying to get famous because you really love the art but then there’s all this other shit that comes with it, like politics and knowing the right people. The entertainment industry is 30% what you can do and 70% who you know.”

Sexuality

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Sexuality

Azealia Banks: “I’m bisexual. I’m not a raging dyke. I’m a very feminine young woman who has a boyfriend. I don’t care if anyone thinks I’m a dyke. It’s my business, I do what I want to do. I just didn’t want to become that like, ‘Oh that’s gay.’


 

I don't want it about me being some huge fucking muff diver.


 

“[I just didn’t want it to be like when someone] writes a really good fucking song but it’s like damn, ‘Like damn nigga, that shit is gay.’ But not even in a derogatory sense. It’s definitely not to be shitting on anyone for being gay...

“You know how Perez Hilton is just mad gay? His theme is, ‘I’m gay’ even though he has his gossip thing. I didn’t want my theme to be ‘I’m gay’ like I’m some fucking raging dyke. I don't want to push it out there and have it about me being some huge fucking muff diver. It’s not even that serious. It’s like whatever.”

Q-Tip, Karl Lagerfeld, & Kanye West

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Meeting Q-Tip, Karl Lagerfeld, & Kanye West

Azealia Banks: “One of Karl Lagerfeld’s PR people played my stuff for him and he wanted me to do a show. I came and I had dinner. They dressed me and they gave me gifts. I’m actually doing another Chanel party in Japan in March.”


 

Then Kanye emails me and I’m like, ‘Oh my God, Kanye West just emailed me!’ I peed on myself a little bit and had my moment. Then I met him at his hotel one time when I was like three blocks away.


 

“I met Kanye last year before Christmas. We were staying not too far from each other in Mayfair in London. Q-Tip hit me up first. I was in Berlin working with a friend of mine and Q-Tip hit me up and we spoke. He was like, ‘Kanye is really into you.’ I was like, ‘Okay but where’s Kanye?’ Like, 'Where are you Yeezy?'

“Then Kanye emails me and I’m like, ‘Oh my God, Kanye West just emailed me!’ I peed on myself a little bit and had my moment. Then I met him at his hotel one time when I was like three blocks away.

“I just went over there, hung out, and shot the shit all day. We were just like having a good time cracking jokes, popping shit, and exchanging ideas. I hung out with him another time and then I went to his fashion studio and saw some of his stuff.


 

People are like, ‘You shouldn’t say this, you’re a new artist so you need to earn respect.’ Earn respect for what? 


 

“He’s really cool. He’s super ambitious, which is crazy. He’s the only other artist I’ve ever met who's honestly not afraid to be different, not afraid to bottle his own impulses. He marches to the beat of his own drum and he lives inside himself. That’s like such an accomplishment as a human being.

“I’m into that because I’m the same way. People are like, ‘You shouldn’t say this, you’re a new artist so you need to earn respect.’ Earn respect for fucking what? Who are y’all niggas?

“I live inside my body and this is the only life I know. How can you live your life according to anyone else? Life is yours. If you believe anything is true, it’s true because you believe it’s true.”

Her Universal Deal

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Her Universal Deal

Azealia Banks: “I’m on Polydor and Interscope. The deal literally came from the top. As soon as ‘212’ was on BBC Radio 1, David Joseph and Eugene Gray from Universal were hitting me up, then Jimmy Iovine was hitting me up. How it usually happens is, you get the indie label offers and then you get up to Interscope, Atlantic, and Def Jam. And then it gets that big.


 

I can’t talk about [how much I got for my deal]. But it wasn’t a deal XL gave me. XL signed me for like $5,000. Some sucker sh*t.


 

“I signed with Universal. I had a choice of who I wanted to work with. Niggas believe in me, like, for real. It’s not even gonna be some shit or to be like arrogant or whatever. The way I got signed was crazy. I got signed at the top.

“I can’t talk about [how much I got for my deal]. It wasn’t a bad deal. It wasn’t the deal XL gave me, they signed me for like $5,000. Some sucker nigga shit. But when you like 17 and you been on that train, 5 G’s is like a billion dollars.

“It’s basically like Universal Music, the entire company, opened it’s fucking doors to me. It was like, ‘Take whatever you need from us. You need Kanye? We got Kanye. You need fucking strings from Africa? We got strings from Africa. You need Jimmy Iovine? We got Jimmy Iovine.’ It was really amazing. Like, ‘Damn, can I get an office?’”

The Future

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The Future

Azealia Banks: “My album is going to be called Broke With Expensive Taste. It’s gonna to be about all that ratchet shit, like having your MetroCard and your cell phone and feeling like you’re alive. It’s definitely gonna be mad New York.

“It’s gonna be like this girl is trying to find her place in the world but she’s still trying to be young and have a good time. She’s still trying to look fresh so she’s gonna spit some shit about clothes. She’s gonna spit some bullshit, but then she might really drop some real nigga shit. It might sound artsy but it’ll have some real nigga shit.”

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