Key Takeaways
- Azealia Banks announced on X that she has relocated to Tel Aviv and is finishing her album there with producer Yinon Yahel.
- Banks said Israel's mature arts scene and a supportive music crew have made the country the most creatively enabled she has felt in years.
- The move follows a string of reversals from Banks, who once vowed never to return to Israel but later called herself a Zionist and performed draped in an Israeli flag.
- Banks faced mocking replies questioning her move and her geography, and she is set to perform at Amphitheater Tel Aviv on Thursday, October 8, her first show there as a resident.
No longer in the “212,” rapper Azealia Banks has controversially relocated to Israel.
On Tuesday (Oct. 6), the Harlem native confirmed on X that she had made the surprising move, showing off the interior of her new home. "Moving in," the rapper wrote. "If you would have told me years ago id end up moving to Tel Aviv and liking it, I would have said youre crazy."
Banks went on to share that she hasn’t just moved for her personal development, but to work on new music. The 35-year-old also praised the city for its sprawling arts scene.
"Im 5 hours away and here making my album FINALLY. I found some real camaraderie and some really cool music crew here and its ironically just been easier to create here because Israel's arts scene is really mature," she wrote.
"People arent witholding stems and holding grudges about social issues and its freeing. Everyone in Israel thinks my political opinions fucking suck and think i have trash taste in men but no one is trying to sabotage me for that.. This is the most creatively enabled ive felt in years."
Banks’ change of heart about the Middle East country comes roughly a decade after she first played in Israel at Tel Aviv's Barby nightclub in 2018. Following the performance, Banks then vowed never to return, citing alleged racist treatment she said she experienced there, although she would eventually perform twice more in Israel.
Banks has alternated her views on the country several times since. By June 2026, Banks would claim that she had “never” been witness to a certain “level of bareback racism towards black people from jews or israelis.”
Banks is scheduled to perform at Tel Aviv Amphitheater on Thursday (Oct. 8), her first show in the country as a resident.
