Azealia Banks

pretty much anybody would take a good-sized major advance but people should be honest about it a la Krusty the Clown: "they backed a truck full of money up to the house, I'm not made of stone"

it's interesting also how often this happens to rappers who aren't accepted by hip-hop's core fanbase, too - we were talking about yelawolf and angel haze the other week, both of whom never seemed suited to major label expectations/making crossover pop songs, but the fact that they stood out from other rappers (for superficial reasons as well as artistic ones)...made the major labels think they would be? azealia banks seems to fit into this pattern as well. the body of work that would display these artists at their best (reservation, trunk muzik, imagine a less amateurish fantasea) isn't accepted by the audience that would accept the equivalent from a chief keef type, but neither is it a crossover pop album in any sense.

Eh, I kind of feel like Yelawolf, at his best, has more of a sense of songcraft than Angel or Azealia (I feel like this is Banks' particular weakness as an artist. I said something a while back about her being able to come up with great parts of songs but having difficulty putting them together into songs that are distinctive from one another.) But also unlike Haze and Banks, he was fully given his chance and completely blew it.

hahahahahahhahahahahahhahhahhahahahahahhhahahhhhahaha http://www.forbes.com/sites/natalierobehmed/2014/02/19/azealia-banks-hip-hop-cash-princess-2/

"“I did a song with Ariel Pink on my album which is really weird"

oh fucking christ no

“I did a song with Ariel Pink on my album which is really weird, it’s a legitimate rock song – I’m wailing like Tina Turner,” Banks gushes excitedly.

:ooooo

This is the funniest fucking thing

How much do you all wanna bet that when she finally releases her album, the rollout will be accompanied by a "candid" profile piece where she either doubles down on her bullshit or apologizes for everything?

damn, she made a million last year

i wanna know what she saw in her bank account though. likely very low six figures and a closet full of amazing swag

damn, she made a million last year

BEFORE lawyer fees

“Because there aren’t that many good female rappers, it’s really that simple,” says Banks.

Well she's not entirely wrong. There are a lot less female rappers in general.

“Vagina power is like, the power of the world.”

i wonder if she is an alexyss tylor fan

http://dealbreaker.com/uploads/2010/06/animated-siren-gif-animated-siren-gif-animated-siren-gif-drudge-report.gif She just deleted all her tweets! http://dealbreaker.com/uploads/2010/06/animated-siren-gif-animated-siren-gif-animated-siren-gif-drudge-report.gif

must mean the albums on the way

She got out of her Interscope contract. Not sure whether I care anymore, but kind of hope she can make headlines for decent songs again rather than lame beef.

Whoa there, one step at a time.

lol

perversely beginning to root for her now that everyone feels safe to slag her off in a way they'd never dare do to an artist at the crest of the hype wave

Aren't they slagging her off because she's spent three years pissing away goodwill and failing to release an album? I don't think people who hated 212 have been waiting three years before it was safe to speak.

In her defense, there was probably lots of label fuckery going on. (A recent profile of Mr. Motherfuckin eXquire, who was also a "beneficiary" of the internet-rap boom that swept her up, would bear this out, as would the trials of her rival Angel Haze.)

Also I suspect that the first "oh, huh" moment came when she had to pull the "212" video because she didn't credit Lazy Jay for essentially rapping over his unaltered track, which was a big factor in the initial bonkers reaction to it.

Here's the Mr. M.e. profile, btw. It unfairly reduces the Voice piece about him (which I edited) to being about his jokiness (which it isn't) but it is otherwise solid, and sad, and instructive as far as how hip-hop is received in internet-forward music culture.
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/mr-muthafuckin-exquires-music-biz-misadventures-20140620

No doubt the label botched this but other people who have butted heads with their labels, incl Angel Haze and Sky Ferreira, have come out of it with the public on their side. People generally want to believe that majors are full of know-nothing breadheads who ruin careers because they don't understand art, so Azealia's ability to alienate people who would instinctively back her up is quite remarkable. This is someone who recorded songs with Pharrell and Disclosure (presumably at significant expense) only to badmouth both of them. I'm generally on the artist's side and I hate snarky schadenfreude but come on, she's not an innocent victim.

i'm not defending AZB so much as rolling my eyes at the media and industry ppl who hyped her to the gills circa 212 but have now collectively decided it's ok to openly treat her like a joke. not doing a great job of being invested in her artistic development so much as ability to play the industry game

No doubt the label botched this but other people who have butted heads with their labels, incl Angel Haze and Sky Ferreira

i don't think this is true at all for angel haze, who put out a shit album that no one liked and/or bought. i also think this is azealia's problem.

I'm definitely not straight-up defending her. Just saying that watching the bubble (which slowly grew while I was running the Voice's music coverage) leak has been pretty interesting.

angel haze is an interesting comparison because she hasn't become a punchline in the same way that AZB has despite putting out a shit album that no one bought - she still gets taken seriously, gets coverage etc. it's not like she had HUGE hype in the first place anyway.

and yeah this conversation is about the life cycle of the hype bubble rather than any artist per se.

yeah people openly despise banks in a way that they don't other artists because she starts beefs, and imo that's all "she's a bitch" sexist backlash

Obvs I can't speak for everyone but people still seem to feel warmly towards Angel despite the disappointing album. I haven't seen any ha-ha schadenfreude, more "oh that's a shame, better luck next time".

that's all "she's a bitch" sexist backlash

Nah. Doubtless there's a sexist dimension too but if you spend three years pissing your talent up the wall and beefing with everybody you're going to alienate people. Are there any men who behave like this and don't get flak for it?

Bottom line is that you release a record that people love then you can get away with all the extraneous bullshit, which is why Kanye is doing fine and Tyler isn't.

The hype bubble story is a separate issue and something I'd like to read more about

tyler the creator is doing *more* than fine

and yes beef amongst any and all male rappers is celebrated and dissected like boutique television but every time azealia has dissed someone the reaction has been "HOW DARE SHE?"

and male rappers with track records much less impressive than "212" from artistic and commercial standpoints have been granted legitimacy to diss peers much more respected than the people azealia has come for

Please name one. Off the back of her artistic and commercial track record (ie ONE great song in 2011), Azealia has badmouthed Pharrell, Disclosure, Angel Haze, Iggy Azalea, Stone Roses, Rita Ora, Lily Allen, Baauer, ASAP Rocky, TI, Nicki Minaj and Lady Gaga. Clearly nbd to you but enough to get anyone a reputation.

oh heaven forbid someone diss that illustrious roster

I don't think being a woman protects Azealia Banks from being an idiot of limited talent.

a cunt is a cunt

Is she your cousin Jordan? Did you used to date? Or are you just trolling me on a slow Friday afternoon? Because your inability to understand why people might consider her obnoxious is really something.

Please name one.

random ass male rappers who diss famous rappers by saying they ghostwrote for them are treated as "news stories" all the time. ransom and nicki minaj. gillie da kid and lil wayne.

"tru life" beefed with dipset for year and was never pillaged by anyone for being a no name artist. joe budden beefed with people for a decade before he started to be treated like a clown with a one hit wonder.

basically any unknown male rapper can challenge the street bonafides of a famous rapper and their claims are immediately granted legitimacy but when azealia banks did that to asap rocky people acted like she crossed some line that no rapper should ever cross

i don't even like azealia's music but i find the concern trolling about her antics to be incredibly annoying

I don't think it's insane or unthinkable to find sexism in the dismissals of AB; they're clearly there, along with racism. What's annoying is that those dismissals overshadow and obscure legitimate criticism; I don't want to be lumped in with racists and sexists just because I've found little to no redeeming value in anything she's done.

sure there are plenty of legit criticisms about her and especially her music. but when it's all pinned on her acting up it reeks of people wanting this girl to stay in her place.

perversely beginning to root for her now that everyone feels safe to slag her off in a way they'd never dare do to an artist at the crest of the hype wave

― lex pretend, Friday, July 11, 2014 5:49 AM (12 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

tbf i was a h8r from day 1 as the record itt clearly states and would like credit for this fact

her "212" fanbase is probably more fickle towards rappers in general than it is easily offended by a reckless social media presence. maura is right that artists like Mr. Motherfuckin eXquire litter the path she was on and all her twitter beefs just made people pay attention enough to notice when she dropped unsuccessful singles or fell out with her label.

i mean the fact that she took on so many controversial (and also female) artists and still always came out looking worse says more about her than anything else. how shitty do your singles have to be for rock critics to not want to enthusiastically back someone in a beef vs. Iggy Azalea?

very perceptive

lol Mr. Motherfuckin eXquire