Azealia Banks

you're gonna nitpick about whether a song in which the word "cunt" appears more than once can be said to have crass lyrics?

lol xpost

[young, minority], Taking Her Cues and Lyrics From the Street

"how weird of the New York Times to say that a person whose big buzz song contains the lines 'I'mma ruin you, cunt' and 'What's your dick like, homie?' has crass lyrics, I mean what were they thinking"

i just realised that the great michelle myers blogpost on what makes "212" so great wasn't posted in here, dunno where i put it originally but for the sake of completeness - http://theremixbaby.tumblr.com/post/13146055905/thesinglesjukebox-azealia-banks-212-9-10

Obviously Azealia Banks is not the first or the best rapper to use assonance and internal vowel rhyme this way. I hope my blurb doesn’t make it seem like I’ve never heard rap music before! I’m fully aware that most ‘good’ (god, whatever that means amirite?) rappers play with phonemes, both vowel and consonant, in a similar manner. But Azealia’s use of assonance struck me for two reasons. First, she sustains a very high level of internal rhyme based on the same few sounds (say “212” and then say “ruin you cunt”) for two whole verses. Which is impressive although I’m not interested much in ‘impressive’ rapping. I own a Twista album. I got it. But all the assonance, especially when combined with Azealia’s bitchy flow (the verses are, fundamentally, just a stream of rudely-posed questions), simply makes the rapping fun to listen to regardless of the actual substance of what she’s saying. A lot of rappers just don’t get this shit. I don’t consider myself a head and I know some people will disagree with me on this one, but, in my opinion, you can rap about the dumbest, most useless shit ever as long as you sound hot on the track. The other effect of the the assonant lyrics, is that Azealia ends up holding her mouth in a “oo” position a lot, which, in the snobby drawl she affects sounds more like an “eww.” Azealia puts that “eww” sound to work. I know I said that in my original blurb, but I don’t really know how else to explain it. It’s a concept I learned doing Shakespeare shows—you give respect to the sounds, let them resonate through your body, and they will work for you, they will help you be truthful in your circumstances. The sounds are honest. So Azealia Banks filters the tone of her rapping through the actual sounds that she’s rapping. Without ever needing to say it or even perform it, she reads as disgusted, bored, and condescending. Talkin’ shit and making oral sex jokes, she raps like a classically trained actor might, and that’s a very good thing.

crass in uk is more 'guileless/stoooopid' than 'obnoxious'

i do not like 212

my mans

sup homies

I don't hate it but I don't understand what about it makes it so alluring to ppl beyond the beat, which I like more as a standalone track.

haha c'mon people generally care way more about the vocals than the music in that song

“Life is the same,” she said, a sly smile forming between her churlish lips.
“Life is the same,” she said, a sly smile forming between her churlish lips.
“Life is the same,” she said, a sly smile forming between her churlish lips.
“Life is the same,” she said, a sly smile forming between her churlish lips.

just sounds annoying and derivative to me

Pile on cause there's lotsa room on the backlash train wooowoooo

"backlash" is just the word people use to intimidate others out of vocally disliking something popular or buzzed about

it's also a state wherein people see something popular or buzzed about attempt to engage that media with preconceived and/or inflated notions and walk away going "eh not so hot" less because of what the media is and more about what the surrounding response to that media is

now let's define strawman

i heard this song weeks ago before i had even even heard the buzz, and that was my opinion at that time

i don't see anyone accusing people of only liking this song because other people like it, so i don't see why anyone should be accused of only disliking it because other people like it. benefit of the doubt has to flow in both directions.

forks we've been hating on this shit since the moment we heard it, before it was 'buzzed about'

that explanation lex linked to is lol

I just went back and checked facebook to see when it was I first posted the video for "212": September 27, 2011

Not braggin (okay, maybe a little), but I was into this pre-buzz and I'm still into it now.

i'm just hearing it for the first time. sounds great. they used to call this "spank rock" tho.

that explanation lex linked to is lol

and this is tru

I just remember Alfred posting it on Facebook and saying "single of the year!" and when I played it my overall reaction was "... really?"

Basically my opinion is "it's no 'Rolling in the Deep'"

we could've ruined you cunt/ rolling in the deep

why does everything have to be rolling in the deep

It's either Rolling in the Deep or Video Games.

CHOOSE YOUR SIDE

actually if I could point to something that is the complete opposite of "rolling in the deep" it would be "212"

video games eazy

actually if I could point to something that is the complete opposite of "rolling in the deep" it would be "212"

Really? I'd probably point to Liturgy.

maybe we should just do a 'top 10 pazz & jop 2011 singles' poll to hash this out

i would point to silence

I think the complete opposite would be silence, no?

hahaha

silence is such a welcome relief after hearing 212

that explanation lex linked to is lol

why?

i kind of feel that whereas a lot of the other hyped acts of last year got a lot of writing devoted to both attacking and defending them, the banks detractors have barely elucidated their position at all. like i'm all for a good disagreement but all they're coming with is "she sucks" and "lol".

It’s a concept I learned doing Shakespeare shows—you give respect to the sounds, let them resonate through your body, and they will work for you, they will help you be truthful in your circumstances.

has this writer heard of MindValley?

well, i haven't. explain!

xp al, the point is that expectations get raised and that necessarily effects impressions. Eating a great hamburger from a place that you've never heard of makes it taste better than if you're going to a hot new restaurant. It's not about benefit of the doubt, it's about tampering with the jury

i don't think ANYONE here is faking like or dislike of anything! I fucking hope they aren't; that would be ridiculous.

❀ the cult of: ➥motivational speakers ➥life coaches ➥personal growth gurus ➥new-age charlatans ➥AWESOMENESS FEST xp

xp even if what you're saying is true, crying "backlash" when ppl express dislike over something popular is not exactly a fair assessment either

yeah i feel like at this point bad faith is pretty much implied by that phrase

why are we talking about hamburgers and liturgy

in the azealia banks thread

i pray that whopper gettin eaten

i think in most situations "backlash" could be more accurately described as: record stirs up buzz among the kind of listeners most inclined to enjoying it, then conversation around it gets loud enough that people less predisposed to loving it hear it and weigh in and the appearance of consensus dissipates

don't have a catchy two-syllable version of that, though, unfortunately

i think in most situations "backlash" could be more accurately described as: record stirs up buzz among the kind of listeners most inclined to enjoying it, then conversation around it gets loud enough that people less predisposed to loving it hear it and weigh in and the appearance of consensus dissipates

Every instance of "backlash" I can think of involves a fanbase turning on their object of affection (see: Britney Spears' "Gimme More" VMA performance; Janet Jackson's wardrobe malfunction; Lindsey Lohan; Charlie Sheen's meltdown; Miley Cyrus's stonerdom; no one who bought "Club Can't Handle Me" buying Flo Rida's subsequent album)

why?

i kind of feel that whereas a lot of the other hyped acts of last year got a lot of writing devoted to both attacking and defending them, the banks detractors have barely elucidated their position at all. like i'm all for a good disagreement but all they're coming with is "she sucks" and "lol".

― first period don't give a fuck, second period gon get cut (lex pretend), Friday, February 3, 2012 11:39 AM (25 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

writer spends a long time pointing out that 212 makes good use of internal rhymes/assonance and is effectively built around an "ew" sound. and that "you can rap about the dumbest, most useless shit ever as long as you sound hot on the track." which is all well and good, so long as you keep it simple and avoid instructive recourse to shakespeare...

A "backlash" is a popular negative reaction to something which has gained popularity, prominence, or influence. Although it can sometimes represent a categorical rejection of the idea, aesthetic, product, or fad in question, it is usually a reflection of a collective resentment of that thing's ubiquity in culture and media, rather than a denial of its existence. The term is commonly applied to gender and racial discrimination and religious discrimination against minority groups, as well, such as in response to certain events or circumstances (e.g. the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001).

i meant 'in most situations like this involving a hot new artist that get described as backlash' but yeah i didn't really state that explicitly sorry