(AllHipHop News) Azealia Banks has caught heat for her tendency to attack other celebrities on social media. The Harlem singer/rapper stopped by Hot 97 to talk about her willingness to speak her mind.
During the interview the Broke With Expensive Taste album creator explained her issues with Iggy Azalea, T.I., & the media, talks about getting released from Universal, and breaks down while discussing the appropriation of Black culture by white artists.
[ALSO READ: Azealia Banks Throws More Shots At Eminem For Not Beefing With Men]
On parting ways with Universal:
The album cost $2 million to make. Just because I was still finding myself creatively, and we were still paying for a lot of things I wasn’t using. I guess it got to a point were they had spent so much money on the record, they felt like, “We don’t feel like we have anything that will cross into the Top 40.”
The deal that I had wasn’t a 360, so I was keeping all my money off touring. So I was just like “eff’ this. I wanna do cool music, I wanna perform, and I wanna enjoy myself. I don’t wanna do anything that I think is wack.
On Iggy Azalea:
I feel like in this country when it comes to our things like Black issues, Black politics, or Black music there’s always this undercurrent of a “f**k you.” There’s always a “f**k y’all n***as. Ya’ll don’t really own s**t.” That Macklemore album wasn’t better than the Drake record. That Iggy Azalea s**t is not better than any f**king Black girl rapping today.
The Grammys are supposed to be accolades for artistic excellence. Iggy Azalea is not excellent… I have a problem when you’re trying to say that it’s Hip Hop, and you’re trying to put it up against Black culture…
When they give these Grammys out all it says to White kids is “You’re great. You’re amazing. You can do whatever you put your mind to.” And it says to Black kids, “You don’t have s**t. You don’t own s**t. Not even the s**t you created for yourself.” And it makes me upset.
On T.I.:
Here you have coon-head ass T.I. T.I. you’re out here trying to promote this White b***h. Why do you got your wife on VH1 and that b***h can’t f**king read. You got your priorities f**ked up. That’s really how I f**king feel about you. You’re a f**king shoe shining coon. How dare you?…
The fact that you’re focused on what the f**k I have to say about this b#### saying that she’s a runaway slave master – that’s really what you’re attacking me for. You have no other reason to come at me, besides from the fact I said something about her calling herself a runaway slave master…
I’m talking to another girl. Mind your f**king business. Shut the f**k up. Mind your business. I’m not talking to you.
On the media and the appropriation of Hip Hop and Black culture.
What bothers me is when you have the media [which] is really evil. I told you that undercurrent of like “f**k you” and the sensationalization that comes around it. There was this time in the summer where I picked up the New York Post, and the cover was “Hip Hop Is White.” They do that on purpose.
They’re trying to erase us. They’re trying to erase all of our books and scripture. Everything that we’re supposed to know about ourselves is gone. Completely f**king gone. Never to be seen again.
The fact that metallurgy was started in Africa – agriculture, all those things that created the world are ours. It’s really upsetting when you read your social studies textbook and all you see is stories of you under some White person’s foot or you failing… I don’t wanna share [Hip Hop] with y’all. I’m sorry I don’t…
This little thing called Hip Hop that I created for myself, that I’m holding on to with my dear f**king life – I feel like it’s being snatched away from me. It’s not, but they do that just to f**k with you. Why y’all trying to f**k with me?
[ALSO READ: ESPN’s Bomani Jones Writes Editorial About The “Whitewashing” Of Hip Hop]
Watch Azealia Banks’ interview below.
UPDATE: Read Iggy Azalea’s response to Azealia Banks here.