Best Quotes from Azealia Banks “Cultural Smudging” Rant

Yes, Azealia Banks! YES!

The outspoken raptress, Azealia Banks, is known (and criticized) for her raunchy and outrageous rants. Whether you agree or disagree with, or even get offended by, her unfiltered statements, you gotta respect a young gal who stands firm in her truth. In a fiery no-holds-barred interview with Hot97, Banks got really emotional as she discussed racial appropriation in hip-hop and “cultural smudging.”

During her 47-minute sit-down, the rapper spoke frank about her controversial beef with Iggy Azeala and T.I., her thoughts on Nicki Minaj, and why she was dropped from Interscope Records.  One would typically assume all issues aforementioned had everything to do with Banks’ ego. However, the rapper revealed that her gripe with the music biz (and the folks in it) is skin deep.

“I feel like in this country, whenever it comes to our things, like black issues or black politics or black music or whatever, there’s always this undercurrent of kinda like a ‘fuck you.’ There’s always a “fuck y’all niggas. Y’all don’t really own shit. Y’all don’t have shit.

Cultural appropriation is nothing new but it has been quite the topic of 2014  — from Miley Cyrus “inventing” Twerking to mediocre talent like Iggy getting nominated for a Grammy as a hip-hop artist (while many other black female rappers have come and gone without so much of a nod from the music gods).

“Nicki Minaj over the past two, three, four years has done so much to create this social presence, like consciousness, and then here you go. She’s like ‘Re-Up’ and ‘Roman Reloaded,’ and here go fucking Iggy like ‘Reclassified.’ It’s like a cultural smudging was what I see.”

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“That Macklemore album wasn’t better than the Drake record. That Iggy Azalea shit isn’t better than any fucking black girl that’s rapping today… The Grammys are supposed to be accolades of artistic excellence. Iggy Azalea is not excellent.”

“When they give these Grammys out, all it says to white kids is: oh yeah 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 shit. You don’t own shit, not even the shit you created for yourself, and it makes me upset.”

Banks broke into tears as she expressed her frustration with the media’s cultural smudging.  I feel the pain. It pisses me off that my brown and black people have to do THE ABSOLUTE MOST just to compete with average-level white folks. Think about it, there’s one Beyonce in a room full of Keshas and Katy Perrys. Every year, the entertainment world welcomes a new white face with open arms — whether it be a Hollywood starlet on the cover of your favorite fashion magazine or nonstop replay of a new pop star on the radio. However, entertainers of color have to fight for limited spots in the limelight. Hot97’s Ebro says it’s a numbers game. Simply, there are more white people in this country and people buy into whatever they can relate to. The Exodus movie, though about Egypt, has an all-white cast because white = cash flow.  The people who don’t see this as a color issue probably just don’t care enough to look that deep into it. Maybe they never had to.

Ebro to Azealia: “Part of the reason you get in trouble is because you feel and you jump out in front of everyone with your feelings. And that majority of people are like, ‘Why does this bitch give a fuck so much?’ […] People like yourself who are amazingly talented, give a fuck about culture, give a fuck about your people, end up being called crazy.”

I think it’s safe to say that this is one of the best interviews of 2014. It’s raw, it’s truthful, it’s something worth talking about.  The most engrossing part of this interview for me is that it is focused on  the viewpoint of an unapologetic in-your-face black woman. She’s not going to be nice, she doesn’t care if you feel uncomfortable. Black women are always warned to never come off as angry or “bitter.” How refreshing it is to see my fellow black girl not give A SHIT and speak that realness!

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