Azealia Banks Explains Her Iggy Beef in This Sad/Fascinating Interview

The Azealia Banks and Iggy Azalea beef will never, ever die. In this roller-coaster interview with New York radio station Hot 97, Banks once again explains her dilemma with Iggy and tears up while addressing her frustrations with the music business.

Speaking to Hot 97’s Ebro and the morning show hosts, Banks refers to Iggy’s existence in hip-hop as a “cultural smudging.” Her main issue dates back to the time Iggy (who she’s nicknamed “Igloo Australia”) rapped about being a “slave master”:

“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.

“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.”

Banks also says (truthfully) that Iggy would be better off in the pop category alongside Katy Perry and Miley Cyrus because what she does is not what we call rapping. “Just because she’s not singing does not mean it’s rap music,” says Banks, who specifically takes issue with the Grammys:

“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.”

Around the 13-minute mark, Banks starts crying while talking about huge corporations “caking off that slave money” and stripping her of her identity. Ebro tries to get to the meat of Banks’ perpetual outbursts on Twitter, but he addresses her like his daughter instead of a peer and this really isn’t something that can be hashed out in public. He tells her:

“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.”

Banks goes on to slander T.I. again, labeling him a “shoe-shining coon” (oof) and doing a pretty accurate impression. The interview is pretty engrossing, and while Banks clearly gets under peoples’ skin, it’s hard not to root for a talented black woman who challenges an inane system.