By Jimmy
Ness
Azealia
Banks just won't go away. From dissing an A-Z of artists to alienating
herself from a formerly supportive LGBT audience, she's running a master
class in self-sabotage. However, despite claiming page one of the industry
blacklist, Banks packs the talent that most hipster quasi-musicians lack. "Heavy
metal and reflective" is her first track since leaving/being kicked off
Universal and a decent reminder of why we liked her the first place.
Though
it’s tempting to deny, Azealia Banks a compelling rapper. The twenty three year
old can rhyme fast, aggressive and raunchy. In less than three minutes she
delivers slick talk reminiscent of Missy Elliot’s purple-lipped
banter on “She’s a Bitch.” “I be
in Osaka with that papa, took that best trip, buy me Tamagotchi, sipping Saki
and Moets’s.”[sic] Azealia rattles off entertaining first person bravado in
near broken English without incorporating the mediocre pop elements or cliché
sexual tropes that plague her contemporaries. The closest she comes to
pandering is mentioning bisexuality, but she avoids re-treading tired lesbian
references with some fun wordplay and delivery. “It’s some sex shit, I be with
that Betty with that bubble and them breasts's. I be lookin very jiggle jello in
them dresses"
The
pounding beat also can’t go ignored. A mechanical high-tempo thump with
occasional spoken vocals assists Azealia, while Yeezus nods his head
approvingly from a pleather throne. Banks might be hanging on the edge of
irrelevance by her turquoise painted fingernails but if she can use arrogance
to fuel musical proficiency like ‘Ye before her, she might just be ok.