After criticizing both Iggy Azalea and T.I. on social media in the wake of two separate grand jury’s decisions not to indict police officers involved in the deaths of Mike Brown and Eric Garner, Harlem, New York rapper Azealia Banks has spoken out against both artists during a recent interview on Hot 97.
While speaking with Hot 97, Banks referenced Iggy Azalea’s recent Grammy nominations and denounced the annual awards show for nominating an artist who doesn’t represent “artistic excellence.” The rapper again criticized the awards show for putting what she feels is a dangerous mentality into the heads of both white and black children.
“I feel—Just 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,’” Azealia Banks said when asked about the origins of her feud with Iggy Azalea. “There’s always like a ‘Fuck y’all niggas. Like y’all don’t really own shit. Y’all don’t have shit.’ You get what I’m saying? And That Macklemore album wasn’t better than the Drake record. That Iggy Azalea shit is not better than any fuckin’ black girl that’s rappin’ today. And when they give those awards out—Cause the Grammys are supposed to be accolades for artistic excellence. You get what I mean? Iggy Azalea is not excellent.
“The message I see when I see these Grammys being given out—Cause it’s bigger than just playing shit on the radio…I have a problem when you’re trying to say that it’s Hip Hop,” she added. “And you’re trying to put it up against black culture. Even Nicki Minaj over the past two, three, four years has done so much to kind of create this social presence and this hold on just like social consciousness…It’s like a cultural smudging is what I see. And when they give these Grammys out, all it says to white kids is like ‘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.”
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Banks became emotional later in the interview while addressing slavery, reparations, and the black identity. She then addressed the convenience of the timing of the Bill Cosby controversy as it relates to the deaths of Mike Brown and Eric Garner.
“Everybody knows that the basis of capitalism is slave labor,” the musician said. “Really just the selling and trading of these slaves. There are huge fuckin’ corporations that are still caking off that slave money and shit like that. So, until y’all mothafuckas are ready to talk about what y’all owe me…At the very fuckin’ least y’all owe me the right to my fuckin’ identity and to not exploit that shit. That’s all we’re holding on to, Hip Hop and rap. And Bill Cosby or whatever the fuck that shit is. That shit is fucking too timely. That’s too timely. You have Eric Garner, Mike Brown, Trayvon Martin, and then y’all fuckin’ talking about Bill Cosby. Like what the fuck?”
T.I. and his wife, Tameka “Tiny” Cottle were again criticized by Banks who called out the Atlanta, Georgia wordsmith for his support of Iggy Azalea.
“Here you got fucking coon head ass T.I. – like T.I., you fucking out here trying to promote this fucking white bitch and then got your wife on VH1 and that bitch can’t fucking read,” Banks said, according to XXLMag.com. “You understand? You got your priorities fucked up. That’s really how I fucking feel about you. You a fucking shoeshining coon. How dare you?”
For additional Azealia Banks coverage, watch the following DX Daily:
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