Azealia Banks' Interview with Pitchfork: talks BWET, label, 2nd Album

[inuborg 4,135]

Azealia Banks, limber and relaxed in blue jeans covered with the faces of dead white men and a neon-yellow tank top emblazoned with the word “WITCH,†is feeling lighter. It’s been less than 24 hours since the surprise release of her debut album, Broke With Expensive Taste, which was delayed for at least two years amidst reports of behind-the-scenes turmoil with Interscope, the label that she says invested $2 million into making her a mainstream star, and then let her out of her contract earlier this year with little to show for it. For the first time in a long time, she has a real opportunity to stop and appreciate what she’s accomplished.

But after having her career put on hold for so long, she’s not relaxing too much. “I was on the phone with my manager last night, like, ‘What are we going to do next? I need to start working on the next album,’†she tells me as we sit inside her room at the W Hotel in Midtown Manhattan. “He was like, ‘You should just enjoy this!’ And I'm like, ‘Noooo!’â€

In three years, Banks went from toast of the townâ€â€a seemingly can’t-miss star whose breakout hit, “212â€, galvanized clubs and year-end lists alike in 2011â€â€to what she calls “untouchable†following an acrimonious relationship with Interscope. After a protracted legal battle with the label, she was able to walk away with all the rights to the songs that would make up Broke With Expensive Taste, which allowed her and her team to hunt around for another label to release the albumâ€â€but they weren’t able to find any takers. “Everyone loved the record, but they were just like, ‘Well, you know, you're kinda crazy,’†the 23-year-old says with a laugh. “And rightfully so.â€

During that process, she met her current manager, Jeff Kwatinetz, who suggested that after all the hard work that went into making the album, she should just put it out. Broke With Expensive Taste, released in conjunction with Kwatinetz’s Prospect Park imprint, is, for better and worse, the album Banks wanted to make, showcasing a variety of styles and moods without sticking to any one persona. She’s dark and seductive on “Heavy Metal and Reflectiveâ€; caffeinated and confident on “Desperadoâ€; wistful and lonesome on “Miss Camaraderieâ€, which sports production from Lone. She even duets with professional pop troll Ariel Pink on “Nude Beach-a-Go-Goâ€, a version of which will also appear on Pink’s forthcoming record pom pom. “It’s real old school,†she says, talking about the track. “When we were recording it, we were like, ‘This is the 60's, and you're the corny white dude and I'm the soulful black girl!’â€

Aside from “212â€, there is nothing resembling a conventional, radio-ready hitâ€â€a point of contention with Interscope, who pushed for a collaboration with Pharrell that produced “ATM Jamâ€, a chart flop that was eventually excised from the album. The label didn’t want her beefing with half the music world, too, but she couldn’t help herself.

“If you give a 19-year-old a couple million dollars and a hot record… just think about it,†she says, alluding to her many Twitter indiscretions. “If it was in the 80's and you were on your ****ing coke bingeâ€â€****ing prostitutes and whateverâ€â€and you had a little machine where you could just light **** up instantly, imagine what would have happened.†Besides, it’s rap. She restrains herself from turning this into “a whole interview about feminism,†but let it be said: You’d be hard-pressed to find a male rapper who was as publicly tsked for taking it to their competitors.

Now that the album’s out, she hopes to go on tour early next year. Then, there’s the long-promised Fantasea II EP to finish, along with a long-gestating “fable†she’s written to accompany Broke With Expensive Taste. “I wanted everyone to hear the music before I gave them all of that,†she says, “because I don’t want them to be like, ‘What the **** is wrong with this b---h?’†As far as the people who may have given up on her as she suffered setback after setbackâ€â€many of them self-inflictedâ€â€over the years, she’s making no apologies. “I’m not interested in people who aren’t interested in me,†she says. “What’s the ****ing point in that?â€

Pitchfork: Two years ago, you told Spin that signing to a major label would be your one chance.

Azealia Banks: At that point, I was really young and surrounded by a lot of older men who were working with me, that I was datingâ€â€a lot of older people I had to deal with. And having the male co-sign is something that people talk about a lot, especially with female rappers. Having been rejected by so many different people, I was just like, "Oh my God, I'm back in with these guys, this is my last chance." But now I know how much it costs to go in the studioâ€â€I could make a thousand dollars and record for 12 hours and do whatever I need to ****ing do. I don't need these major label guys. These people are not my last shot. I know how to do this. I can do this. And thanks to Twitter, I can do it my own way, too.

Pitchfork: When did you realize it might not be working out with Interscope?

AB: After I [self-]released the Fantasea mixtape [in 2012], and saw all this Internet success. I went on tour with a mixtape! With costumes! And it was being completely ignored by the label. They were almost trying to pretend that what I was doing wasn't happening. It was confusing. And you know, I was young and having a real good time bugging out. Around that time, I was like, "OK, they don't really get this." And then once I started turning in Broke With Expensive Taste tracks, I was like, "Oh, they really don't get this."

I don't know what the source of the conflict was because, to my understanding, I thought it was cool with everyone. I would always send them my songs and feel as if they liked me, even if they didn't get it. But it got to a point where they were like, "Azealia, we get it, you’re cool, but we've spent $2 million on this record, can you just give us one [hit]?†So then I did "Chasing Time", and I was just like, “You know, this isn't gonna work out.†It was like that awkward point in a relationship where you're forcing yourself to have s-x because you're like, "We live here, we're sleeping in bed, it’s awkward if we don't.â€

Pitchfork: Can you see yourself ever signing to another major label?

AB: No. You know what my ideal situation would be? Just to make money from touring and record sales, fund my own album, and then sell it back to the label. That would be ideal for me. Because I don't wanna work with people. I don't want your opinion, I'm not interested.

Pitchfork: How do you explain the three years between your breakout moment with “212†and then being here?

AB: It's really psychedelic, but not in the colorful, Scooby-Doo sense. It was scary. Sometimes I was like, "Oh my God, what the **** have I gotten myself into? Why'd I take the red pill? I should have taken the blue pill.†It was like I took some medicine that made me really sick at first but ultimately made me better. I made it out. Now, I know what to say and what not to say. I know how to move. I've learned a lot about tact.

Pitchfork: It doesn’t help having to learn all of this while you’re in the public eye, especially with the Internet, which can make people insane.

AB: It’s making me insane. It also does bad things for the art world, because it puts every single artist into this one big virtual room. Everything gets really ****ing homogenized, and all this **** just sounds the same, and everyone looks the same. It’s like you’re listening to one long song. I always think of the music industry as this weird human commodity game. It’s almost like slavery, where these people become popular for awhile, and then it’s done.

It’ll be like, “For a couple of years, we’re gonna **** with blue-eyed soul, and here’s Duffy, here’s Adeleâ€â€â€who’s greatâ€â€but now we’ve got a thousand white girls singing blue-eyed soul. It’s so regurgitated and corny. You have it in everything. You have it in indie rock. You’ll have Interpol, and then the National, and it’s just like, “Really, dude? Really?â€

Or it’ll be like, “We’re gonna pop off the white-girl rapper,†so we’ll have Gwen Stefani and Fergie, and then it’ll get worse and worse and worse. And you’re just like, “What the **** is this?†The whole trend of white girls appropriating black culture was so cornyâ€â€it was more corny than it was offensive. Trust me, I’m not offended: All the things I’m trying to run away from in my black American experience are all the things that they’re celebrating. So if they ****in’ want them, have them; if they want to be considered overs-xualized and ignorant every time they open their ****ing mouth, then ****ing take it. But more than that, the art is not good. These songs are not good. It’s like, “Oh my God, you’re doing this black woman impression, is that what the **** you think of me, b---h? I need to meet the black woman that you’re imitating because I’ve never met any black woman who acts that bizarre.†It’s crazy that this becomes mainstream culture. All of America is celebrating **** like that. It’s so weird.

Pitchfork: You’ve said “Miss Camaraderie†is your favorite song on your album.

AB: When I was 17 and first started rapping, I had this manager who was always doubting me and telling me I'd never make an album. They were like a lover, and it was really strange; I had a lot of issues with my love life over the course of everything, up until a year ago. "Miss Camaraderie" is the song that I wrote about this perfect relationship I would be in. I was born to write that song.

I don't think I'll ever write a better song than "Miss Camaraderie", ever. It's better than "212". It's the most meaningful song to me. When you're an artist and you write songs, they play in your head all the time, and "Miss Camaraderie" plays in my head when I sleep, when I wake up. When I'm on my deathbed, that's going to be what's ringing in my head. That horn section is what it's going to sound like when I'm leaving the world.

 

Source: http://pitchfork.com/features/update/9540-azealia-banks/

[Desperado 2,439]

inu you should bold some parts for the lazy ones lmfao 

[Spock 20,290]

Second album, coming in Q4 2039

[Yanko 9,860]

inu you should bold some parts for the lazy ones lmfao 

a.k.a for me aint nobody got time for that

 

[JEWRJEWR 5,663]

Second album, coming in Q4 2039

inuborg is coming for you 

 

[Spock 20,290]

inuborg is coming for you 

 

I like Azealia, but whatevs, her fans will come for me anyways

[MrAmor 0]

I love her so much

[inuborg 4,135]

I like Azealia, but whatevs, her fans will come for me anyways

nah, you're good. 

[Koala 3]

All the things I’m trying to run away from in my black American experience are all the things that they’re celebrating. So if they ****in’ want them, have them; if they want to be considered overs-xualized and ignorant every time they open their ****ing mouth, then ****ing take it. But more than that, the art is not good. These songs are not good. It’s like, “Oh my God, you’re doing this black woman impression, is that what the **** you think of me, b---h? I need to meet the black woman that you’re imitating because I’ve never met any black woman who acts that bizarre.†It’s crazy that this becomes mainstream culture. All of America is celebrating **** like that. It’s so weird.

She is really clever

[Gagamel 3,410]

Second album, coming in Q4 2039

:spin:

[Hedi 3]

AB: No. You know what my ideal situation would be? Just to make money from touring and record sales, fund my own album, and then sell it back to the label. That would be ideal for me. Because I don't wanna work with people. I don't want your opinion, I'm not interested.

 

YAS

NOT HERE FOR BULL**** SHENANIGANS WITH HER LABEL RESTRAINING HA ANYMORE!

[Chromatica 7,030]

Them Miss C comments :omg:

[ALX 170]

Media is going to take her comments about Gwen and The National entirely out of context

 

but her thoughts on appropriation are extremely valid and I'm glad all of this happened in the end tbh

[FKAJAKE 5]

CRIED AT THE LAST PART THO 

[Desperado 2,439]

Great interview. 

Media is going to take her comments about Gwen and The National entirely out of context

 

but her thoughts on appropriation are extremely valid and I'm glad all of this happened in the end tbh

probably.