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US rapper Azealia Banks has been making waves as a problematic artist. In 2011 at just 18 years old, her debut single 212 made her one of hip-hop’s most talked about artists.
Azealia’s reign continued with every release, as she showed a different side of the hip-hop genre, which spoke to those with a more eccentric taste.
While she grew in popularity, Banks also rubbed almost every community the wrong way – making her one of the hated artists in hip-hop history.
READ: Five of the most iconic LGBTIQ+ South Africans
Just this weekend, Banks made headlines yet again, after arriving more than two hours late for a set at a Pride parade in Miami. She was booed off the stage and stormed off as she threw her microphone at the crowd.
Armed with some loose Twitter fingers, here’s why Banks doesn’t deserve social redemption:
WHO PICKS A FIGHT WITH BEYONCÉ?
Clearly, Banks is not afraid of social suicide because picking a fight the megastar is doing exactly that.
After Beyoncé released her highly anticipated album Lemonade in 2016, everyone was impressed with how she addressed and gave us a personal look into the journey her husband’s infidelity took her on.
The album grew to cult status, some even considering it her greatest body of work. Banks took it upon herself to call Beyoncé out, labelling the album the “antithesis of what feminism is” in a Twitter rant that has since been deleted.
Banks viewed the album not as a display of strength but stupidity, saying: “You’ve been singing about this n***a for years and he is still playing you.
That’s not strength, that’s stupidity ... And it’s not what the national black women’s conversation needs right now.
More pain, more suffering in the face of a man.” This was met with major criticism from Beyoncé’s #BeyHive who gave her enough backlash to finally keep her quiet.
DOES BANKS HATE HOMOSEXUALS?
Banks’ relationship with the LGBTIQA+ community is like a toxic ex that you can’t move on from.
Although a majority of her core fanbase exists within the LGBTIQA+ community, Banks has shared some incredibly problematic rhetoric towards them over the years.
In 2015, during a flight on Delta Airlines, Banks got into an altercation with an attendant, calling him a f*****g f****t, which made headlines and, of course, prompted yet another Twitter rant where Banks said: “If I am to be a part of an LGBTIQA+ community, I want to be in it with people who aren’t so weak or so easily moved ya know.”
The fact that she identifies as bisexual means that she has given herself the space to hate on every other marginalised community there is.
She has had a long-standing beef with white homosexual men specifically, and has even compared them to the terrorist group KKK.
Firstly, she claimed that she was miles ahead of any female rapper in the world, then she attacked them all one by one.
The list includes Nicki Minaj, Remy Ma, Iggy Azalea, Angel Haze and even rap royalty Lil Kim, who she claimed didn’t write her own lyrics after offering to write them for her to speed up the recording process.
Women rappers seem to always get the short end of the stick when it comes to interactions with Banks, who is convinced that every woman rapper is trying to steal from her genius.
However, Banks has only felt the need to openly apologise to Nicki Minaj. The beef began in 2015 after Nicki bagged another BET best female rap award.
Banks was clearly distressed by this and took to Twitter to drag her, saying:
This led to years of beef between the two, although Banks was often talking to herself as Nicki never responded. Banks soon realised her erroneous ways, and in a heartfelt apology via Instagram direct message, she wrote: “Hey, I’m not sure if you will see this, but I wanted to apologise for whatever catty sh*t I have said to and or about you in the past.
“I really do enjoy your artistry and think you’re so intelligent and clever. You have my word, that from here on, I will never say any negative or catty things about you ever again.”
Is Banks killing her career and heading to a fate that so many other cancelled stars met?
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