azealia banks needs to shut up

Her endlessly terrible public statements coupled with no new music has burned out any semblance of good will she used to have

Let me ask you something, if someone you knew made any of the following statements:

“It should all be Israel…Palestine is not a country; the area is called JUDEA for a reason.”

“I voted for Trump yesterday.”

“Trans women are just hot gay boys with beat faces and plastic surgery.”

Would you take issue with it, or just pretend they said nothing?

Well, as you’ve probably guessed from the title, Azealia Banks has made these statements, along with plenty of others. I strongly disagree with much of what she says, what bothers me more than the inflammatory language is the hypocrisy and her constant need for attention. I’m not here to diagnose her, but her behavior seems more like a pattern of rebellious, self-destructive tendencies than it does about having honest convictions.

I’m also not writing this to cancel her — I don’t even think I could if I wanted to. I am all about allowing people to grow and change their behavior, but the issue is that since she started mouthing off in the early 2010s, she’s only gotten more vitriolic and bolder with her slander. You can only give a person so many chances before you simply acknowledge that someone has permanently fumbled their once-promising career because of who they are as a person. She’s built up a lot of good will through her old music, but year over year she has burned through the last bits of her public reputation.

background (skip if you know it all)

To give her some credit, Azealia Banks was a one-of-a-kind, genuinely gifted artist who had a rough upbringing in Harlem. With getting into too many details, her father passed when she was young, and it made her mom really resentful and abusive. Around this time, she got into acting and musicals through a youth theater program called Tada!, which she saw as a way out. After some mild success, she failed to land roles or get into LaGuardia High School’s theater program—something that ended up being a blessing, since she pivoted to music, where her real talent lies. Her breakout single “212” was the perfect intro to her artistry – it’s raunchy, aggressive, theatrical, and hungry, referencing her area code and the train she took to get home from partying (the uptown A.)

Her first track, “Seventeen,” sampled Ladytron and caught Diplo’s attention, landing her a deal with XL Recordings, and further cementing her in the electronic dance canon.

Later work with producers like Lazy Jay (“212”) and Lone (“Liquorice”) helped revive and modernize the hip-house genre from the late ‘80s. Azealia made it fully her own—she was innovative, a killer MC, and went on to drop standout projects like Broke with Expensive Taste and Slay-Z.

However, after some early success in the scene, her beefs began to outpace the singles, with a laundry list of prominent feuds including those with:

Pharrell, Russell Crowe, Wale, Elon Musk, Grimes, FKA twigs, Interview Magazine, Julia Fox, Arca, Zayn Malik, Charli xcx, Bebe Rexha, The Stone Roses, and the countries of Ireland and Sweden.

I understand that no matter what someone does, the stans will always be there to defend and sweep for their leader. This doesn’t happen without a rock solid first impression. Obviously, her old music still goes hard, and people still play her few hits from 10+ years ago (including myself, btw.) She dropped the song “Fuck Em All Night” and (sort of) released “New Bottega”, which was well received by fans. The issue is, aside from some movements here and there, she has all but given up on being a professional musician. She has burned every bridge she has ever built in the industry, and her entire life revolves around spewing the worst, borderline rage-baiting takes possible and selling “Bussy Boy” soap, which has gotten mixed reviews.

Before writing this today, all I asked was that she reckon with some of her most vile past statements, detract her current vile statements, and drop a sophomore album. At this point, I do not care about the latter and I know she won’t ever do the first two things. I still had a shred of hope, even after I had attempted to get her to do this directly in 2021 when she asked for “a legitimate relationship with a well versed music journalist” on Instagram. This is the response I got, which I’ll admit to this day is extremely funny:

I’ll be the first to say that “redemption” wasn’t the choice word to use there, although she had no issue using the word in a slightly different context for a 2023 interview, with the publication even using the framing it in that context with the title of the interview: ‘I deserve respect’: Azealia Banks on redemption, Republicans – and Kanye"

At this point, success, for Banks, is about “finding happiness after a long, dramatic childhood … What if I’m writing these songs as a form of redemption? That would blow an audience’s mind – you’re not doing this to entertain me?” (via The Guardian, interview conducted by Shaad D’Souza)

She saw what I said as the typical public attack on her character; I was more so trying to go with the spirit of honesty by making my first impression my true feelings about her. It’s her right to feel that way. But maybe it wasn’t the honesty she was looking for, and maybe I was too harsh, so be it. Since I’ve already “lost the opportunity” (she hasn’t released anything significant since then so I’m not sure what “opportunity” there was anyway), let’s dive into the material she’s choosing the release instead of her music, and that’s her deranged Tweets.

pro-israel, anti-palestine talking points

The Israel-Palestine conflict is probably the most consequential global issue of our time. Anywhere between 40,000 to 50,000 Palestinian civilians have been ruthlessly slaughtered since October 7th, 2023, by the Israeli military under the command of the corrupt, war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu. On October 7th, 2023, over 800 Israeli civilians were heartlessly killed as well. (What Israel has done is incalculability worse, the death toll alone is over 50x as bad, but I just want to be objective and paint the reality of the entire situation.)

I would venture to guess that most of the people reading this don’t need a detailed lecture on this conflict. Many people across the world believe what Israel is doing is a genocide, some are calling for the dismantling of their borders and the dissolution of the country as a whole. Others are not as all-or-nothing, believing that both Israel and Palestine have a right to sovereignty as two independent states, and that truth and reconciliation should be made for atrocities on both sides, with Israel having much more to atone for. And others, who are labeled as Zionists, believe that Israel has a right to not only defend itself, but to infinitely expand into Gaza and West Bank, which they also just see as Israel.

Somehow, a woman who made a few hit songs in the 2010s and makes a living selling ass soap decided to give the absolute worst series of takes that I have probably ever heard on this issue. Here are the most horrible highlights, with receipts, debunked one-by-one.

“It should all be Israel. Palestine cannot support itself without help from other countries so the people should just leave or become naturalized Israeli’s. Period…Palestine is not a country. The area is called JUDEA for a reason.”

The idea that all of Palestine is Israel because it was originally called “Judea” is so stupid. “Judea” only referred to the southern West Bank, and it was actually renamed “Syria Palaestina” by the Romans in 135 CE/AD, likely to erase Jewish heritage in that area. But still, it doesn’t make sense to look to 102 years after the death of Christ to decide what group has a permanent claim to a piece of land. Israel was formally established in 1948. Before that, the area was commonly referred to as “Palestine” and was inhabited by different people including Muslims, Christians, and Jews, many of whom identified as “Palestinians.” They had a culture, homes, a dialect—people lived there for generations. The area was ruled by various powers over time, including the Ottoman Turks and the British. Regardless, the population remained largely consistent in terms of who actually lived there day to day. So that point is factually and historically not sufficient.

She’s right to say that Palestine was never made into a sovereign state or “country”, but just like Gaza and West Bank is today, they were a de-facto entity. They have almost been made into a country multiple times, but now that will likely never come to pass because Israel would rather turn the region into rubble and then make it Israel 2. A smart person would argue that just like Tibet, Palestine deserves to be its own self-determining country. Azealia Banks is just not a smart person, that’s all.

Someone asked her if she was pro-Zionist or pro-Palestine. She responded: “I’m a Zionist lol” and “Sorry but I’m never going to be Pro-Islam anything so long as Arab/Muslim countries hold black people in chains.” Additionally, she’s also quoted as saying: “The black girls talm bout some free Palestine but still visit Dubai. Like be fucking serious. Free the black people in Palestine because they are being doubly oppressed - by this war and by the Arab World. “

She states that because Arabs have historically treated black people inhumanly – through murder or enslavement – that Palestinians don’t deserve anyone’s help or sympathy. Even if Palestinians had directly caused harm to black people throughout history, I’d still say it’s pretty misguided to say that it’s cool for Israelis to genocide innocent people that had nothing to do with any of that. But again, one doesn’t need to dig that deep to understand that the Palestinian people of that specific region never harmed, subjugated, enslaved or humiliated black people, ever.

Areas like Zanzibar were Arabic hot beds for African slave trade. Black communities in Sudan have historically been targeted by Arab combatants for a long time, including ethnic cleansing. In modern day Mauritania, Arab-Berber elites still have some native black slaves. All of that is extremely fucked up, none of it has anything to do with Palestinians. So she’s wrong on multiple levels. Arabs don’t deserve collective punishment for the sins of certain groups. Palestinians never historically and don’t currently enslave or harm black people. In addition, she has nothing to say about how Israelis were and still are deeply cruel to Ethiopian Jews. Ok Azealia, just say you don’t like Arabs and move on. This is not a political stance based in any fact, it’s pure hatred for a broad ethnic group numbering at nearly half a billion, based on the actions of some of them. That’s like calling all Muslims terrorists because of a few extreme factions. To me, there is literally no difference. Need we bring up the Zayn Malik “sand n-word” statements back up? We don’t need to go back to the 2010s to find her true feelings, she never stopped feeling this way, but now she’s being a historical revisionist to make it seem more justified.

“Why this Gaza health ministry can’t feed them Palestinians tho? How the fuck do they have money for nukes yet the people starving?”

I’m glad you asked Azealia. My teachers always told me there no such thing as a stupid question, well, I finally found one. Her saying that the Palestinian Health Ministry needs to provide the starving people of the country with food is wrong on so many levels. Firstly, that is not the job of the health ministry of any country. They are there to manage public health at peace times and in crises. They make sure places like hospitals and clinics have licenses to dispense care. They collect data, like for instance, how many people get the flu each year or how many people die in mass casualty events…like for instance, during a genocide.

Secondly, Israel controls the water supply to Gaza, they need to provide them with clean water to drink. They also need to facilitate the handing out of essential supplies like food and first aid kits alongside with intentional aid organizations to the people they are killing on a daily basis, it’s kind of the least they can do. Instead of lining them up and shooting at them. It’s really not a difficult concept to understand at all, unless you’re Azealia Banks. In that case, you get mad that starving and dying children are getting more attention than you on Twitter and start making shit up.

Oh, and PALESTINE DOES NOT FUCKING HAVE NUKES, WHAT?! Iran is the country that funds Hamas which oversees Palestine, and even they don’t have nukes. Literally where is she getting her information, is she pulling it directly out of her ass?

overt trump support

After the January 6th riots in 2021, shaming Trump became something of a bipartisan issue. Prominent voices from all sides of politics (aside for MAGA Republicans) weighed in on how irresponsible his rhetoric was, mostly noting that attempting to stop the Democratic process in various ways was unconstitutional and un-American.

All the ghouls you’d expect to stick their neck out for the MAGA death cult – Ted Cruz, Mitch McConnell, Lindsey Graham, and even Fox’s Sean Hannity – all said that the actions of the perpetrators were violent and condemnable in one way or another. This is all to say that Azealia Banks must’ve been in a good mood that day, because she made the funniest and most accurate statement about this matter that I’d seen from any public figure at the time or since.

For every time she crashes out on a target that doesn’t deserve it, she would double back and call Elon Musk “Apartheid Clyde” or throw rocks at the Red Scare Girls. A broken clock is right twice a day, they say, and when it comes to Azealia, when she’s correct, it’s often iconic. It’s not that she’s only right when I agree with her, but the accuracy of the statement shines through when the person deserves criticism and facts are on her side.

Yet somehow, even with this golden take, she went from calling out the “Meth Behavior” of Trump supporters, to becoming one herself.

Not only did she find herself at one of Trump’s rallies, but she even voted for the guy. Ariel Pink and John Maus essentially lost everything over non-violently protesting on January 6th, yet Azealia has made concerted efforts to let her support be known, and nothing has happened to her career at all, at least not publicly. If she dropped an album tomorrow, people would be happy to listen to it, her tour would do well, all would remain the same. I don’t understand how she’s able to get away with it, her massive LGBTQ audience surely cares far more about these social issues than Ariel Pink’s did.

For the record, she did express regret for voting for Trump. But in my opinion, it’s too little too late. She knew about all the awful things he said and did after becoming president in 2016. She had eight years to think about that, and instead of wising up, she actually somehow regressed. To me, that is pathetic and totally inexcusable. “Ok I think it’s time everyone who voted for Trump admit that we made a fucking mess” she said on Twitter. Who the fuck is “we”? How about you admit it, solo?

Oh, and as a bonus, she also agrees with Trump that Zohran Mamdani should be deported.

homophobic and transphobic remarks

Azealia Banks’ is quoted as saying: “Walking down New York City during pride…nobody ever told me that they loved me…they’d tell me I’d be nothing without the gays…a bitch would really be nothing without the fuckin gays” She’s played Pride events in L.A., Wynwood and Vienna Pride, as well as queer-focused events like Queerbait Pride and Pxssy Palace. She’s taken credit – to the eyebrow raise of the community – for shaping modern ballroom culture and I don’t think I need a hyperlink to make the basic statement that “212” is a huge song in queer spaces. She’s part of the canon, a major fixture in an important and prominent part of global gay culture. But somehow, she has so many disgusting things to say about the communities that actually put these events together and created the blueprint of it all.

I’m not going to go back to 2015 when she called GLAAD “fucking bullshit” or she called a flight attendant the f-slur or when she called Perez Hilton the f-slur (which she’s not sorry for) and then made a bunch of half-ass apologies. There’s plenty of modern examples.

She recently called my friend Aloiso, who identifies as queer, the f-slur. She called the people who run King Kong Magazine “white f-slurs”. I don’t like Milo Yiannopoulos; she called him the f-slur multiple times on Twitter. Not called for at all, no matter who it is. She called Lil Nas X a “self-hating black [f-slur].” She tried to argue that calling a gay person the f-slur mid argument doesn’t mean that “GAYS=[F-SLURS]”.

To her, using harmful homophobic language aimed at mostly gay and queer people is ok if she wants to harm specific gay and queer people with it…ok? It’s almost like she wasn’t sorry for using that word against gay people in 2015 and continues to use it almost exclusively against gay and queer people while justifying it. The only way she could ever be homophobic, in her opinion is if she says, “men who engage in homosexual intercourse are [f-slurs].” That is insane, no reasonable person who call that the standard.

Now let’s shift to the fucked-up things she says about trans people.

She called trans experimental producer Arca her a “white gay boy” in 2021, despite being Venezuelan and a transgender woman. She also remarked that Arca had “[unnatural] body science tits” and that “he doesn’t look nice as a woman.” The National Black Justice Coalition called for her to be banned off Instagram in 2021 for transphobic comments, which later ended up happening. This was possibly in reference to her comparing bottom surgery to “castration” as well as saying that trans women were "just hot gay boys with beat faces and plastic surgery" and “just gay boys on hormones using male aggression to force their ways into women’s spaces.” Or how about “[W]hy can you chop ur cock and say ur a girl but I can’t catch the Jewish nut and say I’m Jewish? Stop trying to exclude black people from everything.” In that same 2023 interview with The Guardian, she praised Florida governor Ron DeSantis as he was severely restricting gender-affirming care, which she called “cosmetic surgery.” Yet just this year, she attempted to flame transphobic author J.K. Rowling, but it rang completely hollow.

When she’s yelling at a fan for saying she can’t just claim to be Jewish without converting, or she wants to insult Arca, or a trans person on Twitter pisses her off, she expresses deeply transphobic viewpoints. When she wants to score easy points on another public transphobe, like J.K. Rowling, all of the sudden she’s a crusader for the LGBTQ community. Right…

random attacks against more successful female celebrities

Somehow, the nuclear-grade, often misogynistic comments she’s made about multiple prominent women are not even close to the worst things she’s said.

She insulted Julia Fox calling her a “junkie” and her son a “crack baby” for past drug use that she has since gone great lengths to recover from. She said that FKA twigs had no case for abuse against Shia LeBouf and would get her “ass handed to her.” Banks says that she has some form of insider knowledge that says that LeBeouf never gave her herpes.

She insulted Charli xcx saying “Charli used to be so pretty. Ugh.” She also said she had a “horrible plastic surgery” and said she had a “burned out coke face.” She called Doechii a “DEI hire” in the music industry, adding "Everybody has convinced themselves she's good because she's dark skinned.” Doechii clapped back with the funniest possible insult: "It's not my fault you sellin bussy soap and I'm sellin platinum records. Leave me alone PLEASE."

After Kesha showed support for a Wendy’s tweet about sending Katy Perry back to space (bizarre sentence), Azealia Banks said she had no right to criticize her. “Kesha can’t be shading Katy while she still performing the music she made with Dr. Luke…Like if you’re that traumatized you wouldn’t be performing ‘Tik Tok’ every f-cking time you step on stage.” This follows a much worse comment Banks made in 2018: “Kesha did not get r*ped by Dr. Luke. She’s been lying about it for years. This whole ‘white woman victimhood’ thing is the last thing the world needs right now.”

addressing azealia directly (conclusion)

Azealia, I was a nobody in 2021 when I reached out to help you with your music and address some of the statements you’d made. I’m a nobody now. I’ve had my fair share of crashouts, of beefs with industry people, of bad takes. I’m not a perfect person, and I’ll never grandstand and act like I’m better than anyone. Even with all that being said, even while being a “pussy ass social media bird brain”, I will be the first to say that you are a shameful mess of a person and you need some serious help.

I don’t care who reads this. I know that plenty of soulless, spineless publications would leap at the opportunity to spearhead your comeback tour despite you doing everything that would normally make them blacklist you. Like you, they have absolutely no morals or principles. I don’t know what secret dirt you have on these people that they continue to cover you and book you – keep getting your 2010s nostalgia bag – but what I do know is you’re not even leveraging it properly.

You lost or left your record deal at Parlophone in 2023 without even dropping an official release. Your new music is fucking garbage and you have to clickbait it by pretending it’s called “Fuck Palestine.” You will never make another good song again because you are poisonous to any producer that could dig you out of the grave you’ve been digging for yourself for the past decade plus. You will never drop another album; you don’t have the skill or the work ethic to do so. Anyone that decides to work with you cannot be honest with you – they will have to work with a Islamophobic, pro-Trump, anti-trans, homophobic, self-hating misogynist who is being lapped by the artists that you’ve inspired. I thought Doechii kinda bit your swag on that song with JT but I hope she bites it and does it better for three albums straight at this point.

You’re a fraud and you should log off permanently for your sake and everyone else's.