There are moments of my life in Lagos that I will never forget. I smashed cars, broke houses, and slept on couches. There were shoulders in my mouth, calabash hats, palm wine raves and morning runs along Lagos' littered beaches with the dogs: Captain Reginald and Sabrina.
On one of our more memorable runs, Captain Reginald and I thundered in tandem to the tunes of Azealia Banks. I loved her then.
I was 24 and vigilant with my anger. My resolution that year was to be offended, her music and her twitter account channeled my frustrations almost perfectly. Her pettiness encouraged mine.
As 25 rolled around, and the sun on my angers set, so did my love for her. She'd made the mistake that all truly successful pop artists know not to. She'd stayed exactly as she was when we first met her on 212. Delivering three to four minutes of unfiltered attitude and vulgarity at every musical opportunity. Soon not even 212, the song that made me care was in my monthly rotation. She was like the friend that peaked in high school ten years later: uninteresting and fantastically dull.
When she made her return to the popular news cycle, it wasn't for her new song, the big big beat which is really quite brilliant. It was for her twitter account. She remarked that the ex-one directioner Zayn was a curry scented bitch and called him a Punjab. Skai Jackson, the 14 year old Disney star, asked her to simmer down after she insulted Zayn. Azealia Banks responded by calling Skai a little black bitch, predicting that she would end up depressed and addicted to drugs, telling Skai's mum to fellate a Disney executive, and advising that she get a boob job and a butt lift.
It is a shame that her heart is as ugly as she is talented. She seems to have made a habit of attacking people without rhyme or reason. And while that is bad, it is not the worst of her offences. I do not understand how someone can claim to stand for black rights and then racially attack anyone of any colour. She's made a mockery of genuine racial struggles spewing hate speech by the day, and she remains grotesquely unapologetic. At this point I cannot listen to her music without fearing that I am enabling her foolishness. After Beyonce released Lemonade, Azealia commented that it was the antithesis of black feminism. If that is true, it is a wonder that she cannot look in the mirror and see that she is the antithesis of humanity.
Since her last outburst, she's been suspended from twitter and dropped from the line up of Rinse FM's born and bred festival. The sanctions are well deserved. Idiots should not be given agency to spew their idiocy.
If you think that I'm being unfair, I'll leave you with a selection of her greatest hits.
Sarah Palin
Azealia tweeted that Palin should be gang raped and that the video should be shared on the internet.
Lily Allen
"Weak... she can't talk though... Not with that ugly husband she has."
The stone roses
"I wish you nothing but excrement and death."
Rita Ora
"Rihanna's understudy."
Diplo
You're a real fucking snake. You owe M.I.A everything you have.
Tiny aka T.I's wife
You have meth face.
Baueer
You're a pussy. You don't belong in Hip Hop.
Disclosure
I want to punch one of them in the face – the little one. The ugly one.
Kreayshawn
You’re a dumb bitch. And you can’t rap. I’ll sit on your face. … Fall back slut.
Happy Days,
Afam
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