In a new interview with Pitchfork Magazine, Azealia Banks has revealed that she believes white performers--specifically females--performing in traditionally black genres is "corny" and "regurgitated."
"It’ll be like, 'For a couple of years, we’re gonna fuck with blue-eyed soul, and here’s Duffy, here’s Adele'—who’s great—but now we’ve got a thousand White girls singing blue-eyed Soul,” she said. "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?
"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,” continues Banks. "And you’re just like, 'What the fuck is this?' The whole trend of White girls appropriating Black culture was so corny—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 fuckin’ want them, have them; if they want to be considered over sexualized and ignorant every time they open their fucking mouth, then fucking 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 fuck you think of me, bitch? 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 shit like that. It’s so weird.”
Azealia Banks' critically-acclaimed brand new album Broke With Expensive Taste is in stores now. Check it out on iTunes.
