Azealia Banks is readying her musical comeback and as such, she’s owning up to a diss hurled at Cardi B months earlier.
Back in February, Banks commented on Tribe Called Quest’s Jarobi’s Instagram video of the “Be Careful” rapper and had some harsh words for the relatively new MC.
“Ewww. You’re getting unfollowed for posting this illiterate untalented rat,” Banks wrote. “This b—- is not an artist. If anyone needs to humble themselves. It’s her. Lol she got her teeth done last year and they are already yellow… truest definition of take the girl out of the hood but can’t take the hood out the girl.”
When asked about it during her appearance on “The Breakfast Club” Friday, May 11, the formerly Twitter-banned rapper explained it had more to do with the way Black women have been represented than with Cardi herself.
“When I look at Black women’s culture as a whole thing and you think about the media and the power that the media has … The media had the power to get rid of me, the media has the power to make anyone the forefront,” she explains. “This is what we’re trying to grab Black women’s consciousness with right now …
“It’s very concerning to me that this conversation concerning Black women’s culture changes from — I feel like maybe two years ago, the conversation surrounding Black women’s culture was really reaching an all-time high and we were really like discussing our power amongst ourselves, and, you know, Beyoncé came out with ‘Lemonade,'” she continues. “There was just this really, intelligent conversation going on nationally and then everything just kind of changed and then it was like Cardi B.”
Then, Charlemagne Tha God interjected and said the conversation had grown to include other artists like SZA, Issa Rae and Ava DuVernay, among others. But Banks maintained she wasn’t discussing Cardi’s artistry.
“I’m just talking about this caricature of a Black woman that Black women themselves would never be able to get away with,” she said. “If my spelling and grammar was that bad, I’d be canceled. If Nicki Minaj spelled like that, we’d be raggin’ on her all day. … When it comes to this [Black women’s culture thing] thing that we have, I just don’t understand how we go from Beyoncé and ‘Lemonade’ and Solange and all these great conversations, Black Lives Matter to this.”
In response, several fans were able to wrap their heads around Bank’s stance on Cardi, of whom she admitted to formerly being a fan.
“She gives such good and entertaining interviews. I totally understand what she was saying about Cardi B,” someone said. “Cardi B represents a caricature of what white Americans think of Black and Latino women…its coonery and buffoonery.”
“Azealia is more of an Artist while Cardi is more of a Personality, that’s what it sounds like she’s saying,” another offered.
“She’s so right about Cardi B,” someone else said. “I totally get what she’s trying to say. I just wish she would have just put it all the way out there.”
