While a lot of attention is often paid to the squabbles of women (FX just aired a series called Feud: Bette and Joan about the beef between Bette Davis and Joan Crawford), not much is said when the women decide to put an end to their drama. But when you think about how major the feud was between Azealia Banks and fellow femme rapper Iggy Azalea, the fact that they may have been able to finally bury the hatchet is a pretty big deal.
If you’ll recall, the drama between them started to heat up when Azalea was picked for XXL‘s 2012 Freshman Class list of the hottest new rappers, which rubbed Banks the wrong way considering she hadn’t been selected, and Azalea had once called herself a “runaway slave master” in a rap. Things got worse from there with T.I. even getting involved, Banks calling out Azalea for appropriating Black culture but not speaking out about the killing of Black men by police, and Banks giving a pretty epic interview about her beef with Azalea and cultural smudging in 2014. Azalea would respond by calling Banks a bigot before slowly but surely finding herself at odds with way too many people in music (Snoop Dogg, Britney Spears, etc.). And Banks, well, she would go from speaking straight facts to pretty much saying some pretty backwards things about a whole lot of people in music and culture as well (Rihanna, Zayn Malik — pretty much everybody). At this point, both women have become incredibly controversial figures, and their careers, if we’re being honest, have stalled.
With that in mind, it seems to be the perfect time to start stop making and riling up enemies, and instead, try to at least be civil with one another.
Azalea shared a pretty lengthy message on Snapchat recently about how much she has in common with her former rap rival.
“I just want to say FYI, re: A. Banks. Call me crazy but girl, I don’t hate you. I don’t know you to hate you,” she said. “I believe you may want to meet me in person so you can steal a lock of my hair and cast a spell hoping I die (lol) I don’t agree with many of your opinions but honestly, at times I empathize with you as a creative Gemini woman. I wish you had spoken to me before deciding I was out to get you when we first came on the scene, but that’s also typical Gemini reaction sh-t (I get it). As a 27 year old adult woman just know: I wish you well from one human to another and joke collaboration or not as adults we should move past trivial beef with strangers.”
She also posted a video saying that if possible, she would like to close that particular chapter of her life.
“I was thinking a lot about feminism and forgiveness and being a grownup. I kind of want to meet up with Azealia Banks and speak to her,” Azalea said. “That’s what I’m thinking at the moment. I would just really like for us to at least be able to come to an understanding. I don’t think I’m going to agree with her on every topic or that she’ll agree with me. But I do think that we should privately have a conversation. It’s kind of been a lot of years worth of negativity with this person and I just want to finish that chapter of my life. And if nothing else, I think that it would be good for history and female rap for us to just be able to squash it. B—h I’m tired [laughs]. I don’t want to keep fighting with this muthaf–ka. I can’t do it. I can’t.”
As for Banks, she responded by telling XXL she is open to having that conversation as long as Azalea is open to hearing the truth about her privilege.
“I think a true reconciliation can happen once there is some acknowledgment of what hip-hop has been trying to tell her,” Banks said. “I still don’t think she quite understands the effect her racial privilege and the socio-economic leverage that comes with it has on a marginalized group of women’s culture. Race aside, this is also a women’s issue. I hope that there will be a chance for us to have an open discussion about this, as I feel America and the world could really benefit from some candid discourse between two public figures about the world’s biggest sickness: racism. I wish for women of the future to be able to refer to this moment in women’s culture as an example of what can happen when people take time to understand.”
She also posted a note on Instagram with her current music and film goals, and one of them included a collaboration with the Australian MC.
We’d love to be front row and center for a conversation between these two. And if they can get past all of the vitriol (we’re talking about five years worth), maybe there’s hope for Nicki and Remy?
Ok, fine. I won’t hold my breath.
The post In Case You Missed It, Azealia Banks And Iggy Azalea Finally Buried The Hatchet appeared first on MadameNoire.