Azealia Banks Will Silence Hip-Hop Critics With Styles P Feature

"When I bust out with that Styles P record, ya'll not gonna call me fake," Banks tells MTV News days before she 'quits rapping.'
By Nadeska Alexis

Azealia Banks
Photo: MTV News

Is Azealia Banks really saying goodbye to her rap career? Earlier this week, the Harlem native deleted her Twitter account and announced that she will now focus on being a 'vocalist' instead of a rapper. But just last week she told MTV News that her upcoming Fantasea mixtape would be heavy on hip-hop, with a major feature from Styles P.

Banks announced her resignation from rap via a new Tumblr account, writing, "No longer wishing to be a rapper. i never was. ... and as soon as i started paying attention to bullsh-- urban media, i started getting myself in trouble. From now on i'm a vocalist, and will not be associating myself with the 'rap game' ... or whatever the f--- that means."

Oddly enough, the new proclamation comes just days after Banks revealed to MTV News that Fantasea, slated for a July debut, will include a feature from Styles P that she was thrilled to get. "It's gonna be hip-hop, there's a lot of hip-hop on it," Banks said of the mixtape. "I have a track with Styles P on there, which I'm really excited about because Styles killed it, killed it, killed it."

"It's so New York and it's so raw and it's so just ... everything that needs to be said," she added, going on to address the criticism she's received from the hip-hop community so far. "I'm that rap girl who's out here and doesn't have another rapper behind her, but she's got all this mouth and she's all over the place. So [this collaboration] was cool for me [because I'm like] 'What ya'll gonna say now, when I bust out with that Styles P record?' Ya'll not gon' call me fake and make fun of me for having one song. Yeah, I make lil dance music and ya'll got jokes, whatever — watch when I come out with the Styles P record."

Banks hasn't been too warmly received by all urban media, but some of that has to do with her reputation for taking open shots at artists like Grand Hustle's Iggy Azalea — a rap girl who does have another rapper behind her — and by association, veteran T.I.

So despite Banks' claim that she will quit rapping, there will still be hip-hop on Fantasea, and she even admitted that she's hoping for more rap features outside of Styles P. "Schedules are weird and with as much as I have going on, it's hard, but I like to really collaborate," she said. "When I'm collaborating with someone I want us to be in the same room and feed off each other. I don't wanna just send you the track."

One thing we do know is when it comes to Banks' outspoken nature, nothing much is going to change. "Rap dudes, keep talking sh-- and I'ma keep popping sh--," she said. "I'm just reactive and I say what I have to say and I keep it moving. ... It's not going to change."

Do you think Azealia Banks is really done with rap? Leave your comment below!

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