Azealia Banks – ’212′

There are some artists that you listen to for the first time and know that you’re smitten. Often, your feelings for them defy all taste and logic, sitting well outside the box of Things You Would Claim To Like or Songs You Would Subject Other People To. The problem with Azealia Banks is that she’s all of these things at once and I am obsessed. ’212′ has been on such constant rotation since I hunted it down two months ago that it’s pushed right into my skull and it refuses to leave. For some otherwordly reason, I’m completely in love with Azealia Banks and her smart mouth. She’s giving me goosebumps the same way M.I.A did the first time I heard ‘Bucky Done Gun’; a siren dropping rhymes over a siren call. There’s something electrifyingly raw about this girl that grabs me and pulls me under every time and it isn’t just that she’s one of the rudest 20 year-olds I’ve ever heard. Azealia Banks is a self-powered tornado and the rest of us are just left watching helplessly as she tears rap a new one and blows everything into the sea.

Despite volunteering herself for flagellation by Bill O’Reilly and every conservative in America with ’212′, Azealia Banks isn’t just another sexed-up stunt à la Dev and Kreayshawn. She’s a multi-disciplinary talent more in line with someone like Janelle Monae; a killer vocalist, musician composer and MC who’s tastes are as eclectic as ours here at One A Day. To wit: her first guest appearance was with Major Lazer and she attracted popular attention by reimagining Interpol’s ‘Slow Hands’ as a slow jam stunner. The Guardian were onto her when she was only 17, dropping her flow over Peter Bjorn and John and Ladytron samples. Trained in a performing arts school, she got her ball rolling the same way Bieber did – posting covers to YouTube. She also answers haters in the comments section. What a legend.

Azealia Banks swears a lot. Both of the best lines in ’212′ involve the use of the word ‘c-nt’ and on the first listen, it’s understandably hard to get past that in the same way it was when Lil Kim first rapped ‘I used to be scared of the dick.’ But ’212′, with it’s unbelievably catchy beat, seriously dexterous wordplay (c-bombs included) and general hyphy-ness is a phenomenon that shouldn’t be reduced to the last bastion of the English tongue. After all, if anything Banks’ use of the word means that she retakes ownership of it in that classic feminist model where the language of the male oppressor was deligitimised. In general society, you’ll never hear a woman use the word, but Banks seems to be saying ‘Why not?’ To be frank, the girl’s right. Male rappers are allowed to objectify and verbally smackdown the opposite sex whenever they want and few bat an eyelid. Azealia just wants someone to go down on her properly, and if they can’t get that much together, she’s going to fuck them up. The way she lyrically works with the beat is awesome, especially when it drops proper around the one minute mark, and it seems like she can’t get the words out of her mouth fast enough. The only other woman in the game who performs at this level and with such salaciousness is Amanda Blank (Nicki Minaj had it and blew it), and between the two of them, I’m terrified to ever remove my underwear in front of a woman again. Part rave, part rap, part the song I’ve been waiting for all year, ’212′ brings the crossover to the bedroom and Azealia is the one standing by the light switch. I can’t wait to see what she does next.

Azealia Banks – ’212′