Azealia Banks has admitted to bleaching her skin, following racist attack on Zayn Malik

American rapper Azealia Banks sees no difference between skin bleaching and a nose job. Photo / Supplied

Azealia Banks has defended bleaching her skin.

The 212 rapper, who called Zayn Malik a "curry scented b****" and slammed Iggy Azalea after she criticised Beyonce for supposedly poking fun at "stereotypical white names" like Becky on her album Lemonade, has admitted she's now started to bleach her own skin.

And the 25-year-old musician doesn't seem to think there is a "difference" between changing the colour of her skin and having plastic surgery and wearing hair extensions.

In a video for Facebook live, she said: "What's the difference between getting a nose job and changing your skin colour?"

"Nobody was upset when I was wearing 30-inch weaves and tearing out my edges and doing all that type of s*** like that. You guys loved it."

Shortly after the outspoken singer's video was posted online, several fans called Azealia a hypocrite after the comments she'd made about "cultural appropriation" in the past.

Azealia went on to say how she didn't think it was "important" to discuss why bleaching your skin is a "necessity" for African-American people.

She added: "I don't really think it's important to discuss the cultural importance of skin bleaching anymore because just as African-American people in this world, you assimilate.

"There are things that you accept not out of necessity, but things that become the norm because it's just happening all of the time."

The Big Big Beat star had her Twitter account suspended after she launched a vile racist and homophobic rant on Zayn Malik and she admitted she felt "shoved into a corner and punished" for her actions.

She previously said: "I feel really sad and uninspired. I'm having trouble mustering up enough smiles and enthusiasm to finish Fantasea 2.

"I feel deeply misunderstood. I feel cheated, I feel stolen from. I feel as though as I've made and am making such huge contributions to the times, as far as music and the national conversation go, only to be shoved into a corner and punished while I watch my ideas and insight get paraphrased and repackaged by everyone."