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Home / Entertainment

Rap star Azealia Banks slams America, references Lorde in scathing Playboy interview

Daily Mail
16 Mar, 2015 07:40 PM4 mins to read

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Azealia Banks has referenced Lorde in a rant about racism in the latest issue of Playboy magazine. Photo/Getty

Azealia Banks has referenced Lorde in a rant about racism in the latest issue of Playboy magazine. Photo/Getty

Azealia Banks references Lorde in a scathing interview with Playboy magazine in which she says she hates "everything" about America.

The opinionated 23-year-old New York rapper features on the cover of the raunchy magazine's April Sex & Music issue.

Have you met our April cover girl @AzealiaBanks? See more #AzealiaUncensored here - http://t.co/tK0AAte36A pic.twitter.com/NlY8pTBAj8

— Playboy (@Playboy) March 16, 2015

Banks lashes out at America before using Lorde as an example of racism in the music industry.

"I hate fat white Americans," she said. "All the people who are crunched into the middle of America, the real fat and meat of America, are these racist conservative white people who live on their farms."

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She continued: "Those little teenage girls who work at Kmart and have a racist grandma - that's really America."

This isn't the first time Banks has hit out at something she disliked, with her infamous Twitter rants seeing her attack everything from white Australian rapper Iggy Azalea to gay men and the descendants of slave owners.

She defended her strong opinions in the article, saying that a a young black woman she was labelled "angry" as a way of dismissing her views.

"It's always about race," insisted the Broke With Expensive Taste singer.

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"(Kiwi pop star) Lorde can run her mouth and talk s*** about all these other b*****es, but y'all aren't saying she's angry.

"If I have something to say, I get pushed into the corner ... y'all mother****ers still owe me reparations! That's why it's still about race.

Early on in her career, Lorde spoke out about "f***ing mental" Disney stars with many believing she was referencing Miley Cyrus and Selena Gomez. Lorde was recently photographed with Gomez and Taylor Swift at the American Music Awards.

Banks didn't stop there, tackling the slave industry by saying she had every right to speak slang, as English was a language forced upon her ancestors.

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"When you rip a people from their land, from their customs, from their culture-there's still a piece of me that knows I'm not supposed to be speaking English, I'm not supposed to be worshipping Jesus Christ. All this s*** is unnatural to me.

"People will be like, 'Oh, you're ignorant because you don't speak proper English'. No. This is not mine.

"I don't even want this s***, so I'm going to do whatever the f*** I want with this language. I'm going to call you a f*g or a cracker or a b***h."

And even her devoted fans didn't escape Bank's attack, as the hip-hop star described how "my little white fans" question her belief that the descendants of former slaves should be financially compensated.

"Well, you got handed down your grandfather's estate and you got to keep your grandmother's diamonds and pearls and sh**," she explained.

"I get upset when people are like, 'Why don't you just make music?' What would happen if I couldn't sing? Then I'd just be another black b***h to y'all. It's really f***ing annoying.

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"Black people need reparations for building this country, and we deserve way more f***ing credit and respect."

Banks had a difficult childhood, with her father dying when she was two. Relations were strained with her abusive mother, and at 14 she left home to live with an older sister.

By then the Harlem-born teen was attending the famed LaGuardia High School - upon which Fame was based - and appearing in off-Broadway musicals.

When her dreams of becoming an actress didn't materialise she focused on singing, writing her own hip-hop material.

And while Azealia didn't graduate from high school, she has strong opinions on what children learn in school.

"The history textbooks in the U.S. are the worst if you're not white," she told Playboy.

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"Young black kids should have their own special curriculum that doesn't start from the boat ride over from Africa. All you know as a black kid is we came over here on a boat, we didn't have anything, and we still don't have anything.

"But what was happening in Africa? What culture were we pulled away from? That information is vital to the survival of a young black soul."

Banks features across ten pages of Playboy's annual April Sex & Music issue which hits news stands on March 20.

- Daily Mail

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