Azealia Banks is mixing business with pleasure. Sources close to the situation tell us the 21-year-old Harlem-born rapper has split with Lady Gaga ’s powerful manager, Troy Carter , after less than two months in his stable, and is now repped by Dave Holmes , who’s doing double duty as Banks’ boyfriend.
The insiders say the rising hip-hop star has been in a relationship with Holmes, who’s in his 40s, for months.
Indeed, one of those sources says Holmes introduced Banks to Carter, who has worked with rappers Nellie and Eve in the past.
In April, Banks excitedly tweeted the news that Carter would manage her, noting that she now would “have a whole new set of resources to take advantage of.”
Their business relationship quickly soured, however.
According to one source, Carter and Banks weren’t a “good fit, and things weren’t working out.”
That source and another insider say it was Carter who “walked away” from Banks.
Banks’ gray-goateed boyfriend has since taken over managing her, as well as Coldplay, the band of Gwyneth Paltrow ’s husband, Chris Martin .
Whether Holmes will continue servicing her personally and professionally remains to be seen.
But the relationship with her much older manager shouldn’t come as a surprise to fans.
In an interview with the Hundreds magazine in January, she told the publication, “I’m into older guys, I won’t front.”
She also recalled being 17 years old and dating a 57-year-old man who frequented the Starbucks where she worked as a barista.
Banks is also into women, although it’s unclear whether she has an age preference there.
In February she told the N.Y. Times she was bisexual, though she noted, “I’m not trying to be, like, the bisexual lesbian rapper.”
At the moment, Banks’ career is even hotter than her love life.
The fashion darling, who is sought after by designers, just had her track “Bambi” selected for the Thierry Mugler label’s fall fashion show in Paris. (That coup could very well have been the work of Carter. Gaga stylist Nicola Formichetti is Mugler’s creative director.)
Banks also was selected to perform before a room full of the fashion elite at the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute gala last May. In the music world, she wowed the crowd at the Coachella music festival in April.
Her debut album, “1991,” was released digitally on May 29, and comes out on CD and vinyl Tuesday.
A spokeswoman for Coldplay and Banks, who share the same publicist, said “no comment.” Carter gave a “no comment” as well.
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