During a recent interview with ELLE, Harlem female rapper Azealia Banks, who received a co-sign from Kanye West early on in her career, talked about common things she shares with the “Yeezus” rapper.
The Harlem rapper likened herself to West, praising him for his experimental music in Hip Hop.
“Kanye is a genius,” said Azealia Banks of the fellow rapper. “Kanye and I are like the same person, but boy and girl. We’re pulling from the same cloud, the same inspiration. We’re both Geminis, we’re the two premier avant-gardists in Hip Hop music. It’s just me and him. I think our consciousness are swirling around each other in some weird kind of way.”
The “212” rapper then mentioned what she likes about living in her neighborhood in New York City.
“I live in Washington Heights where I get a lot bang for my buck,” Banks said. “My dollar goes a long way. I’ve got a huge four-bedroom apartment for the same price that I would pay to live in a box in SoHo. I live in a really thick Hispanic neighborhood so I can play my music loud because they love their music. There’s no knocking on my door telling me to turn my music down.”
Banks, known for her fast rapping style, also discussed her memorization process with lyrics.
“It’s muscle memory, when you’ve done something over and over and over,” she said. “When I’m writing stuff that’s really fast, I’ll speed the beat down to maybe 4 or 5 BPM, rap it at a different pace then speed it up.”
Azealia Banks became known with her single “212” in 2011. She has since released the EP “1991” and mixtape “Fantasea.” Her debut studio album “Broke with Expensive Taste” is set for a release in early 2014.
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