Azealia Banks: ignore the controversies, this rap provocateur has real talent

The forthright star brought vigour and a mischievous smile to her Brixton Academy gig, leaving her fans inspired

4/5

Azealia Banks performing at O2 Academy Brixton
Azealia Banks performing at O2 Academy Brixton Matthew Baker

New York-raised rapper Azealia Banks is known for her love of controversy. She once described Beyoncé‘s country-crossover album Cowboy Carter as “white women cosplay” and claimed LA rapper Kendrick Lamar had “short d--- insecurities.” 

The role of the playground agitator who shares venomous opinions about her industry peers is intrinsically linked to her pop star persona; so much so that people around me at this rare live show on Friday night were even speculating about whether she’d show up. “I bet Elon Musk [another one of Azealia’s consistent online enemies] has blocked her from performing!” one concerned fan told me when it hit 9.40pm and there was still no sign of the artist on the Brixton Academy’s stage.

Yet when Banks did eventually appear a few minutes later wearing knee-high boots, her hair nearly hanging down to her ankles, and her corset-squeezed silhouette sensually lit up by neon pink lights, the artist’s immaculately feisty vocals and towering stage presence were powerful reminders of a talent that can survive beyond a problematic Twitter trend. “I got some double Ds, a little waist, and a strut!” she spat with a Regina George-level bite amid the bouncy, buzzy, house-indebted drums of F--- Him All Night. 

Long before Charli XCX’s summer hit album Brat, the influential Banks had already perfected the formula of talking slick over rave-inspired beat breaks, merging the vibrancy of LGBT-friendly audiences with guttural hip hop sensibilities. Releases such as 2012’s 1991 EP and Fantasea mixtape were so ahead of their time that they still sound fresh today. And, the way a fired-up Azealia performed last night with such vigour, effortlessly transitioning from complex multi-syllabic rap lyrics to booming R&B melodies without backing vocals (a rarity in a contemporary hip hop scene where so many of her peers rely on auto-tune and studio trickery), was undeniably impressive.

The pulsing, feel-good synth line of Liquorice hit the crowd like a whirlwind. A commanding delivery of the song’s hyper-confident lyrics about being a “black girl pin-up” and “swimming in the West Indies” are capable of making even the most anxious soul feel bulletproof. The sound mix wasn’t perfect and the crowd interaction was perhaps a little too limited, but when Azealia turned to the raucous 212 (ranked the sixth best song of the 2010s by Pitchfork) and chanted an X-rated earworm hook about something “getting eaten”, the collective energy turned to ecstasy.

On the strength of shows like this one, it doesn’t really matter if the explosive star gets embroiled in the odd feud. This 33-year-old inspires a cult fan base that will back her through any storm. As a live performer, Azealia has no backing dancers, but her mischievous smile is enough. If you can find a way to push the controversies to the back of your mind, there’s still a brilliant artist to be found.


Touring the UK until Sept 22; livenation.co.uk