Azealia Banks lyrics

Azealia Amanda Banks (/əˈziːliə/ born May 31, 1991) is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. Raised in the Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, Banks pursued an interest in musical theatre at a young age, studying at the LaGuardia High School of Performing Arts before dropping out to focus on her musical career. In late 2008, she adopted the pseudonym "Miss Bank$", and began releasing music through MySpace, eventually being signed to XL Recordings at age 17.[1] After signing a recording contract with Interscope and Polydor Records, Banks came to prominence by topping NME's Cool List in 2011 and finishing third in the Sound of 2012. Her debut single "212", first extended play 1991 (2012), and first mixtape Fantasea (2012) received critical acclaim. Banks' debut studio album Broke with Expensive Taste (2014) experienced several delays since its initial announcement before being unexpectedly released to online music stores.[2]

Banks has attracted controversy for her vocal public feuds with other musicians, as well as her condemnation of what she perceives as misogynistic and racist elements within American society and the LGBT community. Openly bisexual,[3] she has attracted criticism from LGBT advocates and press for her use of the word "faggot", as well as posting photos of her in whiteface.

Azealia Amanda Banks was born on May 31, 1991.[4][5] Her mother raised her and two older sisters in Harlem, after their father died of pancreatic cancer when she was two years old.[6] Following her father's death, Banks says that her mother "became really abusive—physically and verbally. Like she would hit me and my sisters with baseball bats, bang our heads up against walls, and she would always tell me I was ugly. I remember once she threw out all the food in the fridge, just so we wouldn't have anything to eat." Due to escalating violence, Banks moved out of her mother's home at age 14 to live with her older sister.[7]

At a young age Banks became interested in musical theater, dancing, acting and singing. Aged ten, she began performing in off-Broadway musicals with the Tada! Youth Theater in Lower Manhattan. She had lead roles in three productions (Rabbit Sense, Sleepover, and Heroes) in addition to performing as a soloist. Banks attended Catholic school in Harlem in her childhood, and danced with the National Dance Institute.[6][8] As a teenager she trained in the performing arts at the LaGuardia High School of Performing Arts in Manhattan. At the age of sixteen, Banks starred in a production of the comedy-noir musical City of Angels, where she was found by an agent and sent on auditions for TBS, Nickelodeon, and Law & Order, all without success.[1] It was at this point that Banks decided to end her pursuit of an acting career, citing the large amount of competition and overall sense of unfulfillment as reasons for her retirement.[9] Because of this, Banks began writing rap and R&B songs as a creative outlet. She never finished high school, instead choosing to follow her dream of becoming a recording artist.[4]

Under the moniker 'Miss Bank$', she released her debut recording "Gimme a Chance" onto the internet on November 9, 2008.[1] The recording was accompanied by the self-produced track "Seventeen", which, sampling the Ladytron song of the same name, Banks sent to American DJ Diplo.[10] Later that year, Banks signed a development deal with record label XL Recordings and began working with producer Richard Russell in London, leaving the label later that year due to conflicting ideas.