Holy shit.
As a long-time fan of Azealia, I feel like I have endured the battles and ridicule that her career has been laced with since (basically) its inception. Not surprisingly, though, she has overcome and proven why the rap industry has ousted her. Superiority.
I’m not one to pit female artists against each other – so I’m not going to. But, I will happily scream from the rooftops that, “AZEALIA BANKS IS MORE CLEVER, CREATIVE, VERSATILE, AND INTERESTING THAN ANY MAN IN HIP-HOP/RAP RIGHT NOW!”
She may not have played some of my favorite songs from her breakout mixtape, Fantasea, but she doesn’t have one bad song (except, maybe, ATM Jam, but that’s not her fault and a discussion for another time), so I can’t be disappointed. For anyone who has been to Empire Control Room, you know that it is built similar to a sauna and even the slightest movement forms beads of sweat down your back. Now combine that with a crowd desperately depraved of Azealia music since her 2014 debut album, Broke With Expensive Taste, an uncharacteristically hot October night (even for Texas, call your representatives) and Azealia’s rampant energy and flow.
We were soaked. It was epic.
Bringing out, primarily, the LGBT+ club scene of Austin, Azealia Banks had us all out of breath after just her first song, Chi Chi. Sharing fold-out fans and drinks for any source of relief from the heat, we ultimately submitted ourselves completely to the sweat and to the show. With only short breaks between songs and as high energy as you can get before moshing, it’s surprising that we all made it alive – and I wouldn’t have asked for it to be any different.
Highlight songs, of course, were the ones where a majority of the audience could at least keep up with the chorus – Heavy Metal and Reflective, Luxury, 212, Ice Princess and The Big Big Beat being my favorites of the night. I’ve been pulled over twice for speeding with her music blasting because her energy is just that infectious. And, while I may have only gotten warnings from those experiences, I probably would’ve received a felony if I had even half the hype that this show had while driving – and it wasn’t even sold out.
If you’ve listened to her music before (and if you haven’t, you can below), you know how sharp, dynamic and seemingly random her lyrics are. I pride myself in knowing every word and sound that Nicki Minaj makes in her songs, but there’s literally no way I could ever do the same with Azealia. Yet, she didn’t miss a single syllable and I’m convinced she doesn’t breathe…ever (?)
All of this with a technical aspect that only continued to amplify the experience to one that you only see in movies.
Be on the lookout for her coming follow-up mixtape, Fantasea II: The Second Wave, and see her star in the movie “Love Beats Rhymes,” out in select theaters December 1.
Listen to Azealia Banks here:
Sood Gounds 