Harlem songstress Azealia Banks flounced back onto Twitter this week (and has since flounced back out) with the release of a new mixtape titled Slay-Z, which can be downloaded for free here. Including eight songs, and guests by Nina Sky and Rick Ross, the tracks thoroughly honor Banks very NYC-ish roots, touching on ’90s club music themes including freestyle, house and hiphop to create a sound uniquely her own. Banks’ biggest issue of course is not her musical talent, she is literally money in the bank in that regard, it’s that she was born both ahead and behind her time.
On the one hand, had she come of age during the heyday of the ’90s club world that has so influenced her music, she surely would have been viewed as a queen of the scene, a regular performer at Wigstock and viewed in large part as fabulous and fun, heir apparent to Grace Jones even. Social media has amplified her fame and reach, but it’s hurt her, too, because big mouthed, plain-spoken women are still for the most part viewed negatively. It doesn’t help that’s she’s broken down the black celebrity code of silence by openly admitting to and discussing skin bleaching and other forms of body modifying. If Banks could time travel into the future (assuming we don’t take six steps back and continues to move in a more humane direction), like say even 20 years from now, you have to think her reception would be entirely different perhaps achieving even Bey, Rih or Nicki levels of fame. Timing is everything though, no changing the bitch that is that reality.
Tracklist
01 Riot [ft. Nina Sky]
02 Skylar Diggins
03 Big Talk [ft. Rick Ross]
04 Can’t Do It Like Me
05 The Big Big Beat
06 Used to Being Alone
07 Queen of Clubs
08 Along the Coast [prod. Kaytranada]
