Azealia Banks taps into her Spanish-speaking abilities with a new single titled “Nirvana.” Produced by Onyx and As If Kid, in the single Banks smoothly segues from Spanish to English against a winding, string-rooted beat. Bank’s dropped the single along with La Aracely, her new Spanish identity.
This isn’t Banks’ first time rapping in Spanish on a track. On “Gimme a Chance” from her Broke with Expensive Taste, the song also included Spanish rapping.
Born in Harlem, Banks has frequently spoken about growing up immersed in a Dominican community, which influenced her taste in music and food.
Back in 2017, under an image of herself as a three-year-old, she wrote, “I went to a primarily Dominican Presbyterian headstart on 155th street between Amsterdam and Broadway – all my teachers were and classmates were Dominican except for me and a few other black kids, but because of my neighborhood I spent my entire childhood immersed in Dominican culture. Dominican palos music and merengue / bachata were a HUGE part of my first times ever doing anything having to do with the arts.”
Banks followed up “Nirvana” with a snippet of “Diamond Nova,” a song she has stated was produced by Pharrell.
Check out both songs below.
