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Azealia Banks In Concert - New York, New York

Source: Johnny Nunez / Getty

Music fans might be getting an Azealia Banks and Iggy Azalea collaboration in the near future, according to a post Banks made on Instagram Thursday, June 22. After six years of public tension between the similarly-named rhymers, Banks posted a screenshot of a personal note she received from Iggy that seemed to mark the beginning of a truce.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BVpcDrFFQFP/?taken-by=azealiabanks

The message from Iggy read: “I just want to say FYI; re A. Banks. Call me crazy but girl; I don’t hate you. I don’t know you to hate you.” The “Fancy” rapper continued, “I believe you may want to meet me in person so you can steal a lock of my hair and cast a spell hoping I die (lol) I don’t agree with many of your opinions but honestly, at times I empathize with you as a creative Gemini woman. I wish you had spoken to me before deciding I was out to get you when we first came on the scene, but that’s also typical Gemini reaction shit (I get it). As a 27 year old adult woman just know: I wish you well from one human to another and joke collaboration or not as adults we should move past trivial beef with strangers.”

Iggy sent the personal message to her Snapchat followers and Banks clearly saw it. The Harlem MC has since responded, telling XXL, “I think a true reconciliation can happen once there is some acknowledgment of what hip-hop has been trying to tell her. I still don’t think she quite understands the effect her racial privilege and the socio-economic leverage that comes with it has on a marginalized group of women’s culture.”
Banks and Iggy’s long-standing feud has existed mostly on social media, but their differences have spilled into very real discussions about society — conversations that have at times overshadowed both artists’ creative output. Issues like cultural appropriation and smudging became part of the millennial pop culture lexicon in part because of Banks’ consistent campaign against Iggy — someone she previously felt was blocking her own career from progressing.

In a viral interview with Hot 97’s Ebro In The Morning taped in 2014, Banks called out Iggy and her mentor T.I. for playing into the industry politics that make white women like Iggy far more marketable than equally-talented Black peers. Iggy attempted to shake the comments off as “hater-ation,” but faced her fair share of backlash as Banks’ claims were proven to be accurate as awards shows and publications became blatant in their support and promotion of Iggy’s 2014 debut, The New Classic.
Banks also told XXL that their issues go deeper than race. “This is also a women’s issue,” she said. The “212” rapper added, “I hope that there will be a chance for us to have an open discussion about this, as I feel America and the world could really benefit from some candid discourse between two public figures about the world’s biggest sickness: racism. I wish for women of the future to be able to refer to this moment in women’s culture as an example of what can happen when people take time to understand.”