Iggy Azalea Slams Azealia Banks Hard

If you thought that the ongoing feud between Iggy Azalea and Azealia Banks was over, then think again. Perhaps the most depressing part of the whole situation is that Azalea would be quite content to let it lie and move on with her life, but Banks has been dissing Azalea at every available opportunity and even in contexts that have absolutely nothing to do with her. That was the case when Banks appeared on Hot 97 for a radio interview on Thursday, in which she said that, "That Iggy Azalea sh** isn't better than any f***ing black girl that's rapping today... The Grammys are supposed to be accolades of artistic excellence. Iggy Azalea is not excellent." Brr, it's cold in here. In response, Azalea slammed Banks on Twitter, ending her policy of taking the high road in this feud and hopefully not kickstarting an unnecessary war between the two rappers.

If you know Banks even vaguely at all, it's usually in the context of some beef or other that she has started with another artist. (Who can forget her recent feud with T.I. over how "ugly" his wife is? For those who are interested, she also dissed T.I. in the same radio interview from Thursday.) The tragic result of that is usually that people remember Banks more for her controversies than they do for her music and that most of the press Banks gets is the angry wealth of fans she annoys by making disparaging remarks about artists they do enjoy. Thus, Azalea's response rant comes as no surprise.

Naturally, Banks took to her own Twitter on Friday in order to offer a rebuttal.

Perhaps the worst part about the situation is that, as always, Banks did have a point buried in her interview. Award shows like the Grammys do overwhelmingly reward mostly white artists for their music, which does often — as in the case of Azalea and the twerking stylings of Miley Cyrus — overshadow the equally good, if not better, musical stylings of the black community that originated that music. I don't blame her for being frustrated with such a system, especially considering the personal struggles that she went through trying to release her latest album and, well, simply being a woman of color in a male-dominated (rap music) and white-dominated field (mainstream music).

However, the fact that she airs these frustrations by firing shots, so to speak, at other talented artists who might otherwise be sympathetic to her and her struggle is really the wrong way to go about it. It not only alienates the musical community that could support her, it also isolates any fans that she might get. Imagine a potential fan hearing her words and agreeing with them only to listen to her music and find it to be hardly as good as the hype made it out to be. (Which is not to say that Banks isn't a good artist, for those who are into that kind of thing, but anything that is hyped up rarely lives up to that hype.) Whether you're disappointed in this Banks-Azalea feud because it's yet another female feud when we should be supporting each other instead, or you're disappointed in the Banks-Azalea feud for being drawn down racial lines that provide an unfair comparison to their music, the fact is that you should be disappointed that it has escalated to this point. Both women can do better than this.

Check out Banks' full interview below.