Azealia Banks has slammed Beyonce over her Cowboy Carter album cover, accusing her of reinforcing a ‘false rhetoric that there is no racism in country music’ in a social media rant.
Banks, 32, who last month branded the Texas Hold ‘Em hitmaker ‘narcissistic’ for her foray into the country music world, slammed the star for ‘reinforcing a false rhetoric’ that there is ‘no racism in country music’.
Beyonce recently addressed the backlash she received for entering the genre as she unveiled the cover for her album – and said ‘music can unite so many people around the world.’
Azealia wrote on social media: ‘Sis I live for whiteyonce Donatella Bianca Bardot DOWN, But I’m kind of ashamed at how u switch from baobab trees and black parade to this literal pick me stuff.
‘There was so much pertinent cultural commentary to be made here. I don’t get why you have to be in white woman cosplay to make – (what’s really folk/bluegrass/adult contemporary) facsimile “country” music”.’
‘There could have been a humour to it which would bestow upon you even a smidgen of personality to make you an interesting person again… but you’re reinforcing the false rhetoric that country music is a post-civil war white art form.
‘And subsequently reinforcing the idea that there is no racism / segregation / slavery / violence / theft / massacres / plagues / manifest destiny craziness that form the bedrock of epithets like ‘proud to be an American’, or ‘god bless the USA’.
The star then accused Beyonce of having an ‘obsession’ with being ‘boring and pretty all the time’ and said: ‘We want you to be deep and artsy and avant-garde and f**k our heads up and shift culture.’
Banks accused the Crazy In Love hitmaker of ‘using her capitalist advantage’ to score a number one with her country tracks – and said other country artists had far superior music.
‘Like in 2024 is being the first black woman to have a number one on the country charts an accomplishment when you’ve clearly used your capitalist advantage to smother out the currently existing black artists in country music who have been grinding for years but don’t have money to send fruit plates and backstage passes to Grammy voters?
‘Sis I’m sorry to rain on your parade but there’s actually nothing monumental about it. Had you made a great country song – Going Number One should be the headline without the weird race part.
‘But like Kelsea Ballerini and Carrie Underwood should have better songs than whatever nauseating little Bey on the prairie stuff is going on.’
The rapper also took aim at the singer’s stirring ballad 16 CARRIAGES from her new album. ‘[The song] doesn’t even make sense in context.
What kind of pilgrim fantasy were you having, You’re from 1980’s Houston, TX, a major metropolis…’
Banks slated Beyonce’s husband Jay-Z for ‘over strategizing everything’ and said Beyonce needed to ‘stop with the pity party’ over criticism she had faced due to the new country album.
She wrote: ‘Gurrrr criticism from who? Please stop with the pity party and admit you got criticized the same way you did when you tried to slide Listen into Dream Girls despite it not being a part of the original score.
‘It’s crazy to me that all it takes is some white person’s opinion for her to start tap dancing. This is almost as bad as her “feminist” era after some white c**** called her boring and predictable on a blog, You were never ever boring. Jay-Z is the only boring thing here
‘Limitations? Golly, Beyonce you’re a notoriously bad actress lmao yet no-one ever stops you from doing it. Challenging yourself?! Girl challenge your ego and collab with Rihanna.
‘Ugh I’m so saddened by Jay-Z and his overstrategizing everything Beyonce to the point where it’s clearly his influence and not the real Bianca Bardot.’
Banks also slammed Rihanna’s ‘uninteresting’ beginnings as a solo artist, writing: ‘Someone tell Jay-Z his strategies are corny and Beyonce has better ideas I’ll give it to him for turning an initially very uninteresting Rihanna into one of the world’s biggest stars but he flopped with Rita and Meg and for the sake of all things grand should realize how much he cramps her diva style ugh
‘Her legacy and freedom of expression is not his to share and I wish he would get over that. Sure Jay is an important figure in music but he is not the star that is Bianca Bardot.’
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