Check out this GQ+A with Azealia Banks.....
GQ.com: Your outfit is very Geri Halliwell…
Azealia Banks: I've got a Spice Girls thing going on! I just bought this as a gag in Camden Market. My style is if it's clean and together, put it on and go. I'm always up so late trying to pull whatever I can out of my brain, check my e-mails and keep up on my Twitter and my Tumblr.
GQ.com: What was the first song that you were obsessed with?
Azealia Banks: Probably "No, No, No" by Destiny's Child. Oh my God, you could not tell me that I was not going to grow up and be in that group when I saw that. I remember thinking "Who are these girls? Why is her hair pink?" Also do you remember when Aalilyah came out with "Back & Forth"? She was a tomboy. That was my s***.
GQ.com: Can you recommend a good book?
Azealia Banks: I can, but I feel like I'm just stealing ideas from Jay-Z. I read his book "Decoded" and in the back he recommends The Seat Of The Soul by Gary Zukav. It's basically about soul versus personality and multi-sensory personality versus the five-sensory personality - the people whose souls operate with spiritual guidance against people who can only see the earth, the beginning and the end. You really find out a lot about yourself when you read that book.
GQ.com: What should every man have in his wardrobe?
Azealia Banks: I definitely like it when men dress like men. Proper clothes. No offence to any man who's into fashion, but I feel like I'm very into masculinity. I just like loose pants and big shoes - one thing I hate is seeing a guy in a pair of Toms. I'm not really a fan of men in fancy materials. I like guys who buy stuff that they can just put in the washing machine and put on, who aren't so shiny, you know?
GQ.com: What do you think of the Nicki Minaj comparisons?
Azealia Banks: It's not something that I particularly like, but it's something that I understand. It's just people making sense of things. If you listen to BOB. for the first time, you might think, "He sounds like André 3000". If you eat sorbet for the first time, you might think, "Oh, this is like ice cream but there's no milk in it."
GQ.com: Who is the best-dressed man in hip-hop?
Azealia Banks: I really like Jay-Z's style, because it's real. I feel like he's the king of making music and detaching himself from it. He says, "Here's my music. Take it or leave it. I'm me regardless." That's why people are so intrigued.
GQ.com: You went to La Guardia High School of Performing Arts…
Azealia Banks: I didn't finish school. I just walked away from it because I had the little rap thing going on. So for the last few years I've just been learning about life. I've been making mistakes and learning from my mistakes: got dropped from a label, got my heart broken, lost my apartment. I'm lucky that I learned my lessons this early, because sometimes people don't learn their lessons until they're like 28-30, you know? "212" makes fun of everything and my reactions to it. I think that's a lot of the reason why people relate to it so much, because everybody wants to say, "F*** you!" I think by virtue of English culture being so polite, I feel like there's definitely a part of every English person that just wants to be like, "Aargh!" That's why it's picking up so much over here.
GQ.com: What's your favourite record of all time?
Azealia Banks: "Alright" by Supergrass. That's a good-ass song.
GQ.com: What does your family think of your lyrics?
Azealia Banks: My mom is pretty crass. She does go, "Azealia, does every song have to be about sex?" I'm like, "Maybe?" [laughs filthily] But no, every song won't be. But some will.
Click here to visit her website and hear more music by Azealia Banks.
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