Nobody Really Wins: Azealia Banks Vs. Angel Haze

If you, like me, spend far too much time thinking about female rappers, then you already know about the battle brewing (or currently simmering down) between up-and-coming emcees Azealia Banks and Angel Haze. Their previous back-and-forth flirtations on Twitter erupted into something a lot uglier, after Banks wrote a tweet about non-New Yorkers “claiming” New York.

The rivalry reached its climax hours later when Haze released a diss track entitled “On The Edge”. It became clear that she had issues with Azealia beyond the hometown elitism, as she ripped into her about album push-backs, choosing fashion over substance  and (obviously) her hair.

Rather than immediately head into the studio to record her response—most likely because she recognized her inferiority as a lyricist—Banks continued the feud on Twitter. She played the standard “jealousy” angle, told her to tuck her dick, accused her of colorism, insulted her number of followers, touted her success and spent most of the day talking about how Haze is just mad because she wants to eat her pussy. She then pointed out that Haze recorded the track in 2012 and later confirmed this with producer Diplo.

::sigh::

The fact of the matter is that Haze is a better rapper, so she should be considered the “winner” of this beef. Banks can write a killer hook, rock a “fierce” dress and fuse together ballroom beats with hip-hop culture… But, at the end of the day, this is supposed to be about the verses, isn’t it?

Or, well, who the fuck knows? When it all comes down to it, both parties showed moments of immaturity and weakness in this scenario (as is the case with most rap battles, whether the subjects are male or female). My original thought was that nobody really won, but I might have to take that back! Either everyone wins for the free publicity or Angel Haze wins, because now people know who the fuck she is.

UPDATE: Around noon today, Azealia uploaded her retort “No Problems” to Soundcloud. You can listen to it here.

UPDATE II: It’s not over yet. Angel whipped out a lo-fi Garageband response called “Shut The Fuck Up”. Listen to that one here.

– Dewitt

Click through to listen to both artists’ new tracks:

ANGEL HAZE – ON THE EDGE:

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AZEALIA BANKS – BBD:

BBD by Azealia Banks

(Note: This song is not related to the rivalry.)

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