Azealia Banks’ Playboy Photos And Interview Are Out
Back in February Playboy teased their upcoming Azealia Banks cover, and now that cat-inspired spread has arrived. It seems like everything Banks does has a mischievous twist, so even if she’s wearing a cheetah-print teddy, there’s also an actual cat perched on her head, too. It’s a clever, tongue-in-cheek commentary on the magazine’s obsession with the female anatomy, and a telling indication of Banks’ humor.
Along with the cover, she shared several shots from the full spread on her Instagram:
Given Banks’ controversial, no-holds-barred public persona, the interview was guaranteed to have more than a few gems, and it does not disappoint. Banks covered everything from her first relationship (at 17, with a 43-year-old-man), to why she feels entitled to use any offensive words she wants:
When you rip a people from their land, from their customs, from their culture — there’s still a piece of me that knows I’m not supposed to be speaking English, I’m not supposed to be worshipping Jesus Christ. All this shit is unnatural to me. People will be like, ‘Oh, you’re ignorant because you don’t speak proper English.’ No. This is not mine. I don’t even want this shit, so I’m going to do whatever the fuck I want with this language. I’m going to call you a fag or a cracker or a bitch.
She also opened up about deeper discussions of misogynoir in American culture:
There’s misogyny, and then there’s something called misogynoir [a term coined by writer Moya Bailey to describe ‘the unique ways in which black women are pathologized in popular culture’]. We have all these stereotypes in society: The gay man is a faggot and he’s over-the-top, or you’re an untrustworthy cracker, or you’re a loud black bitch. All these things exist for a reason, you know what I’m saying? Yeah, I am loud and boisterous.
In particular, Banks mentioned the way her Twitter rants are typified as angry, using Lorde as a counter-example:
It’s always about race. Lorde can run her mouth and talk shit about all these other bitches, but y’all aren’t saying she’s angry. If I have something to say, I get pushed into the corner.
She also talks about being bisexual and how bringing up her opinions and “black female problems” on dates usually leads to the evening being cut short. Read the full interview here.
