Azealia Banks has a knack for being polarizing. This weekend, she chimed in on the N-word conversation dominating social media and tasked Black people with setting an example by not using it before telling other races not to say the word.
The Harlem rapper’s take was sparked by Anycia, who simply said, “if u not black. stop saying ni**a. period. idk why that’s so hard??? idc who u grew up with. if u NOT black expand ur vocabulary.” Banks once again found herself on the opposing side of an agreeable stance and took a different approach.
“No. Everyone in the world can say and do what they want and black people really have no reason to be upset about it as offensive while we run around calling each other such an ugly word because we can’t expand our vocabulary,” she wrote on X on Saturday (June 21). “If we want people to let it go, we have to do so first. African people do not use that word.”
X users jumped in the 34-year-old artist’s comments and called out her hypocrisy. “You the same person that be dragging celebrities for their blackness though,” one fan wrote. “Azealia Banks is the type to gatekeep Blackness when it’s trending, then fold the second a white rapper bats their lashes,” another user added. “This ain’t about free speech…it’s about her craving relevance more than she respects her own people. Loud, wrong, and consistently embarrassing.”
One fan took things a step further and got personal with Banks. “And this tweet is why I will always double down that EVERY White person at that party should have spat on you!” they wrote. “Why tf do [we] have to not use ‘ni**a’, a part of our cultural dialect, to appease other cultures and races because it’s not ‘inclusive’. Our vocabulary as culture is EXPANSIVE and it includes the word ni**a. It’s always dumb a**es like you who want to appease the same muthaf**kas that spat on you.”
Another fan called out how white people who have attended her shows used the N-word, and she didn’t budge. “How do you sleep at night?” they asked. Needless to say, this was another unpopular opinion from the “Dilemma” rapper, and it likely won’t be the last. Check out some of her replies below.
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