Review Summary: Azealia Banks' music finally does the talking
Loudmouths are fairly common in the music industry; inflated egos are bound to accompany acclaim and success. Yet cocky musicians are still loved by fans under one circumstance; they produce the music to back it up. Azealia Banks is an unadulterated loudmouth, since appearing on the scene with the explosive “212” she has had more Twitter beefs (Universal, Disclosure, Iggy Azalea, Angel Haze and many more) than hits and her good will with the public was stretching dangerously thin. Luckily, her debut album Broke with Expensive Taste has finally arrived and should quickly remind everyone why they should love Azealia Banks.
First things first, this is an outstanding debut album. Banks has never been short on confidence but she has no business being this confident with her first official release. Broke with Expensive Taste is an album for the ADD generation, it’s unashamedly eclectic with Banks careening wildly from track to track laughing manically at the idea of cohesion. She tackles hip-hop, house, garage, 2-step, samba, trap and more over the course of 16 tracks. Whilst that sounds like the recipe for an unbearable mess Banks amazingly pulls it off. Her rapid spitfire delivery and lyrical acrobatics is the glue that holds the whole album together as she glides over beats regardless of their genre. 212 is still the album standout which is slightly disappointing but after three years incredibly it still sounds fresh, audacious and unlike anything else. It’s a testament to Banks that she can keep 212 on here without looking like she’s struggling for new material.
For Banks herself the album is some form of vindication as finally it becomes apparent why she was so distressed at the constant delays that plagued her album. When the majority of songs are this daring, this innovative and simply this good being unable to release them to the world due to a record label’s inability to decide how to market you must be devastating. Similarly, her twitter spats with Iggy Azalea and Nicki Minaj are more understandable now as Banks has been forced to watch them soak up acclaim and record sales knowing she had something much better ready to challenge their hold on the female rap market. And that’s something interesting on this album; Banks seem more interested in being a great rapper (or at least an interesting one) than a pop princess. Soda and Miss Amor aside none of these tracks sound like they were made for commercial appeal; they’re mostly too weird for a lot of the mainstream. Again this is cause for praise; Banks is obviously passionate about her music and unwilling to avoid stranger sounds in case they aren’t commercial hits, which is great since it ensures no matter what music she releases it will most likely be exciting.
The diverse production however, proves to be the main problem with Broke with Expensive Taste; the production occasionally outshines Banks herself and becomes the star of the show. M J Cole’s 2-step garage beat almost renders Banks moot; anyone could be rapping over it and it would sound good. Ice Princess is similar although Banks does an impressive job of keeping the ice metaphor last through the whole track. Another issue is that due to the sheer volume of risks that she takes some of that inevitably comes up short. It almost defies belief that she felt compelled to include Nude Beach a Go-Go on the album, not even just because of how awful it is but because it doesn’t fit the style of the album at all. Despite the lack of overall cohesion every other song belongs somewhere in the confines of hip-hop, house or garage music (no matter how left-field) except this. It’s a jarring change of pace and style that due to its placing in the track list means its impression lingers after the album is finished.
Even so Broke With Expensive Taste is one of the most expansive and ballsy records of the year and Banks deserves a lot of praise; she proves herself as a risk taker with the skills to back it up on the mic. As long as she keeps releasing albums like this she can talk *** to whoever she feels like.
