Azealia Banks called Australia’s entertainment sector “trash” and its musicians “untalented/uncultured and unneeded”.
The American rapper posted multiple Instagram rants about Australia’s music business on Monday.
“Realise musical talent is just not in the gene pool,” she wrote.
“Nobody on earth takes (the Australian music industry) seriously.”
Ms. Banks dubbed Tame Impala “cheesy” and Wolfmother “an American rock tribute band” while lamenting the apparently infinite supply of talentless Australian performers.
The latest dispute involved claims that an Australian record company “corruptly stole” Ms. Banks’ intellectual property.
The outspoken rapper, singer, and songwriter blasted the entertainment industry months after leaving Australia.
After reading Ben Eltham’s Guardian article about local musicians’ struggles to engage new audiences in the age of social media, the singer/rapper/songwriter posted on Instagram.
Ms. Banks said that Sweat It Out, an Australian Dance song company, mislabeled her song, hinting that she was “very f*cking sick” when she signed the agreement.
Ms. Banks criticized the whole Australian music business over Sweat It Out’s “piss poor remix” of her new song, “New Bottega,” citing “jealousy, racism and desperation.”
Hip hop. “It’s not a dance record,” she stated.
“This is cultural dissonance.
Hip-hop is the world’s most profitable genre. EDM is dead.”
Ms. Banks said Australia’s entertainment sector didn’t “realise how unimportant they are as far as music culture goes”.
“Australia’s media/music/entertainment industry isn’t exactly heralded by heads of government or anyone in the world as a coveted cultural export,” she added.
“Lol, Australians don’t want Australian music.”
Ms. Banks blamed Australia’s “trash” music and culture on its colonial legacy and systematic oppression of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
“Y’all stomped all the blackness out of Australia—which is why your music exports suck,” she remarked.
“One of the most culturally stale white nations on Earth.”
Her statements came about six months after Ms. Banks canceled a 2022 Australian tour and swore never to return.
Ms. Banks called Australian money “third-world” while criticizing event organisers for not paying her.
The musician also referenced a “racist” event in Sydney where a bottle of soft drink was hurled at her on stage, vowing not to return to Australia.