Azealia Banks recently responded to criticism against her for lightening her skin color, with a video recording in which she calls the critiques "petty." Banks seems to have settled at a place of acceptance as she comes off with a kind of measured tone we haven't seen when she's addressed the issue in the past. Her comments came while out on a bike ride in San Francisco, where she is preparing for a show at Social Hall on July 10.
"What's the difference between getting a nose job and changing your skin color? What's the difference between wearing a hair weave and changing your skin color? You know, nobody was upset when I was wearing 30 inch weaves and you know, tearing out my edges and doing all types of s**t like that. You guys loved it. But what is the difference?" Banks said. "To say that it negates anything that I've said about the current situation of Blackness in America is ignorant and just stupid. You know, what do body modifications have to do with somebody's level of intellect? The two don't correlate."
It has been a turbulent 2016 for the brash Harlem artist, as her controversial social media presence finally caught up to her with a series of public relations breakdowns that led to her being axed from a European tour and having her Twitter account suspended in May. Banks has been nagged with the occasional knock against her as a woman who exudes "Blackness" all-the-while modifying the color of her skin. The backlash began last November when Banks expressed her love for a skin lightening cream product called Whitenicious. Her response to fans has ranged from vulgar to academic ever since, with her last addressing the matter by breaking down the difference between lightening, bleaching, whitening and brightening.
Source: instagram.com
