Azealia Banks is once again speaking up about racial issues and misogyny in the music industry — this time by calling out the MTV Video Music Awards. She took to Twitter to express frustration about the fact that none of the videos from her acclaimed album, ”Broke With Expensive Taste,” received VMA nominations.
All my videos deserve VMas and my album deserves a Grammy but I’ll never get one because America doesn’t like opinionated black women.
— AZEALIA BANKS (@AZEALIABANKS) July 21, 2015
Banks has long been vocal about her views on the treatment of black women in the music industry. When Banks was signed to Universal Music in 2014, she tweeted: “I’m tired of having to consult a group of old white guys about my black girl craft. they don’t even know what they’re listening for or to.”
In December, Banks spoke about the “cultural smudging” of black music during an interview with Hot 97. “When they give these Grammys out, all it says to white kids is ‘Oh yeah you’re great, you’re amazing, you can do whatever you put your mind to,’ and says to black kids ‘you don’t have s**t, you don’t own s**t, not even the s**t you created for yourself,” said Banks.
Tuesday night both Banks and Minaj took to Twitter to share their thoughts about the potential racial bias of MTV’s nominations. Minaj, tweeted a few pointed messages, including the feeling that, “When the ‘other’ girls drop a video that breaks records and impacts culture they get that nomination.” Her tweets caused Taylor Swift to respond defensively, kicking off an important conversation about race and gender in the music industry, as well as what it looks like to be a white ally.
Banks stayed out of their exchange and brushed off the lack of recognition she received from MTV with another tweet: “Poor Me,” she said.
– This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
