Dear Azealia Banks,

I have been your biggest fan since I was 14 years old and heard your song “212”. I immediately downloaded your mixtape “Fantasea” and became enamored in the mixing of hip-hop, house music, RnB samples, a hint of influence from the U.K. sound and some EDM in your music. The thing that captured me the most is how you were able to put all these things together with minimum effort. You didn’t sound like you were trying to be pop like Nicki Minaj and your flow and lyrics weren’t too hard like Noname, formerly known as Noname Gypsy. You were the perfect blend of what female rap was missing and the overall genre.

Over the years, unfortunately, your activity on social media has given you the wrong type of attention that has overcast your talent. You have had a lot of encounters with other artists saying some bad things or putting your opinions in a very blunt form. The media’s portrayal of these issues were also a sensationalization to make you look like the bad guy. When you made up with the person the media didn’t make it a big deal the same way they did the issue with the person. In the words of Drake, “They scream out [your] failures and whisper [your] accomplishments,”.

I am not writing this letter in the position of the light skin girl that feels bad or guilty for her dark skin sister that society treats as a punching bag but does nothing about it. Similar to white guilt or white people who become defensive while talking about race. I am writing this letter as the light skin girl who takes action against those who brutalize my more melanated sisters of color. I am writing this letter for those who: look at me to just accept the treatment dark skin women are given in society and not care because I have privilege and those people who are so “woke” and don’t like you because of the beefs or problematic things you’ve said but don’t see the hypocrisy in their lack of protecting you which continues the paradigm that kept them “asleep”.

I first want to address the wrongs I feel you’ve done in certain situations so I don’t just look like a crazed fan lost in the illusion of your talent. For the Skai Jackson situation, it was not okay for you to body shame a fellow black body that is trying to find value in a predominantly white world. But coming from a black household I understand that “grown folks business” is “grown folks business”. Jackson decided to speak on a situation between two grown adults who can handle themselves. If you’re a child and you decide to step out of a child’s place into the realm of the adult world, you either need to be able to handle the physical consequences or verbal consequences, if you’re lucky. I’m not saying this is the best method of parenting but if you step up to a grown woman, speaking like a grown woman, get ready to deal with like a grown woman. This situation stemmed from your argument with former One Direction member Zayn. In that situation, I also don’t agree with your usage of racial slurs. That doesn’t make you better than the people you argue with on the issue of the black body and cultural appropriation of hip-hop. There are a plethora of other situations I could explain what was wrong on your part. Overall I believe you should just leave social media alone and begin your own podcast and do interviews where you’re more articulate and not held back by 140 characters.

Now I want to focus on the protection of your being and black girls. Fuck Robert Fitzgerald Diggs, also known as RZA. Fuck every lyric you’ve spit about black liberation. Fuck every album you’ve dropped. Fuck every movie you’ve acted in, produced or directed. Why do I say this so bluntly? Because when a dark skin black woman needed your protection you weren’t there for her. I am referring to the Russell Crowe incident where Banks claimed he physically shoved her and spat on her at a party. The entire world labeled Banks as the angry, bitter and crazy black woman who was lying. Sometime later on radio shows like The Breakfast Club and Hot 97 RZA finally spoke up saying that Crowe spat “towards” her but it seemed as if Banks was having a mental breakdown. In her interview with The BLACK Media, Banks clears up his reference to her mental issues saying that she told RZA of them and he would just blast that information out to people while in recording sessions. RZA still hasn’t fully protected Banks. He is now trying to use her mental health status as a scapegoat as to why she may have started with Crowe as if it’s okay for him to shove a mentally ill woman and spit on/ at her. When it was his time to speak up and make Banks not look crazy in front of the world he left her for the wolves to attack and vultures to pick at her bones. He decided to protect the white man and shuck and jive for him instead of protecting your own. I thought Wu-Tang Clan wasn't anything to fuck with? I guess that was all for show.

Why is it okay for rappers like Kanye West to speak outlandishly and bluntly but when Banks does it she’s bitter and annoying? At the root core of what Banks is passionate about, a lot of “woke” people could honestly agree with. Banks literally cried on Hot 97 when speaking about the cultural appropriation of Hip Hop and how black artistry is never respected and always stolen for others to profit off of and receive praise. These are the things that a lot of “woke” people are passionate about and have debates about on social media constantly. But when Banks does it she’s annoying and always starting drama but when West rants on stage about corporations even though he’s signed to one (Adidas) he’s the G.O.A.T and speaking truthfully?

Ms. Banks, I hope one day you read this and feel the genuine love I have for your being and right to exist in the world. In the meantime never stop creating music or believing in the liberation of black artistry.

Truly yours,

The light skin girl who won’t stand by.