On Friday, Azealia Banks appeared on the popular radio program “The Breakfast Club,†where the conversation quickly shifted from her music to her lingering problems about fellow rapper Cardi B. Banks was blunt and unkind with her musings, likening Cardi to an “illiterate, untalented rat†and a “caricature of a black woman.†As she rationalizes: “Two years ago, the conversation surrounding black women’s culture was really reaching an all-time high. There was just this really, really, really intelligent conversation going on nationally and then everything just kind of changed and then it was like Cardi B.â€
Cardi B soon got wind of what Banks thought about her, and in a now-deleted Instagram statement, defended the persona and musical style she’s honed throughout her career. She said, in part:
“I’m from the hood. I speak how I speak I am how I am. I did not choose to be famous people choose me! People followed me on Instagram and the people gave me a platform to introduce my talent. I never asked to be a example or a role model I don’t want to change my ways because I’m famous that’s why I just mind my business. This is coming from a woman that bleached her skin but want to advocate. GOODBYE. I’m not apologizing or kill myself because of who I am.â€
Cardi B also took issue with Banks’s “illiterate†jab. “Just because I mix a few words up forget to use commas or misspell a few words,†she wrote, “doesn’t make me illiterate and doesn’t make me stupid.â€
As a result of this back-and-fourth, Cardi B deleted not only her original statement, but her entire Instagram account. You’ll get the dreaded Sorry, this page isn’t available memo if you click her page.