It’s hard to understand how Azealia Banks’ brain works sometimes. Last week, the rapper and noted provocateur vehemently asked people to stop making mash-ups of her music with Beyoncé’s latest single “Break My Soul.” “Please for the love of God,” she posted on her Instagram Story. “They are horrible.” And look, we’ll give her that. She didn’t ask for her music to be thrust alongside Bey’s. But as we try to make sense of how Banks’ mind works, she was clearly perturbed my these mash-ups for a reason. Today, back on her Instagram story soap box, she went on a tirade accusing Beyoncé of “stealing” from Robin S, and then some.
For posterity, her actual words claimed that Bey, “…is out here pretending to support Black divas with bouquets of wilted flowers after stealing their art, arrogantly assuming they don’t have money for legal counsel… and muscling them into making stock PR statements to cover up this messy album roll out..”
Ok, let’s backtrack for a second. Beyoncé sampled Robin S’ 90s house hit “Show Me Love” on “Break My Soul,” and fully credited her as a songwriter. While Robin S said that she was not contacted ahead of time, she did post a video thanking Beyoncé and her team (including Jay-Z) profusely, saying, “Thank you so much for giving me my flowers while I’m still alive.”
It’s safe to say that Robin S stands to make a dandy sum from royalty checks off of “Break My Soul,” but Banks, who has noted beefs with everyone from Cardi B to Elon Musk, thinks she sees right through Beyoncé’s intent. She suggests that the best way for Beyoncé to repent for this sin of “stealing,” is to provide an, “update on Koi Knowles,” the alleged sister and daughter of Bey’s father, Mathew Knowles. Or as Banks calls her, “…your little sister you think we forgot about?” Here’s Banks’ full post from her Instagram Story:
It’s hard to understand how the two issues are analogous, but it makes sense to Azealia Banks? An hour after calling out Beyoncé, Banks posted a video of her song, “I Rule The World,” on her Instagram, which has been out since February. Just another day for Ms. Banks…