Azealia Banks - Broke With Expensive Taste | Album Review

You must’ve come across the name Azealia Banks at some point in the last three years. Whether it was from her 2011 crude party-starting anthem “212”, or from her numerous Twitter spats with other musicians; from fellow female rapper Iggy Azalea to rock band, The Stone Roses.  Fewer debut albums have been hyped up by an artist this much as “Broke With Expensive Taste” but then again most albums haven’t been pushed back as much as this one. So when Banks pulled a Beyoncé and surprise released her album on iTunes, the whole world listened in anticipation to hear if all that hype was justified.

Much to the annoyance to all the artists Azealia has pissed off along the way; Broke with Expensive Taste proves the Harlem rapper to be a force to be reckoned with. With a flare of 90s UK garage ignited throughout the whole album, Banks’ slick rhymes and hooks go together like a house on fire.

After the release of single “Yung Rapunxel” - that Banks herself described as ‘212's twisted sister’ Broke with Expensive Taste ventures off into another direction and is surprisingly fun and light. A salsa breakdown in Gimme a Chance is one of the many unexpected turns on the album that work.

Unfortunately not all of Banks’ bold decisions work in her favour. Her cringeworthy cover of Ariel Pink’s “Nude Beach –a Go-Go” is quite humorous – and not in a good way either. Luckily for her, it’s the shortest song on the album and the following song “Miss Amor” is so repetitive that you will soon forget about the previous track.  Instead your thoughts will be focused on trying to grasp what on earth the rapper is banging on about in the overproduced song that drowns out Banks’ “Ump shigga bum parrum pump

pump pa rrrrum pum pump”.

Is Broke with Expensive Taste as groundbreaking as Banks would have possibly hoped (or still consider)? No. But it does demand attention and due respect for the controversial rapper.

Overview: Broke With Expensive Taste is a good enough album that will have you talking about (and raving to) Azealia Banks for her music and nothing more. Don’t ruin it Azealia!

Recommend Tracks: Gimme a Chance, Wallace, JFK, Ice Princess, Soda.

7/10