Jonah Bromwich slightly prefers Ashley Banks.
What made “212” great? It’s actually pretty easy to explain.
1. It came from a person that no one had ever heard of.
2. It was well-rapped, (incredibly well-rapped, actually) by a person that no one had ever of.
3. It was raunchy as hell, while being well-rapped, by a person that no one had ever heard of.
Now that we’ve heard of Azealia Banks, now that we know she can rap exceedingly well, she’s going to get judged a hell of a lot more harshly. Two minutes into “Bambi” she goes off like we know she can, for all of thirty seconds. This is after two minutes of irritating blather over pretty generic beat. It’s not going to cut it.
Azealia has a genuine gift for making simple lines sound anthemic: “I know all these bitches really can’t stand me” could have easily been the hook of a real three minute song and it’s a shame to hear it wasted here. It’s a reminder that talent isn’t the only part of the equation that matters; hard work and focus could transform lazy efforts like this one into songs that are worth keeping around.
Download:
