Azealia Banks is almost as well-known for her Twitter exclamations as she is for her music, and she’s no stranger to controversial exchanges and spats with other celebrities.
However, the ‘212’ creator has hit back at her critics, telling Huff Post UK that her comments - including the now-deleted tweet about Lana Del Rey and Eminem - are all just a joke.
Azealia Banks
When Eminem unveiled a track with the line, “I’ll punch Lana Del Rey right in the face”, Azealia sent a public message to the ‘Video Games’ starlet, writing: “@LanaDelRey tell him to go back to his trailer park and eat his microwave hotpocket dinner and suck on his sisters tiddies [sic]."
Speaking to Huff Post UK, Azealia explained herself, stating: “I think people take things too seriously and that’s why I deleted it. I was just like ‘whatever’.
“Obviously I’m joking, like, come on, you said you were going to punch my friend, ‘dude, I’ll punch you’, I’m joking though!
“I think social media is damaging for everyone, but you know… I like to laugh, I like to have a good time, I like to joke, I like to shock and be shocked."
Azealia also addressed her well-publicised feud with Lily Allen, which climaxed when the British singer referenced their Twitter exchange in her song ‘Insincerely You'.
“I’ve never even heard the song,” she explains. “I don’t listen to Lily Allen’s music, I thought the first album was great but I wouldn’t know what she was up to musically.
“I really do like that first album though, it was really good.”
Azealia took the music world by surprise when she decided to release her long-awaited debut album ‘Broke With Expensive Taste’ online earlier this month.
After storming the charts with ‘212’ in 2011, Azealia’s debut album was delayed on multiple occasions due to various disputes with her record label.
'Broke With Expensive Taste' is available to purchase online now.