Azealia Banks has responded to Lily Allen‘s recent criticism of Beyoncé‘s new album ‘Cowboy Carter‘, accusing the singer of past racist comments while telling her to “sit this one out”.
Allen made headlines last week after she described Beyoncé’s reimagined cover of Dolly Parton‘s ‘Jolene’ on the album as “weird”.
Speaking on her Miss Me? podcast, she said: “It’s very weird, that you’d cover the most successful songs in that genre. It’s quite an interesting to do, when you’re trying to, like, tackle a genre and you just choose the biggest song in that genre to cover.
“I mean, you do you, Beyoncé, and she literally is doing her. Or is she doing Dolly?”
Banks, who herself has criticised ‘Cowboy Carter’, responded to Allen’s comments via her Instagram Story by alleging that she had previously made racist remarks.
“Shall we discuss that phone call to me – a few years ago – obviously off your face – crying and sobbing asking me to forgive you for randomly being racist?” she said (via HipHopDX).
She continued: “And I quote, well, I just figured since I’m a white girl and you’re just some Black girl that I could shit on you…”
Azealia Banks puts Lily Allen on blast for "randomly being racist" following Beyonce criticism pic.twitter.com/tG1ajHNbYY
— HipHopDX (@HipHopDX) April 7, 2024
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The pair previously feuded on Twitter over 10 years ago, but Allen has not yet publicly responded to Banks’ recent comments.
NME has reached out to Allen’s representatives for comment.
Banks herself has made numerous critical comments about Beyoncés new album, initially insisting that the music icon was “setting yourself up to be ridiculed again”.
She later slammed ‘Cowboy Carter’ as “white women cosplay”, adding: “I just wish you would get unobsessed with being boring and pretty all the time.”
The slate of criticism continued when the ‘212’ rapper claimed the album was missing certain guest artists, adding that she would have “jumped out of my seat” if there had been a KT Tunstall feature on the record. In an Instagram Stories post, Banks wrote: “Def should have had Taylor Swift & Kacey Musgraves on there … it’s what the ppl wanted.”
“I personally would have jumped out of my seat for a KT Tunstall appearance,” she continued. “A strong dr. Luke power ballad was missing … like “Low”.”
Banks’ 11-year-old feud with Allen originated back in 2013 when she called the singer “weak” and said her then-husband Sam Cooper looked like “a thumb”. In response, Allen wrote on Twitter: “Not even gonna @ her but if she wants to talk about weak , I’m sure her record sales to date should suffice. One hit wonder.”
Banks proceeded to called Allen’s two children “ugly” and blasted her for having a “coke habit”. Allen continued the feud by mocking Banks for taking so long to release her debut album, writing: “ive had 2 kids since 212 dropped and i bet my my album still comes out 1st. bitch is scared of the ball. OUT.”
‘The Fear’ singer later revealed that her Twitter feud with Banks helped motivate her to write new songs.
Banks still regularly weighs in on various celebrity spats online, and most recently spoke out about the alleged beef between Megan Thee Stallion and Nicki Minaj, arguing that it was “about Jay-Z”.