I sat down with Iggy Azalea for NylonMag.com in June, but since we weren’t able to run the entire eight page interview on the site, I’m sharing it here for your viewing pleasure. Be sure to check out her new video for “Change Your Life,” which she mentions at the end of our conversation!
Kira Cole: I know that “Work” is sort of your own story, so can you kind of recap how you made your way to this point?
Iggy Azalea: I worked with my mother cleaning houses and holiday accommodation. I saved up some money and moved when I was 16 to Miami and lived there for a little while; and then I moved to Houston and lived there for a little while longer; then I lived in Atlanta for a little while longer; and then I finally moved to LA, where I am now. That song is kind of about my different run-ins and wrong turns and u-turns and ups and downs in the industry and trying to make my way in America and get a record deal, I guess that’s where the story kind of ends on that song. Trying to be from the country and move to America is really what that song is about. It’s a very quick kind of biography up until the point at which I get signed, and that is the end of that story.
KC: How do you think those different cities shaped your sound, if at all?
IA: They definitely shaped my sound. My sound I think is very southern—heavy southern influence. I think probably having music that you can really dance to and is very beat driven I think is very popular in that kind of music. You can hear it in my music. It’s influenced it.
KC: Growing up, were you always into hip-hop and rap?
IA: I’ve always been into it. Not from birth, but I think nobody is really into a same type of music until probably they hit puberty and decide that you want to do your own thing, and you want to wear not the clothes your mother gave you, and you want to listen to your own music and have your own style and be your own person. So, from that point, I’ve always loved rap music.
KC: Do you have any artists in particular that really inspired you?
IA: Yeah, of course. I loved Tupac. I really like Outkast and Andre 3000. I love Missy Elliot. I loved Busta Rhymes in the 90s; it was really cool to me when he had dreadlocks and did all those crazy videos.
KC: Where were you finding music?
IA: The internet, like everyone else.
KC: Going back a little bit, what does “Ignorant Art” really mean?
IA: I see an ongoing theme in my music I guess experimenting with rap and different styles of sounds and blending them. I think there’s this funny kind of culture in rap music of hip-hop purists who believe that rap music should sound one way, and that’s the correct or right way for it to sound—the “real rap” sound versus something else, and I think something else sometimes gets labeled at ignorant. I think art can be ignorant or really crude. I thought Basquiat was an artist that I based my cover off because I think his art was very crude and sometimes misunderstood. Crude not in a rude way, but in a way that I mean raw. You know what I mean? Crude. Not polished. I just wanted to make music that I think had a lot of samples and was maybe kind of rude or ignorant or about subjects that people hear and say, “That’s an ignorant subject! That’s not real rap.” Or if I tell a story, then that’s real rap, but if I talk about vaginas, then that’s not art anymore. What is real rap? What is art? Art can still be crude. Art is a message or I think what makes you an artist, no matter what your medium is, is if you inspire an emotion or a thought or make somebody question the thing they’re looking at or listening to. That to me is art. If it’s ignorant or philosophical, and so that’s what I was talking about on “Ignorant Art”—how ignorant can something be before it isn’t art or why do you think this is good music or not?
KC: Would you consider yourself crude?
IA: I’ll probably always be a little crude and rough around the edges.
KC: Where did you get your name?
IA: Iggy Azalea? Iggy was the name of my dog growing up that I had until I was about 18, and Azalea is the street my family lived on. It wasn’t always Iggy Azalea; it used to just be Iggy. My father, who used to have a job for a long time—about 30 years—working for a television channel as a creative director, he likes musicals. We would watch musicals a lot as a kid, and I forget what the rule is, but you have to have a perfect show name—two names, and it adds up to a perfect amount of syllables. I guess if you do mine, that’s the perfect show name. He was like, “You need a last name! How are you going to be in show business? What kind of female fatale are you?” And I was like, “Shit! I do need a last name! I can’t just be Iggy!” So I picked Azalea because I like it; it’s feminine and Iggy is a unisex name, and I wanted a name that was feminine that meant something. That’s the street that my mother lived on when I was a teenager. I thought that would be a nice name.
KC: You’ve always offered your mix tapes for free; why is that?
IA: I think because, to me, mix tapes are an outlet for me to experiment with different experiments. I think experiments should be free.
KC: But “The New Classic”…
IA: Is not free. That’s not exactly an experiment. I’d say that’s more like a project. That’s the product of my experiments. I’ve wanted people to see my experiments because I’ve wanted people to see what the product of an album is, and I wanted them to see where it comes from, and the things that we do to get to this point. So, they can see how I got here, to this sound. I’ll do more mixtapes in the future. I actually just emailed First Down that I produced “Trap Gold” with. He was like, “We’re doing ‘Twerk Gold!’ I have all the beats ready!” I was like, “Cool!” And he was like, “When can you record it?!” And I said, “Maybe July?” I’ll do more mixtapes and more experiments, but I just think there’s something about an album I want to be more polished. I don’t think experiments should be polished, so I think they should be free.
KC: “Trap Gold” was cool. It seemed like it involved a lot of collaborations.
IA: Sort of. There were a lot of samples. I worked with Diplo and FKi, this guy, the whole time, but I guess by way of sampling we did a lot of collaborations. I like to use a lot of different styles of music and make it hip-hop and incorporate sampling. It sounds like I collaborated a lot, but I did and I didn’t, you know.
KC: “The New Classic” is coming out in September?
IA: I think it’s a bit more story telling. You still hear a lot of the “Trap Gold” sound.” It’s stuff that you can dance to. Definitely high-energy things, but I talk a bit more about relationships and stories I have about different relationships that I’ve had with guys. Or, I talk a lot about chasing your dreams or chasing my dreams. Dreams, men and twerking are the three subjects.
KC: So, like a normal Wednesday.
IA: Yeah! Every girl’s regular Wednesday, right?
KC: I feel like your wardrobe is half the fun in your videos. What role does fashion play in your art?
IA: I think it’s really important—fashion. But, I love fashion in the costume-y way. Not to say that how I dress is a costume—I would dress like this any day—but I love movie characters, and I love the fashion of costumes and characters more than I’d like to look at a runway. I think I feel more inspired by movies than I do by watching Mercedes Benz Fashion Week. That’s just how I honestly feel. So, I think fashion is important because fashion is clothing, but I don’t necessarily think seasonal fashion is important. I think just finding moments in clothing and looks, and creating characters and stories through clothing is important.
KC: How would you describe your own style?
IA: I think it’s probably playful, bold and maybe a little wacky. It’s pretty wacky. I love a good print. A good print and a nice tailored suit, and some element of something unexpected, like a boot so that you’re like, “Woah! I didn’t think that would happen with that.” I hate when I look at magazines and I see an outfit and it makes sense. I just like unexpected things, in music or in life, and I think it’s nice to see a little twist to an outfit that makes something personalized that shows the person’s character. When I see people walk down the street, and I think they look like the E! News channel’s wardrobe, I just think it’s so depressing. It’s nice to be put together, but I’d rather see somebody look completely insane or wacky. I think it’s memorable. It’s cool.
KC: Do you have any style icons?
IA: Of course. I really like Grace Kelly. I think she’s like probably my, I guess, retro style icon. I just think she’s so chic, and she had great classical tailoring and everybody was inspired by her wedding dress. Who was it that got married?
KC: Kate?
IA: Yeah, Kate. I was like, oh my god, Grace Kelly 2.0, I’m feeling it. I think she inspired a lot of women with classic tailoring. I really like that she was effortless. Who else do I really like, star wise… I don’t know! I like characters. Like, I like Grease. I think that’s really cool. I like Lola Bunny from Space Jam. Like, my hairstyle is Lola Bunny. She has her ears in a ponytail, and then she has a bang.
KC: How about Jessica Rabbit?
IA: Eh, not so much Jessica Rabbit. I like her. She’s cool. I like Lola Bunny because she’s always wears high-waisted shorts and a crop top when she plays basketball, which I wear quite often. I have her bang. My ponytail could be her rabbit ears. I like the feel of things. I like characters. I like The Nanny girl Fran. She’s my style icon, Fran Drescher. I love her suits! They’re so gaudy and awesome.
KC: Was that look the inspiration for the “Murda Bizness” video?
IA: I went there with that, definitely. I took it there. I love her. She’s cool. I like characters because they can be so extreme and crazy.
KC: Do you play favorites in your closet?
IA: I don’t even have a closet. This is my situation and how it works; I don’t have a house or home, so I’ve been kind of living in hotels. I have like six main suitcases, but three of them live in England, the other three travel with me. I go through clothing. I’ll have the same clothing for a few goes, but the three main working suitcases slowly made their way to not being worn so much. Every month, someone will go through it and pack it into boxes, and they will go into storage. I have a storage container full of shit that kind of keeps growing like that. Somewhere, there’s like a fucking nest of boxes in a room in LA in a storage unit, and it’s full of what is my wardrobe that I’ve been collecting.
KC: Do you have a favorite designer?
IA: Someone I really like? For casual days, I really like a lot of the Givenchy stuff just because I think they have cool prints. I like the tailoring in their pants and stuff. They’ve always got like a nice cut or collar. I think it’s very low-key and cool. I really like Dolce & Gabbana, and I like Cavalli. I like Italian designers because they always have really great prints, and I love a good print and gaudy colors. I like a lot of Italian prints.
KC: Would you ever go into design?
IA: No, I know absolutely nothing about it. I’m sure everybody would be completely offended if I did that.
KC: I feel like your hair is iconic.
IA: Yeah, Iggy tail.
KC: Do you have any tricks to get it like that?
IA: You’ve got to do the pony in two parts. People sometimes think you brush it all up in one, but you’ve got to start with a mini-pony and keep brushing it all back. Like, this is three ponies in one. People need to know that it’s a three-part hairstyle.
KC: So, now you have Wilhelmina, your music career and a collection of suitcases. How do you do it all?
IA: It seems easy to me because I feel like music is really the main thing that I do, and all the other crazy things, like suitcases and flights revolve around that. Occasionally I get to dip my ties into the fashion world. I think that’s something like more I like to do for fun. When I’m invited I try to be involved. I’d like some more invitations. I don’t get enough invitations into that universe to where I feel like it’s a struggle to maintain the two things.
KC: Your lyrics definitely have a girl-power vibe. Like you said, you have no problem rapping about vaginas. You surround yourself with really powerful women. Why is that?
IA: I don’t thinks there’s like enough female heroines in real life. I think it’s important that women have those characters. I think that in the media or society especially in America, I think there’s kind of a blanketed thing going on with sexuality or how women are sexualized. There’s definitely a sexual undercurrent, but it has to be blanketed in a way that makes it not demeaning, but passive or submissive. I don’t think that’s necessarily very good to have that be the only image. I don’t think it’s bad, but I think that there should be a powerful sexiness about women because I think that we are. I just always didn’t feel like there were enough of those characters growing up for me that I could look at as a girl. So, as I got older and wanted to do these things, but would have men say “you’re this” or “you’re that” for wanting to dress this way or say these things. Even now in the media, sometimes I get labeled as a hoochie mama. Like, I’m not. It’s just that I don’t do it in a passive or submissive way, and I do think there needs to be more characters like this for us to accept and make girls feel like they can be a bit more aggressive or strong-arm. I think sexuality is very powerful, and it’s always going to be the number one basic instinct and undercurrent and motivator of things. That’s why I’m not afraid to say the word “pussy” or to do those things. I think it’s important that somebody does it.
KC: Sexuality definitely drives a lot of your lyrics. I feel like “Pu$$y” was a big game-changer in your career. Why do you think it grabbed people’s attention?
IA: It’s not a word that rolls off your tongue easily. I think if you hear someone say “PUSSY” on the street, somebody would be like, “Who said that?” You know what I mean? It stops you in your tracks. You almost feel like it’s taboo. I think it’s always really interesting to me to see the power that words can have and how we can change them or why they affect us in the way that they do or why they have certain connotations. Why is pussy such a horrible word or so crude? It’s something that’s very aggressive, but I don’t want to say “kitty cat.” You know what I mean? I wanted to say pussy. I wanted to say it aggressively. I hear rappers or men say pussy in songs all the time, and I was like, I want us to be able to own that word as women because it’s our fucking word. I want a song that we can say pussy, pussy, pussy a fucking million times and we feel powerful saying it, not having a man be like, “I fucked her in her pussy.” You know what I mean? There’s something very demeaning about that. The word is used all the time in rap songs, but I wanted it to be said by a woman so that we could say it and fucking feel like we had empowered the word.
KC: Similarly, your song “Down South” seems to be reclaiming…
IA: Definitely… Yeah, wow definitely. I was like, I have to do another one of those songs, in some way. “Down South” is like the most disrespectful lick-my-pussy song to a man, and I just see so many songs like that in rap music for men—like “Gimme That Becky,” and stuff like that. We need one for women! Fuck that.
KC: What have been the challenges of being a female rapper?
IA: I think it’s hard to be aggressive and not be masculine. I think it’s a hard balance because we need powerful women, and I do think we need an element of assertiveness or boldness—whatever people would think is aggressive, but I don’t necessarily know that it is. It’s very hard to balance that and still be feminine and have people want to listen to you sonically in the way that your tone is and also in your message. When somebody is too masculine as a woman I even think it’s a bit cringe-y. I think it’s a difficult balance because as a rapper because hip-hop is so aggressive, just by nature, in its sound and sometimes in things you say. It’s hard for a woman to fit into that. It’s a difficult tightrope walk.
KC: Have the other women in the industry embraced you or are you just competitors?
IA: I think we silently embrace each other more than people realize.
KC: What differentiates you from other women in hip-hop?
IA: I think we all have our own story to tell or things that we want to say. Some of us just want to say that we dress well or that we’re the baddest bitch. Everybody is something. Sometimes people don’t necessarily have a story. For me, I just always feel like I want to be powerful, and that’s what my music is about, whether it’s telling a story—like “Work,” about how I got to where I am and for that to hopefully make other people feel motivated to follow their dreams or just making a badass song like “Pu$$y,” where it makes you feel confident. I think my reoccurring theme is just trying to make you feel like you’re powerful.
KC: In three words, how would you describe your sound?
IA: My sound… I think it’s energetic, probably experimental and it is, what’s the word… it’s not crude, but it’s taboo. It’s like, “Did she really just say that?” Yeah, I said it.
KC: In three words, how would your mom describe your sound?
IA: In the gutter.
KC: Working with T.I. and Diplo, what was that like?
IA: Cool. Fun. Definitely different. Two different styles and ways of working. Diplo likes to sit in a room and kind of just hash it out, and then we’d email our ideas back and forth. Diplo and I do a lot more emailing because we travel a lot. So, we kind of get together at the beginning of a project. We play each other a lot of different songs and bounce off each other and get an initial idea of and agree on what we think it should sound like, and then we go on tour—he does DJ gigs—and I really don’t see him again for most of the project. We’ll email back and forth after that initial conversation. He’ll send me a little batch of beats, and I’ll say what I like or ask about a sample and if he could work with it. We kind of do things like that. But, T.I. you have to be in the room with the whole time. He’s different. You’ve got to come to his turf. I stayed out in Atlanta while I was working with him. I booked the studio with him every day and listened to beats and sat in a room and write and think about ideas and sit there until the song is done, so that process is very different. Two different processes. But I like both of them. Both of them are really cool and funny. Tip invites a lot more friends around and has people popping in and out. I like both. I have a totally different way that I operate compared to those two, but it’s good to have different ways and see the way people do it, and see what works for you and make your own recipe.
KC: The internet has played a huge part in your success. How have you sort of used it to your advantage?
IA: I think the great thing about the Internet is that it has no censorship, so you can really get the message you want to say across, and it’s quick. Press, and stuff like this, it’s done so far in advance, and sometimes it has to fit whatever the thing is that they’re doing. With the Internet you can really dictate what you’re going to say and how you’re going to say it, it’s instant, and it reaches the whole world. You can shape things that way. It doesn’t have to be so much collaboration between you and outside media. I think that’s really cool if you have something that you want to say.
KC: So, what’s next for you?
IA: My album. Finally. Just working on that. I’m doing a big tour circuit in Europe for all the festivals. Then I’ll be back over here, do a North American tour and put out this album in September some time. Immediately, I think the thing I’m really excited about is doing my next video with T. I. We’re going to film it in Las Vegas in about a month. That’s the thing I’m most excited about that you guys won’t see for a few months, but I’m in the immediate future like counting down on my calendar. I love music videos. I think they’re the thing that keep me having something to look forward to. It’s going to be cool because it’s going to be like Showgirls and Bladerunner mashed up.
KC: That sounds like plenty of characters for you to work with.
IA: Yeah, exactly! It’s going to be like the Showgirls storyline if everyone dressed like Bladerunners. It’s going to be cool.
Kira Cole 