Australian rapper Iggy Azalea recently signed a record deal with Interscope Records. Her debut album The New Classic will be released sometime in June 2012.
Azalea may not be a household name yet, but she is no stranger to the industry. The young lyricist dropped her first mixtape Ignorant Art last year and already has several singles under her belt.
She started as an underground musician, uploading freestyles to her YouTube channel. Her fan base increased when she began to create music videos for some of her more popular songs.
At first, many people compared Azalea to Kreayshawn, another white female rapper, but true fans of Iggy know that there is no comparison.
Azalea found an interest in hip-hop early on and started rapping at age 11. She claims that Tupac is her biggest influence. “I was sickly obsessed. I had every picture of Tupac ever printed on my wall,” she said in an interview with GlobalGrind.
I will say that there is a strong, 90’s hip-hop vibe present in Ignorant Art, especially in songs like “My World,” “You,” and “The Last Song.”
“It’s supposed to have, like, all the ridiculousness of a big-budget ’90s video, but then chopped and screwed,” Azalea explains about the video for “My World.”
The Australian rapper spent some time here in Atlanta a few years back, and may be returning to work on her debut album with platinum recording artist and co-CEO of Grand Hustle Records, T.I. He will executive produce the album and help steer Azalea in the right direction.
Apparently, T.I. took an interest in the young artist. Azalea explains how she came into contact with the Atlanta rapper, stating, “He called me up and was like, ‘Yo.’ And I was like, ‘Definitely. You’re Tip. I love you, of course.’ So he’s gonna be kinda helping me out, like, just kinda reaching out to people and helping me find production and pointing me in the direction of things that I might like.”
Azalea plans to carry the theme of “redefining old ideals” into her debut album. If her mixtape is any indication of how well The New Classic will do, then I have very high expectations.
We may have to wait until the summer for The New Classic to drop, but the first single from the album, “Murder Business,” is set to be released sometime this month. The song was produced by Bei Maejor.
Iggy Azalea is a young, talented rapper with a lot potential but don’t take my word for it, download her mixtape here and see for yourself.