Azealia Banks - Broke with Expensive Taste

Azealia Banks

Broke with Expensive Taste

6 November 2014

Azealia Banks/Prospect Park

 

4 stars out of 5

 

 

“Long-awaited” doesn’t even begin to describe it. Delayed for more than two years, the debut LP by hip hop innovator Azealia Banks finally dropped last month, without advance hype or warning, á la Beyoncé. Both easily accessible and envelope-pushing, Broke with Expensive Taste showcases Banks’s uncompromising vision, fearless creativity, and mad skillz on the mic. Including her 2012 hit single “212,” the album begins strong and doesn’t let up until even the most curmudgeonly old farts (I admit, I resemble that demographic) in the room are enjoying themselves.

 

Banks has an instinct for experimentation that doesn’t breach the threshold of the inaccessible. Tracks like “Yung Rapunxel” capture the spirit of left-field electronica while keeping your ass on the dance floor. On “Wallace,” Banks takes everyone to school on how a real quick-tongued rapper gets shit done. Most people can’t think as fast as Banks can rhyme. And then there’s “Nude Beach a-Go-Go,” the collaboration with Ariel Pink that appears in different form on his LP, pom pom, released less than two weeks after Broke. Both versions of the track are pure madness, a sort of Beach Boys-meet-Ween ode to clothesless sunbathing. A singular accomplishment, Broke with Expensive Taste proves it was worth the wait.

 

reviewed by Richard Krueger