Azealia Banks has something of a track record when it comes to feuding with other celebrities.
Just a matter of weeks ago, she lashed out at Cardi B, describing her as "a caricature of a black woman". Then, only a matter of hours later, she turned her sights on Stefflon Don. "Your music, look, and presence, is generic enough to not evoke a single emotion from me," Banks wrote in a reply to Stefflon on Instagram. "Congrats! You’re Basic!! Yaaaay!!"
And now she's decided to make RuPaul Charles her next target. RuPaul, who is currently most famous for being the face and host of RuPaul's Drag Race, was the subject of an angry Twitter rant from Banks on Saturday.
Banks' beef with RuPaul was over one of his songs, Call Me Mother, which she claims is a rip-off of one of her own tracks: The Big Beat. Though the 212 artist is actually credited on the problematic song in question, Banks says that RuPaul didn't "properly license" the sample, and so his use of her work is technically illegal.
For reference, here is RuPaul's 2017 track, Call Me Mother:
And here is Banks' The Big Beat, which was released a year earlier in 2016:
After Banks kicked up a fuss about the track, Spotify removed it from their platform (which is standard procedure whenever a song is under investigation for plagiarism). Though it still remains available on iTunes, Apple Music, TIDAL and Pandora, Banks saw the move as a great victory and took to Twitter to gloat about it.
"Lol I got rupauls ripoff of the big big beat .. 'call me mother' removed," Banks tweeted. "You will not step on my little black girl toes b***h. You will take your razor bumps and pumps to the nearest laser hair removal clinic and seethe. @RuPaul BYE UGLY!"
The 27-year-old rapper then added, "Happy Pride!", which needlessly brought in the subject of RuPaul's sexuality to a totally unrelated discussion (and, considering Banks has come under fire several times for making homophobic comments, it definitely seemed as if she was mocking him).
She then went on to say that, since she reported the song, RuPaul has reached out to her.
"Lol now that I’m filing claims RuPaul wants to reach out," Banks said. "But where was that energy when you were stealing my work and using me as inspiration for your campy ass television show? I’m disappointed in him first and foremost as a black person. He was supposed to have my back."
The rapper also assured fans that the track would soon be taken off other platforms, too.
Whether or not Banks was right in claiming that RuPaul had ripped off her track in Call Me Mother, her way of tackling the issue has been viewed by many as an unprofessional and immature tactic of getting her own way. Given her recent history of controversy, perhaps it would have been better if she'd kept the matter off social media.
But, then again, causing arguments on the internet seems to be where she gets most of her public recognition from these days - so a chance to call out RuPaul must have been too good an opportunity to miss.
