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Behind her tough-girl exterior, it seems that Azealia Banks has an interesting back story waiting to be told in its entirety. Though she may not be at the top of people’s favorites lists, hearing about the countless obstacles that she has overcome is enough to make even her biggest critics give her a second glance. During a recent interview with Camilla Long for the The Sunday Times, the Harlem rapper candidly opened up about her abusive childhood, losing her father to cancer and stripping as a teen to make ends meet

On stripping at 17 to make ends meet and sleeping with married men:

[As told by Camilla Long] “The best thing about fame, however, is the money. She was “mad broke” until just over a year ago. At one point, she was so poor, she worked at a strip club and had her boyfriend pay the rent. He would drop by her house while she ‘smoked weed’ all day, until one day she noticed a man sitting in a car outside, ‘and I’d be like, who is this? What is he doing there? He’d just stare at me.’ The man was a private detective, hired after his wife found out about their relationship.”

[Azealia] “My boyfriend had started on me, like, ‘I don’t love you any more’, just hurtful stuff, and, of course, my young dumb-A$$ started sending his wife emails. And I was psycho, and all of a sudden the same man popped up at my door with $10,000 and was like, ‘If you want this $10,000, you need to give me all your phones and computers.’  ” He wanted to get rid of “anything I could send his wife.”

On sleeping with older men:

[As told by Camilla Long] “The oldest man she has dated was 56. He used to come in and flirt with her when she was working in Starbucks, “and he was really rich, of course. When I was little, I had a radar for that.” He would take her to dinner in Chelsea, “and we’d be in some fancy restaurant and I’d be there with my sweat suit on”. He thought it was “the funniest thing ever. He really got off on it.” What was it like, being 17 and sleeping with a 56-year-old? “It’s like f****** an old man,” she says.”

On her interest in women:

[As told by Camilla Long] She can also see herself having relationships with women now. She first knew she liked girls when she was 10. “I had this friend named Nicole who was so fresh,” she says. “She would always have mascara and wear gloss and would have padded bras, and we’d have these slumber parties. I think all kids do gay stuff, but we got to the point in childhood where I was like, oooh, sign me up.” She didn’t talk about being bisexual until she was 19 though, partly because of her mother, who threw her sister out of the house when she came out. She thought that Lakimba would “go to hell”. “She’d be like, ‘Don’t have that Itchbay in that house.’  ” Her mother thought “gay stuff” was “evil” and dismissed all men as gay. “She was like, ‘Oh no, he’s got a watch on his right arm.  That’s the gay arm.’ She called Aids ‘the Aids’. I was like, ‘Ma, it’s not 1974. It’s 2013. Just relax.’  ”

 On losing her dad and being abused by her mom:

Banks grew up in Harlem with her mother and two sisters. Her father died of pancreatic cancer when she was two, “from red meat, coffee, coke and Courvoisier”. He was a cokehead, she says with a note of pride, “till 63”. Her mother “lost her mind” a few years after he died. Banks claims she became physically and verbally abusive. She had fistfights with her daughters, sometimes attacking them with baseball bats, Banks says.

Read more at http://necolebitchie.com/2013/10/14/azealia-banks-talks-abusive-past-dating-old-married-men-and-love-for-white-men-sex/#DMxMKoy4QWcId73C.99

[As told by Camilla Long] “Banks grew up in Harlem with her mother and two sisters. Her father died of pancreatic cancer when she was two, “from red meat, coffee, coke and Courvoisier”. He was a cokehead, she says with a note of pride, “till 63”. Her mother ‘lost her mind’ a few years after he died. Banks claims she became physically and verbally abusive. She had fistfights with her daughters, sometimes attacking them with baseball bats, Banks says.”

Banks grew up in Harlem with her mother and two sisters. Her father died of pancreatic cancer when she was two, “from red meat, coffee, coke and Courvoisier”. He was a cokehead, she says with a note of pride, “till 63”. Her mother “lost her mind” a few years after he died. Banks claims she became physically and verbally abusive. She had fistfights with her daughters, sometimes attacking them with baseball bats, Banks says.

Read more at http://necolebitchie.com/2013/10/14/azealia-banks-talks-abusive-past-dating-old-married-men-and-love-for-white-men-sex/#DMxMKoy4QWcId73C.99

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