Watch Azealia Banks Strut Through New York to ‘The Big Big Beat’
Azealia Banks turns New York City into her personal dance floor in the new video for “The Big Big Beat” off her latest mixtape, Slay-Z.
Directed by Matt Sukkar, the simple but entertaining clip opens with an extended sequence in which Banks saunters and shakes up and down a dull, narrow beige hall lit up with fluorescent bulbs. As “The Big Big Beat” bounces into its house-inspired mid-section, Banks takes her moves to the street, kicking around in front of a municipal building and, near the end, stomping and grinding atop a NYPD squad car.
Banks released Slay-Z in March, marking her first release since her 2014 debut LP, Broke With Expensive Taste. Despite generally positive reviews, Banks has nevertheless remained in the news for extra-musical reasons: After being arrested for allegedly punching a female security guard late last year, Banks invoked the ire of Sarah Palin, who threatened to sue over a grotesque Twitter rant the rapper posted in response to what turned out to be a fake news story that portrayed the former vice presidential candidate as blatantly racist.
While Banks did quasi-apologize to Palin for the mix-up, she later doubled down on her Tumblr, writing, “I’m 100% positive that the police killings, cultural appropriation, Trump and Palin etc. represent the contempt that whitey shares for this intangible, uncontrollable new black mind that’s been steeping for a while now.”