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.”