Azealia Amanda Banks was born on 31 May 31 1991 in New York City's Manhattan borough, and her single mother raised her and her two siblings in Harlem, after their father died of pancreatic cancer when she was two years old. At a young age she became interested in musical theater, dancing, acting, and singing, and at aged 16 she starred in a production of the comedy-noir musical City of Angels, where she was found by an agent who sent her to auditions for TBS, Nickelodeon, and Law & Order, all without success. At this point she decided to end her pursuit of an acting career, citing the stiff competition and overall sense of nonfulfillment, and she began writing rap and R&B songs as a creative outlet. Under the moniker Miss Bank$ she released her debut recording, 'Gimme A Chance', online in November 2008, accompanied by the self-produced track 'Seventeen', which sampled the Ladytron song of the same name. Banks sent both tracks to American DJ Diplo, and later that year she signed a development deal with record label XL Recordings and began working with producer Richard Russell in London, leaving the label later that year due to conflicting ideas. After leaving XL Recordings, Banks dropped the 'Miss Bank$' moniker and formally became Azealia Banks, which preceded a move to Montreal, returning to New York when her visa exired. In September 2011 she released her debut single '212' as a free digital download from her website, and it was officially released on 6 December 2011 as the lead single from her EP '1991'. In May 2012 she announced plans to release a mixtape titled 'Fantasea', teasing it by releasing the tracks 'Jumanji', 'Aquababe' and 'Nathan' online. 'Esta Noche' was chosen as a single from 'Fantasea', but it was pulled the day of its release due to sampling disputes between Banks and its producer, Munchi, and the next month it was confirmed that she'd worked with Lady Gaga on two tracks for her 'Artpop' album, although neither made the final album cut, and she also collaborated with Kanye West on G.O.O.D. Music's compilation 'Cruel Summer', but once again her contributions did not make the album.
In early 2012 Banks revealed that her debut album would be called 'Broke With Expensive Taste', and that it would include contributions from musicians including Toko Yasuda, Theophilus London, Kevin Hussein, and Ariel Pink. The album's lead single was intended to be 'Miss Amor'/'Miss Camaraderie', but these plans changed and this was replaced by to 'Yung Rapunxel', which was released in March 2013 on SoundCloud. In May 2013, Banks announced that the second single from 'Broke with Expensive Taste' would be 'ATM Jam', featuring Pharrell Williams, and the full studio version of the song was released on BBC Radio 1, but it was later confirmed that 'ATM Jam' would not appear on 'Broke With Expensive Taste' due to negative fan feedback. Following heated disagreements between Banks and her record label concerning her album's material not being "hit-worthy" enough, she parted ways with Universal Music Group in mid-July, and at the end of that month she released the official second single from the album, 'Heavy Metal And Reflective', on her own Azealia Banks Records label. In November 2014 she finally released 'Broke With Expensive Taste' on iTunes with little publicity, following this with a physical album release on 3 March 2015 on Prospect Park Records. In late 2015 she revealed that she was unable to release new music until March 2016 due to the separation from her label, Prospect Park, but as of February 2016 she was officially cleared of her contract and able to record again. As it turns out, she actually had a backlog of tracks which were left over from the sessions for the album, and over time a number of them have leaked, including songs cut from the track-listing, plus demos, including the afore-mentioned 'ATM Jam', so there was almost enough material laying around to tide her over until the dispute with her label was resolved. I've therefore gathered them all together for a companion work, under a slightly cheaper title.
Track listing
01 ATM Jam (feat. Pharrell Williams)
02 Harlem Shake
03 Be My Guest
04 Wut U Do
05 Hood Bitch
06 Grand Scam (A "Lyrical Exercise" Session)
07 Ima Read
08 Liquorice
09 Luxury
10 Bambi
11 Succubi (Jim Jones Diss)
12 P-U-S-S-Y (feat. Machinedrum)
13 Seventeen
14 NeedSumLuv (feat. Aaliyah)
Tracks 01, 08 and 09 are demos.
Track 07 is an alternate version.
Tracks 02 -06 and 10 - 14 are previously unreleased
