Iggy Azalea

Amethyst Amelia Kelly (born 7 June 1990), better known by her stage name Iggy Azalea, is an Australian hip hop recording artist signed to Island Def Jam and Mercury Records. Azalea is also a model represented by Wilhelmina Models, being announced the "New Face of Levi Jeans" in late 2012. She first gained recognition after the respective music videos for her controversial songs "Pu$$y", and "Two Times," went viral on YouTube. On 27 September 2011, Azalea released her first full-length project, a mixtape titled Ignorant Art, saying she made it "with the intent to make people question and redefine old ideals". In 2012, Azalea became the first female and first non-American rapper to be featured on XXL's annual Top 10 Freshman cover issue. On 30 July 2012, she released a free EP, executive produced by Grand Hustle label-boss T.I., titled Glory. Later in October, Azalea appeared alongside T.I., B.o.B and other Grand Hustle artists at the 2012 BET Hip Hop Awards rap cypher. She released her second mixtape, TrapGold, produced entirely by 1st Down of production team FKi and Diplo, on 11 October 2012. Her debut studio album The New Classic is set to be released in 2013. Early life edit: Iggy Azalea was born Amethyst Amelia Kelly in Sydney, Australia. Her family later relocated to Mullumbimby, New South Wales when she was still a baby, into a house on 12 acres that her father built by hand from mudbricks. Her father was a painter and comics artist, while her mother cleaned holiday houses and hotels. Azalea says her father "made her look at art as a teenager" which has always influenced her life and work. Azalea began rapping at age 14. Before embarking on a solo career, Azalea formed a group with two other girls from her neighborhood: "I was like, I could be the rapper. This could be like TLC. I'll be Left Eye." Azalea eventually decided to leave the group because the other girls weren't taking it seriously: "I take everything I do serious. I'm too competitive." In pursuit of her desire of moving to America, Azalea didn't graduate from high school; she chose to rather save the money she earned by cleaning hotel rooms and holiday houses with her mother. Azalea travelled to the United States in 2006, right before she turned 16. She told her parents she was going "on a holiday" with a friend, but eventually decided to stay and shortly after told them she was not coming back home: "I was drawn to America because I felt like an outsider in my own country, I was in love with hip hop, and America is the birthplace of that, so I figured the closer I was to the music, the happier I'd be. I was right." Career edit: 2010-11: Career beginnings and mixtapes edit: When she first came to the United States, she stayed in Miami, Florida, and after a brief stint in Houston, Texas, Azalea settled for a few years in Atlanta, Georgia, before eventually moving to Los Angeles, California, where she currently resides since 2010. In 2011, Azalea began uploading a number of freestyle videos on YouTube, that subsequently went viral. Azalea's career began to flourish when her first official music video, for a song titled "Pu$$y", was uploaded on her channel. On 27 September 2011, Azalea released her first full-length project, a mixtape titled Ignorant Art, saying she made it "with the intent to make people question and redefine old ideals". Her song "Pu$$y" was included on the mixtape and features guest appearances from YG, Joe Moses, Chevy Jones and Problem. In November 2011, she released a music video for promotional song "My World", directed by Alex/2tone, featuring a cameo appearance from character actor and former wrestler Tiny Lister, which earned her more attention due to its rising popularity online. "It's supposed to have like, all the ridiculousness of a big-budget '90s video, but then chopped and screwed," Azalea said of the video. In December 2011, Azalea revealed she would release her debut studio album, entitled The New Classic, as soon as she signed a major record label deal: "once that's sorted out and I establish an over all sound and direction for the album I will be able to know what artists would make for a dynamic collaboration". On 11 January 2012, Azalea released the music video for "The Last Song", her third from Ignorant Art. In an interview with Billboard released on 27 January, Azalea hinted at an Interscope Records signing, while also revealing hopes of releasing The New Classic in June, and for her debut single to precede it in March. 2012-13: Labels and Glory edit: Iggy Azalea reached out to Southern rapper T.I., for the direction of her debut album. The Atlanta rapper was set to executive produce The New Classic, soon after a phone call the two had: "I'm working with a different production company for my album than what I did for my mixtape Ignorant Art, and I don't know who yet," Azalea told MTV News."I'm still looking. T.I.'s gonna be helping me with it, kinda like A&Ring, kinda like executive-producing." Azalea then explained how she and the rapper linked up: "He called me up and as like, 'Yo.' And I was like, 'Definitely. You're Tip. I love you, of course.' So he's gonna be kinda helping me out, like just kinda reaching out to people and helping me find production and pointing me in the direction of things that I might like. We're gonna start on that next week together. I'll probably fly out to Atlanta and we'll do it in between there because he's weird with traveling and stuff. I understand. We're in touch with each other. I have legal issues, he has legal issues. I get it. So hopefully that will be really dynamic and it'll help speed things along." At the time, Azalea was eyeing a summer release for her debut, The New Classic: "Hopefully if all goes to plan, my album will be out in June and I'll have it recorded by the end of the month." However, after Interscope did not allow T.I. to be an on-going part of her deal, Azalea opted not to sign with the major label and stay independently signed to Grand Hustle Records until the release of her first album, which had then been postponed. In early 2012, Azalea was featured on the cover of XXL, as part of its annual "Top 10 Freshmen List", along with fellow up-and-coming rappers French Montana, MGK, Danny Brown, Hopsin, and Roscoe Dash. On 1 March 2012, T.I. announced he signed Azalea to Grand Hustle Records along with rappers Chip and Trae tha Truth. On 26 March 2012, Azalea posted "Murda Bizness", the intended lead single for The New Classic, on her YouTube account. The song was produced by Bei Maejor and features her Grand Hustle label-boss T.I.. In April 2012, Azalea, via her Twitter feed, announced plans to release an EP entitled Glory later in May: "May = glory. The EP. #GLORY," tweeted Azalea. "I'm just onto something right now, the last two weeks and it's glory. Azaleans need something new." Also in April, Azalea starred alongside Grammy-nominated producer Diplo and FKi in the world's first fully interactive 'shoppable' music video for Canadian fashion retailer SSENSE. In May 2012, it was confirmed by T.I., on MTV's HipHopPov, that Azalea had not yet secured distribution for her deal with Grand Hustle Records, and was described by T.I. as a "free agent". It was later revealed in the interview that she is in negotiations with labels other than Interscope and possibly Def Jam (wherein Bu Thiam, whom of which originally placed a bid to sign her is VP of A&R). Azalea was also featured on Steve Aoki and Angger Dimas' collaborative electronic track "Beat Down," which was released on iTunes on 31 May 2012. In June 2012, it was announced Azalea signed with Wilhelmina Models International Inc., a prominent model and celebrity agency in the fashion industry, boasting notable entertainers Fergie, Estelle, and Natasha Bedingfield. Azalea released "Million Dollar Misfits", the second offering from her EP Glory, the first being "Murda Bizness", on 24 June 2012. On 21 July, the official music video for "Murda Buziness" was released online.Glory, Azalea's debut EP, although not released in May, it's original scheduled release, was released 30 July 2012. In September 2012, Levi's announced Iggy Azalea as the face of their new "Go Forth" campaign. Azalea was also one of the acts on MTV's 2012 'Closer To My Dreams Tour', along with Tyga and Kirko Bangz. Azalea also appeared in House of Holland's first eyewear collection campaign. On 28 September 2012, Azalea announced she would be releasing her second mixtape TrapGold, produced entirely by Diplo and FKi, on 11 October 2012. She later premiered teaser visuals for the track "Bac 2 Tha Future (My Time)". On 9 October 2012, Azalea was featured on the annual BET Hip Hop Awards cypher, alongside her Grand Hustle label-mates T.I., B.o.B, Chip and Trae tha Truth. Later that month, she embarked on yet another North American mini-concert tour with Roc Nation singer-songwriter Rita Ora, on the MTV Presents The ORA Tour. Azalea then headlined a tour in Europe to support TrapGold. On 16 December 2012, Azalea performed live alongside Natasha Bedingfield and Bootsy Collins covering Deee-Lite's 1990 hit disco song "Groove Is in the Heart", on the annual television show VH1 Divas. 2013-present: The New Classic edit: In January and February 2013, while working on her upcoming singles and The New Classic, which was announced to be released in the summer, Azalea was the opening act for Rita Ora's Radioactive Tour in the United Kingdom. As part of her set at Rita Ora's Radioactive Tour, Azalea premiered "Work", the lead single from her debut studio album. The single premiered on BBC Radio 1Xtra on 11 February 2013. On 13 February 2013, it was announced Azalea had signed a record deal with Mercury Records. The music video for her commercial debut single "Work", was directed by Jonas & François and released 13 March 2013. In March 2013, Azalea also joined renowned East Coast rapper Nas, on the European leg of his 'Life Is Good Tour'. On 15 April 2013, VEVO announced Azalea as its second LIFT artist of 2013 and that she would film live festival performances, fashion and style pieces and behind-the-scenes interviews as part of the eight-week-long campaign. It was also revealed that the music video for her second single "Bounce" would premiere on VEVO at the end of the month. On 16 March 2013, it was announced that Azalea would perform in the beneficent concert "Chime for Change", scheduled to take place on 1 June in London, alongside Beyoncé, John Legend and others. On 23 April 2013, Azalea announced that she had signed a solo record deal with Island Def Jam. On 26 April 2013, Azalea's second European single "Bounce" premiered on BBC Radio 1. Azalea then revealed during an interview that the second American and third worldwide single taken from her debut album would be entitled "Change Your Life", and feature T.I.. She also mentioned she will be singing for the first time on the record. She would also confirm that she is not signed to Grand Hustle Records. Personal life edit: Starting late 2011 Iggy Azalea began dating rapper ASAP Rocky who she met through Chase N. Cashe. She confirmed that they were dating in an interview on 15 January 2012 with Vibe Magazine. It was around this time that she got the title of Rocky's breakout mixtape, "Love.Live.A$AP" tattooed on her fingers. However in July 2012, Rocky said they were no longer dating. They seemed to be on and off before officially breaking it off. In March 2013, Azalea revealed she had crossed out the "A$AP" part of the tattoo, stating she had crossed it out months ago. She had also claimed she is not the only one with tattoos dedicated to the relationship. Artistry edit: Influences edit: Although Azalea began rapping at the age of 14, she was infatuated with hip hop from age 11 when she heard Tupac Shakur's "Baby Don't Cry (Keep Ya Head Up II)": "It was the song that made me fall in love with music and also what sparked my Tupac fascination. That would later make me pick up my own pen and write songs". In her early interviews, Azalea regularly mentioned her influence by Shakur: "I was sickly obsessed. I had every picture of Tupac ever printed on my wall". She has also mentioned Missy Elliott as the female rapper who she is influenced by and admires the most. Azalea raps with a Southern American accent, although her Australian accent is quite strong when she speaks. When she first moved to America, she was in Miami and later in Atlanta, heavily around the Southern hip hop scene, which made it easy for her to cultivate the Southern influence in her music: "I lived in the South for five years; you pick up things from your surroundings and teachers. The people who taught me to rap are all from the South and so was the music I had listened to as a teen." Outside of music, her fashion sense is influenced by various people as well: "As far as people whose style interests me I'd say Grace Kelly, Gwen, Spice Girls, Victoria Beckham, and that nanny called Fran".

Source: Wikipedia

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