iggy azalea
HipHopWired Featured Video
Iggy Azalea made her major league debut a decade ago and she was hard at work on crafting a fourth studio album, according to reports. However, the Australian artist took to social media to announce that she is no longer working on music and is instead diving into another creative career path.
Taking to X, formerly Twitter, Iggy Azalea, 33, shared that her energy is moving towards design and creative direction versus creating songs. In Azalea’s view, this shift in career focus should come as no surprise to fans who have been following her work since she first burst onto the scene.
From X:
I know a lot of people have this idea that I was “bullied away from music” and that’s something I’ve always laughed at because I’d never be bullied out of anything!
In fact, I’m too stubborn.
I think I’ve even resisted changes within myself at times, purely because I don’t like being viewed as someone who quits.
In truth what I’ve known for a long time is that I feel more passionately about design and creative direction than I do about song writing.
To many of you that’s no shock to read.
It shows in my work. Haha!
Jokes aside, i do spend a lot more time on that part of things… because Im most confident at that.
That’s why I want to let you know that I’m not going to finish my album.
It’s been paused for a few months while I was giving direction for a different project & in truth I just haven’t felt the urge to go back to it.
I feel really happy & passionate in my day to day life when my minds focused on that and so I want to stick to what’s undeniably best for me.
Azalea added that she’ll be sharing some of her new creative works soon and apologized to her supporters who were waiting on new music.
—
Photo: Getty
HipHopWired Featured Video
HipHopWired Featured Video
Source: Paras Griffin / Getty
Megan Thee Stallion related how much suffering she’s endured daily after being shot by Tory Lanez in a written statement read during his sentencing hearing.
On Monday (August 7th), Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Kathy Ta read a statement from the “Cognac Queen” rapper during the sentencing of Lanez in the courtroom. “Since I was viciously shot by the defendant, I have not experienced a single day of peace,” the statement began. “Slowly but surely, I’m healing and coming back, but I will never be the same.”
She asked that her absence from the courtroom not be perceived as a sign of indifference, writing that she struggled with trying to be present for the sentencing but decided that she “simply could not bring myself to be in a room with Tory again.” Megan Thee Stallion did ask Judge David Hereford to deliver a stiff sentence. She also pointed out that Lanez “has blamed the system, blamed the press, and as of late has tried to take advantage of his childhood trauma.”
Lanez, also known as Daystar Peterson, was convicted last year of three felonies – assault with a semiautomatic weapon, discharging a firearm with gross negligence, and having a loaded and unregistered firearm in a vehicle. All charges stem from the 2020 incident where he shot Megan in her feet after the pair and a friend left a party at Kylie Jenner’s home in Hollywood Hills. Lanez faces up to 13 years in prison based on those charges.
Judge Herriford allowed the legal teams for the prosecution and the defense to argue every factor leading to the potential sentence. In doing so, the proceedings would go on for hours, with Lanez’s lawyers also providing statements and 76 letters including one from his six-year-old son defending the rapper and asking for leniency in light of his charitable work. The delay means that the sentencing hearing will resume on Tuesday (August 8th).
One of those letters was composed by Iggy Azalea, which garnered some controversy leading her to state that the letter was “for the judge only”. She also issued a lengthy post of clarification via Twitter. “I am not in support of throwing away ANYone’s life if we can give reasonable punishments that are rehabilitative instead. I support prison reform. Period,” she wrote.
HipHopWired Radio
Our staff has picked their favorite stations, take a listen…
Iggy Azalea is the latest celebrity to join OnlyFans, a subscription-based platform which allows users to view often racy content on a creator’s page.
The rapper joined Emily Ratajkowski on the model’s High Low podcast this week, where she discussed the empowerment surrounding making money off her “own body” on the platform. “I made record labels so much money off my body. I made a lot of people so much money off my body,” Azalea explained, adding that she got “the smallest cut off my own f—ing body and my own work and my own ideas.”
Explore
Explore
See latest videos, charts and news
See latest videos, charts and news
She continued, “I don’t think I have to say sorry about the fact that I want to commodify my own s—.”
Ratajkowski agreed that having “control” over your own body image is important. Azalea added, “And I enjoy it. I’m going to do it anyway. That’s the thing. I’m going to post pictures like that anyway because I like it and I think they’re beautiful, and I like my breasts. F— sorry!”
The “Fancy” rapper launched her “Hotter Than Hell X OnlyFans” in January, which includes a $25-per-month subscription deal that promises “first-look access and exclusive content from the project,” which is slated to wrap up in December with the release of a coffee table book.
“I’m making so much money that I won’t say how much it is,” Azalea told Ratajkowski of her OnlyFans account.
Listen to Iggy Azalea on the High Low podcast here.
HipHopWired Featured Video
Iggy Azalea has sold her master recording and publishing catalog to Domain Capital for an eight-figure sum, a source close to the deal told Billboard. The wide reaching deal includes 100% of Azalea’s share of her existing catalog, including No. 1 hit “Fancy” (featuring Charli XCX), “Black Widow” (featuring Rita Ora), and “Problem” (with Ariana Grande), and it includes “an additional trigger” for Azalea to earn future revenue on master recordings.
The rapper’s discography includes The New Classic, Surviving the Summer (EP), and In My Defense and The End of an Era. Though she has previously released music under deals with Virgin EMI and Island Records, Azalea has since founded her own label. Called Bad Dreams, it was formerly distributed by Empire but is now in the midst of closing a new distribution deal with a different firm, the source says.
The independent rapper owns 100% of her Bad Dreams label, and she will be able to fully own her masters and publishing on all forthcoming music, starting Q1 2023. On the publishing side, she has an administration deal with Sony Music Publishing.
These days, the Australia native is living in Miami and working on her next album and raising her son, Onyx, whom she welcomed in 2020. She plans to release a full project sometime next year.
Azalea’s deal was revealed just weeks after Domain Capital announced that it closed more than $700 million in commitments for a commingle entertainment fund. In their press release about the fund on Nov. 1, Domain Capital added that it had already deployed more than $170 million in film, television and music investments to date.
“We are excited to launch our first diversified private entertainment royalty fund,” said Anthony Tittanegro, executive managing director of Domain Capital Group in the release. “At a time of sustained entertainment industry growth supported by an ever-evolving landscape of distribution channels, we are focused on building a diversified asset-base to generate cash yield and help maintain our investors’ capital.” The firm declined Billboard’s request for comment.
-
Pages