Album Review: Iggy Azalea - The New Classic

Australian-born, American-based Iggy Azalea has that hip hop juxtaposition thing down pat. You know, the one where rappers wax lyrical about both their previous struggles and current luxuries, making you feel for them but also kinda envious of their bank accounts? Her debut album is riddled with it, and comes full circle in this very manner.

Opener Walk The Line recounts the hardships Azalea's been through to get to this point. “I've been counted out/I've been stepped on”, she spits, in her rapid, feisty flow. It effortlessly rears its sassy head again, in complete contradictory fashion, on album finisher Fuck Love, where she punches out, repeatedly, “Fuck love, gimme diamonds”. Azalea might be following a formula that most hip hop artists do, but she's believable.

With every ounce of confidence she possesses, you know Azalea means it when she says “I'mma change your life/I'mma change it” on the aptly titled Change Your Life. And while it might not be completely obvious through the brash rapping and club-banger beats on display here, Azalea also wants to empower her fellow ladies – she's got their backs on Goddess and not surprisingly, her collaborations with female singers Charli XCX and Rita Ora respectively on single Fancy and potential hit Black Widow are highlights.

The New Classic isn't exactly what you would define as a “classic” album. But it marks Azalea's territory as more than just a hype machine and shows she's a force to be reckoned with in modern hip hop.