In this week's Billboard cover story rapper Iggy Azalea talks rapping about "Australian Things", Tupac Shakur, matching The Beatles on Nos. 1 and 2 on the charts, and preferring to stay in "old people" hotels.
SHE DOESN'T WANT TO RAP ABOUT "AUSTRALIAN THINGS",
"We get so caught up, especially in rap, with what's authentic, and I wish people would think more about what the f- that even means," says Azalea, 24. "One critic was like, 'Why didn't you talk about more Australian things?' I don't understand why I'm supposed to write a song about living in the outback and riding a kangaroo to be authentic."
TUPAC GOT HER INTO RAP.
Like many many many before her, Tupac Shakur inspired Azalea to become a rapper. She was 11, and the song was Tupac's "Baby Don't Cry." By 14 she was writing her own raps and hanging out at clubs in Sydney. "When I first started rapping, I thought I'd move to the city [Sydney]. But when I got there I was like, 'These people are still not my people.'"
A NO. 1 AND 2 SONG? MATCHING THE BEATLES? MEH.
She is the first act since The Beatles to have her debut Hot 100 hits ("Fancy" and "Problem") reach Nos. 1 and 2 on the chart simultaneously. "It doesn't mean anything," Iggy says. "I'd rather be The Rolling Stones."
SHE PREFERS OLD-PEOPLE HOTELS.
"I want to stay in a place where 50-year-old rich people stay," she says. "It's not that I care who's around me - I just don't want anyone around me. And if it's an old rich lady, they're usually pretty quiet and disgusted I'm even here, which I like."
