In My Defense

After the massive 2014 hit “Fancy” and corresponding Def Jam debut *The New Classic* put this Australian expat on, tabloid drama and online controversy soon followed, portraying her as a #problematic hip-hop interloper. Now fully independent, Iggy Azalea fires back at her haters and naysayers with ferocity and fervor on this long-delayed sophomore album. From the jump, “Thanks I Get” goes right for the jugular, targeting the imitators who’ve risen in her wake with lines like “I’m the one that fixed your plate, I’m the one that gave you a meal.” Over an ominous music-box beat, “Clap Back” proffers a succinct if severe response to much of the criticism she’s encountered with bars such as “They call me racist/Only thing I like is green and blue faces.” When not savaging those who prayed for her downfall, she’s back in the full-throated sex-positive mode that made her one to watch in the first place, joined in this freaky endeavor by Juicy J and Kash Doll. All in all, Iggy’s done with trying to satisfy the masses, releasing this raw about-face that aims to change mainstream perceptions of her.

The Australian rapper returns with her first album in five years, sounding not just unrepentant but also tediously uninterested in growing or challenging herself.

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It’s been just over half a decade since Iggy Azalea’s debut studio LP ‘The New Classic’ hit retailers. In those five years,