Azealia Banks rarely holds back on her music opinions — case in point, her critique of Ice Spice’s Y2K! rollout. On Tuesday (June 25), the “Luxury” artist hopped on social media to share why she thinks the Bronx rapper completely missed the mark on the year 2000 theme.
“Somebody needs to tell [Ice Spice that] absolutely nothing about this — aesthetically, performance-wise [and] production-wise — is Y2K at all,” Banks wrote on her Instagram Story. “This is like VIM, early Nicki Minaj pack weave s**t. We need a new hair color and a new facial expression. Ice, I love you down, but you should press the halt button, drop David [LaChappelle], and re-do this. Big butts and BBL bodies are the [antithesis] of Y2K.”
In her subsequent posts, the Slay-Z creator shared what she believed were more accurate depictions of the era. The images included the cover for Liz’s Planet Y2K, Jennifer Lopez’s “If You Had My Love” music video and the artwork for TLC’s FanMail, among others.
Social media users seemed to agree with Banks, too. In the comments section of The Neighborhood Talk’s reshare, one person claimed, “A lot of these girlies who were newborns honestly have no idea what Y2K is supposed to give.” Meanwhile, another person stated, “Anybody born after 2001 really [needs] to sit this conversation out.”
Banks’ remarks arrived on the heels of Ice Spice sharing an alternate cover for Y2K! after the original was met with mixed reviews. Fans previously poked fun at the “Deli” hitmaker for putting the album title on a trash can. However, she later revealed that the creative direction choices were made on purpose.
While defending photographer LaChapelle on Twitter, Ice Spice wrote, “Thank [you] for all the incredible art you’ve put out through the years. This cover means everything to me [and] yes, ‘Y2K’ was placed on the trash can on purpose. Can [you] guess why?”