S. Samuel
With Australian hip-hop newcomer Iggy Azalea continuing to gain a big buzz in the United States by teaming up with rap star T.I., SOHH reached out to Grand Hustle affiliate DJ Drama for his take on her grind.
Along with co-signing Iggy’s talent, Drama hinted at the Interscope Records rapper possibly ending up on his upcoming Quality Street Music LP.
“I definitely think Iggy has a lot to prove as a new artist,” Drama told SOHH. “I’m interested in her, I’ve seen some of her music videos as well as her music and I think there’s definitely some stuff I like. I think it’s going to be a very interesting year as far as what she’s going to accomplish and what she’ll be able to accomplish. I actually started paying attention to her last year. I think she has a lot of potential and she’s a very nice person from my interaction with her. I think she has a great story behind her. I wish her the best and look forward to working with her. I think she definitely has the potential to make quality music so don’t be surprised if she’s on [my upcoming album] Quality Street Music.” (SOHH)
A few weeks ago, Grand Hustle head T.I. officially added Iggy to his team.
“Tip reached out just to meet me, to say hello, and I found a position for him, conveniently, where he could be used,” Azalea explained. “And he was down with it; that’s the truth.” Affectionately referring to Azalea as “The Iggamonster,” T.I. also added his recollection of their first conversation. “I think her exact words were: ‘It’s very smart of you to call me because I’m going to be smashing sh– for quite some time now and no one will be able to breathe if they’re not on my team. So it’s good that you’ll be here, so you’ll have oxygen.” In addition to working with Azalea and Trae, T.I. also added British rapper Chip (formerly known as Chipmunk) to Grand Hustle Records. It’s set to be a big year for the Grand Hustle family. (RapFix)
Tip also recently spoke to Drama and came to Iggy’s defense in light of the XXL Freshmen ’12 drama following her award.
“Strategically if [Azealia Banks] really cares about a freshmen cover maybe she could hope that she’ll suck enough to get shelved and then next year when the freshmen cover comes back around, maybe she’ll still be a freshman,” Tip said, referring to XXL’s policy of Freshmen being qualified only if they have yet to drop their studio debut. “If you spend half of your day getting money and the other half of your day counting money, you ain’t got no time in your day to worry about nobody else.” (Drama Like The DJ TV)
Along with Grand Hustle, Iggy is currently signed to Interscope Records.
“I think they [labels] have things that they specialize in. Def Jam, I love. I was super close to signing with them. I think they’re just the best team. I think they’re really passionate about what they do and you can just tell that they’re so hungry over there. But then you look at who they’ve got signed to their label and it kind of makes you be like, ‘I don’t know. Am I going to be the guinea pig here for this?’ I don’t know. … I think once Jimmy [Iovine] saw that I was starting to pull away and be like, ‘No, I’ll just do my own thing,’ he was like, ‘What do you want lady?’ And I was like, ‘Alright, let’s cut the bullsh*t.’ … He’s crazy. He’s like, ‘You’re the next Tupac!’ I’m like you’re absolutely insane. But I love it!” (Billboard)
Check out a recent T.I. & Iggy Azalea interview below:
