end of an era

It’s kind of wild to look back and realize that Iggy Azalea has had a longer rap career than anyone could have foreseen back when everyone was yelling at her over her “blaccent” (resurrected recently due to her “I Am The Strip Club” video) and making fun of that less-than-legible festival freestyle. But, all things eventually end, and for the last year and a half, the Australian rapper, who had her biggest hit in 2014 with “Fancy,” has been recording End Of An Era, her final album which dropped today. In a new interview with Billboard, Iggy explains why now felt like the right time to issue her swan song.

“I’ve been putting out projects for the last decade, which is a long time to professionally do anything,” she reflects. “Most people move up in their career or job chain slightly, and mine’s been the same for 11 years. I’m getting to a space where I feel that there’s not much new perspective I can bring to what I’m doing… at least not that I’d be comfortable with the world hearing.”

She also has some thoughts about how she’d like her career to be remembered. “I guess I would just like to be remembered as a trailblazer,” she hopes. “I experimented a lot with sounds, so remember me as someone not afraid to try new things and experiment — someone who brought fun and ridiculousness and escapism to the world… All I wanted to do was create a universe for some kid sitting at home and help them imagine themselves in the world of my videos. That’s the legacy I want for myself.”

End Of An Era is out now on Empire. You can listen to it here.

Hip-hop drama lightning rod Iggy Azalea is staging a comeback, and she’s already been turning heads with accusations of “blackfishing” in her video for “I Am The Strip Club.” Today, she shared the album artwork for her new project, The End Of An Era, and the visual pays homage to the 1983 film Scarface, where Al Pacino infamously portrays mobster Tony Montana. “Standard edition cover art to my album: The End Of An Era Releasing Aug 13 Can anyone connect the reference? I’ve been a bit tony obsessed since my first tour… ,” Iggy wrote in the caption.

This isn’t the first time the Australian rapper has made reference to Tony, either. On her 2018 hit “Kream,” which in itself was a reference to Wu Tang’s “C.R.E.A.M.” and samples their original track, she paraphrases a quote from Tony on the intro: “First you get the money, then you get the power, respect, hoes come last.” Of course, Mr. Montana himself isn’t quite as vulgar and says “women” but we’ll chalk that up to Iggy’s artistic license. And as fans point out, she’s even worn dresses with Tony’s face on them in the past:

If this is just the standard edition, then keep your eyes peeled for the deluxe. The album drops August 13.