Azealia Banks came out as a witch on Twitter earlier this month. While most of the media has reduced this flurry of information to just another one of the Harlem-born rapper's feuds, the source materials may contain secrets to non-violent resistance in the ongoing civil rights battle. The "Broke With Expensive Taste" rapper theorizes that the answer lies in ancient secret knowledge.
"I'm really a witch," the rapper declared on Jan. 8, 2015. Two days later, on Jan 10, 2015, Banks took to Twitter to ask "What do y'all know about Gnosticism?" Gnostics belive that of esoteric knowledge is the key to saving the soul from the material world.
"So all I'm trying to say is that black people are naturally born SEERS, DIVINERS, WITCHES AND WIZARDS. we have REAL supernatural powers, and the sooner we ALL learn to cultivate them and access the them, the sooner we can REALLY fix shit. I'm really not joking. I'm so so serious," Banks explained in a series of tweets.
In her tweets, Banks claimed that "Aryans" have no magical powers and have historically oppressed "Blacks and Jews" because of their magic. The initial reaction to Banks' tweets were headlines like "Azealia Banks Wants To Kill White People With Her Inborn Witch Powers," playing into the feud mentality.
In another tweet, Banks talks about the "Melanin Theory." Wikipedia explains melanin is a "broad term for a group of natural pigments found in most organisms." According to the online encyclopedia, some people believe that "melanin bestows upon people of color superhuman abilities ... that can absorb electromagnetic radiation ... that can process information without reporting to the brain."
The rapper suggests that this can be used as an actionable form of protest.
"Seriously, once all YALL black people learn how to kill+sicken people without actually touching them the sooner we really get from under ... Whiteys foot.... Yall niggas think I'm playing," she tweeted. "I don't give a fuck if yall think I'm crazy, I know what I'm talking about. It's time to make them Pay."
But Banks was quick to point out that "Crackers and White people are not the same." She reassured her "beloved brothers and sisters who happen to be white.... It's never about you, I promise it's not."
Azealia will not let herself be easily defined. The rapper wants to fly in the face of the pre-digested ideas about the limitations of the art of hip hop. She sees the art as an ethnic genre and believes that outsiders don't truly understand it and are being colonial when they try to co-opt it. Banks thinks hip hop artists shouldn't even bother trying to play into their preconceived roles.
"Tell the white media that you're a voodoo king and you like to drink rooster blood and chew glass. Stop trying to get them to relate. LOL," she tweeted.
Azealia Banks introduced the subgenre "witch hop" when she released her "Fantasea" mixtape on July 11, 2012. Most people saw her character as a kind of mermaid. Banks' recent tweets explain that she gives thanks to Yemaya is the great mother who lives and rules over the seas in the Santerian religion.
Hollywood witch Marie Bargas suggests that everyone should learn psychic self-defense.
Banks is opening up a dialogue that the undergound paper Daily Offbeat wants to engage, rather than pigeonhole. Or maybe we're just under Azealia's spell.
