Australian rapstress Iggy Azalea has been waiting for years to release her debut album The New Classic, and the day has finally come. The album is currently #1 on the iTunes Top Albums Chart, and her new single “Fancy” is still in the Top 10.
As a die hard Iggy Azalea fan myself, I’ve been waiting for an album from Iggy since she was doing YouTube freestyles a few years ago.
1.) Walk the Line
The New Classic starts off with “Walk the Line”; a track where Iggy raps about how she’s come from nothing to something and how she isn’t going to let anything or anyone get in her way of continued success. This track is a great way to lead into the album.
2.) Don’t Need Y’all
“Don’t Need Y’all” one of the 5 tracks that stood out to me the most on the album. If you’ve ever struggled getting somewhere in life and then once you got there everyone wanted to befriend you, Iggy knows your story. Throughout the track, Iggy talks about the struggles of her career and how she worked her ass off to make it, despite critics slamming her every chance they got. The chorus sums up the song pretty well: “I remember when I wasn’t this big, and now y’all wanna act like y’all helped me get here. Now everybody wanna love me – tried to knock me down, but I’m strong, did all this on my own…”
3.) 100 (feat. Watch the Duck)
“100″ is another selection that features Iggy’s confident attitude and trademark flow over a quick slapping beat. Watch the Duck adds to the tracks uniqueness and memorability. If you like clever, quick witted, raps with a little flare, this is a track for you.
4.) Change Your Life (feat. T.I.)
Another one of the single’s from this album, “Change Your Life” is a track that has Iggy teaming up with her Grand Hustle mentor T.I. On the track, Iggy raps about upgrading her beau’s life in all aspects: “I’m a new classic, upgrade your status from a standby to a frequent flyer” Iggy raps.
5.) Fancy (feat. Charli XCX)
“Fancy” is Iggy’s new hit single that has been climbing the charts to the delight of Iggy and her Azaleans. The fun loving track features Charli XCX singing about living in the fast lane, while Iggy rapping about her lyrical style and prowess. The video was based off of the cult hit “Clueless”, adding to it’s popularity among the masses.
6.) New Bitch
I’m sure a lot ladies have dealt with their boyfriend’s ex still trying to be in the picture due to their jealousy. Of course, Iggy understands and wrote a track about it. One line to further sum up the idea of the track has to be: “What I do can’t be compared, you well done and bitch I’m rare”.
7.) Work
“Work” is the track that gained Iggy a slew of new fans and changed some critics’ opinion of her. In the autobiographical track, Iggy talks about moving from her small hometown to moving to Miami on her own at the young age of 16 to pursue her dream. Her risk obviously paid off, and this track is a banger. If you were iffy about Iggy, listen to this track before anything else to understand where she’s coming from.
8.) Impossible Is Nothing
If you need that extra push to get you motivated to continue chasing your dream, “Impossible Is Nothing” is the track for you. Iggy tells listeners that there will be hardships on the path to greatness, but to push through it. One of my favorite lines in the song is: “It gets worse before it’s better, that storm you gon’ have to weather – either be a busted pipe or a diamond due to this pressure”. This definitely has potential to be another single for Iggy.
9.) Goddess
“Goddess” is the track where Iggy (rightfully) feels herself and raps about her talent and how critics who were once bashing her, are trying to befriend her. This track goes hard – the lyrics are great and the production is equally awesome. If you aren’t already on the Iggy train, do as the song suggests and “Bow down to a goddess”.
10.) Black Widow (feat. Rita Ora)
From looking at Twitter’s response to Iggy’s album, “Black Widow” is a fan favorite, and it isn’t hard to see why. The track features UK songstress Rita Ora on the hook in between Iggy’s slick verses. Katy Perry wrote on this this song, which would explain the constant comparisons on social media to her own single “Dark Horse”. The lyrics and mood of the song immediately stood out to me and made this track one of my favorites.
11.) Lady Patra (feat. Mavado)
While this track took a bit to grow on me, it had me hooked after about 6 or 7 listens. This track adds a slight reggae flow to Iggy’s album and most fans should be able appreciate it.
12.) Fuck Love
“Fuck love, give me diamonds” is how this hip-hop banger starts. Throughout the track, Iggy raps about not needing anyone to take care of her because she’s self made and how she prefers diamonds and cash over the idea of love. This is a track that I can definitely see being played in various clubs and even the radio.
13.) Bounce
Bounce was released last year as a UK single and did pretty well over there. In a nutshell, the track is about dancing, having fun, and of course, making it bounce.
14.) Rolex
Most know about Iggy’s past relationship with fellow rapper A$AP Rocky. “Rolex” gives listeners the details of the two’s breakup and shows Iggy’s more vulnerable side. “Was wrong too, but I see it now, that you don’t give a damn – I got you tatted, you took off before the ink dried on my hand. I was down to give you the world, instead you gave me hell. I lie and try to be perfect and I played myself.” Iggy raps.
15.) Just Askin’
To sum up this track, I’ll just use part of the chorus to give you an idea: “You wanted somethin’ more than what we had, what’s up with her? She ain’t all that – I’m not trippin’ on what could’ve been, I know it’s weird, I’m just askin’”.
Standout Tracks: Black Widow (feat. Rita Ora), Fancy (feat. Charli XCX), Impossible is Nothing, Don’t Need Y’all, Work
Overall: 8.5/10 - This is a VERY solid debut LP in my opinion, and the delays that fans (and Iggy) had to face were well worth it. I love that Iggy shows different sides of herself instead of solely focusing on rapping about how much is in her bank account. I am kind of sad that Iggy’s twerk anthem “Cheeks” got removed from the final tracklist, but hopefully Iggy will leak it in the near future.
Head over to iTunes to pick up the album if you haven’t already.