So I’m not really clear what makes a mixtape, which means Azealia Banks’ real “debut album” is still to come (in a few months apparently). But in non-marketing reality, this mixtape Fantasea is her first real statement.
Banks became known off one single that hit on YouTube (“212” has 40 million views). That single was indicative of what shows up on Fantasea: the wild techno beats mixed together with exciting drops, her graphic raps, sexy flow, her youthful exuberance. Occasionally she sort of drifts into cartoon character territory, but that’s just part of the fantasy.