Meet Iggy Azalea, the Street Smart Blonde Bombshell Behind "Pu$$y"

Categories: Live in L.A.

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​When 21-year-old Australian rapper Iggy Azalea was a preteen, she was obsessed with Tupac. She plastered her wall with his photos. She tried to recite his lyrics with his inflections. She visited the Seven Day Theory website religiously, but figured going to an Outlawz concert in Oz when she was 14 was the closest she'd ever get to the object of her affection. Her tortured teen heart might have burst if she'd known that she would soon be living in L.A., taking meetings at Interscope, and sitting in on Snoop Dogg recording sessions with Dr. Dre.

Last year Iggy began taking trips to L.A., invited to join her friend, producer Polow Da Don, in the studio. She attempted to write for other people, to varying success. Dr. Dre was working in the room next to them, and one day he asked Iggy what she did.

"I told him I rapped, and my hands were shaking under the table," she says, speaking to us at a downtown Yogurtland recently."I [performed] my rap and he said he thought I was good and should be called 'Fresh Heir' cause I look like an heir to the throne and was dressed up like a model. He let me come in to listen to Detox, and Snoop was doing his verse on "Kush." Inside I was just freaking out. I was like, 'Um, I used to watch your videos in Australia and wonder what Nike shoes were.'"

Despite those jitters, Iggy Azalea (her real first name is Amethyst, but she won't disclose her last) had been dreaming of this day since she was an eccentric little kid wearing fake Baby Phat and flashing a grill she bought at a flea market.

In early September, Perez Hilton discovered and posted the video for her song "Pu$$y." The visuals, featuring Iggy and friends suggestively slurping ice creams, were filmed in the territory of street gang Rollin 60s. She wasn't expecting backlash, but blogs have reamed her for the little boy in the video, hanging around her neck as Iggy raps about being "wetter than the Amazon." Her explanation for the odd casting is simple: A friend in the video couldn't find a babysitter for her son, who happens to adore Iggy.

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