On men, dreams, twerking, and her style icon: Fran Drescher.

We met up with Iggy Azalea at the Island Def Jam office before the second of her New York City shows. Despite sharing the spotlight with hip-hop mogul TI last night, she held her own and brought explosive energy to the stage, twerk team in tow. Since coming to the states from Australia when she was 16 and living in Miami, Houston, Atlanta and Los Angeles, Iggy Azalea has released a collection of mixtapes and tracks with artists such as Steve Aoki and Diplo and is due to release her first full-length in September. In the meantime, we’ve got the scoop on what’s inspired her throughout her journey. -KIRA COLE

Were you always into hip-hop and rap when you were growing up?
I’ve always been into it. Not from birth, but I think nobody is really into a same type of music until, probably, they hit puberty and decide to do their own thing. And you want to wear not the clothes your mother gave you, and you want to listen to your own music and have your own style and be your own person. So from that point, I’ve always loved rap music.

What does your debut mixtape’s title, “Ignorant Art,” really mean?
I see an ongoing theme in my music as experimenting with rap and different styles of sounds and blending them. There’s this funny kind of culture in rap music of hip-hop purists who believe that rap music should sound one way, and that’s the correct or right way for it to sound–the “real rap” sound versus something else–and I think that something else sometimes gets labeled as ignorant. I think art can be ignorant or really crude. Basquiat was an artist that I based my cover off because I think his art was very crude and sometimes misunderstood. Crude not in a rude way, but in a raw way. Not polished. If I tell a story, then that’s real rap, but if I talk about vaginas, then that’s not art anymore. What is real rap? What is art?

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I’ve updated our gallery with some gorgeous new outtakes of one of Iggy’s official promoshoots taken earlier this year by the awesome Louie Banks! Check the beautiful pics in our gallery now:

PICTURES LINKS:
- Photoshoots from 2013: Louie Banks

Iggy Azalea surprised her NY fans yesterday by bringing out T.I. and Trae tha Truth at her sold-out show at the Bowery Ballroom — but before that she swung by Sway in the Morning and explained why she titled her album The New Classic and her desire to pursue rap.

This Grand Hustler also weighs in on twerking and whether her butt is real or fake. Watch her honesty below and enjoy Iggy’s acapella freestyle.

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Iggy performed at the Bowery Ballroom in New York City for a second sold out back to back show yesterday, June 17. You can view some pictures of the show in our gallery:

PICTURES LINKS:
- Performances from 2013: The Bowery Ballroom in New York City – June 17
- Candids from 2013: June 17 – At the Bowery Ballroom in New York City

You can watch some videos of the show by clicking on the link below.

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Iggy Azalea talks first items she wanted to buy before getting signed, being a white rapper in the industry, and having a crush on Danny Devito? Also T.I has a message for all Iggy Azelea and Grand Hustle haters.

http://www.hardknock.tv Exclusive in-depth interview with Iggy Azalea. In part 4 Iggy talks to Nick Huff Barili about how she fell in love with Hip Hop listening to Tupac‘s Baby Don’t Cry at age 12 and how she used to be obsessed with rap lyrics, making sure her and her friends were saying the right words. Her first attempt at writing rhymes was to impress a boy letting him know that he was the silver lining of her life. Iggy says that she felt very alone growing up in Australia because her parents had a bad relationship. In 5th grade her father left her a note at school saying he had left her which was the beginning of her isolation from people around her. Iggy was scared of her father growing up but now that she is older she gets him and they get a long well. Iggy shares that she was very depressed growing up and that music was the only thing that kept her going. Iggy had a lot of jobs to save money which included working at a supermarket, at a record store (before she got fired for stealing an Ashanti single) and cleaning houses with her Mom. Her Mom gave her $200 to go to a recording studio to record her first song, which meant a lot to Iggy because she knew how hard her Mom worked to get that money. Ultimately working with her Mom helped Iggy appreciate her Mom even more and brought them closer.

We have a lot more with Iggy! Tune in for part 5 of our conversation end of week exclusively at www.hardknock.tv