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Azealia Banks blames Pharrell for ‘ATM Jam’ performance

Azealia Banks brings her Mermaid Ball 2012 show from her native Harlem to the Fonda Theatre in Hollywood last year.
(Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)
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Another day, another Twitter target for Azealia Banks.

The Harlem spitfire has unleashed her vitriol -- in 140 characters or less – on everyone from fellow femcees Lil Kim, Iggy Azeala, Nicki Minaj, Dominique Young Unique and Kreyshawn to pop stars Lady Gaga and Lily Allen to blogger Perez Hilton.

Now the rapper has a new target: Pharrell Williams.

PHOTOS: Celebrity meltdowns

Banks has taken issue with the famed producer over their collaboration, “ATM Jam,” and on Tuesday tweeted this: “The reason ATM jam did poorly is because pharell changed his mind about wanting to be associated with me after he had his lite skin comeback.”

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Released over the summer, Banks issued the video – which doesn’t feature Williams, who performs the song’s hook – in late October. On Friday, Banks told her more than 350,000 Twitter followers that she was removing the song (she once claimed it was originally meant for Beyonce) from her serially delayed debut, “Broke with Expensive Taste.”

But her reference to Williams’ skin complexion was especially disturbing.

PHOTOS: Musicians’ onstage snafus

Banks has spoken out on colorism before, and once took ASAP Rocky to task, via Twitter, on comments he made about dark skinned women wearing bright colored lipstick. Although she removed the tweet in reference to Pharrell, a similarly terse sentiment toward light skinned men remained on her timeline.

Banks ended her rant with the question “Art or commerce?” – interesting considering she hasn’t taken a break from arrogant cyber bullying to deliver on the hype whipped up from her viral hit “212” and excellent EP “1991.”

If you haven’t listen to “ATM Jam,” which is slinky enough for a mid-day dancebreak, listen here (be warned, there is cursing).

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