Iggy Azalea Biography

Iggy Azalea is a native Australian who moved to the United States at 16. Her real name is Amethyst Amelia Kelly. Born on June 7, 1990 in Sydney, she started rapping when she was 14. She dropped out of high school, feeling like an outcast and constantly being bullied due to her homemade outfits.

Instead, she joined her mother to clean hotel rooms and holiday houses. From her work, she eventually saved up some money and used it to go to the States. She initially told her family she went on a vacation with her friends before she called later to tell them she was not coming back.

For years, Iggy had to leave the country every three months to renew her visa waiver. While pursuing her passion in music, she worked as a model and once served as a face of Levi Jeans. She eventually gained recognition from her viral music video on YouTube before releasing her first mixtape in 2011.

Her career continued to flourish. In 2012, she was featured on the cover issue of XXL magazine's annual Top 10 Freshman, becoming the first female and non-American rapper to reach such feat. Her debut EP, "Glory", soon followed, and it was executive produced by none other than T.I..

She was lined up with Tyga and Rita Ora for some MTV-sponsored tours, and took part in a number of coveted events including the annual VH1 Divas concert. On top of that, she opened for Beyonce Knowles for the singer's Australian leg of Mrs. Carter World Tour.

While touring the world, Iggy was hard at work to complete her first full-length album. "The New Classic" is finally ready to be launched on April 21 under Virgin EMI and Island Def Jam. She collaborates with T.I., Rita Ora, and Mavado. Her single "Fancy" peaked at No. 5 in U.K. and No. 37 in U.S. It's her highest-charting single and her second U.K. Top 10 after "Change Your Life".

"I think people think of classic and they think of a Nas record or a Jay-Z record or The Chronic, what makes something classic is when you hear it and you have that moment that is a time capsule. When I say 'The New Classic,' I just want to make records that give you that moment for fans that they can remember where they were when they heard it," she explained.

"The New Classic" debuted at No. 3 on Billboard 200 chart, marking it the highest-charting female rap album since Nicki Minaj's 2012 album "Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded". She additionally logged the highest bow for a female rapper's debut album since Nicki's "Pink Friday", which was released in 2010. Aside from her own album, Iggy was featured on Ariana Grande's "Problem" as well as Jennifer Lopez's "Booty".

Following the success of her debut album, Iggy released a reissue of the effort titled "Reclassified", which was released on November 21. Featuring five new songs, the album peaked at No. 16 on Billboard 200 chart. Iggy was supposed to embark on a tour called "The Great Escape Tour" in support of the album, but the tour was later canceled due to "different creative change of heart."

After announcing the title of her sophomore album "Digital Distortion" in October 2015, Iggy released the project's lead single "Team" on March 18, 2016. Her album was initially set to be released in June, but Iggy announced that she had to delay the release to 2017 after ending her relationship with Steve Bartel, the CEO of her label Def Jam.

In the following year, Iggy released the second and third single off the effort, "Mo Bounce" and "Switch", on March 24 and May 19 respectively. However, the two singles didn't do well in music chart and led her label to push back the release date of her album again. This prompted Iggy to take to Twitter to rant about the delay before signing with a new label called STS in November. She later confirmed that "Digital Distortion" was scrapped and announced a new EP called "Survive the Summer".

The first single off the project, "Savior" featuring Quavo, was released on February 2, 2018. After releasing the single, she announced on June 8 that she had to postpone the release date of the effort due to the changing president of her record label, Island Records. She then released two tracks off the project, "Tokyo Snow Trip" and "Kream" featuring Tyga, on July 5. "Survive the Summer" is due out on August 5.