Azaria Monet Jones (born December 15, 1987), better known by her stage name AZARIA, is an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Azaria first gained public interest with the release of her first mixtape, Playtime Is Over, in 2007. She released two more mixtapes, Sucka Free (2008) and Beam Me Up Scotty (2009), before being signed to Young Money Entertainment.
Early Life
Born to father Hakim Michael Jones of African-American descent and mother Monica Yvonne Jones (nee Nguyen) of African-American and Vietnamese descent, Azaria Monet Jones lived a comfortable life in her youth. Due to problems with drug and alcohol abuse, her mother separated from her father when Azaria was a teenager and when he moved from Brooklyn to Queens, New York, Azaria chose to stay with her mother in Brooklyn, who owned and worked out of her own nail salon. She was the second child and only girl born to the couple.
Growing up, Azaria spent most of her time at her mother's nail salon and began working as a nail technician at the age of sixteen. She's often stated that working at the nail salon has had a lasting influence on her overall creativity and eccentric style choices. Freestyling was more of a hobby for her and grew out of a playful rivalry between her and her older brother who played an active role in New York's underground rap scene in his adolescence. She successfully auditioned for admission to LaGuardia High School in Manhattan where she studied acting. When her acting career failed to take off after graduation, she continued to work at her mother's salon until 2007.
Career
Although Azaria released three mixtapes on Dirty Money Records from 2007–09 (during which she was named Female Artist of the Year at the 2008 Underground Music Awards and one of her tracks "I Get Crazy" reached #9 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Rap Songs and #37 on Billboard Magazine's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs), her actual career began in August 2009 when she was discovered by fellow rapper Lil Wayne and was signed to Young Money Entertainment. She appeared on the singles "Bed Rock" and "Roger That" on the label's compilation album, We Are Young Money (2009), both of which peaked at #2 and #56 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. The album reached #9 on the U.S. Billboard 200 and was certified gold, which made way for Azaria to expand her career through features with Mariah Carey and Robin Thicke in that same year.
Her first solo album, Pink Friday, debuted in 2010 and quickly rose to #2 on the Billboard 200. "Massive Attack" was initially intended to be the album's first official single but was replaced by the second single "Your Love" after underwhelming commercial success. By the date of its official release, Azaria had become the first female solo artist to have seven songs on the Billboard Hot 100 at one time and the first woman to have appeared on MTV's Annual Hottest MC List.
Azaria released her second album Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded in April 2012 which was later expanded on and re-released with the subtitle The Re-Up. In that same year, she made her first film debut as the voice of Steffie in the animated film Ice Age: Continental Drift and joined the American Idol judges' panel during its twelfth season. 2012–13 proved to be pivotal years for Azaria's career. She became the most-charted female rapper in the history of the Billboard Hot 100 and was the first rapper to win the BET Best Female Hip-Hop Artist Award four times in a row.
Her latest album, The Pinkprint, was officially released on her birthday, December 15, 2014, and peaked at #2 on the Billboard 200 chart. Her second single off the album, "Anaconda", became her highest-charting single in the U.S. to date peaking at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. In December 2015, she received her first Grammy nominations: Best Rap Song for "Anaconda" and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for "Bang Bang" with Jessie J and Ariana Grande. As a birthday gift to herself and her fans, Azaria announced her third international concert tour titled after the album, which kicked off in March in Stockholm, Sweden.
Personal Life
Azaria has one older brother, Hakim Jones Jr., and one younger brother, Amir Jones. Both of her parents identify with differing religions, her father was once devout Catholic before falling under the influence of drugs and alcohol, and her mother remains Christian. She herself does not specifically identify with any one religion and has describe her religious views as a combination of religions including Christianity, Buddhism, and more. Throughout her career she has never expressed any political beliefs but recently expressed her support for Hillary Clinton's 2016 Presidential campaign via Twitter.
Growing up, Azaria spent most of her time at her mother's nail salon and began working as a nail technician at the age of sixteen. She's often stated that working at the nail salon has had a lasting influence on her overall creativity and eccentric style choices. Freestyling was more of a hobby for her and grew out of a playful rivalry between her and her older brother who played an active role in New York's underground rap scene in his adolescence. She successfully auditioned for admission to LaGuardia High School in Manhattan where she studied acting. When her acting career failed to take off after graduation, she continued to work at her mother's salon until 2007.
Her first solo album, Pink Friday, debuted in 2010 and quickly rose to #2 on the Billboard 200. "Massive Attack" was initially intended to be the album's first official single but was replaced by the second single "Your Love" after underwhelming commercial success. By the date of its official release, Azaria had become the first female solo artist to have seven songs on the Billboard Hot 100 at one time and the first woman to have appeared on MTV's Annual Hottest MC List.
Azaria released her second album Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded in April 2012 which was later expanded on and re-released with the subtitle The Re-Up. In that same year, she made her first film debut as the voice of Steffie in the animated film Ice Age: Continental Drift and joined the American Idol judges' panel during its twelfth season. 2012–13 proved to be pivotal years for Azaria's career. She became the most-charted female rapper in the history of the Billboard Hot 100 and was the first rapper to win the BET Best Female Hip-Hop Artist Award four times in a row.
Her latest album, The Pinkprint, was officially released on her birthday, December 15, 2014, and peaked at #2 on the Billboard 200 chart. Her second single off the album, "Anaconda", became her highest-charting single in the U.S. to date peaking at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. In December 2015, she received her first Grammy nominations: Best Rap Song for "Anaconda" and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for "Bang Bang" with Jessie J and Ariana Grande. As a birthday gift to herself and her fans, Azaria announced her third international concert tour titled after the album, which kicked off in March in Stockholm, Sweden.
2. I Lied
3. The Crying Game
4. Get On Your Knees
5. Feeling Myself
6. Only
7. Want Some More
8. Four Door Aventador
9. Favorite (ft. Jeremih)
10. Buy A Heart (ft. Meek Mill)
11. Trini Dem Girls (ft. Lunchmoney Lewis)
12. Anaconda
13. The Night Is Still Young
14. Pills N Potions
15. Bed Of Lies (ft. Skylar Grey)
16. Grand Piano
17. Big Daddy (ft. Meek Mill)
18. Shanghai
19. Win Again
2. Come On A Cone
3. I Am Your Leader (ft. Cam'Ron, Rick Ross)
4. Beez In The Trap (ft. 2 Chainz)
5. HOV Lane
6. Roman Reloadeed (ft. Lil Wayne)
7. Champion (ft. Nas, Raph, Jeezy)
8. Right By My Side (ft. Chris Brown)
9. Sex In The Lounge (ft. Lil Wayne, Bobby V.)
10. Starships
11. Pound The Alarm
12. Whip It
13. Automatic
14. Beautiful Sinner
15. Marilyn Monroe
16. Young Forever
17. Fire Burns
18. Gun Shot (ft. Beenie Man)
19. Stupid Hoe
20. Va Va Voom
21. Masquerade
2. Freedom
3. Hell Yeah (ft. Parker)
4. High School (ft. Lil Wayne)
5. I'm Legit (ft. Ciara)
6. I Endorse These Strippers (ft. Tyga, Thomas Brinx)
7. The Boys (ft. Cassie)
8. Va Va Voom
2. Roman's Revenge (ft. Eminem)
3. Did It On'em
4. Right Thru Me
5. Fly (ft. ISO)
6. Save Me
7. Moment 4 Life (ft. Raph)
8. Check It Out (ft. will.I.am)
9. Blazin (ft. Kanye West)
10. Here I Am
11. Dear Old Azaria
12. Your Love
13. Last Chance (ft. Natasha Bedingfield)
14. Super Bass
15. Blow Ya Mind
16. Muny
(2010) Monster, Kanye West/Jay-Z/Rick Ross/Bon Iver
(2010) Raining Men, ISO
(2011) Make Me Proud, Raph
(2011) Turn Me On, David Guetta
(2011) Where Them Girls At, David Guetta/Flo Rida
(2012) We Are (Theme from Ice Age Continental Drift)
(2012) Beauty and a Beat, Justin Bieber
(2014) Flawless (remix), Beyonce
(2015) Hey Mama, David Guetta/Bebe Rexha/Afrojack
Sun, Aug 2, 2015 Atlanta, GA United States Aaron's Amphitheatre At Lakewood
Tue, Aug 4, 2015 Charlotte, NC United States PNC Music Pavillion
Thu, Aug 6, 2015 Camden, NJ United States Susquehanna Bank Center
Sat, Aug 8, 2015 Burgettstown, PA United States First Niagara Pavilion
Sun, Aug 9, 2015 Tinley Park, IL United States First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre
Tue, Aug 11, 2015 Denver, CO United States Pepsi Center
Thu, Aug 13, 2015 Chula Vista, CA United States Sleep Train Amphitheatre
Fri, Aug 14, 2015 Concord, CA United States Concord Pavilion
Sun, Aug 16, 2015 Vancouver, BC Canada Pepsi Live at Rogers Arena
Tue, Aug 18, 2015 Calgary, AB Canada Scotiabank Saddledome
Wed, Aug 19, 2015 Edmonton, AB Canada Rexall Place
She can be accurately described as an aventurer, a word she chose to be described as herself, or a party girl in other words. Having a good time is always at the top of her list wherever she goes and she has become almost notoriously known for spending a large amount of her "downtime" in famous strip clubs.
Although she hasn't identified herself as a feminist, she has very strong opinions on the equal rights and treatment of women which she has no problem expressing.
