A timeline of Iggy Azalea's world domination in 2014

2014 will always be remembered as the year that everyone hate-rapped along to Iggy Azalea’s now-infamous lyrics: “First things first, I’m the realest.” Iggy’s single “Fancy” stayed atop the Billboard Hot 100 chart longer than any other song by a female rapper in history. The song was streamed more than any other on Spotify, making it the most-listened to song in the U.S. And if you were to add up all the think-pieces, hot takes and Iggy analyses produced by the Internet in 2014, you’d have enough material for an entire book.

So how exactly did Iggy Azalea go from a buzzworthy Australian rapper best known for dating A$AP Rocky to complete world domination in just one year? Here’s a timeline of The Year in Iggy.

January

Iggy started off the year by laying down a “freestyle” (more on that later) called “Animal Noises.” Demonstrating the lyrical virtuosity that is now her trademark, Iggy drops lines such as “Bitch you look like Miss Piggy/We like ‘Where the hell is Kermit?'” and “I can’t stand next to a basic/Cause ain’t nothin about me basic.”

She also announced the release date for her debut album, The New Classic, which took dead last on Complex’s list of the 50 Most Anticipated Albums of 2014.

February

Having made public her relationship with NBA player Nick Young, the duo landed the coveted GQ title of “The NBA’s Coolest, Freakiest Young Couple.”

Photo by Anders Overgaard

Iggy also released the audio of her instant smash single, “Fancy,” featuring Charli XCX.

March

This was the month that Iggy dropped video for Fancy, which became the most-viewed video of 2014. For all the hate Iggy got throughout the year, the Clueless-inspired video was widely praised as a masterpiece of nostalgic imitation:

April

After months of anticipation, The New Classic was finally released in April to tepid reviews. Iggy did the media run and revealed (disturbingly) to New York’s Hot97 that she can’t crowdsurf at her own shows anymore, due to the fact that men in the audience try to finger her.

May

This was a big month for Iggy. She rapped a verse on Ariana Grande’s massive hit “Problem,” and combined with the buzz from the viral success of “Fancy” she quickly became the most inescapable artist of the summer.

She also appeared on Jimmy Kimmel to laugh (along with everyone else) at the ridiculousness of her own lyrics:

June

Iggy hit a rough patch in June. She was accused of racism and cultural appropriation while rumors swirled that she didn’t write her own material. Nicki Minaj called her out indirectly while accepting the BET Award for Best Female Artist, saying pointedly: “What I want the world to know about Nicki Minaj is when you hear Nicki Minaj spit, Nicki Minaj wrote it.”

July

Here’s how slow July was in Iggy World: major news included Vin Diesel’s announcement that she’d have a cameo in Fast and Furious 7 and Weird Al parodied her song.

August

August brought us one of the greatest Iggy moments of the year, maybe of all time. While performing during the pre-VMA show in Los Angeles, Iggy channeled Wile E Coyote and stepped clear off the stage, falling into the crowd below. Not easily deterred, she kept spitting fire as she was brought back on stage by security.

September

This one was a mixed bag. Iggy got the coveted New Yorker treatment, but was also forced to deal with threats to release a sex tape allegedly starring Iggy and an ex-boyfriend.

She also embarrassingly messed up another live performance, this time on stage with J. Lo in Chicago:

October

Iggy and Snoop Dogg got into it in October. Snoop posted a series of highly offensive Instagram photos:

No stranger to social media beef, Iggy addressed Snoop’s mocking Instagram posts with now-deleted Tweets, calling him out for being two-faced:

Snoop took another shot and pointed out Iggy’s uncanny resemblance to the Wayans brothers in White Chicks. The rapper embraced the comparison and turned it into one of the best celeb Halloween costumes of the year:

November

Iggy won her first “major” award this month, beating out rappers like Drake and Eminem to win Best Hip Hop/Rap Album. Since it had been weeks since her last high-profile celebrity battle, Iggy used her acceptance speech to respond and to call out Eminem for being an irrelevant old man and a pig:

December

True to form, Iggy went out with a bang in 2014. This was the month of her most epic Twitter battle yet, sparring with rapper Azealia Banks about issues like race, authenticity and cultural appropriation. The two have a long-standing rivalry dating back to 2012 but things reached an all-time high when hip-hop legend Q-Tip jumped in to give Iggy a little history lesson. Here’s the first of his nearly 40 Tweets:

https://twitter.com/QtipTheAbstract/status/546372626252570624

Finally, making it just under the wire for 2014, an incredible video of Iggy attempting to freestyle on Sway in the Morning resurfaced in late December. Sway asks his guest to spit a few bars, a suggestion that clearly takes Iggy by surprise. The result must be seen to be believed:

The botched freestyle provided fodder for an endlessly entertaining series of reimaginings:

Here’s hoping that 2015 brings us as much Iggy news as we were blessed with this year.

Alexandra DiPalma is a producer for Fusion Lightworks, Fusion’s In-house Branded Content Agency.