Australian rap star Iggy Azalea calls America home after capturing the US music industry

AUSSIE rap superstar Iggy Azalea has become one of the most-talked about celebrities in America, and while she’s found herself back on home soil don’t expect her to stay.

Iggy Azalea in Sydney. Picture: Justin Lloyd

RAP superstar Iggy Azalea no longer thinks of Australia as home after capturing the US music industry and becoming one of the most-talked about celebrities in America.

Azalea, now 26, left the New South Wales town of Mullumbimby, when she was just 16 and moved to Los Angeles.

She left her real name Amethyst Amelia Kelly behind and ruthlessly pursued her fame and fortune.

“To be the best, you want to compete with the best,” she said.

“The people I saw back then who I saw in the charts, who were at the top of our charts, were American.”

Azalea has found herself back on home soil after taking on a judge’s role on Channel 7 talent show The X Factor. But don’t expect her to stay.

“I mean, to be honest with you, my home is in America,” she said.

“I’ve lived there for a decade, that’s where I live.

“It’s great to come back and visit my grandparents, but there is no home connection.

“It would be like you going home to where you lived when you were nine, I kind of don’t associate with that anymore.”

That gamble to leave her family and friends has paid off for the much talked about rapper.

Her biggest hit Fancy was a No.1 smash around the world in 2014, including the all important American market.

Iggy on the cover of the Remix magazine.

Australian-born rapper appears in a photoshoot with Elle Canada. Picture: Max Abadian

She has won MTV awards in the United States and Europe including Best Video or Problem and she has been nominated for 4 Grammys last year for Best New Artist, Best Pop Duo/Group Performance, Best Rap Album and Record Of The Year.

She didn’t win any Grammys, but she walked away with respect and credibility in the industry.

But Azalea doesn’t subscribe to any small country town girl made good storylines.

“I am proud, but I think anybody would be proud of the success that I’ve had, whether they come from a big city or a small town,” she said.

“It’s tough, no matter what.”

Azalea has become one of the most talked about celebrities in the US, not only about the music she makes but for her private life.

She was engaged to NBA basketballer Nick Young but that relationship dramatically broke up in June after Azalea revealed to her 7.12 million Twitter followers that she had caught Young with another woman.

A younger Iggy Azalea. Picture: Instagram

“I broke up with Nick because I found out he had brought other women into our home while I was away and caught them on the security footage,” she tweeted.

She admits social media can sometimes be “mentally exhausting” but a necessary part of who she is.

“Some days I interact with it more than other days,” she said.

“It’s not necessarily that I feel sad so I don’t want to go on there, but sometimes I will be just enjoying my own life, and I don’t feel like I need to share it.”

She said she has adapted to the fame game and all it’s ups and downs because she she simply had to.

“It was a crash course,” she said.

“It is what it is, I just accept it.”

The X Factor will start on Channel 7 soon.