Like countless other emcees, Iggy Azalea counts Tupac among her influences.

“I had two friends that lived down the road from me. They were older boys…and the older kids have the big music collection; they know what’s cool,” said Azalea in an interview on MTV2’s “Sucker Free.” “They played a Tupac song, ‘Baby Don’t Cry,’ with the Outlawz.”

The Grand Hustle artist continued, explaining how the song impacted her. “I just loved that song. I don’t know what it was. …That’s when I knew I liked Rap. I knew that I loved Rap music, I knew that I loved to sing along to the words. It takes a while before you have the guts to put yourself in their shoes and thing this is something I could actually do.”

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During the interview Azalea recalled trying to form a girl group. “I ended up being in this little…not really a group, but these other girls that lived down the street, they wanted to sing…and I could not sing. I was like, I could be the rapper. This could be like TLC. I’ll be Left Eye.”

“They didn’t take it serious; it was fun for them. I take everything I do serious. I’m too competitive.”

Watch the interview below:

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