Amethyst Amelia Kelly was born in Sydney and grew up in Mullumbimby, New South Wales. Her father, Brendan Kelly, was a painter and comic artist,^[13] while her mother, Tanya,^[14] cleaned holiday houses and hotels.^[15] Azalea lived in a house that her father built by hand from mud-bricks, surrounded by 5 hectares (12 acres) of land.^[15][16][17] She has two siblings named Mathias and Emerald Kelly.^[18] Azalea has also said that her father "made her look at [art] as a teenager", which has always influenced her life and work.^[15] She began rapping at age 14.^[17]Before embarking on a solo career, Azalea formed a group with two other girls from her neighborhood: "I was like, I could be the rapper. This could be like TLC. I'll be Left Eye."^[19] Azalea eventually decided to disband the group because the other girls were not taking it seriously: "I take everything I do serious [sic]. I'm too competitive."^[19]

In pursuit of her desire to move to America, Azalea dropped out of high school. She worked and saved the money she earned by cleaning hotel rooms and holiday houses with her mother. She claims to have hated school, which, apart from art class, only made her miserable. She also said she had no friends and was teased for her homemade outfits.^[20] Azalea traveled to the United States in 2006, shortly before she turned 16. She told her parents she was going "on a holiday" with a friend, but eventually decided to stay and shortly afterward told them she was not coming back home: "I was drawn to America because I felt like an outsider in my own country, I was in love with hip hop, and America is the birthplace of that, so I figured the closer I was to the music, the happier I'd be. I was right."^[21] She recalled, "My mum was crying, saying, 'Just be safe.' I was thinking, 'I'm going by myself. I'm fucking crazy!'"^[22] After she arrived in the US, she received her General Educational Development (GED), and resided in the country on a visa waiver for six years, returning to Australia every three months to renew it. Azalea worked in the US illegally until February 2013 when she was granted a five-year O visa.^[23]In 2018, Azalea was approved as a permanent U.S. resident.^[24]

When she first arrived in the United States in 2006, she stayed in Miami, Florida, and afterward lived briefly in Houston, Texas. Azalea settled for a few years in Atlanta, Georgia, working with a member of the rap collective Dungeon Familynamed Backbone. During that period, she met future collaborators FKi and Natalie Sims.^[25][26]She said people would laugh at her because "they thought my raps sucked", but having grown up getting laughed at, she was able to shrug it off.^[20]Meanwhile, she had met someone from Interscope Records who encouraged her move to Los Angeles during the summer of 2010. Interscope would eventually go on to manage her for a brief period of time.^[21][20] It was during this time that she adopted her stage name, which she created from the name of her childhood dog, Iggy,^[27] and the street she grew up on, Azalea Street, where her family lives to this day.^[28] She also started making stop motion animated videos with freestyle rap because she felt like she had found her sound.^[29]

On 27 September 2011, Azalea released her first full-length project, a mixtape titled Ignorant Art, saying she made it "with the intent to make people question and redefine old ideals."^[30] Her song "Pussy" was included on the mixtape, alongside guest appearances from YG, Joe Moses, Chevy Jones, and Problem. In November 2011, she released a music video for her song "My World", directed by Alex/2tone. The video features a cameo appearance from character actor and former wrestler Tiny Lister, which earned her more attention due to its rising popularity online.^[31] "It's supposed to have like, all the ridiculousness of a big-budget '90s video, but then chopped and screwed", said Azalea, of the video.^[32] In December 2011, Azalea revealed she would release her debut studio album, The New Classic, as soon as she signed a major record label deal: "Once that's sorted out and I establish an overall sound and direction for the album, I will be able to know what artists would make for a dynamic collaboration."^[33] On 11 January 2012, Azalea released the music video for "The Last Song", her third video from Ignorant Art.^[34] In an interview with Billboard, released on 27 January, Azalea hinted at an Interscope Records signing, while also revealing hopes of releasing The New Classic in June, and for her debut single to precede it in March.^[35]

Azalea reached out to rapper T.I., for the direction of her debut album. T.I. was set to executive produce The New Classic, soon after a phone call the two had. At the time, Azalea was eyeing a summer release for The New Classic: "Hopefully if all goes to plan, my album will be out in June and I'll have it recorded by the end of the month."^[36]However, after Interscope did not allow T.I. to be an ongoing part of her deal, Azalea opted not to sign with the major label and stay independently signed to Grand Hustle Records, until the release of her first album, which had then been postponed.^[37] In early 2012, Azalea was featured on the cover of XXL, as part of its annual "Top 10 Freshman List", along with fellow up-and-coming rappers French Montana, Machine Gun Kelly, Danny Brown, Hopsin, and Roscoe Dash.^[38] On 1 March 2012, T.I. announced he signed Azalea to Grand Hustle Records, along with rappers Chipand Trae tha Truth.^[39] On 26 March 2012, Azalea posted "Murda Bizness", the intended lead singlefor The New Classic, on her YouTube account. The song was produced by Bei Maejor and features a verse from her Grand Hustle label-boss T.I.^[40]

In April 2012, via her Twitter feed, Azalea announced plans to release an extended play (EP) entitled Glory, later in May: "I'm just onto something right now, the last two weeks and it's glory. Azaleans need something new."^[41] Also in April, Azalea starred alongside Grammy-nominated producer Diplo and FKi in the world's first fully interactive shoppable music video for Canadian fashion retailer, SSENSE.^[42] In May 2012, it was confirmed by T.I. on MTV's HipHopPov that Azalea had not yet secured distribution for her deal with Grand Hustle Records, and was described by T.I. as a "free agent". It was later revealed in the interview that she was in negotiation with labels other than Interscope, possibly Def Jam Recordings (wherein Bu Thiam, whom of which originally placed a bid to sign her is VP of A&R).^[43] Azalea was also featured on Steve Aoki and Angger Dimas' collaborative electronic track "Beat Down", which was released on 31 May 2012.^[44]

On 24 June 2012, Azalea released "Millionaire Misfits", the second offering from her EP Glory; the first being "Murda Bizness". On 21 July, the official music video for "Murda Bizness" was released online. Glory, although not released in May, as it was originally scheduled, was released 30 July 2012. Azalea was also one of the acts on MTV's 2012 Closer to My Dreams Tour, along with Tyga and Kirko Bangz.^[45] On 28 September 2012, Azalea announced she would be releasing her second mixtape on 11 October 2012. Titling it TrapGold, the mixtape was produced entirely by Diplo and FKi. She later premiered teaser visuals for the track "Bac 2 Tha Future (My Time)",^[46] On 9 October 2012, Azalea made her US national television debut, appearing alongside T.I., B.o.Band other Grand Hustle artists in a cypher at the 2012 BET Hip Hop Awards. Later that month, she embarked on yet another North American mini-concert tour with Roc Nation singer-songwriter Rita Ora, on her Ora Tour.^[47] Azalea then headlined a tour in Europe to support TrapGold.^[48] On 16 December 2012, Azalea performed live alongside Natasha Bedingfield and Bootsy Collins, covering Deee-Lite's 1990 hit disco song "Groove Is in the Heart", on the annual television series VH1 Divas.

In January and February 2013, Azalea worked on tour while still working on her upcoming singlesand summer release of The New Classic. She was the opening act for Rita Ora's Radioactive Tour, in the United Kingdom.^[49] As part of her set for Ora's Radioactive Tour, Azalea premiered her commercial debut single "Work", which also serves as the lead single for her debut album. The single premiered on BBC Radio 1Xtra on 11 February 2013.^[50] On 13 February 2013, it was announced Azalea had signed a record deal with Mercury Records.^[51] The music video for her debut single "Work", was directed by Jonas & François and released 13 March 2013.^[52] In March 2013, Azalea also joined renowned rapper Nas, on the European leg of his Life Is Good Tour.^[52] On 15 April 2013, Vevo announced Azalea as its second LIFT artist of 2013 and that she would film live festival performances, fashion and style pieces and behind-the-scenes interviews as part of the eight-week-long campaign. It was also revealed that the music video for her second single, "Bounce", would premiere on Vevo at the end of the month.^[53] On 16 March 2013, it was announced that Azalea would perform in the benefit concert "Chime for Change", scheduled to take place on 1 June in London, alongside Beyoncé, Jennifer Lopez and others. On 23 April 2013, Azalea announced that she had signed a solo record deal with Island Def Jam.^[54] On 26 April 2013, "Bounce" premiered on BBC Radio 1.^[55] She also noted that the third international single taken from her debut album would be entitled "Change Your Life" and feature a verse from T.I. Azalea also confirmed that she was not signed to Grand Hustle Records; however, heavily affiliated with the label.^[56]

On 25 May 2013, Azalea performed an acclaimed carnival themed set on the In New Music We Truststage as part of Radio 1's Big Weekend in Derry, Northern Ireland. The setlist contained songs from previous EPs and album material such as "Bounce" and "Work". The show was the start of a short set of UK pre-album promotional appearances.^[57] In June 2013, Azalea confirmed that the album was nearly finished and that the release was expected in September 2013.^[58] On 29 July 2013, Azalea revealed she will be opening for Beyoncé on the 17-date Australia leg of her Mrs. Carter Show World Tour in October and November.^[59] The third single from The New Classic, titled "Change Your Life", was premiered by BBC Radio 1Xtra's MistaJam, on 19 August 2013.^[60][61] On 3 October 2013, Azalea made her first appearance on BET's 106 & Park, where she was interviewed and performed "Change Your Life", alongside T.I.^[62][63][64] Her debut album was slated for an October 2013 release, but in an interview with Australia's Herald Sun she revealed that due to other commitments such as supporting Beyoncé on her Mrs. Carter Show World Tour, her record label would not allow her to release The New Classic until March 2014. She said: "The official date? Fucked if I know! It's done, it's so depressing to say this but it's the beginning of March, it's so far away but I just have to accept that." She explained the reasons behind the delay: "It was supposed to be October but obviously I'm going on tour with Beyoncé and they said I'm not allowed to put an album out while I'm on tour because I'll be trapped in Australia and I won't be able to do any TV appearances and I thought that's fair enough, that's three weeks and then they said 'You can't put an album out around Christmas time, that's a bad time' and I said 'What about January?' 'Well nobody gets back off holidays and then it's the BRIT Awards, you can't release an album, it's terrible for marketing' which brings me to February."^[65]