Azealia Banks changed ''in a good way'' when she started taking drugs.

The 22-year-old rapper split from her much-older boyfriend when she found fame and though she initially slipped into a ''deep depression'', she began experimenting with mood-altering substances and enjoyed the effect they had on her.

She said: ''He got into jealously and all that. So once we broke up, I went into this deep, deep depression.

''I was doing a lot of drugs. And I went to a lot of places with myself. I saw a lot of things in other realms. My circuitry started to switch. In a good way.

''Those things, they knock the crust off your third eye. Just like, wooooo - you can see ghosts and s**t.''

Azealia was 17 when she began dating the 43 year old and he didn't like her partying because of his own past experiences with substance abuse.

She added to NME magazine: ''I was a little girl. Everything he said was like what I had to do. And he was very controlling.

''He didn't want me to do drugs because he'd had a substance problem and been to rehab. When '212' came out, I'd barely had a beer.''