The Red Bulletin Oct/Nov 2020 (US)

“You have to be headstrong, believe
in yourself and be comfortable with
making your own mistakes.”
athletic. I told one of the girls on varsity,
“I’m gonna take your spot,” and I did. I
always had that competitive edge to me.
It made my determination, my ambition
and my ability to persevere. It made me
mentally tough, and in this industry, you
have to be mentally tough.
At what age did you know that you
wanted to be a rapper?
Definitely when I was a sophomore in
high school, because these boys are
rapping in class. I was like, “OK, y’all
cool, but I’m gonna go home and write
my own rap.” So I came back and when
I spit my shit in Algebra 2 the whole class
went crazy, so I thought, “Wow, maybe
I could do something like this.”
In college you started rapping from
your car on Instagram. Were you like,
“Let me try this out and see what
happens,” or were you actively trying
to make it big?
It was like, “I can’t afford the studio.” As
a new artist, it’s sometimes very difficult
when you’re not blessed with a great
engineer. When you are inexperienced
and a new artist, you sometimes don’t
know when you’re dealing with a weak
engineer because you’ve never done it
before. I had a rough start because
[my first] engineer just outright sucked.
I was like, “I’m tired of wasting my
money, and I’m gonna just record online
because everybody knows I wanna rap
so I’m just gonna start posting it.” That’s
why I was using all of these classic beats,
because I didn’t have any connections to
any beatmakers.
A lot of new artists struggle to get
their songs on the radio and the
charts, but “Icy” went viral, “My
Type” was a hit, and “Tap In” keeps
getting bigger and bigger. What’s your
formula?
You know what, girl? I have no secret
formula. When I meet upcoming girls,
whether it’s Tay Money or Mulatto,
because I did hop on their songs, I try
to share as much as I can, because I feel
like I made a lot of mistakes early in my
career because I had no guidance.
I loved sharing what it took me to get
to this point. You have to be headstrong,
you have to believe in yourself, and you
have to be comfortable with making your
own mistakes. I can’t sleep at night when
I do something that someone told me to
do. I didn’t even believe in it, but I didn’t
have the courage to make my own
decision. And then I have to take it to
the chin because I took so many other
people’s advice.
Work hard, develop a great team and
make sure that they’re the right team.
Just because you have a team doesn’t
mean that they know what they’re doing.
Get the right mentors. You should always
have someone to go to who can be
insightful, who can play devil’s advocate.
I do my own treatments. I pick my
beats. I co-produce a lot of stuff. There’s
a common denominator between great
workers and artists, and nothing that
I’m doing is new. Anytime someone asks
me something, I’m always excited to
share, because if I could save someone
the time that wasn’t saved for me, I’d like
to do that.
Women in rap have been making
the most interesting music lately, but
there’s a sentiment that there isn’t
enough space for them to exist equally
and be successful. What do you say
to that?
The numbers prove that that’s a lie. [An
identifier] that I would love to just be
removed from the conversation is “for a
girl” or “for a female rapper.” Like, we’re
just rappers, and our fanbases, our charts
and our numbers all prove that we’re
equals. I used to hate the comment—
especially at USC—“Oh, you’re pretty for
a Black girl.” No, just say I’m pretty. I feel
like it’s a backhanded compliment and
although “for a female rapper” isn’t as in
your face, you’re still telling me that
female rappers aren’t doing their part.
But we are. And we have to do that, plus
more, because we have to get our weaves
done, we have to do our lashes, our nails.
You know that shit takes five to six hours
a day. That’s a lot. And lots of money.
My overhead is somebody’s tuition per
month, so quit playing with us because
we really go hard.
Some people have an unfair tendency
to underestimate or simplify a woman
who looks really good, but you’ve
embraced your beauty. Has that ever
made you feel like you’ve had to prove
more or go harder?
Pretty privilege has been associated
with my brand, but if anything, it’s
been a hindrance. When people see a
“pretty girl,” they associate her with
being mean, with getting her way all the
time—but my lifestyle was the exact
opposite of that. So I didn’t want to shy
away from it. I’m a bad bitch, so I’m
going to be proud of it and give that
power to my fans.
And a lot of people—especially
men—are upset by women rapping
about their bodies. You have lyrics,
like in “Pretty Bitch Freestyle,” where
you definitely are celebrating your
sexuality.
I can attest to a moment like that. I
remember when I did the song with Kid
Ink and Lil Wayne, “Yuso,” and I was so
proud of this moment. I was like, I’m
gonna hop on that nasty song because
I got some shit to talk. And I always
tell myself if I’m gonna be nasty, I’m
going to be like Missy. I love Missy and
Missy’s nasty, but she’s gonna make you
laugh with it. I worked really hard so
that my bars were creative, fun and in
my opinion, tasteful. When “Yuso”
dropped, I got negative responses like,
“Oh, she’s the college girl,” or “She’s
classy, she can’t be talking like that.
Wow, she just ruined her brand and
her career.”
30 THE RED BULLETIN