We have a woman named Kamaiyah on the Freshman list this year, and she?s all about not over-sexualizing herself and?
I don?t know, but you guys should have had Cardi B on the cover, to be honest. From what I see, hip-hop is very biased in general, and I can tell that certain people are picked because there are certain people in position, other people aren?t picked because maybe they won?t kiss a certain ass or whatever, but Cardi B should have been in the Freshmen for sure. I?m not trying to hate on Kamaiyah, I don?t know who she is, but I mean? you guys should have had me on the Freshman list. You should have had Cardi B on the Freshman list.
Okay, this is not going to be an XXL critique, but hip-hop media misses a lot of its own cues in curating itself. It kind of relies on these money marketing machines to curate hip-hop, or the money marketing machines are kind of relying on Black culture and they?re relying on us to set the tone. But money is money, and you know, money talks. I feel like there just needs to be a little bit more integrity with hip-hop media. I feel like it?s like, okay, we?re gonna support X, Y and Z random rapper just because they?re gay or just because she?s overweight or just because this person is? I don?t fucking know, whatever it is. You get what I mean? I feel like hip-hop kind of makes fun of itself a lot and leaves a lot of its good parts to kind of rot on the side.
Hip-hop often feeds into the gimmicks its given by marketing people or label people.
It turns into a huge fucking problem, because you see the culture and you see these great artists kind of die very early artistic deaths because they?re getting into the business of being the best impression of themselves. And that?s what?s happened to Kanye West, that?s what?s happened to JAY-Z, that?s what?s happened to a lot of rappers. That?s what?s happened to Nicki Minaj. Drake is doing his best impression of himself time and time again.
I love Eminem. Eminem gets it. When he doesn?t have anything to say, he doesn?t say anything at all. He doesn?t cloud the hip-hop music hemisphere, he doesn?t use his socioeconomic methods to cloud this sphere with himself just because he wants to kill whatever up next, popping thing is happening. You see Kanye do it all the time. He uses his socioeconomic leverage to latch on to some other young act when it?s like? you know, it doesn?t help culture go, because what you have is these same 10 faces at the front of every cultural movement. It?s not healthy.
Orograph
Orograph
What female MCs are you supporting right now?
I really, really like Cardi B. I followed Cardi B on Instagram before she started rapping and I was like, Oh my God, this girl just reminds me of all the girls I went to middle school with, all the girls I grew up on the block with, all the Dominican babysitters. I grew up with girls just like Cardi B. So I always thought she was funny, and when she started rapping, I was like? what is she doing? Then I heard ?Foreva? and I was like, Okay, this is really fucking good, she?s not playing. Then I heard a couple other songs and I was like, Oh shit, Cardi?s not playing! And now I?m a fan of Cardi B?s music and her personality.
I like Remy Ma too, I like when her whole brand isn?t anti-Nicki. I think she gets a little carried away with that. I don?t know, maybe I like Cardi and Remy just because they sound like home. Like I know that girl, that uptown, Manhattan, Bronx girl. I think that?s why I like them the most.
Do you feel like female MCs need to sexualize themselves now to get popping?
No? look at Young M.A. Look at DeJ Loaf. DeJ Loaf came out with a fitted and a gun, are you kidding? And we loved her. Da Brat came out with baggy shit all over. Queen Latifah came out with a fucking high-top and African garb and we loved it. It?s about the spirit of the person, it?s not about what they?re wearing. If you don?t have it, no matter what you put on, it?s not gonna fucking matter. No one?s gonna fucking care, to be honest. People nowadays aren?t that stupid. They?re not stupid anymore, they?re very aware.
How would you describe the music you?re making now?
The music I?m making now? I can feel myself maturing as a woman. I can feel myself becoming like my mother, in a sense. I can feel all of her tastes. All of the tastes she had when I was really young? I can feel myself appreciating all of those now. When I started rapping, rapping was my side hustle. Like my Cheapy XO thing [website]? I was just like fuck it, I?m just gonna rap and it might blow up and then I?ll start singing. I can rap or whatever, but if XO blows up, y?all can just have this rap shit [laughs], I don?t fucking care. But rapping was a side hustle for me, and I feel like I lost a lot of time?
I could have stayed on the little Broadway junket circuit and kept auditioning and whatever, but I started rapping and blew up as a rapper. The persona that I created for my rap self kind of helped me discover a lot of things about life and the world and all that other shit, because seriously, I wasn?t fully aware of my Blackness until I got famous. It was a thing but it wasn?t a thing. When you?re going to art schools and drama schools and you?re the Black girl, it?s kind of just like all the teachers cast you in the Black role, like they?ll pick scripts like Raisin in the Sun for you or just scripts that are written for Black people. You just kind of understand that as a normal thing, like I?m Black and they?re White but we?re all friends and we all get together and that?s fine.
I didn?t realize [being Black] as a thing that would hold me at a socioeconomic disadvantage until I got into a position to accumulate money or capital or equity or shit like that, and I would just see what I was being paid versus somebody like a Lana Del Rey was being paid. Back in theater school, I was the queen of the school because when you?re the Black talented girl doing really fucking well, everybody loves you, so you get rewarded the most. So I guess I came out of high school with this understanding that I am the best and nothing is beneath that, and to come into this other realm where socioeconomic leverage was a real thing. Because when you?re going to LaGuardia High School with a bunch of rich White kids, they can?t use their socioeconomic privilege to beat you out of a role. It?s all about talent and hard work, but when you get into the real world, X, Y and Z label can use their socioeconomic leverage to beat me into a fucking role, and it was very eye-opening.
You mentioned your mother?s taste influencing you more as you grow older. What are some of her tastes, or what were some of her tastes?
My mother really, really likes Ella Fitzgerald, and my mother really likes DMX and she really likes JAY-Z. My mother also really likes Whitney Houston and Janet Jackson, and she likes Billie Holiday and Etta James. She likes DeJ Loaf a lot, she likes Young Thug a lot, she likes Migos. My mother knows a little more about hip-hop than I do. She was the one that showed me ?Bad and Boujee.? She actually introduced me to Kodak Black. She showed me who Rae Sremmurd was, because I remember I had that interview and I didn?t know what they looked like, I just knew I liked their song, and she was like, ?No, Azealia. You gotta get into this.?
[My mother] knocks me off Spotify all the time. She loves DMX. She wants me to work with DMX and Chaka Khan [laughs], but not together. She wants me to do one song with Chaka Khana and one song with DMX. I?d totally work with DMX. Sometimes I play A&R, and I?ve had this vision of [Future?s] ?Mask Off? being a DMX song. Think about it. That?s so hot, right!? That?s fire as fuck! If ?Mask Off? came out as a DMX song? He would have been touring in Eastern Europe for the next 10 years. They love him over there. DMX has to come back. I don?t see it for this little XXXTentacion motherfucker. I don?t see it for him. I see it for DMX only. I love him, DMX makes me want to bash my head into the fucking wall, just tear all my hair out.
Are there other people you want to work with that you haven?t gotten to yet?
I do wanna work with Chris Brown. I really, really like Chris Brown?s artistry. I know, controversy, or whatever the fuck, but I really, really love Chris Brown?s music. And I think he has a really cool ear, and I would like to give him some options and see what he thinks of them. I think his musicality is intelligent enough to break away from that L.A. R&B sound, and I would like to do something with him like that, out of that lane.
I wanna work with French Montana. I wanna work with Styles P again, because I really like Styles P. Jay-O? and Mariah Carey. And Janet Jackson!
Do you have any plans to tour?
Well, I definitely want to put some new music out and then see what happens, sign a deal, get a booking agent and try and keep cool and not get in trouble so I can tour.
What are some of the obstacles you find yourself facing in the music industry today?
Just the media itself ?cause clearly, everything is owned by White people?I?m tired of talking about White people. These media conglomerates have this socioeconomic leverage, and they can orchestrate any industry, and any story or any happening the way they want to. The music industry isn?t the only one that?s subjected to it. Hollywood is subjected to it, tech world, everybody. It?s just the media in general. I feel like it?s everyone?s biggest problem.
Even for people who are succeeding at playing the media game. They?re always crying about how they feel stifled and all that other shit. I think in the coming years, [the media] is gonna prove to be very detrimental to society?s social and psychological health.
I think the media does a lot to chastise people into? or just micro-manage people?s aggressions and chastise people into forming opinions. Especially in America, where the media is such a big part of our culture. Because we really drag ourselves down into Prozac nation on fucking steroids. But nobody cares, I?m just the Black bitch from fucking Harlem [laughs]. I?m just a Black bitch from Harlem who only puts out one song a year. I?m joking.
Was there a big lesson that you walked away from Interscope with? Like after being in that system did you come to a realization or learn something you didn?t know before?
Actually, I didn?t walk away from Interscope. I walked away from Polydor. Polydor, they weren?t trying to put out my singles. They wanted me to do the ?ATM Jam? with Pharrell, and Pharrell felt like the controversy was too much, so he completely fronted on the whole thing. Meanwhile, that came out of my budget. It was $40,000 to get this beat from Pharrell, which was a leftover that he had sent to Mac Miller. He had wanted me to write it for Beyonc?. Basically everybody had this beat. I?m the only one who could come up with something for it, so Pharrell basically haggled my label into giving him the $40,000, and then he just ghosted on the entire thing.
So here I am stuck with this shitty single that I can?t promote because the guy who?s on the record won?t help me promote it, and that was supposed to be my first single. And that was Polydor. Polydor?s decision was to go with ?ATM Jam.? A long time ago, like a year before ?ATM Jam? came out, Jimmy Iovine said ?Miss Amor? was the first single. Now, Polydor was upset because they put all this money in the deal for me to move to London, but I made friends with Larry Jackson, and I felt more comfortable with Larry Jackson, so I just stayed in L.A. with Larry Jackson and Jimmy. That kinda caused a lot of tension with Polydor, and they used their power just to kind of fuck up anything. Jimmy Iovine literally said ?Miss Amor? was the first single, and Polydor just wanted to be contrarians, and they used their power like some bad sugar daddies. They used their power to say that ?ATM Jam? had to be the first single, and that?s why everything fell apart.
For so long I wanted ?Miss Amor? to be my awakening moment. And I still haven?t been able to have that moment. I wrote a script for ?Miss Amor,? I had a mini-movie, I rehearsed it. I had the girls, I had the choreography. All I need now, at this point, is the money to shoot this mini-movie that I wrote. But, I could have done all of this when I was on Interscope and had the budget, had Jimmy Iovine been able to do what he wanted to do with me.
And here you have everybody making fun of me because I got dropped. I didn?t get dropped. Actually, Polydor had to pay me to exit the deal. They had to pay me ?600,000 [$777,000] to exit that deal.
That?s crazy. Larry?s a cool ass dude.
Yeah, and it kinda sucks because had Larry, Jimmy and I been able to do what we wanted to do with Azealia Banks, Azealia Banks would?ve been a fucking star right now. It?s ironic because the U.S. side wanted to do all of the non-contemporary songs, and then the U.K. side was like, ?Oh no, we need another ?212?. You need to talk about pussy.? The U.K. side was trying to make me into some stereotypical, Black thing. Whereas Jimmy Iovine OK?d ?Liquorice? video. Here?s a girl singing about herself versus the world, the White man and all that. Jimmy Iovine OK?d that.
Jimmy Iovine was like my saving grace, but then his hands were tied because he was going to Apple, and I don?t fuckin? blame Jimmy, like, come on. He?s been doing this, dealing with fuckin? artists, his whole life. Of course he wants to go and sell headphones and be fucking married. I would fucking too, I would be like, fuck this shit. Like, you know how many times niggas probably tried to run up on Jimmy Iovine with a fucking gun? That man is done, he?s like, ?I?m done with you fucking rappers, OK? I?ve had enough of you fucking rappers.? I don?t blame anyone involved. And of course Larry left, like, go take that fuckin? job. Duh. Shit, but if I had the chance to do it all over again I would?ve signed with Larry and Jimmy and took half the money and just signed to Interscope. The reason I got so much money was because it was a joint deal. Everyone was fighting over Azealia Banks at that time. And of course I milked it! [laughs] But thinking back now, I would have just taken the deal with Jimmy and left the U.K. out of the deal altogether.
Can you imagine ?Miss Amor? coming out in 2013 as an Azealia Banks single? I still feel like there?s time for me to do a video for it and still do a film for it because there?s a cult following around it. Maybe it?ll be a hit after that. That was supposed to be the first single off Broke With Expensive Taste, and she never got her moment. I?m so artistically frustrated behind it, because I never felt like I got to tell the story about myself to the public, which is what the mini-movie was supposed to be. Everybody?s been narrating the Azealia Banks story except for Azealia Banks.
What?s your vision for the Cheapy XO brand?
My vision for the Cheapy XO brand is to really be like? You remember those old school, novelty shops in Harlem? Where you could go in there and get candy, get lanyard, get comic books, Barbie dolls, jacks, Silly Putty. You remember Hobbyland? I want Cheapy XO to be like Hobbyland. There?s a store in Japan called Kittyland that I?m really obsessed with. I fucking love Kiddyland, like oh my God, I just bust a nut every time I got to Kiddyland. But they have all these little cute anime things and anything you can think of, it?s like all of these little characters on it. And I kinda wanted to do my own Black girl version of that. I thought it would be cool to take that whole kawaii style and just bring out really interesting products, interesting themes. There?s soaps, there?s body peels on there. I want it to be like a Ricky?s kind of thing.
I want it to be fun, and most importantly cheap. I think I?ve found ways to not overcharge people for simple, basic things. An ingredient like retinoic acid is so cheap to buy, yet if you buy a product on a shelf with retinoic acid in it, it?ll run you $112. But my bar of soap is $10, and it?ll actually last you for a very long time if you use it properly. So it?s all about playing the market against itself, and just offering quality goods at really low prices. It?s important, especially since my fans are young girls. If you go to the beauty supply store, one pair of eyelashes are like $7. That?s a lot of money for one night of lashes.
There was a lot of controversy around your skin-bleaching.
Well, I actually do have one skin lightening soap. It?s called Miss Amor, but that?s not the whole point of the Miss Amor movie, it?s a completely different thing. Skin lightening products can be used however you want to use them, you know? If you decide you want to take this skin-lightening bar and rub it all over your whole body then fine. Most people? it?s a treatment for things that are related to the detention of dead skin cells.
So some people who are overweight may have a black ring around their neck, and they?ll put the soap on their neck and the skin will come off, and then they won?t use it anymore. Or someone will maybe have bacne, black elbows or black underarms, and they?ll put it on their underarms and it will sloth off all the dead skin cells. Again, if somebody wants to take the soap and rub it all over their fuckin? body, then that?s their prerogative. But the soaps are meant to be used as treatment, so you can use Miss Amor in your inner thighs. Some women have darkness in the inner thighs. Especially a lot of gay men, they feel really self-conscious about their genital area, like the butt, under the butt. In between the thighs they?ll have darkening from tight jeans rubbing, so they?ll wanna rub it in there and smooth the situation out.
For me, it?s not about changing the skin tone, it?s more about having uniformed skin. And when you saw me going through all the colors and the different skin tones, that was me testing the market myself. You need to test everything in the market, especially if you?re going to be doing this to kinda understand what the user experience is going to be like. I too have a little bit of a problem with acne flare-up due to a birth control I took, and my whole face just burst out. My face, my back, and I was just so desperate to get this shit off my face. So I started trying things. There were some things that made it worse, some things that made it better. But eventually, I just picked up an interest for it because I have my own problems to fix. And I started mixing things and making soaps, then I came up with these little formulas and I send them to a factory to have them made. A lot of people who are like, ?Oh, you make your soap?? They think I?m putting fucking sugar and salt in my bathtub. I?m not? well, I did at first, but I didn?t sell any of my soap, I just had it made by a factory.
I have products for men. Especially a lot of Black men who have ingrown hairs on their chins or the back of their necks. I have peels for that. People have corns, bunions, stretch marks. Just anything that relates to the retention of dead skin cells, Cheapy XO has something for that. Next phase will be eczema and psoriasis.
