Bahja Rodriguez Interview: From Teen Pop Star to Solo Artist / Entrepreneur

People lose their fing minds in this. When you're pouring your heart and soul into music and you feel like people is like s*** on you or are trying to like undermine you or stop an opportunity or block a blessing, you know it will kinda like throw you off and really make you feel like you're losing your mind. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the One More Time podcast. Oh shit. Oh shit. I'm Playback Ben here with my co-host, Henry with a three, because Henry with an E was already taken by someone. Fuck that guy. What a loser. Henry, who do we have in the hot seat today? Welcoming in on our 97th interview. We're getting close to a hondo. Almost at that honcho. Wow. Almost the full century of uh one more time. Yes. Singer, songwriter, actress, entrepreneur. You know her straight out of Atlanta. It's Sierra. Sierra. She was hearing all the accolades.

Like, yeah. Because when you say actress, I'm like, hello. What movies am I in? Yeah, they just threw that one, didn't they? What's up with Russell Wilson? Why is he trash all of a sudden? What's your hubby doing? God dang. Oh my god. No, in all seriousness, we have pretty much all those accolades that are true, maybe minus the acting. I don't know. It might be on the way though. I mean, I've acted before, but like small. But it wouldn't be one of your accolades. It wouldn't be on the resume. yet. It wouldn't be like, oh, like I just did a super big movie. It's not on your Wikipedia page. For sure. So we have Bahja about to drop the Rodriguez, maybe. I don't know, but right now we're calling her Bahja Rodriguez. Beja. Um, former member of the teen pop group, the OMG girls. And she's top two, and she's not too. But I need to ask you this, all right. So I'm I'm Googling Bahja Rodriguez, of course, doing my research because that's what I do. How to pronounce.com has an entry for your name. Wow. Oh, really? Yeah. But guess what? That's cool. That's how you know you've made it. But how are they pronouncing it right? wrong. It's wrong. It's wrong.

Yeah, I figured. If I would have gone by that, I would have been, Bahja. Yeah. Bahja Rodriguez. Do you know what's so funny? Like growing up, actually, my mom intended for it to be Bahja. And when I went started going to like school, my teachers would just pronounce it like Beja. And so I think it just kind of stuck. I liked it better. I mean, I don't even remember my mom calling me Baja because now she calls me Bahja too, unless she's trying to be like funny. She was like, well, it's really Bahja, but I'm like, no, it's not. Wow. So it actually, yeah, you caved to the pressure. Yeah, I mean, for me, I just felt like, you know, I don't know. Like, I feel like Bahja's cuter. It has it has Bee in the front, which is cute. Yeah, like it's cute. It's a nice thing to play off of for sure. A little mic adjustment. Yeah. She good. From Playback. It's super cool. Yeah. So you could probably guess because you know, I was explaining I'm 32 years old. I'm a I'm an older, whiter gentleman. Right. Much whiter. Henry, were you familiar with the OMG girls prior to like doing I had all the posters?

No. No, I didn't. I was like, holy shit. I don't know. Maybe that wouldn't have surprised me. But so, you know, I was explaining, I actually became familiar with Bahja at her uh opening performance for Three Breezy and KB Mike at the masquerade here in Atlanta. And I was blown away. I was like, yo, this girl, she's got stage presence. Thank you. She's got crowd control. She's clearly got pipes. The girl can sing. Thank you so much. Your fit was killing it. You were just looking like a fucking rock star up there. Oh, man. Thank you. So I was I was like chatting, you know, off off stage with your you know your management uh team, Ahmad, and I was like, Yeah, we gotta get on the pot. So oh man, I appreciate that. Thank y'all for having me. I'm excited. Of course. Yeah, yeah. Appreciate you coming on. So um, so yeah, for you, like what's a pre-show ritual? Um, so pre-show, I love to like have tea, and I love for it to be very quiet. I don't like a lot of loud noise or hustle and bustle around me because I feel like in my mind it's already going like a mile a minute.

But like we'll do like, you know, sound checks, stuff like that, make sure everything is like all good. And then I just drink like I mean, probably a bunch of cups of tea. Like at my last show, I probably had like four or five cups before I went on stage. Hot tea? Yeah. Yeah, that's what the singers need. Um, you know, and that's pretty much it. Like my family comes back there and like my friends and stuff, and they kick it with me, and that's really it. But so I'm always curious this too. It's like, what's what's your perspective going into being an opener for a show, right? Like, what are you trying to accomplish? You know what I mean? Like, what's your mindset like? Performing for people who potentially, you know, probably aren't there to see you necessarily. Yeah, I mean, I think for me, it's always just about like putting on a good show and making sure that people kind of like are like, okay, who's that girl? I want to look her up, I want to know more about her. Like, I um always say all the time, I'm like, I love to do live performances because I like to see how my music affects people, especially people who don't know my music or know who I am, like, and they're listening, you know. So my goal, like going out there is really just to one, set the tone for the rest of the show, you know, get the crowd ready to see the main act or whatever, and also, you know, get people familiar and acclimated with me, who I am as an artist, and you know, really touching them, you know, with my you know, vocals or with my songs, literally going out and like just touching as many people as you can.

Well, no, no, I no, not like that. It's probably frowned upon at most venues. I don't know. God, don't touch me, Follow me on Spotify. You know, but it's just like I I think for me, it's just really trying to get people engaged and like who I am and what I'm doing. And that particular show was really dope. I was able to meet a lot of people and get a lot of people familiar with like who I was. So I enjoyed it. Yeah, yeah. So how would you rate it? Scale one to ten. How'd you think you did? Um, yeah, I thought I did amazing. I I think it was definitely a 10, especially for my vocals. Um, because I really, really practice hard on that. I really like to make sure that I sound exactly like my songs or better, you know, when people come see me in person to make them want to go listen to my record. So that's pretty much um how I how I did. I think I did great. I have a question about performances because I was going over this with an artist that I've DJed for recently. Okay. And we're always going back and forth on like, you know, does he need an in-ear? Yeah. Um, do we want like effects on the microphone? Like an auto-tune or like a reverb type of effect.

Do you have anything like special like that? Or how do you set it up? For this particular show, I didn't have any ears, but my best friend, and also like he does like engineer for me and like my sound and stuff, Kyron. He was telling me, um, he's like, you know, you really should come and get your ears. But I kind of wanted him to be there actually, because it was his birthday, so he had went out of town, but I wanted him to be there when I actually used the ears because I mean the sound guy, the in-house sound guys were great, but it's just nothing like having like your own sound guy. We don't put tune in the mic though. Um, I know people do put tune in the mic, but I don't have tune in my mic. Um, and I know there at that show, they did a little uh reverb on the mic, but it wasn't any like actual vocal effects, I guess, outside of just like the reverb. Okay. And I'm assuming you don't have two best friends named Kyron, right? No. So it's the guy sitting right there in the building. Okay. I was like, shout out to Kyron. He's getting referred to like he's not sitting here, but I guess She's a professional. She's media trained, bro.

That was that was incredible the way she handled that. Oh man, thanks guys. So you mean the guy over there? Yeah, no, Kyron is with me a lot of the time, and we also like write together too. Like, you know what I mean? So, like, especially like in my earlier days of just doing my music, like that was like the first person who showed me how to like start structure a song and how it actually is supposed to go. So we've really been building with one another since like 2015, maybe. Um, that's like my brother, though, you know, we family. So you gotta have that person. Yeah, you really have to have like those. It's like you know how like Drake has 40. Yes, like it's like he's my 40s. Yes, you know, like it's like we're best friends, we worked well together, we like just are super involved in you know what each other has going on, and he's really such a big part of like my sound and what I do. So neither one is as great without the other one, exactly. Yeah, that's just so so underrated of having that type of person or people ideally, right? Like multiple people around you that are gonna, you're gonna feed off them and their energy, and they're gonna feed off, you know, you and and you know what you have going on. Because some people, I don't know if it's like an ego thing or whatever, but some people think that they can do this shit on their own.

To be fair, we are in a very DIY type of world now. You can actually do a lot of this shit on your own, but there's certain things that's what I was gonna say. Like, does it I feel like right now though, it's important to still have people involved who are qualified to do the job that they do. Like, I have my own setup at home, and yes, I can go home and I can record a record if I need to, but at the end of the day, I don't put nothing out unless Kyron touches it. You see what I'm saying? So it's like, I think for me, and especially right now, like we have to get more comfortable again with like people playing a position and actually reaching out to people who this is their sole role. Because I feel like as an artist, when you're trying to be like the artist, the manager, you're on the sound and you're on the marketing and you're on the PR and everything else that comes with it, like you kind of get lost in the sauce. You know what I mean? So I think it's important to have like my team isn't super duper big, but it's like I got the the guys that I need around me, the people I need around me to help me execute what I'm trying to do. Like I couldn't be me without you know the team that I have.

Yeah, for me, the reason a team exists is not only because people that do a certain role very well might be able to do it better than you, right? But even let's just hypothetically say you can do all those roles equally as good, right? Yeah, at the end of the day, you only have so many hours in each day. The art is going to, it's gonna suffer. Yeah, like you're gonna make worse music. Decision fatigue is a thing. Like if you're having to make every decision about everything, you're gonna start to lose focus on what's actually For sure. And and just literally hours in the day. that too. When are you going to make the next hit if you're worried with the press behind a hit, the marketing of it, the mixing of it, the mastering of it, the production of it. If you, you know, because yeah, an artist can hypothetically do all those things. Yeah, but I I just think that like you're just significantly putting yourself at a disadvantage for sure if you are trying to do all those things. Now, don't get me wrong, don't just fucking bring people into your circle just for the fuck of it, right? You know what I mean?

Like be selective, right? Because these are people that you're trusting with your art and your vision. For sure. So it's important to like be a little, you know, you know, I guess like weary of like who you bring around. Yeah. But at the same time, if it feels right, which like clearly this has been working for it sounds like a long time now, almost, right? Yeah. Like keep that shit going. Yeah, no, for sure. I think uh consistency is key. Like uh everyone around me and who's a part of like what I'm doing, they've been around me for a while. So I think like, you know, we stay consistent, we consistently put out like great art and great music, and you know, even in like their own personal respective fields, like everybody is like turnt. So, you know, I think it's just kind of cool that when we do come together, we really create something, you know, like beautiful and worth listening to, and it's you know, pretty amazing. Yeah, absolutely. So if you had to describe like the biggest difference in performing as a solo act, yeah, versus like hitting the stage with your OMG girls back in the day. Like, what what's the big other than of course the obvious there's one of you versus you know, multiple, like well, what's kind of the biggest, you know, thought process change or like mind shift.

I think for me, it's like when I was in uh the group and I would perform, we were able to kind of lean on each other. You know what I mean, in terms of like energy or you know, like I always said we were such a great group because each one had what another one lacked. So it was like when we came together, it was just super perfect because we all really complimented each other. But I think the biggest difference is like being on stage and keeping a crowd engaged, and it's just me. Like it's not them. Like typically I don't have dancers. Like most of the time I'll perform with my band, but for this particular show, I was just like, you know, I I've performed at that venue before. So my band was there the first time I performed, and it was real tight on stage. So I was just like, you know, I kind of gotta go out here and really wow people without all the extras. And um, I think that's the difference. You know what I mean? Like, we were super fun, high energy, lots of choreo, real colorful hair and colorful sparkly outfits and stuff like that. And, you know, our energy was just high all the time.

But I think now, me as a solo artist, like, I mean, I can dance, but dancing is not just something I'm like, oh, I gotta dance. You know, what I mean? you were getting it on stage. Don't fucking play with her in her dance moves. Thank you. Thank you. She was vibing for sure. Thank you so much. Yeah. I love hitting the gritty. Yeah. It kind of reminds me of, you know, I was a big tennis player growing up. And I preferred to play doubles. Okay. Because of kind of what you're saying, in that I liked being able to feed off of my partner. Yeah. Right. When I played singles, I'm in my head. Yeah. I'm psyching myself out. If I start getting negative and you know, down and out because I'm I'm not playing well, it's tough for me to alone internalize like getting myself going again. So that sounds like a fuck ton of pressure being a solo act, especially having had the experience of being in a group. For people that start off performing by themselves, they might not know that, you know, you know, any different. But for you who came from like being able to look left, look right, and like your girls are there to to kind of pick up where maybe you're you're lacking for sure.

All the eyeballs are on you all the time. Yeah, yeah, you're up there. And it's and and low key, it kind of is like nerve wracking and a little pressuring. But I mean, I think that because I've been performing just on stage, period, for such a long pretty much all my life, I've been on stage, even before I was an OMG girl and school recitals and everything else. I constantly was like singing and on stage. So being on stage, I think it doesn't bother me. Um, like how it I guess would bother other people who may have like been doing it for the first time or whatever. So I think that's kind of the difference. But I still like to have a blast. And the cool thing is like they still come to my shows and support. So, you know, it's like they're not on stage with me, but they're there, if that makes sense. Yeah, no, that's that's fire. So if you were to sum up the OMG girls era of your life in one word, how are we describing it? Um colorful. Colorful, colorful, but not just with the hair and the clothes, but just like even within the lessons I learned, like the the business decisions that were made. I think everything was very colorful.

And what I mean by that, it was just different. You know, it was a lot of different things happening. Um I became an adult very early on just because I mean when you're in it in the industry, you can't not be an adult, you know, you're having adult conversations about finances and business and decisions and things like that. And so kind of being a kid, you know, just like go out the window a little bit. Yeah, like, you know, you don't really have a childhood like how everybody else has. Like it's not parties, it's not, you know, things like that. Like we were on the road all summer, pretty much every summer while we were a group. So we were never home and you know, it's stuff like that. But I think that, you know, I learned so much from that time period. And a lot of that stuff has really just made me who I am. The criticism that I got, good or bad, the things that would um go on, you know, while I was on the road, like and and not even like oh, it just used to be so much like bad shit happening, but you know, you just learn so many lessons out there, you know, and just you learn how to work with a team, how to convey your thoughts in a way where you're not being like aggressive or off-putting. And I think it was just a very um, I learned a lot during that time.

I'm grateful for that time because I learned so much stuff that like literally you can only get from experience. Like you can't even buy, you know, what I learned. So that's huge. Do you worry at all about the the stigma around like child stars? Um I don't how negative that can be for some of them. Yeah, you ever catch yourself like going down a rabbit hole on the internet about like all the crazy stories that happened to people that like went crazy? Shia LaBeouf's in the news again? I mean, you know what's so funny though? I see um Hilary Duff's doing some crazy shit. I love Hilary Duff. Me too. Me too. you know, I think that for me, I was blessed to have my mother on the road with me. And we had such a family type bond within our team that you know, by the grace of God, nothing traumatic or bad ever happened to me or us in this industry, you know, just growing up and being young. So I am grateful for that. And I feel like our introduction into the industry was different because we came in and it's like, okay, like this is Tiny's group, and we're on, you know, the family hustle. And you know, so it was just kind of I don't want to say easy, but it was just kind of like we kind of came in a different type of way.

Like we already had respect based off of like who we were attached to. So I don't really worry about like that stigma. If anything, I feel like the the hardest part is just kind of like breaking, you know, out of that and wanting people to just be like, okay, like, no, she's a dope solo artist, da da da. Like, I want to get it to one day, like people they talk about OMG, but they really talk about like what I'm doing, you know, as a solo artist. But then I look at somebody like Beyonce and I'm like, we can't even talk about Beyonce without talking about Destiny's Child, because that's where she started. That was their platform. So, you know, I think that um it's it's pros and cons with it, but luckily, like I'm not one of these like child stars who were like on drugs or you know, like just wilding out. I'm always going to jail and in the media and stuff. So it's it's you know, I I don't really worry about it because I feel like I'm not one of those kind of kid stars, but I feel bad, you know. No, but you know, honestly, she's not. I thought that was why we booked her.

Shit, I was hoping to hear some like crazy scoops. Yeah, nah, I mean, I'm not like listen, the whole like what everybody else be going through, I've never really been invited to like crazy parties or anything. Those child star parties, you have the Hollywood orgies and stuff like that. No, oh my gosh, no. I mean, like, I'm I'm not saying that those things don't go on, I just don't know about them. And like I again, my mom was so overprotective of me with stuff like that, that I think it was just even if something like that was like going on, or somebody let's say was trying to invite me to something like that, it was like I couldn't go anywhere without my mom knowing where I was at, even while I was an OMG. I mean, I had my own car, everything. Like financially, I was an adult, but still in my house, like I was definitely like a teenager, a regular teenager, gotta check in with your parents, gotta let them know where you're at. Like, can't really do too much crazy stuff. So my upbringing was still kind of, I don't want to say strict, but like my mom was very stern about certain things. Shout out mom, shout out my dukes.

Keeping shit in in line, keeping it in check. Yeah, for sure. Shout out to her because that that could have been, you know, it probably could have ended way differently. It could have went a different way. Yeah, so for those that don't know, you were kind of alluding to this, like the OMG girls was basically I found this so fascinating. I don't even know if you like, you know, knew this or tell me or like read the notes, but like you realize that it was just supposed to be like for an episode type shit, bro. Yeah, it was yeah, I did read that. Okay, yeah. So, like for me, going into it thinking that it was gonna just be for like this episode, right? Like, you know, Auntie Tiny calls you up and is like, yo, bae, like I need you for this thing I'm doing on this show. Y'all are gonna be in this group, whatever. Like, did you have any hopes that it was going to um like progress from there? Or what point did you realize that it was a real thing? I mean, honestly, like I I knew that everybody was saying it was for an episode, but when all of us like got together, like the four of us, me, Zani, Reginae, my little sister Lordis, like I just knew I'm like, this is something so special. And I had never felt, I mean, I was like 12 at the time, but I never felt so strongly about anything like that.

And so I'm just like, nah, this is this shit is gonna be beyond the episode. Like, I don't even think y'all understand. You know what I mean? Like, how- So you were gonna take it into your own hands borderline, like even if they didn't keep it going, you're like, yo, we're a group now, motherfuckers. Yeah, like I mean, I just we all were so passionate about it though. I think that's what was so cool. Like each girl really, really wanted to do it. And once it aired, like we were getting instant bookings, like skating rinks and birthday parties and like little one-offs and charity shows and stuff like that. So it just it kind of like just exploded, like once the episode dropped, like my aunt was like, shit, we're gonna have to do this shit for real. You know what I mean? Like, Damn, shout out Tiny. What did I just do? Big shout out, Tiny. Yeah, nah, she's incredible. That's crazy. But you know, it's just it was definitely like a big thing. And then we all contributed so much. And even our moms, like with like I know for me personally, like my mom used to do all our shoes, like glitter out our shoes and our shirt. She would stay up till three, four in the morning, like glittering shoes and glittering shirts.

And, you know, she would color my hair. So anytime y'all ever see my hair like pink or anything like that, like my mom always colors it. Um, and everybody's mom was just like super duper involved in what was going on. You know, obviously Neek's mom is like, you know, she was the music piece and the one who put us together, you know what I mean? So she was definitely always giving out some tough love and hey, we gotta get this shit in order. Y'all gotta sound right, y'all ain't gonna go out here sounding a mess and looking a mess and um I thought that was so funny seeing that like feedback of just Tiny being like, what the hell's going on in here? These girls aren't singing right. You know what I mean? Like, what kind of bullshit is this? It gave that though, and honestly, I'm I'm grateful for it because I feel like right now in the industry, we're in such like a yes man time. You could post something and it could be complete garbage, but people on the internet are gonna gas it, or and if they gas it enough, a label will come in and put money behind it. And I feel like, you know, what made the 90s and before then so great in terms of just music in the industry is like you really had to be talented in order to be on a worldwide stage. You couldn't just be mediocre or just kind of good.

Or have one good song. exactly. You had to be actually a good artist. And so just that I don't even want to say criticism, but just that um I would say that constructive criticism and the tough love, it really was important because now as an adult, it doesn't matter, you know what I mean? With anybody, I would rather somebody tell me like this shit looks a fucking mess than to let me go out and look a mess and sound a mess, you know what I mean, on stage. So it just kind of in the back of my mind, I'm constantly thinking, like, okay, like I need to make sure my vocals is on point and make sure I look good, I sound good, I'm doing good. Um, and you know, that's the difference. Like when I talk about the things that I learned that money can't buy, it's like those are the those kind of things. Like that type of criticism from like a Grammy Award winning, multi-platinum selling, uh singer-songwriter, you know, people can't even pay for that type of mentorship. You know what I mean? So it was uh definitely really cool to be around and you know, learn about and shit like that.

Hell yeah, absolutely. So what did your friends think, right? Yeah. When you were like, yo, like, yeah, the school shit, like so like I'm not doing that anymore. My friends. You know what I mean? Like what did your like your childhood friends think? Well, see, my childhood friends, they always knew that I loved to sing. So I think everybody kind of expected for me to end up in a situation where I was singing. But when I got to like middle school, because we came out of I came out of school in the 10th grade, but when I got to middle school, you know, I think, you know, the show was on TV at the same time I'm in school. So everybody's thinking like this is a real group, but she's really on TV, and you know, like this is really fucking cool. And then of course, like, you know, you had the people, like, I had a lot of people at that time who kind of wouldn't want me to sing, or like it always be like, oh, you're always singing, like you're always walking around singing and singing along and stuff, and da-da-da-da-da. You never stop singing, but it's like now, like that's my job, and I get paid to do it, and you know, like I don't really know what they have going on, but much love to them, you know.

Nah, fuck them. I'm hearing that like nah, fuck them, bro. Yeah, like I mean, but I think too, you know, that's a part of like just again, like you gotta have thick skin in this industry. People gonna doubt you. People doubt me right now. Like people in school doubted me. I don't really think, you know, people saw the vision, but my friends who were my friends, like to this day, because like all my friends, I've known them for so long. So all my friends already knew what time it was. They're supportive. They're gonna post about it, listen to it, put their other friends on to it. And you know, I'm blessed to have uh childhood friends that really do support me. It was just kind of like, you know, people at school, I guess. It's kind of a way to kind of wouldn't. It was like weeding out the fake ones, it was just like an accelerator early. Yeah, like, all right, I'm figuring out who's who, yeah. Right now, yeah. No, I'm I'm just you know, kind of hearing you talk about like you do have to have thick skin and this shit. Like, and I think you've talked, you know, you maybe like tweeted about her maybe in another interview, I can't remember about like the music business. Like, you know, there's a difference between music and the music business, and you're like very aware of like that that like dynamic, yeah, right?

Yeah, and you know, it's it's like because people lose their fucking minds in this. Like when people put their personal feelings into this music business, like I know people who have literally lost their minds because they can't handle maybe the stress or the pressure of like trying to be great and you feel like you're not really accelerating at the way that you should. And it's like when you separate it and you're like, okay, like I love to do music, but this shit is also a business. But anything that anybody does in this business, I can't let it personally affect me and my emotions. It's like people have a really hard time doing that, especially artists, and even with me, like it's something I've learned over time. I wasn't always this way, but it's like when you're pouring your heart and soul into music and you feel like people is like shitting on you or are trying to like undermine you or stop an opportunity or block a blessing, you know, it will kind of like throw you off and really make you feel like you're losing your mind. So I think that's why I just constantly have to tell myself, like, okay, this is you love music, but this is a business, and you can't be tripping out about the business.

And then for me, low-key, it kind of is worse because typically, you know, I have a stigma, well, not I, but women just in general in this industry, and especially black women, we have a stigma of like being emotional or irrational, you know. So it's like when you're kind of conducting business, and I still believe this is like a male-dominated industry, you know, it's like um you can't really be emotional. You can't cry about it and scream about it and yell about it because men are just gonna be like, I don't want to deal with that, and I could just go to this girl right here who's just gonna do whatever the fuck I want to, you know what I mean? So you kind of have to figure out like how you want to conduct your business and you want people to take you seriously and not look at you like you know what Beijing man, like you know, she gonna cry about that shit, she gonna be mad, you know. Like, you don't want people to have anything like that to say. So I think that's kind of why I moved the way I do, yeah, you know, within this. Yeah, it's interesting. So we had Jetson Mays manager uh TP. Do you know TP?

I know who TP. Okay, yeah. So we had him on the pod, and he quoted Drake saying something about like in this business, this shit's always personal. Biz this business is personal. Yeah. So it was very, it was kind of contradicting your uh, I guess, thought process. What do you think about? And this is Drake saying it, and and TP explained it of like if you do some shady shit, like I'm not a corporation, like I'm me. Yeah. And if you fuck up a business relationship with me, it's personally impacting me and my family and my ability to provide. And so it it the way he put it, it was elegant. Yeah, like I'm not, I'm not doing a good job at all. I'm butchering the fuck out of it. No, but the the general consensus was basically that like since you are a business, like Bega Rodriguez, basically, like your music business is you at the end of the day. And if people are impacting, you know, your business, that is directly like hitting you. You know what I mean?

You know, it does, but also too, and like not even just with TP or Drake, but they're men, you know. And so with men, men can be emotional and get upset and take business personal in this industry and still have opportunities. As a woman, I could make the wrong man mad based off of what I say, and he could blackball me and my shit, it's over. That's you know sad. as fuck. But that's, That's the reality of it. You know what I mean? Like you can make the wrong person mad and really like your career could be over. And we've seen it time and time again in this industry with women in the industry. So it's like, I feel like unfortunately, men have the luxury of being able to express emotion and it doesn't really affect their business. Like, you know, somebody like a um like a Drake or like a Kanye, you know what I'm saying? Like they can kind of lash out and say whatever they want to say, but they're men. So, you know, this is a male-dominated industry. It's gonna be another man who like fuck with him.

But if I as a woman make multiple producers who were men mad or multiple execs and stuff like that, people gonna be like, oh, the bitch is crazy. I don't want to fuck with her. You know what I mean? Kanye maybe took it a little far. He might have lashed out a little too much. I mean, you know, but but I get your point. But you get what I'm saying, you know. Like it's just, you know, for women, I think it's just completely different how we have to conduct ourselves. You're like start on thinner ice, cut. Yes, because we already are coming in with some sort of like emotional stigma. It's like, you know, even like when um women try have like when Hillary Clinton tried to run for president or whatever. Like, you know, they were saying like she's a woman, you know, women are emotional. Like that was the first thing. She's gonna push the nuke button. Exactly. That was the first thing that men kind of and not all men, but that some men went to is like she's a woman and she'll be highly emotional. Can we really have a woman in a high pressure situation? You know, so no matter where we are, you know what I mean? We kind of already have a stigma of like being emotional and angry. So I don't I try not to be that way.

But can we can we have picked a better woman than Hillary? I mean, couldn't we have gotten Michelle, but look. Where the fuck was Michelle Obama in this shit. Why did we get Hillary? But see even if it was Michelle though, y'all I feel like still would have said the same shit. exactly it's just but Hillary it's like with women in positions of power, you know what I mean? We are always so like doubted. And now luckily we have like a lot of like women execs in the business who are in like high position COOs and CEOs. I feel like we are shifting now what I mean yeah no we're definitely I feel like it's definitely a shift that's happening in the music industry. But again like just on an artist side you know what I mean until I feel like we completely shift to like just all or a bunch of women just in powerful positions you know as a female artist I'm gonna continue to have to kind of be like you know what that was fucked up and I don't like that you did that but I'm not gonna be screaming and crying and you know in your face about it because when I get angry like I'm the like I'm an angry crier you know like I'll get angry and shed tears and not really because I'm sad or whatever, but it's like really because I'm so mad but men will see that and think like she's weak. Or you know what I'm saying she's emotional, like and I can't work with that.

You know. So it's just one of those things that we have to deal with, you know, I guess. But yeah, it's definitely a double standard, it's definitely a double standard. Kanye can cry all he wants, and like still, you know, yeah, we don't probably take the same. He made graduation, so yeah. It's always the argument, isn't it? Yeah, you know, but he's an amazing artist, though. of course, yeah. Of course. Now you can't take you can't take those flowers away from him. So I think I think two adjectives that describe you and that you've even talked about a bunch are tenacious being one of them. Yeah, you've like quoted, you know, around tenacity a lot, and I think that that's that's definitely something I want to dive into. But then also you've talked about like understanding that you gotta be patient. So I would say like patience and tenacity are like two of the things that you have like adopted or embraced in your journey as an artist, probably more specifically as a solo artist now, right? Because shit was probably moving so fucking quick with the group and whatever, but you then had to like reset when you you know split up with the group for sure.

And you know, I was glad to hear that that was no like animosity, and it seemed like an amicable split. Everyone just wanted to go do their own thing, so that's dope. But like you had to rebuild a team, you had to do a bunch of shit. So, like, talk to me about you know, this process has been going on. I mean, you guys split up like 2015, yeah. So, like seven, eight years ago at this point. Yeah, so like how has it, you know, how do you find the patience within? Like, are you like a spiritual person? Are you like a yogi? Like, what the fuck are you doing to be okay with like this timing thing where it's like it's gotta just be the right time and the right opportunity, and like I'm okay with this taking as long as it needs to take, whatever, right? Like, yeah, how do you find that within yourself? Um, I think it's me. I think a lot of it is God too. I am spiritual. But I feel like, you know, I feel like with me, like my purpose on this earth is to speak to people. Like I have something that people need to hear. I feel like God bless me with the talent of being able to sing, but I feel like that's because I have like a message that I'm supposed to be delivering to the world.

And I feel like with me being patient, I just think, you know, God is trying to really like prepare me for that. Like I often think about, you know, like when I first started out and the opportunities that I had, you know, we had like labels come to the table. We went to New York, did the whole thing, you know, and everything like that, but I wasn't ready for that. You know, I didn't have the correct people around me to even they weren't even ready for that. You know what I mean? If that makes sense. Like, I think that, you know, it was a lot of personal things that I had to figure out. I had to figure out like even if I'm in a room with motherfuckers who could change my life, I still gotta stand on business, stand on what I believe in and stand up for the people around me. You know what I mean? And I feel like there have been so many situations in my time of being a solo artist that have kind of just gradually prepared me for what's to come. So now I feel equipped enough and I feel um like I have the right people around me now to really, if there is like a major label situation or some sort of opportunity, I'm ready for that. You know what I mean?

I got the right people around me to really like expand that shit to as big as it could be, opposed to like having a big opportunity and having people around me who don't know what to do or how to do it. It's crazy artists that will accept the these deals just to say that they got a deal from someone. Like they'll accept it just bare minimum, just biggest rip-off deals to because they think a deal means they're successful. And that's what I was gonna say. See, I think like it's just based on the artist, right? For me and how I like to drop music, I don't think that a major label deal is right for me. Like I think like a distribution deal for me is cool because I like to drop music when I want to drop it, and I like to drop what I want to drop, and I don't like nobody telling me you can't drop this. And I think like with the major label, they're gonna give you some paper for sure. But you don't have as much as a say so. It's like you're on their time now, yeah. And and they're telling you, like, hey, this is what you gotta do, this is how you gotta do it. Um, this is when you're gonna do it, and that's kind of like the end of it, because we gave you all this money. Whereas in my situation, like I'm able to do what I want to do, and I own my masters, and you know, I'm able to maneuver how I want to maneuver.

Like, I like to be in a position where I mean, God forbid, but if something was to happen to me, my family still can eat. You know what I mean? My family will still be able to live off of my music, opposed to being in a situation with a label where they gotta deal with the label and deal with you know what I mean, all the stuff that comes with that. Like, I don't think a major label situation is bad as all. I I've been signed to Interscope. I loved when we were signed to Interscope, they were a great label, but I do just feel like it's pros and cons to it. And as an artist, you kind of really gotta know what you want. And I think people look at being independent and they don't really know all of the work and money it requires, you know what I mean? Because everything that I've done thus far is out of pocket, so it's such a buzzword. Yeah, being independent. I just want to be independent. Uh-huh. Do you really want to be independent? Do you really know what it takes? Because it's a lot, it's a lot, and it's mentally and emotionally and financially, it is challenging. But for me, I feel like it's worth it. You know what I mean?

Because I have a peace of mind and I don't feel like I'm being controlled. And also, too, like, I feel like it gives me an opportunity to just build my shit up to where if there's a major label that comes in, they more so like we want to come in and be a part of what you got going on. Like we'll just kind of take whatever you willing to give us just because we fuck with what you're doing so much and we see how it's going. So I think that that's just really kind of, you know, the biggest thing for me. I think that's a really mature way of looking at it. Cause to me, like, I don't know if it's just because I work with like mostly rappers, they all see this deal as like this crazy milestone. Yeah. And there's like no way I'm gonna make it until I'm with a major. And I feel like, you know, it is it is an achievement, you know, to get a major deal. It's cool that like a big mainstream company like that recognizes you and they believe in you enough to give you some bread and you know what I mean? Push your shit. But I think that as a as artist, again, we just have to know exactly what we want, you know. Cause I feel like with a major label, it's easy for you to put out a song and for them to push it.

Cause it's like you're in this well-oiled machine who's had fucking 50, 60 plus years of connections to certain, you know what I mean? You're a number on a piece of paper. Yeah, like they've had so many, you know, they already have built-in connections pretty much. So it's easier to get your song out or to get it more mainstream. Whereas with the independent route, it takes patience and it really does take tenacity because you know, you're gonna have people who might try to stop you or might try to block something, you know, for you and stuff like that. You gotta keep pushing. So I don't think every artist is really built to be independent, yeah, you know, too. Yeah, so on the on the tenacity, the tenacity side, right? Like, do you get that from like your mom or something? Like who do you get? Or like where did you understand like that tenacious like behavior? I think My parents. My parents and my grandmother, right? Because with my mom, she was always a hard worker. My mom has always had a job ever since I was a child.

Um, and my dad, like, you know, he always was a worker too. My parents were um in the real estate industry. So when the recession hit, you know, obviously that really affected us. And I watched my dad get up at six in the morning, no matter what, if he had a job or not. And he's gonna go out and make a way. Like, and same thing for my mom. You know, she was gonna get up whether she had something to do or not and make a way. So I feel like that's where a lot of like my tenacity comes from. Like my family comes from a small town in Kentucky, my mom's side of family, Madisonville. Um, very small town, very humble beginnings. I'm not from Madisonville, but my family is, and like literally the town, y'all is like it's probably like 18,000 people that live there, if that. Um, so it's like one of those towns where it's really hard to make it out of. And my family is one of the families that made it out, you know. Like my uncle, uh, he played for the Falcons in the 70s. And my grandmother, like she works at Delta, you know. So I feel like my mom, she works as well.

So it's like we kind of they done made it out the Ville. That's what I'm saying. They made it out of the Ville. I think that I come from a family of just really strong people who just no matter what, if you don't really know, you know, what's going on or where you're gonna end up, we still gonna try, you know. And I think that that's really where it comes from. My family really prays for me a lot too. We pray for each other. So I think like a lot of that has to do with it as well, you know, like our our spirituality, like us being religious, us believing in God. I think that has a lot to do with it. But hey, can y'all pray? Can y'all pray for Henry some? You said, what? oh yeah. Can y'all pray for Henry? Why do I need prayers? I mean, just overall, like in general. Like, I don't know. What do you mean? I just, you know, just something. I'm like, is he sick? Like, are you sick? I'm doing fine. He's a little sick in the head, yeah. Oh my gosh. I'm just saying, like, he just needs some prayers. Oh my gosh. Well, you know what? Don't block your own blessings. I'm not gonna lie. Don't block your own blessings, bro. I think there's other people that need more blessings than me. It's always a good one.

Well, that's true. You know what? We all could use a prayer, but the thing about it is though, I think that um it's important though to really have strong-minded people around you. I come from a very strong-willed family. So I'll say that that I think is where it comes from. I watch my parents be strong-willed, my grandma. Um, and now within what I'm doing, like my goal is like my dad always says to me when he's he's like, because he doesn't really have a he doesn't have an iPhone, like he's not tech savvy. Sounds like my dad. Yeah, he's always like, is your song on the radio? So, like, my my goal is to like get it to where like when my dad goes to work in the morning or he goes to take my uh younger siblings to school, like he can hear my song on the radio. You know how many times my mom has asked me, like, well, are are your podcasts on on the internet or like you know what I mean? And I'm like, mom, I I showed you our YouTube channel about like a thousand times. Tell tell her what uh the phone call you had right before this interview. Oh God. Every time, every time I tell my mom, or even my sister who's young, so this like doesn't even apply to I guess age, but anytime I tell them, like, yo, I'm about to do an interview, what's up?

Like, if they'll call me, they'll be like, Oh, oh, a podcast. He's like getting into a job. Applying for a job. Like every time. And I'm like, 97 weeks in a row, guys. You've done interviews. It's been an interview for a podcast. Yeah, like this is what I do, man. Yeah, I'm still podcasting, folks. No, it's hilarious. Um, so you know, for for me, I'm fascinated by your entrepreneurial like spirit. Right. Thank you. So you have multiple, you have your hands in multiple pots right now. Let's talk about Hair Bay. You got the music shit going. You got Hair Bay. Yeah. Hair bay bay. That's why your hair is so fire. Oh, thank you. And then you uh you have like a rental property. Yeah, I have an Airbnb. Yeah. So um shout out the golden spot one time. The golden spot, y'all. We are on Airbnb Book That shit, where is it? All of them. it's in Midtown. It's in West Midtown. So we're pretty central to like pretty much the dome and um studios, music. Yeah, like we're pretty central to everything.

And it's real cool, it's low-key, it's just chill lay back. But um, I think really though, where that comes from, I'm not gonna lie, like when my group ended, like I really seem like, okay, so this is what paying bills are like. This is kind of what it's like to not have a consistent income. And at that point, I realized like I gotta have multiple streams at some point. You know what I mean? So, like, first it started off with my Instagram. I would treat my Instagram like real estate and kind of like charge for posts and stuff like that. And I'll still do that, like collabs or whatever. But now that I got older, I'm like, you know, I want something else outside of Instagram because if Instagram shut down. Yes, that's you're relying on it. So I was like, all right, cool. Like, hair has been such a big part of my brand. I had the pink hair. People always ask me about my hair, my natural hair. So that's what made me start hair bay. And um, this is my hair that I'm wearing now. Like, it's from my line, but you know, how much does that cost? So on the on like the site or or wherever you're selling them. So this is. Because like you're talking we know nothing.

You're talking to two fucking whiteys that don't understand black women's hair. So this and like how expensive it is. This will be under my bundle deal. Okay, that's what we called it. So you get three bundles for like, and it it's the price is based off of the length of hair, right? So I have this is I think some pretty long ass hair you got. Yeah, I was gonna say, I think this might be like a 22, 24, 26. That'll probably run you about 300 plus dollars. Shit. Depending on that, maybe like the hair business is booming Let's talk about this Invest getting in on the in this. It's a billion dollar industry for sure. Multi-billion dollar industry. But um, you know, we sell everything from hair to wigs, frontals closures, like is it an online business? Yeah, it's online. okay, okay, cool. So it's www.heyhairbay.com okay, hey hair bay, yeah. Yeah, and that's us, and so we, you know, we we lit, we turned up. That's dope. And and like who better than yourself to like be the brand ambassador. Of course.

Yeah, it's perfectly complimentary business. I love that. Yeah, and I think that more to your point, like it is so smart of you to now that you've seen, you know, a certain degree of success in music and just as a personality and a personal brand, to convert that into something that can outlive you. Yeah, yeah. You can be fucking 90 and hair bay can still be crushing it. Yeah, yeah. Because it just has nothing really to do with you long term, but short term, you can be the face. Yeah, thank you. So much. You know, like that's like just more more artists and or just creatives that uh catch some success or popularity, yeah, you know, with their own, you know, whatever the first thing is that they do. Yeah. Like, I'm not saying immediately, but like pretty quick, you should be thinking, what are what do I like? You know what I mean? Yeah, you know, what are my passions? What what compliments my brand? That's what I was gonna say. It's something that's really easy for me to be passionate about because I love hair. I said our website was Hey Hair Bay, but it's really our Instagram, I'm sorry. That's our IG at Hey Hair Bay.

So y'all could like go in there and shop. But um yeah because like cause Instagram you can just like buy Like literally you could go to our page. We have the products. Right now we're actually like revamping and we're gonna start doing like some natural hair products as well for like the natural girls who don't really want to wear weave or wigs. So we're doing like shampoos, conditioners, um like curl pomades and stuff like that for you know like well I know y'all like men but no no I recognize some of those words. I've heard of them before you know it's um you know we're just I'm just really expanding that. And then with the Airbnb it's actually my sister and I, my little sister and I that's our business together but it does really well for us to um I think it's really cool we meet a lot of cool people and connect with a lot of cool people. So yeah um it it's pretty dope. You know what I mean? And it's another income that I don't have to go on stage and you know perform and prepare and all of that stuff. It's like it pretty much takes care of itself. All you gotta do is give them a a what a code to get in the fucking lake apartment at this point.

You go clean it maybe but pay someone to do that. I do clean it um you're cleaning it yourself I clean it myself. There you go. I go over there and I clean it myself after every guest I don't know for me I like it because my mom's always like why you don't get somebody cleaning? That's what I'm saying. but I'm like you don't catch me cleaning my own house. Personal touch on it. You know it it's to me it's personal because I clean it how I would clean my own home and then to, I feel like it is, it's humbling for me you know to take care of other people I think, you know, in this industry and in what I do, like in being an artist, it's so easy for artists to like have this larger than life type of ego. And I kind of just always want to stay humble. I want to remember no matter what, take care of people. What better way to do that than go from superstar on stage to maid? Gotta clean my clean my B. Gotta clean my BNB, man. And I'll be telling my guests, like my cleaning fee actually goes towards cleaning. Like it's not like I'm making you pay the cleaning fee, and then you gotta load the dishwasher, strip the sheets off the bed, put them in the washer, start the wash, hate that shit. Like it's like, what's the point of even staying at an Airbnb if I have to do all of that?

So I try to really make it like a hotel like experience for my guests. But like, what's the craziest B B story you got? You gotta have had some like loony bad guest or something. Yeah, you gotta have had I haven't really had any bad interactions with guests, but I remember one time I had a um, I had a guest, and I think he was a guy. He left my toilet a fucking mess. It was disgusting. Sounds like how Henry would leave his stains and custom floaters. Uh it was like pee all over the seat. Luckily, I have like cleaning gloves and you know, everything is disposable. Like I have to, you know, I wash, of course, everything after every guest. I'm there washing clothes and disinfecting and shit like that. But you know, it was just like, I'm like, ew, this is so sick. But that's the worst. That was kind of the worst. See, my I'm blessed to be able to do that. Like, just like a messy bathroom. Like I'm blessed to have guests who like respect my space and they respect like the rules. I haven't had any like bad guests who have like broken the rules that I have or anything like that. But all my guests for the most part have been pretty cool.

Don't you like throwing a rager or anything. Um, I've had this one girl who did have a birthday get together, but she left it so clean when she left, I couldn't even say anything to her. Like they washed my rugs, they washed the bedding and everything. Like, I didn't tell her to do it. Like, I think she just wanted to be overly clean because she felt like, you know, she knew I was skeptical about her kind of having a whole bunch of guests, but she just like, you know, I promise like everything will be fine. Nothing was broken. Um, everything was clean, it smelled nice in there. So I was like, okay, girl, like, damn. That's fire. Great guests. So, what are like the top three most unexpected things like that you ran into as an entrepreneur, though, right? Like, you know, whether it's when you started up your B and B or like your hair company or even your music shit, right? Like, you know, what are some of the like top three lessons learned, right? Something to help the viewers out. So with the B and B for sure, get professional movers. I had like some of the homeboys like come and help me move my couch, and the couch is like a pull-out couch.

So y'all know pull-out couches are heavy as hell to move. And the couch didn't fit in the elevator. So they literally had to carry it up like two flights of stairs. My floor was ruined in there. I'm definitely gonna have to like pay for the damage to the floor when I leave. I mean, I already know that, but get some real fucking movers because it's not a game or a joke. Um, also, too, like I got a lot of the furniture like from uh marketplace and stuff like that. Utilize like you don't have to go super big and spend three, four thousand dollars on a couch. You know what I mean? Like you can start small and upgrade as you go. I think with Airbnb, everybody kind of out the gate tries to make it look like super perfect, and I've been able to gradually update my B&B as I uh go, you know, just from the profit and stuff like that. So, you know, it's been it's been going with hair bay though. I would say like the hair business, in my opinion, is pretty easy. You gotta find a good vendor though. Like, luckily, my mom used to sell hair when I was in the OMG Girlz girl. She selled, um, she sold colored like hair extensions um while we was on the road, and she had a like own website and everything.

So I use my mom's old vendors plugged in. Yeah, they've known us for a while. So, you know, it's it's about finding like a good vendor because you don't want to like be running your fingers to your hair, and your hair is all on the floor. Like all you guys is nice floor, it's just like you could literally pick it up and make a wig if you felt like you know, you want to find good hair, and also too, like I feel like presentation is everything. You want to make sure that the product you send to your customers is like when they open it up, they're like, Wow, she put Karen thought into it, and you know, everything like that, and really just the it's not just coming in like a Ziploc bag, exactly, exactly. And really, just like the marketing part of it too. Cause like luckily with me, I wear my hair, so I'm able to market my hair. Yeah, yeah. If you started like a BMX bike company, it'd be a little harder to kind of kind of repair it. Exactly, exactly. Yo, yo, so does it like this is gonna sound so I'm, I don't look scared to ask. Say it. I'm gonna I'm scared to ask this, but okay, so doesn't like high quality wig and like weave, doesn't it come from like India? Yeah, like okay, so you have different places.

Did you know this? It comes from it could come from India, it could come from pretty much anywhere in Asia, but like India and Asia are kind of like the top. Because it's like real people, yeah, it it's definitely real hair that they're sending you. Um, and with my vendor, you know, they have like literally everything, like you know, because in my vendors in Asia, so in Asia, they're pretty far ahead when it comes to like skincare and hair, just beauty, period, they're like really far ahead of us. So they really like they come with everything new to me. Like, they'll come to me like, hey, have you started selling these yet? Like, like uh now what's popular amongst women is like tape ins, which like it's like a hair extension that you like put directly on the scalp. It's like you don't have to braid it, don't have to like with tape. Yeah, it's like it's like it's like hair tape, it's like adhesive tape, and they can't. Sounds uncomfortable. Yeah, I mean, it's actually really lightweight, and it's pretty, it's pretty decent, but I don't wear them. Like, I don't like them.

But um they asked me, they're like, Are you selling these yet? And I'm like skeptical about selling them because I've heard like negative things about the stuff they do to your hair, they pull your hair out. So I don't want nobody come back to me, like here maybe I bought tape ins and now my hair falling out, you know. So like I haven't sold them, but they pretty on top of like all the trends, they be on top of me. Man, that's a good vendor. So you tweeted that uh Ben pulls out the tweets. I'm like you basically said something about like when take care dropped, like your life changed, or like man, I was it's funny. I was in LA. We were in LA with the group at the time. Um I was in OMG Girlz and we were recording our album that never came out, if the fans all know, but we were recording this album that never fucking. came out. I saw some comments about them wanting those unreleased tracks. Yeah, they definitely want them, but um, we were in LA and I remember the album dropping, and so we used to stay in Beverly Hills at like this uh hotel. I can't think of the hotel name, but it's like we love this fucking hotel.

We stayed there all the time. And it was like a massage place down the street. So we were walking into the massage place, and I remember seeing this girl, she like had this Wrangler, she had the doors off, it was nighttime. You could tell she was vibing, like to the Drake song, and I'm like, I d I love this fucking album. Like that, It's just I feel like take care was like it was just such a good time in my life, you know. Like I was just really coming into like being a teenager, and I had been loving Drake since I was in middle school, and you know, since he dropped brand new. And I just I don't know, like I just felt like that album really changed the way that I listened to music, and it even impacted the way that like I made music. So I think that um it was a real pivotal album for me as an artist. Like uh just him being vulnerable about like his feelings and just women he had dealt with, and then he still had like some of those like hardcore like rap tracks or whatever on there. Like I just felt like it was a great album. Yeah, top three, top three Drake album, I would say for sure. I I I posted something recently about like a great song will immediately transport you back in time to the first time that you heard it.

Yes, and you'll you'll just be in that space mentally, you'll almost feel like you did when you were first listening to it. Yes, it you you'll almost be wherever, you know, like physically you'll take yourself to that place. Like it's a phenomenon it's really remarkable. And that's like why I fell in love with music too, is that that power of it, right? Where it really can totally impact how you feel, absolutely like what your head space is like, right? Like you could go from being like down and out, and if you hear a song that took you back to a happy time, that's gonna inevitably lift your spirits. I'm not saying it's gonna like Or sad time or anything. No, it can do exactly the opposite. So that's that's what I love about music most for sure. That's my favorite. part too. So, what are some other albums? Like, name like two other albums that have like impacted your trajectory in life, or like, you know what I mean? Okay, so I feel like definitely take care. I'm trying to think. Definitely, I don't know, good kid, Mad City was a good one for me, too.

GK I was like I think to me, it's better than to pimp a butterfly. Yeah, I mean, I just say what you want. And I think too, I loved his storytelling on that. Like, I felt like I don't know how true or false the story was, but I was very invested in like who Shereen was and who, you know what I'm saying? Where he came from. I feel like that was like the first time that I realized as an artist like, oh okay, you gotta tell a story though. Like he literally told us an entire story on every song and it was like all the vibe. Like, you know, and it was cohesive. You could listen to whatever you wanted to listen to, you could listen to it out of order. It was still good. So I would definitely say that album for sure. And I'm trying to think what else because see I have a lot of albums that have like impacted me. But at that time too um I mean Brandy had dropped a fucking fire album at that time. I can't think of what what the name was I don't know if it was like a number I think or something like that. But she dropped a uh that single that she had with Chris Brown to put it down it was on that album. But that album that wasn't really my favorite song but that album was a good album.

Yeah and it made me be like damn I want to like, I need to be singing for real. And she on this bitch singing you know everybody knows Brandy can really sing you know really really great artists but those three around that time definitely impacted me heavy. Yeah it's interesting like you've talked about you know even pulling of course from your own personal stories in your songwriting you know like you're writing about breakup or heartbreak you know just personal shit but then you've also like taking your friends' stories. Yeah I heard you tell you know uh like telling another interview about like taking some of your friends you know experiences so you're writing about like real life shit and I mean for me I also find that just so fascinating about artists being able to like is that therapeutic for you um I think it definitely is for me. Like with with my music I I really try to speak from a realistic perspective because I'm not really like I talk to my friends, I talk to my family, but you know, I've kind of been very private because I've grown up in the public eye since I was young, and I've always been taught that like your personal information is to be protected and it's only to be released when you want it released and how you want it released. And I feel like music, it gives me a control over my own narrative.

Like right now, I'm working on my album. My album is about my breakup that I went through. Um, I've been recording this album now for probably about the better part of it'll be two years this year, um, that I've been recording this album. And you know, I really wanted to take my time with it because in my music thus far, my fans have kind of heard me talk about except for my single, my newest single, but my fans have kind of heard me talk about like uh like fuck them I don't need them, whatever. We're gonna move on, we're gonna da-da-da-da-da. And with this particular breakup, that was my first time being in love for real. So when we broke up, it hurt me. And I really wanted to take my time and really put out the message that I want to the world of like it's okay to be hurt, like, and it's okay to tell people like that hurt me, you know, and it's you don't have to be like strong all the time, you don't have to be like, oh fuck it, whatever. Because when you really fall in love and you have that first real heartbreak, it hurts, you know what I mean? And so I really wanted to take my time with my album and make sure that like the message I was conveying was not like uh whatever, fuck them. da, da, da. Like I wanted my fans to really feel me as a grown woman who I mean I fell in love for the first time I was 22, and when we got together and I was like 24 when we broke up, you know, so like now I'm kind of figuring out, like, oh, that was really like what love is, though.

Like, that's really what it feels like to be in love. Before I liked guys or whatever, but I had never felt a way about anybody the way I felt about him. And so I think that like um that's the beauty of music, right? Like I'm able to tell my fans, like, hey, this is what I went through. They all be asking me about it. Where is he? What happened? You know, they want to know. Like, I'm like, just give me a second. Like, you know what I mean? I'm still processing, but now I'm ready for like the world to hear where I'm at with that for sure. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I just, you know, as as someone who doesn't write music and and doesn't perform it or anything like that, like I I just have to go to a regular therapist. Like, I can't, I can't get this therapeutic release. Yeah, but Bega, how does that make you feel? Yeah, exactly. No, no, one more time therapy right now. Not yet. Bega, we have entered a final segment of the podcast. Uh oh. get Ready. Yes. This is the rapid fire rampage. Oh.

It's gonna be a three-part rampage. I'll explain each part as we go. But we're gonna start with just some short answer questions. You're not judged on how correct your answer is, but you are judged on timing. So rapid fire rampage. Here we go. Here we go. Bega, if you were a full course meal, what would you be and why? I would be a steak because I feel like it's what everybody want. Like everybody want a good piece of steak. How do you cook it? Um, see, me, I'll probably be medium well. that's how I like it. I don't want to be too burnt. I don't want to be too well done. It's like getting close to overcooked, but we'll accept it, we'll accept it. You can pick either an artist or a producer to do a full-length project with. Who would you choose right now? Oh, Drake. Drizzy. What is one of the weirdest things you believe in? Um, I don't know if I believe in anything. Oh, well, to some people is weird.

I believe that you gotta kind of like um you gotta talk about shit. A lot of people feel like you ain't gotta talk about nothing. You could just go through stuff and it'd be okay. Me, I'm a talker. Like, I feel like you gotta talk. Talk that shit out. Talk that shit out. If you could marry any fictional character. Oh, okay. Who would it be? Uh it will probably be a cross between Inuyasha and Goku. Oh, anime girl. Yeah. See, this is why the rampage brings stuff out. Yeah. Wouldn't have got there otherwise. Okay. You must delete three states. Which states gotta go? Okay, I probably do like Montana because I ain't never been there. Um, and both the Dakotas. Damn. She's quick with both the Dakotas. Sorry. Sorry, South Dakota, North Dakota, and Montana. I'm just gonna do it. All right, Mount Rushmore. Um, for this next one, we're gonna need your phone. You got to need you to open up Instagram.

Okay. Let's see. All right, cool. I'm in Instagram. We're gonna hit the DMs. Oh. Oh shit, Beja. And no cheating. Okay. Go six down. One, two, three. Okay. Who is it? What were you talking about? It's one of my fan pages, and she tagged me in a post that she posted. Fan pages? Yeah, you know she's made it when she's got the fan page. I was going for some juice, and it was really just another plug for. Yeah, exactly. Okay, last one of the short answer, Beja. What is your favorite curse word? Um damn. Part one. Part one. Great. That was fantastic. Speedy, fast, and great answers. Montana both of the Dakotas, gone. Not even a thought. Get him out of here. She's definitely given that some thought before, actually. She's on pace for the Rapid Fire Rampage Hall of Fame, but it will depend on these last two sections. Okay. The second one is the this or that. I'm gonna give you two choices. Pick one. Okay. TikTok or YouTube?

TikTok. Harmonies or ad libs? Harmonies. Guitar or keys? Guitar. Cats or dogs? Dogs. Mountain house or beach house? Beach house. We might have an answer for this next one based on the first part, but steak or lobster. Uh okay, but I would do a lobster though. Oh. Yeah. Controversial. She knows everyone else wants steak for the most part, but she wants lobster. For sure. Very self-aware. She's not everyone else has it. She's not Yeah. Different. Give up your driver's license or give up airplanes. I would give up airplanes. I mean, yeah. That's actually like a deeper one than it sounds, you know. what I mean? I need to drive. Like, I could we could get even if it's days, we could get there, but oh god, like a day long road trips. Oh, I mean never going to Japan. Never going to Hawaii. But see, I could I could get on a boat. Yeah. That's true. That's true. She's cruising to Japan. What you gotta do? that. She's got to get a driver. That's a boat. That's a boat. I like that question.

I'm gonna keep that one. That's like Fucking beja the explorer out here on a fucking ship. She's on a barge. Her foot on the top of the boat. Yeah, with a little hat. Yeah. Definitely have to be a big one. Definitely a hat. Oh my God. Definitely a hat. Of course. That's hilarious. Damn, man. That's hilarious. That's funny. Are we going to either only wear itchy clothes or have a permanent runny nose? Probably only wear itchy clothes. Yeah, that running nose. Because I could take the clothes off, but the permanent runny nose. Oh, yeah. Not on this podcast, basically. It's not that kind of podcast. We've already been over this. I could probably work in a blur. No, we'll talk about it later. Um last one of the this or that. Give up bathing for a month or give up the internet for a month. I will give up the internet. Gotta go. Part two. Fuck the internet sometimes. I gotta take a shower. They're not gonna know what I'm doing, but I'm gonna be clean. The last part is the word association. Okay. I'm gonna give you one word. You just give me one word right back off the top of your head. And this is for the Rapid Fire Rampage Hall of Fame.

Dude, she's crushing. She's like at the finish line. Seriously, top five out of 90. Out of 97 right now. Oh thanks. And we've actually said that a bunch. But I mean it. It's been so fast. You usually say it to, you know, just make the guests feel good. Yeah, whatever. But it's for real. Okay. Starting with RB. Me. Studio. Safe place. Engineer. My best friend. Cucumber. Pickle. Government. Government. Um I don't know. I can't. That's gonna be the best answer ever. That'll work. I don't know. That's acceptable. About them government folks. You know. Critter. Spider. Chorus. Best part. Podcast. Funny. The correct answer was one more time, but it's okay. Education. Important. G. O D.

I like that. It sounded like overdose, but now I spelled it out. No, I know I'm with it. Bro, it took me. It was like one of those get there faster in my head. I was like, wait, what? That's like the first thing I was thinking about. I was thinking O.D.G, and then I was like, oh wait, G.O.D. Yeah. That guy. Doctor. Also important. OnlyFans. Also important. No way. No way. Contract. Can't sign that. Lil. Big. OMG. On everything. Hey. This has been Beja Rodriguez. What an episode. What an episode. Wow. What a rampage. Great energy. As always, please like, comment, and subscribe. If you fuck with this interview, we appreciate the support. Do it even if you didn't fuck with the interview. Go follow Beja everywhere. Stream her shit. Be on the lookout for her new album. Coming soon.

Hopefully. EP first, maybe. We'll see. Yeah. Yeah. And Henry, until next week, what are we doing? Getting out of here. Getting the fuck out of here. Peace, y'all.