She's representing something positive for us.
This is a voice that needs to be heard.
This is a voice that's going to be heard.
I had to not just fight to be
a rapper, fight to be in the public eye- I had to
fight to be alive.
I've survived literally a lot.
I
was born March 9th, 1997,
in Montgomery, Alabama, to two Nigerian immigrant
parents. I would be the weird kid
who was like "You know, a game we should play:
Talent Contest, I'll start." Like, it was
literally that. It probably got really annoying
because I always won.
Which sounds like a pretentious thing to say, but
it is a flex at the same time.
My sister right above me, Judy- shoutout to Judy-
she's hella academic.
And then like my oldest sister's name is
Michelle. She has Down syndrome.
And so like, they already had her like near their
bosom at all times, very close. You have me,
this like random kid who insists on being
an artist who painted on walls and always wanted
to do something fun rather than wanting to, like,
sit and be a part of curriculum.
They did not love that.
And on top of that, "you might think she's kind
of gay", like "what's going on there?" Like, if
went to my room in any of the houses I lived in
growing up, you would see a sanctuary.
I remember I put a whole entire
wall in my room of sticky notes that like, formed
a picture, but it was things to be
happy about. Reasons to smile.
And I remember I went to camp for like four or
five days and came back and my dad had ripped all
of them off the wall because he saw one he didn't
like. They definitely made me feel
like there was something wrong.
I was never really a problem child.
I felt like one.
And I've had to unlearn that in adulthood.
They didn't really know that the things
they were seeing, the traits that they were
trying to stifle, would end up
being a part of my career.
He always knew she was gonna speak her mind.
Or, if she felt she was being treated unfairly,
she always spoke out against it.
I was bullied about my weight when I was in
preschool. From then on.
And with that, I was like, what do I do to endure
this? And it was humor.
And so I ended up gaining a lot of friends
and a lot of support and positivity around me.
Because when people spit vitriol to me, I
always had a joke.
I always was like, "oh, but this." And like, I
spit it back quick.
Growing up in Alabama, I began
to realize the nuance in the certain subtleties
of racism within my community.
I am looked at as a problem within my school
because I'm dark skin and therefore I have to
like, give you all the same energy back,
but not in a hateful way, but in a "very-much-so
defending myself and those around me" way.
If anybody's ever been the underdog, she's
going to do what she can to help the situation.
I came out as gay.
She told me she's so proud of me.
She's so glad I can live in my truth.
She's a powerful force.
I was always championing someone else and always
trying to stand up for someone.
Where did you find your own solace?
And I found mine in music.
Music is like a healer for
her. She puts her entire being into it.
I had a friend of mine who
was applying to Berkeley.
I was like, "I wanna go". I had to drive to
Atlanta to audition and I had written
a song. It was a letter to my parents.
The hook was, "Ma, Ma, are you listening?
Your daughter needs the strength to carry on.
Pops, believe in this with me, I will make
history before you're gone."
So just
got into Berkeley.
Holy crap.
You made it?
I made it in and it was dope, but it was far
too expensive for me to go, and I ended up going
to the University of South Alabama.
And I was recording songs in the closet
of a dorm.
Every night we'd be hanging out.
But, she'd go in early cause she'd be like, yeah,
I want to write this verse so I can post it
tomorrow.
This is a good way to practice.
Let's do it. People like when I do verses, I'ma
give them more.
I didn't sleep for a year because every night I'd
come home from work, go into my tiny-ass closet,
have some wine and write a verse.
Every day. She did this for so long.
And then when her page blew up, dropping out
in pursuit of her dreams is what she felt
like she had to do.
I sat my parents down on the couch and was like,
hey, so look, I'm not going back.
Let me stay here for a year.
I will get a job.
I start working in Chipotle.
That sounds risky, like...
The greater risk is to not do
so, and forever be someone that people
walk on top of.
I was literally consistently going viral for like
a year. I rapped over Beyonce's "Ego", but I was
talking
about flaws and like overcoming them.
Added a pride anthem to
Ed Sheeran's "Shape of You". But, given that I
was creating a lot of my best work, I was really
isolated and by myself.
They don't understand what was going on behind
the camera at those times.
I was going viral all the time, but I wasn't
making any money. I was like, dead broke.
And that gets a lot like, into your head, about
what am I really doing, what is this for.
At that time
I was struggling so much and I did not want to
keep doing the internet.
It wasn't for me. I did not like it.
I did not like what it was doing to my mental
health. I got used to going viral so much that
when I plateaued, I thought I was failing
because I was so goddamn depressed.
It was a mess.
And from that moment, I was just like, "Yeah,
it's time. I need to be okay."
I need to get to a space where I can work towards
something...
and I move to New York.
So you're in New York and
then you do the Kanye verse.
What happens next?
The world opens up for me.
The day that the Kanye verse blew up, I was
supposed to be going to Iowa for this festival.
I think that festivals pay me, what, 250?
I didn't get to watch it happen.
I didn't have any service, I was in the air and
I didn't realize the weight of what I'd just
done.
Someone on Twitter had found my Cash app
somehow and they're like, "I'm sending you
five dollars cause so fire" and I was like, "Yo,
that's hilarious, but thank you." And I
remembered I replied to it.
And everybody else was like, "What? What's her
Cash app?"
And then people just started flooding my Cash app
with money. And if there's not like a God moment
that I can think of in my head, people just
started sending me money.
And I was like, what the is this like?
Y'all don't have to do this.
I'm sending it back, they're like, "No, you like,
let us bless you." They didn't know that I didn't
know how to eat that night.
But, by the end of that whole little spell, like
people would send me like, a thousand to
fifteen hundred dollars.
And after that, of course.
You bet your ass I kept going.
You know, Chika didn't want to do a deal.
She wanted to stay independent.
I had nobody on my team for a very long
time. I couldn't trust anybody.
I just wouldn't take "no" for an answer.
You know, I saw something that I had to be a part
of.
Warner. They felt like family, they felt they
cared a lot and had the same urgency I did.
I expect her to be one of the artists that Warner
Records really holds their hat on.
I've always wanted to change the way people
perceive emotion.
Because of, for me, going back to childhood,
so many of my emotions were deemed wrong.
Jane, She represents a lot of
different minorities with who she is.
With her being black.
Her being bisexual.
Her being the child of immigrants.
I'm hoping that it's the little girls
out there that see and like, "Oh, she's great.
That's my hero."
