Latto Covers XXL Magazine
Images: Ahmed Klink
This Month Big Latto graces the cover of XXL magazine, and talks with Vanessa Satten, about females running rap right now, her next album, and what it was like to put together an all-female cypher for XXL.
The Atlanta-based rapper did a Q&A-style interview with the magazine and answered some interesting questions.
Check out some of what they had to talk about as Ms Latto, who was fresh back from a vacation, opened up about quite a bit.
The interview begins with Latto being asked about the all female XXL cypher she put together...
XXL: What did you think of the women’s cypher?
"I liked that I got to curate it, so that I knew all the personalities would blend well and were friends before the cypher. I think that created a good environment. I’m a fan of all the girls. I just chose people that I like in real life and listen to they music. Monaleo, she [has] standout punchlines that just say the wildest s**t. Flo Milli is just so versatile. I like her sassy, mean-girl aesthetic. Maiya The Don, I love her raw, true-to-hip-hop New York swag. Mello Buckzz, she’s just raw as f**k, just a diamond in the rough."
Why did you think curating and participating in an all-women’s cypher was important?
"The state of where female rap is right now, it’s so front and center. It’s crazy that it hasn’t been done before. It’s super-necessary. Super-urgent. Women are running rap right now. Everything about hip-hop is centered around women, in my opinion. We what the people wanna see. So, it’s damn near necessary, urgent."
What are the biggest challenges you have faced as a woman in hip-hop?
"I think we be under this microscope. We’re heavily analyzed by blogs, fans and commentators. We gotta go like, 10 times as hard as men do for just equal recognition. For instance, everybody know about my situation [of me] trying to clear the verse on my album. We just go through a lot more on the back end that people don’t know about."
Latto has said in the past that a feature on her album had clearance issues because the featured rapper wanted sexual favors in exchange for clearance.
Although she's never named names, rapper Kodak Black recently called Latto out for not standing up for him as people on social media speculated he was the rapper she was talking about. Here she is asked about the situation...
What did happen with that? It was reported that a male rapper tried to get you to exchange sex for the clearance of a verse.
"Let me tiptoe. I think being like, the female rapper entertainer might consist of sexual lyrics, risqué clothes and whatever. But that, to me, is like the entertainment of female rap. And I think sometimes people—my peers, our peers in the industry, our male peers—take that as an invitation. Like, “Oh, yeah, she like that. I’m open to talking to you outside of music or like, whatever.” I think they don’t really know how to keep it business, so that’s how we’ll explain that situation."
You just used the term “tiptoe.” Do you find it necessary to tiptoe? Clearly, you don’t want to name any names. Is that to be political in keeping your relationships from getting damaged in the future?
"You saying like, why don’t I just say, “F**k you,” and say who it is?"
There’s a very not tiptoe side of you at other times, so how do you decide when to tiptoe?
"That’s a good question. I’d be wanting to just jump out there. But I see the bigger picture, and I’m in this for the long run. I know at the end of the day, this is the entertainment industry. And you can’t expose too much. I’m trying to figure out how to word this."
You don’t want to burn bridges you might need later?
"It’s not even about needing them later. It’s just like burning bridges with other people because it is also like cliquey. Like, “Oh, she said this, so now I don’t want to work with her.” It could just leave a bad taste in other people’s mouth when you don’t know the whole story and you’re not in my shoes. A lot of people were saying I was clout-chasing. I think the truth coming from female rappers is going to be picked apart, so I’d rather just stay away from it."
You brought up cliquey. Hip-hop is very cliquey. Have you stumbled on that along the way more than you expected?
"You have to tiptoe around like, who’s cool with who. If I’m posting with this person, then I can’t be around this person in the beef world. That’s what I mean by cliquey. You have to watch if you work with this person, then you can’t work with this person. And if you do a song with this person, then you can’t do a song with that person."
Latto was asked about regrets in her career and surprisingly brought up her father...
What are some of the regrets you’ve had so far from actions you’ve taken in your career along the way?
"I like that question. I’ve had a lot of regrets, and I think it’s because I’ve been rapping since a kid. I had to grow up, figure myself out and learn myself along the way. Obviously, at 8 years old, you’re not gonna have it all together. I have a lot of regrets. Mixing family and business, that’s like, one of my biggest regrets. I was introduced to everyone with my dad as my manager, and now we don’t even speak, so it’s like, I hate that."
What happened? Why don’t you and your father speak anymore?
"Money. Industry s**t. Ego shit infiltrated by industry bulls**t. They be saying [your parent as your manager] never works out anyway, so I wish I would have just never even did it. So, that would be one regret. Falling for them traps that I was talking about earlier, like with the beef and stuff. I wish I would just not let commentators bother me to even infiltrate my mind or make me feel some type of way to anybody... I regret any beef I’ve ever been in because I don’t want to be known for anything but my music. I’m too talented for that shit. It’s a distraction and a waste of my time and energy..."
Click here to read the rest of the interview where Latto talks about building bridges, beefs in the industry, dealing with haters, and her upcoming music plans.
Images by Ahmed Klink