Rapsody shares why ‘Please Don’t Cry’ is her most vulnerable album, how her truth is incorporated throughout all of the songs and her various collaborations including: Lil Wayne, Erykah Badu, and Dixson. She also talks about the resurgence of women in hip hop and how Nicki Minaj & Cardi B helped pave the way and more!
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00:00I think it's an exciting and beautiful time for hip-hop
00:03to have women at the forefront.
00:05We're everywhere.
00:06It's going to stand the test of time,
00:07and I think it's going to help to even out the playing field.
00:10It may not be that we're always at the forefront,
00:13but we won't be in the shadow.
00:15What's up, y'all?
00:15This is Rapsody, and you're watching Billboard News.
00:18We're going to be sitting next to Rapsody.
00:29I'm so happy to be here with you.
00:31Legend.
00:32First name Marlena, last name Evans.
00:35Underappreciated, but I'm still the most respected.
00:38I wanted to get your take on the resurgence of women in hip-hop.
00:42And you've seen a lot of change, ups and downs in that arena.
00:46Is this more than just a moment?
00:47I think some people might still try to look at it as a fad.
00:50It'll go away, but is it?
00:52No.
00:53You know, this is a beautiful beginning.
00:56We've never seen it like this.
00:58I think there was a time in the 90s, and of course, you know,
01:01we had MC Lyte, Queen Latifah, Lauren, Lil' Kim, Foxy, Missy,
01:05Elliot, Charli, Baltimore.
01:07Got to go on and on.
01:09But I think with social media, you see it in such a heavy force.
01:14It's everywhere.
01:15So, I mean, I'm excited about it.
01:17Who were your key influences on the hip-hop side coming up?
01:21My key?
01:23Lauryn Hill, Jay-Z, Lil' Wayne, Nas, Biggie, Erykah Badu.
01:30She's hip-hop to me.
01:32MC Lyte, Queen Latifah.
01:34I listen DMX heavy.
01:38What?
01:40You know, heavy, heavy East Coast, right?
01:43So do you think social media is the reason behind the push?
01:46Because then there was a lull, I think, and then Nicki Minaj came
01:50and kind of pushed the door open and crashed through.
01:53And you've got Lotto, Megan Thee Stallion,
01:55Cora LaRae, I Spy, City Girls, yourself, Cardi B.
01:59Why is it resonating now where it wasn't before?
02:03I mean, I think it's a few things.
02:05I think everything has its time, for sure.
02:07But Nicki coming in and doing what she did definitely opened the door.
02:12And then when Cardi came in, you have two huge women
02:17that are very, very, very successful.
02:21And if you know the industry, you see one success,
02:25you know, it's like, great, let's really pour into this.
02:28And, you know, too, I think that women's stories were needed.
02:32You know, it ain't so much men's, you know, stories and narratives
02:38that you could like, this world is not just men.
02:41So I think, you know, their voices were needed.
02:43And I think the way that Cardi supported so many women also helped as well.
02:56Because of who she was and the success she had and, you know,
03:00to speak people's names, to work with the artists that she did,
03:03it definitely, you know, made room and space for other artists.
03:08And social media, I think it definitely plays its part.
03:11You don't have to rely on the machine necessarily.
03:14If you put your music out, you're good at branding and marketing,
03:17you reach your audience. That's what I like to believe.
03:21Speaking of which, your fourth album coming out this week,
03:24Please Don't Cry. Talk about the naming the title.
03:28Yeah, it's supposed to be ironic, right?
03:31Like, it's please don't cry, but the real message is, no, please do cry.
03:35Allow yourself to be human, allow yourself to feel, to sit in your emotions,
03:41to grow from it, you know, and think of all the reasons that we do cry.
03:45Of course, we cry when we're sad, but we cry when we're happy too,
03:48and joyful, and we cry when we're in love.
03:50And, you know, it's just about allowing yourself to really be imperfect
03:55and embracing the human that you are.
03:58Okay, so how long has this been in the works?
04:01Has this something that you, the first three albums led to?
04:06No. After Eve and, you know, I did two tours,
04:11I had an idea of where I wanted to go next with the album,
04:15and then we went into the pandemic. And going into the pandemic,
04:20you know, everybody having to sit with themselves, be alone,
04:24the volume of the world turned down and everything internal turned up.
04:28Who are you? Who are you in your rawest state?
04:34You have some healing to do. You have a lot of growing to do and evolving.
04:39And going through the process, it started in March of 2020.
04:45I started working on three albums at one time, right?
04:48Because it was like I'm thinking, you know, Eve is done.
04:51I know which one I want to do next, but then I have this other idea,
04:55but then I'm feeling so much emotionally that I need to purge.
05:00And I think it was a week once we were in lockdown.
05:05I did 10 and 12 songs in two or three days,
05:09and I just kept going. And it took me about three and a half,
05:14four years, 360 songs. I had a lot to say.
05:18I had a lot to get out, but I was, I was relearning myself.
05:22In a world of badasses, I value being unique. I walk through the streets.
05:26Most people look like us. It's divisive what they put on devices.
05:30I just poured out everything, you know, and I didn't, you know,
05:34I tried not to leave a stone unturned.
05:36So you would call this your most vulnerable album? Absolutely, without a doubt.
05:40If you could use just three words to describe the project,
05:43what three words would you use? Honest, fearless, and free.
05:49So the process, how much different was it from the other three?
05:53Was this hardest to put together?
05:57Sounds like it might have been the easiest,
05:58because you just, as you just said before, it was freeing,
06:00and you were just pouring things out of yourself.
06:03Yeah, it was, it was the easiest in that way. The hard part was,
06:09you know, every project I've done,
06:12I never felt really confident or really sure in myself or my ideas,
06:16and I would lean on my village. I would lean on Guru.
06:19I would lean on Knife, and you know,
06:21they were so graceful in that they always were there to help, right, to guide me.
06:26And this time, it was like, I told Guru,
06:28I said, I think I want to do this myself. Like, I want to trust myself.
06:32And it was, I was nervous, right? Can you do this?
06:35Is it going to be good enough? You know,
06:37and that was the hardest part, like trusting myself, but I'm happy I did it.
06:42It was a beautiful challenge, and I grew a lot from it,
06:45and I got to understand that this is just art.
06:47You're supposed to create from who you are,
06:50and just put it out in the world, good, bad, and different.
06:53You know, just make the music that you want to make,
06:56and that, you know, the illusion and fantasy of,
07:00you know, trying to fit in these spaces and get validation is not real.
07:06People have to know who I am first before I could do and tell them or give them anything else.
07:11They have to get to know me first, you know,
07:15and then we can go into the other things and ideas and things that I want to do,
07:19you know, music-wise, but that became the priority.
07:23I thought it was important that, you know, they get to know and see me and connect with me first.
07:29You make me feel like a new person. You make me pull back the curtains.
07:34What was the most rewarding part of creating this project?
07:38And was it more for yourself, you think, or was it more for your fans or having it?
07:42All for me, but I knew in doing it for me and doing it from the place
07:47I was creating from that it would also inspire and speak to other people.
07:51You know, when I think about my favorite music, I was like,
07:55yo, it's all honest and it's all fearless and, you know,
08:00people aren't afraid to shine a light on themselves.
08:02And I feel that, you know, and I was like, a lot of the things that I go through,
08:05I know there are other people that can be inspired from it in some shape, form or fashion.
08:11So, you know, I just really leaned on that, like, you know, give yourself.
08:15It'll give people permission. It'll be a compass for people.
08:19Every day is a mental cleaning spree. Navigating through this business, trying to find some decency.
08:24Fantol. When I listen to the track, some of the lyrics you have in there,
08:28like, every day is a mental cleaning spree.
08:31And you're telling people, believe what you choose.
08:34I know my own belief in myself.
08:37So I wanted you to speak a little bit on that.
08:40Wanted to portray about yourself, as you said earlier, about who you are in that song.
08:44Yeah, I think for me at that time, that song came from, you know,
08:49being an artist in the age of social media.
08:51And if you allow yourself to tap into it, which I always do, I don't know why I do it myself.
08:57But I read comments, you know, I think it's for me a study of, you know,
09:02just people and what they think and how they react.
09:07And, you know, I would read the comments about myself sometimes or, you know, the chatter that you hear.
09:12You know, that particular song was really about the questions on my sexuality,
09:17you know, from some people that I've seen at that time.
09:22And I just wanted to write, like, I'm living so much real life.
09:27Like a lot of people are. Those are the last frivolous things that we should really care about.
09:34Right. It always fascinates me how celebrities are just, you know,
09:39put on this pedestal where you you feel like because they're celebrities that you have to know every part of their life.
09:46And it's like it should never really be about that because we're just as human as anybody else.
09:50Right. So it was just like, you know, this is the life I'm living.
09:55You know, I suffer from anxiety. I have, you know, family members that are sick, you know, that I that I worry about.
10:04People in my life have passed away at this time, too.
10:08You know, I'm thinking about some of my closest friends. There was a period where with six or seven of them and all of their fathers died back to back to back.
10:16Right. And it was just like, you know, I'm really living real life.
10:20You know, these things that it's empty.
10:24It means nothing to me. So it was just me sharing just my thoughts on it.
10:32I know you did the interview with Sanaa Lathan. Why with Sanaa?
10:37And why you wanted to address the rumors about your sexuality and dealing with anxiety, as you just mentioned.
10:44Why was that? Why did you make that choice?
10:50I think because I never really addressed anything.
10:54And it was it was for me. It wasn't really for anybody else.
10:57It was for me, again, to just show like, yo, I'm a human.
11:01This is how I feel. And whenever that beat came on, those are the words that just came out.
11:07Right. I thought it was important for people to hear, you know, just that perspective of like, I see it, you know, and I'm human and this is how I feel.
11:17And has anything scared you in sharing your truth on this album?
11:25Has anything?
11:28No, only only one thing that was a little hesitant and it didn't have to do with like the industry or the world.
11:38It was the people closest to your family.
11:40Right. Because this album is so honest and it's so raw.
11:44And to my family, you almost want to like I am.
11:47I'm the good girl. Right.
11:49I think for a lot of us women or or even growing up, it's, you know, it's the idea of you're the example.
11:59Don't disappoint the family. But, you know, it's like that.
12:04I don't want them to hear this part, you know, but you have to lean into it.
12:09And just as imperfect as you are, you got to say your family is imperfect, too.
12:12There are things about them that you don't know either.
12:16You never want them to be disappointed and maybe things that you've done that you've had to learn lessons from or that,
12:22you know, whatever the case may be that they may not approve of.
12:27But in that, I had to learn that, you know, this you get one life to live and you just have to live it free,
12:32you know, and people are going to love you regardless.
12:36So what happened in reaction?
12:38They haven't heard it yet.
12:42No, no, but everything is OK.
12:47Where my love is at tonight. The heartbreakers and the heartbroken.
12:52So 3 a.m., I love the jazzyness of the track, the intimacy of the track.
12:58So talk a little bit about that track, because it also has Erykah Badu.
13:02Yeah, man, I love her so much.
13:04Like one of my biggest inspirations, art and as an individual.
13:10But that record came about, the album came in phases with me working with different producers.
13:15And I was in Dallas, Texas, working with S1.
13:18Actually got to stay with him for about a month and really create.
13:23So he was really instrumental in this project, sounding the way it does.
13:28But I had just gotten out of relationship maybe a year before,
13:33but I really wanted to talk about 3 a.m. because it's such a special hour for me.
13:38It used to be one of my most creative hours.
13:40But it's also the hour where I'm the most bold and I will say like no filter.
13:47I actually read in Quincy Jones book. I forgot what it's called,
13:49but it's something where your brain is just I don't know if you're so tired,
13:53but your brain doesn't have the energy to put on no filters and overthink anything.
13:57So at 3 a.m. I was on a date. It wasn't 3 at the time,
14:02but it was maybe an hour or two before that.
14:06And you know, you can feel when people have feelings for each other sometimes,
14:11but nobody will really say it. So it got quiet and they were like,
14:16what are you thinking? And I said, I can't tell you to 3 a.m.
14:19And we sat there till 3 a.m. And I said what I said,
14:23but I wanted to talk about love from that perspective, you know,
14:29and it was just a real honest true story about a relationship that I had.
14:35That was beautiful and it ended and you know,
14:39love goes through phases, you know, you love you're in it.
14:43It's beautiful. Then it can get messy. It can get awkward.
14:46It can get uncomfortable and then it ends and you grieve it,
14:50you know, it's you can relate it. So sometimes there's almost someone dying.
14:57Grief looks different in different ways.
14:59So it was just me talking about the story of what that is,
15:03but I left the hook open and I knew on this album.
15:05I wanted to have a lot of R&B singers because of the emotion
15:09and the soul that I wanted in it and I can't sing myself.
15:13So S1 said what you want to do with the hook? I was like,
15:15man, I only hear Erica. That's all I hear
15:19and I've been wanting to work with her for years in this capacity.
15:24So S1 said I'll reach out and see and she said yes.
15:30You've got a lot of great collaborators on this album, some guest cameos.
15:36So briefly, if you can talk a little bit first about Little Wayne.
15:40Little Wayne, one of my favorite lyricists ever,
15:44you know, I've been listening to him since I was 13 years old.
15:48I've studied him even, you know, as I've developed as an artist,
15:52you know, you know about his cadences and you know,
15:57he's just elite at what he does.
16:00So I've always wanted to create with him, you know,
16:02it was a big check off my list and I did the song Raw.
16:08I wanted to do something that really talked about like we live in a time
16:12where everybody's chasing perfection and it was like,
16:14yo, I miss like what's wrong with just being raw some days,
16:18you know, I don't feel like wearing makeup today.
16:20My bra and panties don't always match like I'm just raw,
16:23you know, I'm human and so, you know,
16:26it's actually two versions of the song,
16:29but I did my verse and I was like man, Raw, Wayne would just sound crazy on this.
16:35I would love to hear his perspective and I just reached out,
16:39you know, and he said, yeah, like really easy to work with or fast too.
16:44I'm sure fast because he's always working on something.
16:47I appreciate, you know, the support and being as kind as he has been,
16:53you know, through the process and lending his services.
16:56Felicia Rashad.
17:00Let me tell you something, it's Gayle.
17:05I love that woman. You know,
17:07she's been a part of a lot of our lives since I can remember,
17:11young child just through the Cosby show and so many other characters she's played,
17:16but she always inspired me growing up.
17:19I think as black women we see ourselves in so many
17:22and I always looked at her not only as a mother figure,
17:25but she was always regal and classy, you know what I'm saying?
17:29Like she walked with honor. She walked,
17:31like she walked with her shoulders back her chest out,
17:34beauty, graceful intelligence, and it just always inspired me.
17:38I said, man, that's how I want to show up in my profession in hip-hop.
17:43And then Baby Tate. I love Baby Tate, you know, of the next,
17:49you know, generation coming up.
17:51I think she's so talented, you know, and of course,
17:54it's in her blood with her mom, Deon Ferris,
17:59but I've always appreciated her rapping ability,
18:04but I really fell in love with her singing ability.
18:07And, you know, that record that we did, A Ballad for Homegirls,
18:12I wanted it to feel like, you know, you having a conversation with your homegirl
18:16and I thought she was just the perfect one.
18:18She's fun and she absolutely killed it.
18:21Like I loved her approach. I love her energy.
18:24I love that she sang and rapped a little bit on it.
18:26So it's one of my favorite songs on the album too.
18:35What is the one takeaway you want fans
18:38and new fans to have when they listen to the album?
18:45Most importantly, I want it to connect in a way that I want people to see themselves in me.
18:51And by that, I mean, not that your story has to be like mine,
18:54but you see the humanness in you, right? The imperfection
18:58and that you realize that, you know, we're all more alike than we are different
19:05and it's okay to just be and not have to chase this idea of illusion or fantasy.
19:10I feel like you have to be this unattainable thing.
19:16You could just be human, unplugged from the matrix and live in reality.
19:19Just be real.
19:20Thank you so much, Rapsody.
19:22Thank you, girl.
19:23Everybody, go out and listen to Please Don't Cry.
19:26And thank you for sitting down with Billboard.
19:29Thank you for having me.