Monaleo stopped by the Genius office to discuss her hit freestyle ‘Don Who Leo,’ from her latest project Throwing Bows. The track also went viral on TikTok, with stars like Simone Biles joining in on the fun. On today’s episode of Verified, the Houston rapper deep dives into the inspiration behind the track, opening up about her raw emotions, financial freedom, and more!
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00:00I think Don Julio is so special because it really captures raw emotion, the raw, intrusive
00:07thoughts that a lot of us women have when it comes to our significant others.
00:11We get really crazy, really possessive.
00:13This song is the embodiment of that, so it's just me, super aggressive in the studio, super
00:18just like, you better not be fucking with no hoes, or else I'm on your ass.
00:22At the beginning of working on Don Julio, I was just kind of in the studio trying to
00:33catch a vibe.
00:34I had some Don Julio in front of me.
00:36I was super turnt up, super lit.
00:37I think I had called my man and he didn't answer, and so immediately my mind just got
00:42to racing.
00:43And instead of just projecting and texting him something crazy and crashing out, I was
00:48just like, fuck it, I'm going to channel this into my music, and Don Julio was born.
00:59I think this generation, we really have deeply rooted trust issues.
01:05The stuff that we see on social media is insane and it really gets hardwired into your body
01:10and you start to look at your significant other really crazy, like, what you got going
01:14on?
01:15I was out of town, he was out of town.
01:16I was just like, what the hell are you doing?
01:18I'm calling you.
01:19Bitch, don't let me find out you with a groupie hoe.
01:21You're going to be with Tupac when I come shoot up that studio, nigga.
01:25There's a studio in New York called Quad.
01:28And every time you go to Quad, there's an intern, there's somebody walking you up.
01:31They give you the whole spiel about Tupac being shot in the elevator at that studio.
01:36So it was like something that I was thinking about, and then my man is a recording artist.
01:41So I was just like, I'm going to send you to meet Tupac if I find out that you're doing
01:45something other than what you said you were doing.
01:47But it wasn't a diss to Tupac.
01:49I want to make that overly clear.
01:51I'm a really big Tupac fan.
01:52I'm actually very inspired by Tupac.
01:54I love his duality.
01:55I love that he was a very complex, smart artist.
01:59And then he also made really crazy, aggressive diss songs that were so direct.
02:03I feel like he spoke a lot of his impulsive thoughts as well, so I feel like we really
02:06relate on that level.
02:08So I have a deep love and passion and admiration for Tupac, so I feel like people were misconstruing
02:13that line.
02:14I feel like Tupac would have loved Don Julio, too, by the way.
02:17I feel like if he heard Don Julio, and now he probably has, I feel like he appreciates it.
02:28I am definitely not a morning person.
02:31I definitely wake up on a shitty vibe.
02:33Mornings are just not my thing.
02:35I like to stay up late.
02:36That's when I feel like I'm the most creative.
02:37So having to get up early to catch early flights, red eyes, it's just like, ugh, my team knows.
02:43They really have to drag me out of the bed.
02:45Bitches say, they looking for me.
02:47What?
02:48I say, who, Leo?
02:49I'm a person that really remixes average things to apply to me.
02:55So if I'm listening to someone's song, I'll implement my own name or I'll switch the lyrics
03:00around really quickly.
03:01And I almost do it for fun, like for sport.
03:03They can play a song and I'll just be rapping it, and by the time the next line is coming,
03:08I'm switching it to really relate to my life.
03:11And I don't know if that's because of my influences.
03:13I don't know.
03:14I feel like I'm heavily influenced by Lil Wayne.
03:15So I feel like that is something that Lil Wayne would do and say.
03:18Not even intentionally, but it's just like when you play with words 24-7 and when you
03:23spin and flip and twist things for a living, for a profession, it's just like it becomes
03:27very natural to you.
03:35I really, really, really get on that tip when I feel like I'm being tried, when I feel like
03:40I'm being disrespected by anybody.
03:43There is this switch that is flipped inside of me.
03:46Who the fuck are you talking to?
03:48It's just like a switch.
03:49I just turn into a completely different person.
03:52I'm thankful for that side of me because it has really protected me in situations where
03:55I otherwise would have let a lot of disrespect slide.
03:58So that was just like a form of dominance.
04:00Like shit, not me.
04:01I just want the green, not broccoli.
04:04If you got money, then you got me.
04:07My money motivation is just simply I want to be financially free.
04:12I want to be able to sustain myself.
04:14I'm not very material based.
04:16The money comes in when I want to really splurge on my family and the people around me and
04:21give them experiences that they otherwise would have probably never experienced.
04:25Being able to be a big dreamer and being able to really act on a lot of these dreams and
04:30feelings that I have and to be able to turn that into something lucrative is super cool.
04:35And to be able to pour into the people that I love is the coolest part about that.
04:38So that is my money motivation.
04:49Maintaining my independence has been so important to me.
04:52In the beginning of my rap career journey, I used to sit down at a lot of label meetings
04:57and I felt like I was in a twilight zone.
05:00They all gave me the same spiel.
05:02It was just all like, oh, we heard your music.
05:04We really like you.
05:05We want to sign you for $100,000 and five albums, six albums, seven albums.
05:10It was insane.
05:11It was a slave deal.
05:12The more I sat in these meetings, the more I'm just like, man, I don't have any leverage.
05:17I do feel like some of these labels are predatory and they do prey on people who are in very
05:22difficult situations and people who are praying for a way out.
05:26I was in that situation, but I'm so glad that I was able to figure out how to fund my movement
05:32independently and go and get distribution and hire my own team.
05:36I'm glad that I was able to do that.
05:38Not that I'm feeling like I'm better than anybody or feeling like I have to boast and
05:42promote that I'm independent, but I just want to talk to the younger black girls that look
05:45like me that want to pursue a music career and let them know why it's important to maintain
05:50your masters and maintain your independence for as long as you can.
05:53Even if you do sign to a major label, making sure that anything that you've done before
05:56signing to that major label still belongs to you.
05:58Bitch, don't get involved because you're not going to like the outcome.
06:01I told him I could never love a nigga.
06:03He say, how come?
06:04Maybe because I'm super rich with and without one.
06:06He tender.
06:07He ain't know he had a match till he found one.
06:09The type of music that I make is a cross between hyper feminine and feminine rage.
06:15A lot of the music that I make is solely based on just being a girl, but it's also that feminine
06:21rage that rebels against anything that places women into a box.
06:26It's important to have your own finances, have your own funds, have your own motion,
06:32have your own things going outside of whatever relationship that you're in because I feel
06:36like a lot of people get lost and they get tied up.
06:38At the end of the relationship, you have nothing left of yourself and you look back and you're
06:42just like, damn, what happened to me?
06:45You have to spend time rebuilding yourself as opposed to already coming into a situation
06:50built up, equipped, ready, strong, emotionally, physically, financially, spiritually, like
06:56really having all those facets of your life in order before you decide to pursue a partner.
07:03That's pretty much what I was saying.
07:10I was just kidding.
07:11I was just joking.
07:13Just a little jokey joke.
07:14Just a little fun banter.
07:17I'm obviously not going to cheat on my man.
07:19If he does not wake me up to fellatio, obviously it's ideal, it's preferred, but I can go a
07:25few more minutes without that.
07:26It's fine.
07:32He's a real pleaser.
07:34He's really good.
07:35He's really skilled at what he does and he goes out of his way to make sure that I am
07:42satisfied.
07:43That's what I meant.
07:49If I come over late at night, bitch, I ain't doing no sleeping.
07:52He got a real good mouthpiece, but he ain't doing no preaching.
07:55It's just more so leading into that peace talk.
07:58It's just like, cool, we can have relations and then by the next day, I'm back in motion.
08:02I'm back doing my own thing.
08:03This was not a significant thing and I want more women to be like that because I feel
08:08like us as women, we get really invested emotionally and I think you should definitely be selective
08:13with who you share your body with.
08:16I want women to be able to detach a little bit more easily.
08:19Listen, we can have a good encounter.
08:20We can have a great encounter and I still have to go about my day.
08:24I still have things that I need to take care of so the next day, we just might not speak
08:28to each other and you have to be okay with that.
08:32I've mastered being able to translate my aggression into something that people can relate to.
08:38I'm kind of like the voice for the people.
08:41I say what a lot of people are thinking but don't have the confidence to say.
08:45It gets me in trouble a lot.
08:46Y'all don't even see.
08:47Y'all don't even know.
08:48I really be having to pay for a lot of the shit that I say but it's okay because as long
08:53as people understand me and they feel where I'm coming from, I feel like I'm doing my job.