- You know, Kris Kross
we wore our pants backwards.
We was jump, jump, you know
we was doing the hip hop thing.
So nobody was like, "Okay, we need you to change clothes.
We need you to wear some tight
and show some titties in that."
It was no none of that.
So I was grateful to Jermaine Dupri let me be myself.
And he didn't try to sell sex with me
'cause my lyrics got me to where I am.
(R&B music)
- Co-hosts of the National syndicated radio show
the Rickey Smiley Morning Show
and the CEO and founder of Kaleidoscope Hair Products
welcome Da Brat and Ms. Judy.
(flames whoosh)
(liquid pours)
We got the cognac right there.
We got the wine over there for you.
- Oh. - Oh good!
- You know what I'm saying?
So you responsible for the toast.
- Toasting to prosperity for 2021
looking better versus 2020.
I'll toast to that.
- [Da Brat] I shall too.
- There you go.
Cheers to that.
Yes, ma'am.
So let's go on and get right on into it.
So you've been in the game for a long time.
- Woo, since 91 with Kris Kross.
I dropped Da Bomb with Kris Kross.
That was my first song with them.
That was my first debut.
- How have you been able to
manage being relevant for so long?
Because you know, you got the one hit wonders.
You got folks that come in today and gone tomorrow.
Like what's that been like?
- I'm just blessed.
I just feel like no matter where I go
like God got me, you know what I'm saying?
I've been up, down, top, bottom,
back to the top, got in trouble, did some prison time
and was blessed to get like a second chance and do radio.
And radio is going well, then I started doing Dish Nation.
Then I did The Rap Game
and I did Rickey Smiley For Real.
He had a TV show
then the TV stuff just start really falling in line.
And then I became the executive producer
of Growing Up Hip Hop Atlanta with like Bow Wow and JD.
So we just, you know, I'm just blessed
and I refuse to let any grass grow under my feet.
I think losing that precious time when I was locked up
it made me learn the value of time
and never want to waste another second of it.
- Right.
For people who don't know, right,
you guys have went public with you
guys' relationship going in like that.
You feel me?
How was that like?
Was there pressure?
You know what I'm saying?
Obviously, you guys spoke to each other about it.
How did you know it was the right time to go public with it?
- We were at her mom's house
laying in the bed, acting goofy like we always do.
And we were teasing each other.
Like, "I'm gonna post it."
"No, I'm gonna post it."
"You post it."
"You ain't going to post it."
"Yes I am."
So we didn't post it.
And then I looked up and she had posted it.
- It ain't we didn't post it, she didn't.
I posted it.
- Right, but I didn't know you was gonna post it.
I wasn't ready.
But then I was like, bitch, I guess we just came out.
(Cam laughs)
And I was nervous at first.
Cause you know, I've been private for so, so long.
Cause I felt like that's all
as an entertainer that I have this, you know
that's personal for myself.
But just like when you find somebody
that you just have never felt a certain way before
you want to just share it
and you want to tell everybody.
You don't even give a about what nobody got to say.
- [Cam] And you better not fear!
- And I just felt that.
And it felt like a weight was lifted.
I felt like a brand new person.
So, you know, I got so much love, all support.
All just so much love, more than I thought I would get.
I felt like, "Oh Lord, here we go."
Cause you know, back in the day wasn't cool,
you couldn't do that.
- And you deserve a damn award plaque,
a damn Da Brat day
for opening up so many different avenues for people.
You know what I'm saying?
Not just for women, for the humanitary,
me trying to be all...
For the humans of the world
because you're you, you never changed.
And that's important, especially in this day and time
when you got another dude trying to be another person,
another girl trying to act like this
but you've done it your way since, what'd you say, 91?
- 91.
And luckily I was fortunate enough to have Jermaine Dupri
as my producer, he didn't ask me to change.
You know, Kris Kross we wore our pants backwards.
We jump, jump, you know, we was doing hip hop things
so nobody was like, "Okay, we need you to change clothes.
We need you to wear something tight and show some and that."
It was, it was no none of that.
So I was grateful to Jermaine Dupri let me be myself.
And he didn't try to sell sex with me
'cause my lyrics got me to where I am.
- I swear.
And I also want to talk about this,
the Bridge the Digital Divide, you know,
a foundation that you're affiliated with
that's is it home-based in new Orleans?
Tell us a little bit more about that.
- Bridge the Digital Divide.
It's an initiative that Kaleidoscope Cares started.
Kaleidoscope Cares is my nonprofit.
So we donated enough money
to be able to cover wifi
for eight different youth centers, over 8,000 people.
So we, you know, we try to provide wifi
'cause during the pandemic, people are not in school.
So now you need the internet
at home to actually go to school.
So I just try to be the person in the gap.
- Which is needed.
I was, you know, my older son and an older daughter,
she's actually here today.
And I asked like, "What if nobody got wifi?
What if nobody got a computer?"
You know what I'm saying?
At home, that's a real issue
cause the folks I went to school with,
I mean a phone, let alone a computer.
- You know, I saw something on Instagram.
It was children sitting in the parking lot
at a Burger King.
And I was like, this is, if they didn't have wifi at home
I was like, something has to be done about that.
So we did that.
I think it was November
of last year is when we started the initiative.
- That's what's up man.
And I commend you for, you know, your impact
of change because we all can impact the community
and you doing it in your own organic way is needed.
You know what I'm saying?
- Thank you.
- Can I ask this question?
- Yes.
- And I've been, this is a question
that I asked to my friends off camera
but would you consider you guys soulmates?
- Absolutely. Twin flames.
- Yeah, twin flame.
That's what I call it.
- Twin flames.
Now, what is the definition of your,
what's the definition of your interpretation
of what a soulmate is?
And do you think there's multiple soulmates out there
and you just find that one more?
- That's a good question. - That is a good question!
- I don't, I don't...
There might be multiple, there might be,
but I think there might be different levels of it.
I feel like I was blessed to be able to find somebody
that could be my partner and my best friend.
I feel like you could find a soulmate
in a best friend as well
that isn't necessarily your significant other.
- [Cam] Intimate. - Correct.
But I feel like we was fortunate enough
to stumble on it with each other in one.
- Yeah.
- I do believe different people
bring out different sides of you
and with me having children,
my children bring out different sides of me.
- [Judy] I can believe that.
- Like my daughters,
they bring out a softer, more patient.
Now, if they fall in front of me,
I'm like, "Oh, oh, oh, you all right?
You want daddy to kiss it?"
You know what I'm saying?
But if my son would fall in front of me,
"Boy, get yo ass up."
(all laughing)
You know what I'm saying?
That's the same thing with people.
You know, it's some people that you can have
in business that you can't hang out with.
And some people that you can hang out with
that you can't bring in business.
- [Da Brat] Yup, absolutely.
- You feel me?
Let me ask you this.
Obviously you've been a staple
in the rap game for a long time.
Do you like where the rap game is right now?
- Hmm. I mean, I feel like everybody rap.
I feel like a lot of people look at it more so
as a way out or an outlet instead of a passion.
And when I came up in it
it was very important to me to say meaningful things.
Like I came up with like Nas and you know, the Fugees,
you know, we like really, it was very important to us to,
you know, say something that was meaningful.
But I feel like nowadays some of these dudes
be rapping off beat, the beat don't matter.
They ain't saying nothing.
You know?
And I ain't trying to knock nobody-
- [Cam] No, no, no, no, no, no.
- But what's a bust down Tatiana?
And when he get off beat
that's the only thing that messed me up.
You kind of have to stay on the beat, in my opinion,
when you rhyming.
- But it's different...
It's different kind of waves.
You know what I'm saying?
- [Da Brat] It is.
- And from what I've always known,
especially with me a venturing off in different places
going to college in Florida, going to college in Texas.
- Different styles.
There's different styles. - It's different styles.
So what may hit in the South, you know what I'm saying?
At 808 and you waiting on the beat,
then you go to Texas where everything
kind of slowed and screwed.
And then you go to Alabama, where...
You feel me? - Yeah.
- And then it took,
it didn't take me till my adult life to start appreciating
the Jay-Z's of the world.
You know what I'm saying?
That you can really, it really hits home and be like,
damn, that hit.
- The Biggie's of the world.
- Right.
- I also think though, the appeal kind of has changed now
that you have the TikToks
and all the different social media outlets
where the music is promoted.
So you have a younger audience
that these artists are reaching to
so it's more, no offense, nursery rhyme-ish
or something catchy or something that can be made
into a dance move versus what it was before.
Because before it was story. - But if it's a dance move
you need to stay on beat in my opinion.
Like if you rhyming or dancing,
it's about the rhythm and the beat.
You should just stay on beat.
Like if you ain't on beat
whether you in the pocket, out the pocket-
- See, but we talk about this and see,
she'll say somebody's off beat and I don't catch it,
but because she has the musical ear, I don't catch it.
I'd be like, "Oh, that wasn't on beat?"
- I played seven different instruments in high school.
- What?
- Music is my thing.
Like, you know, I love a great singer.
I grew up in church.
I like to hear that soulful singing that make your toes curl
like a good old Fantasia, somebody, Kelly Price.
You know what I'm saying?
So if it's off beat, I can't listen to it.
- But, but I had a guest on here yesterday
or in the previous episode, David Banner.
- [Da Brat] Oh, I love David Banner.
- Right.
And he kind of spoke on,
and I want to ask you a similar question.
Is there a disconnect
with the old hip hop and the new hip hop?
- Yes. I think there is.
- And can it be, can it be fixed?
- I think it can be fixed
if some of the newer kids are taught to have some respect
for people who paved the way for them.
Because a lot of the doors that are open,
especially for female rappers, wouldn't be open
had it not been for Salt-N-Pepa.
Had it not been for Queen Latifa, MC Light,
Monie love, Ms. Melody,
you know, like Roxanne Shante.
So, you know, a lot of times they aren't mentioned
and I just think any chance you get
if somebody asks you that question
you should give it up for them.
- What's some advice for the viewer
to hear from you to say, man, just be you.
Do that shit your way.
- That is the advice.
First of all, you have to believe in yourself
cause if you don't believe in yourself
you can't make nobody believe in you.
Like if you performing
or you a artist and you want people to recognize you
and you're doing a show, don't just go out there
and rap and hold the mic and stand still.
Do something that's gonna make people remember you.
You know if you talkin' about,
I don't know if you're talkin'
about Skittles or M&M's in your rap,
throw them shits at the crowd, you know what I'm saying?
Do something to make you stand out
to make people want to know more about you.
And you have to believe in yourself.
That's the most important thing.
Just be you, everybody else is taken.
You know? - Yeah.
That's a gem right there.
Be you, everybody else taken
and can't nobody be you better than you.
- [Da Brat] Damn right.
- We have a nightcap question.
What's now?
And what's next for Ms. Judy? Da Brat?
And is there anything that you would like to do
that you haven't done yet?
Judy, you first.
- Yes!
- Really?
- What's now, what's next?
And what haven't you done that you really like to do?
- Currently Kaleidoscope Hair Products
got a partnership with Walmart.
So that was our recent distribution
along with the other distribution that we have.
So I'm really excited about it.
- That was Sally, Target, oh...
- I'm really excited about those.
What's next, I'm just looking forward to
all the stuff that I've been able to learn in 2020
and beginning of 2021, implementing that,
trying to put more systems into the company.
So a lot of stuff can be on autopilot
so she doesn't have to complain.
Yeah, and being able to spend more time with her.
Cause we'll be in the same bed together
but if I'm on my phone, she complains.
- That makes me mad.
- So what have you done that you haven't done yet?
- I don't know.
I don't even know if there's anything...
- So you just complete?
Is there a person that you would like to collab with?
You know, obviously with your philanthropy in the community.
- Now see, that's a whole,
that's a whole different discussion.
Who I would love to collab with?
I do a lot of content creation
with different celebrities and one that I feel like
does some great content is Will Smith
so that's somebody that I would love to collab with
but I'm big on timing.
So I feel like while I'm building out this warehouse
I don't need to do anything like that.
And then put me in a position where we have all of these-
- [Cam] Spread yourself thin.
- Yes. So...
- So Da Brat, what's now?
Da Brat, what's next?
Da Brat, what have you not done that you would love to do?
- What's now is I'm in the studio all the time.
I love being in the studio though.
I am constantly still working.
I do my radio show with Ricky Smiley.
I love it.
I love doing Dish Nation.
- Shout out to uncle Ricky!
- I love my jobs.
He loves you.
He talks about you all the time.
He ain't let nobody say nothing bad about you,
him, Rock-T, or Gary.
What's next is I have a few television shows
in the works that I'm also EPing.
And man, I can't give it away.
I want to tell, but I can't tell.
I want people to give me a shot at writing R&B songs.
I've tried to get in there with JD,
with B Cox, with a lot of people
but they looking at me like I'm just an MC
but I grew up in church playing instruments,
singing in and directing the choir.
So I know my notes.
I might not be a Kelly Price or a Mariah Carey
but I'm great at writing songs and references.
And I've written with a few of the best of them
but I haven't had that hit hit yet.
So I'm looking forward to writing
and people seeing that I refuse to just be
in a box and just a female rapper.
I'm so much more.
- You are!
And the timetable that you've been here,
been blessing us.
I told you off camera, appreciate your impact
on the culture.
- [Da Brat] Thank you.
- You feel me?
Because a lot of people, I'm not too ashamed to say
thank you for inspiring me
because when folks look at me, they'd be like,
"Bro, what are you doing?"
- Yeah, what you want to do.
- And to have the forefathers or forewoman's
- Okay.
- To not give a damn, you know what I'm saying?
That's commendable.
- [Da Brat] Yeah, just be you.
- Right, just be you.
- I love that about you, by the way, too.
- [Cam] Appreciate that.
- I never had a chance to meet you, but I love your style.
I love that you don't give a
and you wear what you want to wear.
You don't care where you at.
I was like, look at that
but it makes me happy when I see you.
- Right. - Cause it don't matter.
You know, I've been in the closet forever.
You know what I'm saying?
Because you worry
about how people are gonna judge you or criticize you.
But once you realize
and you find happiness and you don't give a
it don't matter what people say, you be happy.
You do what works best for you
and everything will be all right, no matter what.
So I appreciate you, your staff, your plays, your moves.
I see you so keep doing your thing.
And we proud of you over here.
- Thank you so much, man.
And with that being said, Ms. Judy, De Brat,
thank you for blessing us with your presence.
And as I always say to end the show,
one finger, one pinky, one thumb, one love.
We are out of here!
Appreciate you guys for stopping by and much blessings.
- You did great.
I love you.
- Look at their love, oh it's just so beautiful, right?
(R&B music)