LATTO

In a genre that loudly touts its commitment to authenticity, Latto is winning by virtue of her own commitment to honesty. “I'm not no cap ass bitch,” she’s quick to admit. The statement is something of a mantra of hers — one that comes up repeatedly over the course of a three-hour shoot at Uproxx Studios and an hour-long follow-up conversation a few weeks later. It’s also one of the things that have drawn more and more fans to her in the wake of the release of her 2020 debut album Queen Of Da Souf. It’s why they’ve stuck with her through the tumult of her long-awaited name change. And, with more new music on the way, it’s why Latto appears to be on the cusp of a massive career jump from upstart hitmaker to bonafide superstar.

MAKEUP: Michelle Dacillo @Michelle_Dacillo

PHOTOGRAPHY BY: PETER DONAGHY

EDITION 09 DECEMBER 2021

DECEMBER 8, 2021

BY: AARON WILLIAMS

Today, Latto is in the midst of a shoot for the latest Uproxx cover story in Culver City. She’s decked out in a Maise Wilen dress with GCDS boots, Young Nudy is blasting in the studio, and she’s working the camera like a veteran supermodel. That star quality is shining through, but one thing is missing — that is until she finally breaks into a thousand-megawatt grin. That smile demonstrates an undefinable It Factor she exudes like heat from a light bulb. It’s that authenticity, that humanness that keeps her relatable and down-to-earth; where most superstars are content to illuminate at a distance, Latto is at her best when you feel that warmth up close and personal. She knows it, too. A few weeks later, as we chat via Zoom, she tells me as much, if not in so many words. “I think it's the time that I've spent doing all this,” she says of the ease with which shows up when it’s time to perform. At the same time, it’s easy for her to get bored because she’s been doing this so long. “I've been rapping since eight years old… You know how people be like, ‘Oh, I've been rapping since I was two years old. Like, my momma put a microphone in my hand and I used to dance in front of the TV?’ No, I'm talking about full-blown, going to the studio, dropping music videos, promoting mixtapes, passing out mixtapes out the trunk of my daddy car. I had a whole career at eight years old. So, it's the time that I've put into it. That's where people be saying, ‘Oh my God, what is it?’ It's just I've been doing it forever.”

I had a whole career at eight years old.

Growing up in Atlanta, Alyssa Michelle Stephens was pushed into rap early after showing both interest and impressive aptitude for the craft. Dubbed Miss Mulatto for her mixed heritage (her father is Black, while her mom is white), she quickly developed as an artist thanks to a near relentless schedule that found her learning multiple facets of entertainment from as young as eight years old, including rapping, DJing, promoting events, and even hosting a podcast, resulting in practiced ease in dealing with media – as well as an advantage over the competition when she appeared on the Lifetime reality show, The Rap Game, at just 16 years old. Hosted by So So Def founder and veteran hip-hop hitmaker Jermaine Dupri, the show offered the polished teen what some would call the opportunity of a lifetime when she won the inaugural season — an opportunity she eventually turned down. In our prior interview ahead of the release of Queen Of Da Souf, Latto explained why she left the deal on the table in favor of a strenuous independent grind. “It wasn't something that I was comfortable doing yet,” she admitted. “I was 16 when we filmed the show, I was 17 by the time it aired and I was offered the contract. I'm a baby at 17. I don't want to get myself into no record deal to where I don't even fully understand the terms, or be locked down for years to come, and I was fresh off of a hit television show. So I didn't even get to see the outcome of the show and receive other offers.” That gamble paid off. After dropping the “Miss” from her nom de plume and releasing a string of mixtapes throughout her teens, she got her big break — and laid the groundwork for her future name change — after releasing the EP Big Latto, which contained her first charting hit, “Bitch From Da Souf.” Released in January that year, the track peaked at No. 95 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, spawning a well-received remix featuring the original Southern rap queen Trina and pop-rap upstart Saweetie. It also led to her major deal with RCA Records and placement on XXL’s 2020 Freshman Class just weeks before the release of her debut album. The album reached No. 44 on the Billboard 200, solidifying her status and justifying her boldness in holding off on signing at 16. However, it wasn’t all smooth sailing; as she received greater acclaim, she also garnered more intense scrutiny for her rap name. After all, in today’s increasingly socially conscious landscape, there was simply too much room to misinterpret the reference — both deliberate and inadvertent — even despite her insistence that her name was meant only to pay homage to her parents, reclaiming an insult that had been levied against her as a child. Under intense pressure from fans on social media, she relented, opting to shorten the name to Latto, comparing it to “lotto” or lottery. She even has a tattoo that reads “777,” a jackpot on a slot machine, so the new name works. And she freely admits that the old name was never the best and attributes the delay in changing it to the vagaries of business.

Photo Assistant: Patricia Gomez @patygonia

Photographer: Peter Donaghy @donslens

However, it wasn’t all smooth sailing; as she received greater acclaim, she also garnered more intense scrutiny for her rap name. After all, in today’s increasingly socially conscious landscape, there was simply too much room to misinterpret the reference — both deliberate and inadvertent — even despite her insistence that her name was meant only to pay homage to her parents, reclaiming an insult that had been levied against her as a child. Under intense pressure from fans on social media, she relented, opting to shorten the name to Latto, comparing it to “lotto” or lottery. She even has a tattoo that reads “777,” a jackpot on a slot machine, so the new name works. And she freely admits that the old name was never the best and attributes the delay in changing it to the vagaries of business. “I did not name myself originally Miss Mulatto,” she recalls. “I was eight years old. So, how could an eight-year-old even name themself that? But as my career blossomed and continued to develop, I feel like those things were brought to my attention. And as I'm getting older, I'm having my own train of thought, I'm having my own perspective and opinions and morals and values. So I feel like, my name just didn't align with those so that's when I changed my name…. I think people need to give me more credit for even being open-minded to changing it because it's a lot of different factors that went into changing it. I got the label involved. I got management. I got lawyers.” Now that the name controversy is behind her, though, she’s set about the business of building her new brand, with her new sound, while sticking to that deeply ingrained philosophy of remaining true to herself. That transition has already begun thanks to her new single, “Big Energy.” Coming on the heels of her successful 2020 debut album, the spunky track is a sharp departure from the Atlanta native’s previously established, bass-heavy trap sound. Rather than spitting razor-edged punchlines over punishing 808-laden percussion, Latto released a lighthearted song built on a sample of Tom Tom Club’s 1981 new wave hit, “Genius Of Love” — the same song sampled by Mariah Carey for her own 1995 pop-soul cut, “Fantasy.” Of course, at the time, Latto says she had no idea the song contained a sample. Chalk it up to her still relatively young age; at just 22 years old, she wasn’t even born yet when Carey’s single ruled the pop charts for eight consecutive weeks. But, true to form, Latto is quick to admit to the gap in her pop culture knowledge, which contributes to her honest persona.

What's the sense of it all? Pimpin' powder, and pussy tryna make pennies See niggas lie on the stand, guess hell ain't harder than prison, who knows In the 90's a traffic stop get you tickets, a joke Now they find you a traffic stop get you riddled with holes We be livin' too fast, we be sippin' it slow One of my niggas was sellin' work, now he sellin' out shows I mean face it that's growth, pay attention take notes You over forty and movin' work better be by the boat Better be by the dock, better not be by your home If niggas really wan' hurt you, they gonna leave you alone

Being the biggest — again, another mantra of hers — comes with its ups and downs. Shortly after releasing a freestyle to the viral SpottemGotem single “Beatbox” earlier this year, Latto found herself embroiled in the sort of rap drama that it would seem the game might have outgrown now that there are so many new female rappers finding success at the same time. However, uneasy is the head that wears a crown, and by dubbing herself the biggest female rapper from Atlanta — currently inarguably true, at least judging by sales — she apparently rankled some of her fellow Georgians with the track. Renni Rucci, another Atlanta rapper, recoiled at Latto’s assertion of being “the biggest,” leading to a back-and-forth that still amuses her. “Look, on my mama,” she chuckles. “I did not think that that was going ruffle feathers like that. I swear to God. I do this. I'm a very confident woman. Some might call it cocky, I don't give a fuck. I'm seasoned and I know I'm good at what I do. So when I go in that booth, I pop my shit. So that's not me taking shots at nobody or me dissing anybody. It's a lot of bitches who put Big in front of they name that I'm cool with. So that wasn't no dis but at end of the day, we in hip-hop, baby, we still competition. It ain't even that deep. It's just me going in there popping my shit. It's not even for nobody to take it to heart. So I definitely didn't think it was going to do all that. I don't remember being offended though. I remember being like, 'Oh, shit. Okay. Yeah. You the biggest too, girl. Go ahead.’”

“The point I'm making is it'll be people that will judge or making an opinion about my music and A, you don't know this environment, or B, never took the time to even listen to what I'm really saying on the album,” he says. “That happens far too many times. You wish people would really listen, but I don't even blame them because there's so much music coming out.” Does he feel as though he’s gotten overlooked or lost in the furor? “Yes,” he agrees. “I don't think a lot of people don't know that me, Cole, and Pharrell opened for Jay-Z. We did a whole college tour... A lot of people don't know I opened for Jay before that, even in Europe… A lot of people don't know I opened for Rihanna in Europe. Because there was no Snapchat. I wasn't walking around with a cameraman for YouTube all day. It was a weird time… We got a little bit of the Mandela effect going on in this generation.” However, he says, “I might just try to do the best I can because there'll be a time when it will all connect and everybody is going to put everything together and then it'll all makes sense to some people that it might not make sense to. I would not be lying to say it wasn't frustrating, but ain't nothing to do about it but just keep pushing. It’ll be on Folarin II, where I wrote these subtle reminders all throughout the album.” When I ask him how this album will be different from the 2012 Folarin mixtape, which featured appearances from 2 Chainz, Chinx Drugz, French Montana, Nipsey Hussle, Rick Ross, and Scarface, among others, Wale compares the project to Jay-Z’s career-defining 2001 release, calling it a “Blueprint” record. “I feel like the process on this one was pretty much, as soon as I got into the mode, it just started feeling like, ‘You know what? Where I am, how I feel, how I know who I am, regardless of what anybody's talking about,’ it started just speaking to me more. I was like, ‘This is Folarin II.’ Folarin is when I started really coming into my own. I really was in that space. I was just singing with my chest. I think that's what's happening now.” “It's a space that I was in, this bubble,” he continues. “Some days I felt like telling the stories and some days I felt like talking about things going on back home. Some days I felt like talking about shit. The next day I felt like talking about shit. Then the next day I felt like talking about shit. Then the next day I want to do something else. It was just a moment in time, this bubble of where I'm at…. I made sure I spelled it out, it's more grandiose. I think all of them have a different thing, man. Folarin II is its own thing, but it's just the same intentions and the same feeling that I had when I made Folarin 1.”

That rebellious streak means she’s not afraid of the criticisms or taking risks, as she did with the release of “Big Energy” and its departure from her established sound. It also shines through in the defiance she projected throughout her recent freestyle for the LA Leakers radio show, where she laid the “Beatbox” controversy to rest for good. “How you big can't name a track,” she wondered. “How you big but can't hang a plaque?” Of course, with all that ferocity, it helps to remain anchored, which she has by keeping a little piece of her hometown close at hand. She credits not just her sister for helping to keep her grounded, but also her manager, her mom (who often joins the two in a semi-official capacity), her DJ, and her assistant, all of whom she says will “check me real quick” if she were to “switch up or start getting a big head.” That groundedness has been serving her well as the wins keep rolling in. Just this past summer, Latto performed for the first time at the MTV VMAs, garnering a rare opportunity to perform not just one song, but three, thanks to her placement as the show’s commercial bumper alongside Saint JHN. While the off-kilter arrangement certainly ruffled some feathers online among fans who believe she deserved a look on the big stage, she took the situation in stride and maintains a positive view.

“I used to watch the damn VMAs criss-cross apple sauce, two inches from the TV screen, big eyes.. ‘I can't wait until that's me,’” she remembers. “So I'm grateful for every opportunity. I'm not too big for anything.” Of the complaints about her screen time (which almost added up to more exposure than any other single performer of the night), she points out, “Before I was even doing the award shows, it is, 'Oh, she ain't even on the MTV awards. She ain't on the BET awards.' They're like, 'She ain't this. She ain't that.' Then when I do it, then they try to find something else. So now that I'm doing it, then it's, 'Oh, she was only on there for 30 seconds.' So then next year when I'm on the big stages, 'Oh, she didn't even do good.' They going to find something regardless.” But for Latto, the focus remains on taking each win as it comes — and they’re coming faster and faster as she prepares to release her sophomore album sometime in 2022. While she’s on a hot streak, though, she’s still just as deadset on keeping it real. “Me, baby, I'm so humble and grateful for every opportunity,” she repeats. “Where I'm at right now is nowhere near where I want to in my career race. So I'm like, 'To me, I'm still grinding. I'm still hustling. I'm on the come up.' I'm going to take whatever's thrown at me.”

In addition to video games and sneakers, Wale’s other big preoccupation is with wrestling. The appeal is obvious; in the same way rappers create characters for themselves, overcoming financial and structural obstacles, wrestlers do the same thing with physical ones. They can both become larger-than-life, exaggerating characteristics, creating their own narrative, and redefining themselves in the public eye. However, this wasn’t always the case. At one point, Wale was really the only rapper making himself such a visible fan of the sport. Just like with sneakers and livestreaming — that’s right, Wale was livestreaming himself on the now-defunct UStream, years before Instagram and TikTok allowed similar functionality to connect artists with fans — he was just a little bit ahead of his time. “You know, now there is a little slight shift in wrestling,” he muses. “You got to look at guys like myself and Westside Gunn, Smoke DZA, Flatbush Zombies, we've been a part of that culture for a long time. And Black journalists too, Black writers are talking more about it and uplifting our Black wrestlers. And this is a special time in that culture. The conversations are happening. I work closely with Neil Lawi at the WWE, and I talked to Triple H last week on text. So there's definitely... It's an interesting time for wrestling. You got the R&C podcast, you got the WrassleRap [social media movement], you got Kaz[eem Famuyide] doing it so crazy... Media uplifting the culture, you got Westside Gunn on the crazy run right now, uplifting the culture. So we love where it's at right now. We love where it's going.” Again, it feels like Wale’s interests parallel his real-life trajectory as an entertainer. He’s always on the ball before anyone else — but he rarely remains there alone for long. It just takes others a while to catch on. On being one of the first highly visible artists bigging up Nigeria before the Afrobeats genre broke stateside, he says, “It's one of them things that I feel like I knew was inevitable and it's not going to stop anytime soon. So I'm proud of all my guys and girls. I'm just grateful that I can be somebody seen as part of that culture.” Isn’t he being too humble? “Nah. I've been valid. My thing is if you know, you know. So I'm not overly concerned with that. Everybody know what I do and what I've did. And if they don't, Google is free.” He takes the same attitude toward the world’s skeptical view of go-go, which still threads through his music like the ever-critical stitching holding together his favorite Nikes. “Go-go is a genre where you got to experience that shit live to all the way, get it for real,” he says. “After you experienced it live, you have a different appreciation for it. This is what I assumed because I think I was maybe 13 years old when I realized go-go was only local. I thought everybody back then knew what go-go was. When I was a kid, I thought everybody in the whole world knew who those people was. Now that I've learned so much about the actual music and instruments and mixing and culture from all over the world, I can understand why we never really made that leap after [Junkyard Band’s] “Sardines” and [E.U’s] “Doin’ Da Butt.”

GRIFF is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

LIGHTING: STEF FERRA @STEFANFILMPHOTO

stylist: bobby wesley @bobbywesley

stylist: miquelle west @miquellewest_

Photographer: PETER DONAGHY @DONSLENS

Latto’s been outspoken about the competition among women in the field before, as well as questioning the higher standards to which women are held in the first place — especially compared to men who rap. “Don't get me started on that because I'll go all day,” she winds up when the subject is broached. “They criticize us so hard, but these boys get up there with they shirt off grabbing they nuts and jump up and down and they the hottest thing ever. We got to be four hours in glam. Make sure your nails match your outfit, your hair, makeup everything matches. And don't sound out of breath. Make sure you have choreography. And then we doing it in heels!” Speaking of glam and heels, back at the shoot, I catch up with Latto’s sister Brooklyn as Latto changes into a new ensemble consisting of a Marni coat, Ottol Inger pants, and McQueen shoes. Much shier than her sister, Brooke has become something of a fixture at the rapper’s side while on tour and at shoots like this one, faithfully documenting their adventures for TikTok, where once again, that dynamic, down-to-earth personality is on full display. We watch a video that features the siblings playing a common question-and-answer game on the platform. The questions wonder which of the two “got the most whoopings growing up,” prompting both sisters to point emphatically toward Latto. When asked about her sister’s supposed rebellious streak, Brooke explains, “She don’t like being told what to do. She don’t like you to tell her the rules. She just does whatever she wants to do.” Latto confirms this was the case, even in that early stage that laid the foundation for her later success. “I used to hate it when I was young,” she says. “I used to be like, 'I want to go to the skating rink.' At times, I'd be like, 'Man, my friend having a sleepover on Saturday.' And my daddy would be like, 'You got a show on Saturday. You going to appreciate me for this when you get older.' Now, I understand what he was saying, but I think it just gave me an overall advantage. I'm not scared of the camera.”

I had a whole career at eight years old.

GRIFF is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Latto

More Than Luck

I had a whole career at eight years old.

“You know what, and this is going to show my age and I don't even give a fuck because baby, I'm not no cap ass bitch,” she cracks, laughing the whole time. “I heard the beat and I just was like, 'Oh, this is like some trapped out pop shit.' I had no idea where it came from. Have I heard ‘Fantasy’ before? Have I heard ’Genius Of Love’ before? Yes. But it wasn't clicking. I'm 22 years old, baby, them songs is before my time. “So when they told me, this song is a sample, I was like, 'Oh really?' So then they played ‘Genius Of Love’ for me first and it was like, 'This is the original.' Then they played Mariah's ‘Fantasy’ and I was like, 'She sampled it too.' And I was like, 'Oh, okay, okay. That's fine.' But it kind of shook me at first and I was like, 'Damn, these songs is huge.' They're going to be like, 'You got big shoes to fill there.' But I was like, 'You know what? I ain't even going to put that pressure on myself. I'm going to put my own taste on it, take it or leave it, whatever.'” The risk has paid off; “Big Energy” has become her highest-charting single on the Hot 100 to date, reaching No. 71 on the chart dated December 11, 2021. There may be some distance between it and its forebears, but that gap has shrunk every week since its release. And while the departure from the Dirty South rhythms that put Latto on the map has been decried by some fans, it’s obvious that others have embraced it. Besides, other recent singles like “The Biggest” and “Soufside” have shown she remains tapped into her roots and hasn’t lost a single step lyrically, even if “Big Energy” represented a greater opportunity for her to show her range. “I wanted to push myself,” she explains. “I wanted to challenge myself. Honestly, when you've been rapping since eight years old, you got to find new inspiration and new sparks. I just wanted to try something different and I didn't really give a fuck whether people liked it or they didn't because this was for me. I know what I'm doing. So I was like, the go-hard, Latto, heavy punchlines on a heavy 808 trapped out beat, that's my pocket. I got that down pat. I can do that forever. I do that in my sleep. But, I don't want to do that forever. I want to push myself and I want to be the biggest me I can be.”

I want to push myself and I want to be the biggest me I can be.

I'm a very confident woman.

I'm still grinding. I'm still hustling. I'm on the come up.

Latto

I had a whole career at eight years old.

I want to push myself and I want to be the biggest me I can be.

I'm a very confident woman.

Latto confirms this was the case, even in that early stage that laid the foundation for her later success. “I used to hate it when I was young,” she says. “I used to be like, 'I want to go to the skating rink.' At times, I'd be like, 'Man, my friend having a sleepover on Saturday.' And my daddy would be like, 'You got a show on Saturday. You going to appreciate me for this when you get older.' Now, I understand what he was saying, but I think it just gave me an overall advantage. I'm not scared of the camera.” That rebellious streak means she’s not afraid of the criticisms or taking risks, as she did with the release of “Big Energy” and its departure from her established sound. It also shines through in the defiance she projected throughout her recent freestyle for the LA Leakers radio show, where she laid the “Beatbox” controversy to rest for good. “How you big can't name a track,” she wondered. “How you big but can't hang a plaque?” Of course, with all that ferocity, it helps to remain anchored, which she has by keeping a little piece of her hometown close at hand.

I'm still grinding. I'm still hustling. I'm on the come up.

Stylist: Todd White @labelsndollas

Hair: Kahh Spence @kahhspence