“Don’t ask her that,” Yaya said from behind me, having my back.
I knew she wanted to spaz, and possibly say worst, but the cameras were rolling in here. Even though this was a live interview that was playing on the radio, it was still being filmed with a whole camera crew because once this was edited and everything, they were going to drop the interview on YouTube. With that, if Yaya cut up the way that I knew she wanted to, they would clip it up, and it would go viral, and I knew that that was something that she didn’t want. Yaya didn’t believe in all pressbeing good press. She only wanted good things to be out there, and I respected that.
“Cool, cool. You don’t have to answer that. We’re going to respect your decision. That’s all folks. Your locked in with99.2 The Vibe.Shout out to Autumn for coming down here this afternoon and kicking it with us. We’ve been trying to get her out here for months, but this girl stays on the move, getting to the bag. Keep supporting her new album. It’s currently killing the charts right now, still in the top 50. Yesterday, she just dropped those dates for her tour, so make sure that ya’ll support that too, and have her sell out. You know I support anybody that’s from Miami, so ya’ll show her some love. Autumn, I appreciate you again for coming down here,” Big Mount ended it.
I wanted my pride to get in the way, and tell this nigga fuck him, and not give a closing statement, but I cleared my throat, came closer to the mic, and I shouted out all my fans, thanked them for supporting the album, and reminded them again to grab their tickets for my tour. From there, Big Mount closed the interview out, the cameras stopped rolling, and I slapped the mic down, trying to break that shit, and when I did it, all eyes in the room landed on me. Soraya stood up, and she came and stood right on the side of me.
“What the fuck is wrong with you man? Before this interview started, I handed you a list of things that I didn’t want you asking her. I even told you out of my own mouth that I didn’t want you asking her shit about the comments that she made on her Instagram live. She’s at a point in her career where the world is still trying to forgive her for the comments that she made. She just dropped her fuckin tour dates yesterday, and you chose to drag that shit back up, starting the controversy on the topic all over again. Just that fast, you could mess up her sales for the tour!” Soraya was pissed, saying everything to him that I was feeling right now.
This is why I loved her because I could tell that when it came to me, it wasn’t just business. She took on that big sister role for me, being guidance, and a mentor towards me.
“Soraya, chill out. You acting like she repeated that shit in the interview. This shit is just radio, man. I knew Autumn wasn’t going to answer it. I only asked the question because I know that’s the shit that the people are going to want to hear. When I post it on Instagram, people going to see that little clip of me asking her about the live, and that’s what’s going to get us the views on YouTube. Views bring money to what the fuck I’m over here doing. Money pays my bills. This business. You should know that,” Big Mount spat. I really wanted to jump across this table, and beat his ass, but I kept my cool.
“Nigga, you talking about its business! That’syourbusiness. The only business that I have is protecting my fuckin client. You just sat your ass there and told the thousands of listeners that were tuned in that you fucked with Autumn because she was from the same city as you. That’s a fuckin lie because if you fucked with her like that, and if you had her interest at heart, you wouldn’t have asked her that shit. You risking her fuckin career, and her tour for some clicks, and views on your YouTube page. That shit is lame, and it’s foul,” Soraya was going in, as she turned around, and she picked up herHermèspurse that she had sitting on the chair.
“You getting in your feelings Yaya about some little shit. You damn near in the same business as I am. You know fuckin well that people live for this messy shit. It wasn’t my intentions to be messy, but I gotta do what’s going to sell,” he kept going.
Prior to this, Yaya and Big Mount had a good relationship. Yaya worked with a lot of artist, so she’s been to this radio station numerous of times over the years. Hell, on the drive over, she spoke highly of Big Mount, telling me he was cool people, and that I was going to like him, since this would be my first timemeeting him. He would always play my music on his station, and he did show me love, but today was our first interaction. Prior to shit going left, he had been cool, but the shit this nigga just did was green, and he didn’t have to worry about me coming down here again and showing love.
“My clients don’t have to put out mess for a check. My clients talent is what sells, and that’s what brings in the big checks for them. Longevity sells too. Remember that. You been in the game for years, and with that, you would think that you would know how to build your content, get your likes, and views without having to tear down a black girl from the same city as you. Don’t fuckin play with one of my clients like that again!” she spat, coming closer to him.
Like he didn’t want smoke with her, he threw his hands up and told her that she had it.
We ended up walking out of the radio station. Usually, when these kinds of interviews are over, you would take pictures with the crew, and even film a short video for social media, telling them about the time that we had, and shouting them out. We didn’t do any of those things. We left out of the building, went over to the elevator, took it down to the first floor, and once we got outside, the black truck that we’d come here in was parked out front, waiting for us.
The driver saw when we made our way out because he quickly got out of the truck, walked around, and he opened the back door for us. I climbed in first, going for the chair that was behind the driver’s seat, and Soraya climbed in next, sitting in the chair that was behind the passenger seat. He closed the door, and once he did, that’s when I turned in my seat, so that I could look at her.
“See, this the reason why I don’t like doing interviews. I feel like interviewers be messy as fuck. They control the narrative in a sense, and that’s what I don’t like. The only reason why I’meven doing this shit is because of my album, and my tour. I can’t wait until I get to a point in my career, where I’m like Beyonce, and I don’t have to sit down, and do interviews, and shit,” I voiced, and when I said that, she laughed.
“Girl, Beyonce had to put years in the game first before she got to a place where she no longer had to do interviews. I’m glad that I decided to come with you though. I’m curious to know what you would have said if I wasn’t with you,” she responded, her eyes on me, waiting for a response from me.
“Ima be honest, I really don’t know what I would have said. I didn’t practice for that because I didn’t expect him to ask that,” I said, pulling my phone out, about to navigate towards social media to see if anyone had gotten into my comments yet, saying anything about the interview.
“You know what you’re supposed to say when an interviewer asks you something that you don’t want to answer. That was like the first thing that I taught you when you became my client,” she said, and I nodded because she was right.
I was reading through my comments, and so far, it was all good things. So many people were writing me, telling me that they’d just heard me on the radio, and letting me know that I did a good job, and they enjoyed listening to me talk. Prior to big Mount asking me about the live video, it really had been a great interview, that’s why I was so angry that he let it all just slip like that. Usually, whenever I would do interviews, I was closed in, and didn’t really share much, but today, I opened up a little bit. I talked about me stripping in the club, my childhood, how I’d gotten into rap, and just sharing pieces of my life that I knew the world didn’t know yet. I was vulnerable today.
I read through as many of the comments as I could, and then I went through my followers stories, and one of my home girls shared a video to her story that had been trending and going viral on all social media outlets since Law had posted it to hisstory a few days ago. I’m not going to lie, even I reposted the video to my page too a few days ago. That video that he recorded of him, and Yaya in that chair, and she was kissing all on her man, I swear I couldn’t wait to be in love with a nigga like that and be all in his face like that.
All the blogs were eating that video up, and over half a million people had reposted it, and shared it with someone. They were picking apart everything in that video too. So many people noticed the acupressure wristband that she was wearing on her wrist, so now the world was coming up with rumors that she was pregnant. You know that that was the first thing that I asked her when I saw her this afternoon, but she claimed she wasn’t. I still didn’t know if she was telling the truth or not.
“Soraya, look. Every day I get on social media, everybody is reposting this video. I want to be in love like this,” I told her, showing her my phone, so that she could see the video.
Someone had edited the video, and they had the songyou are my joy (interlude)by Faith Evans playing. In that video, you saw how much the two of them loved each other, how well they complimented one another, and that they were each other’s safe places. I didn’t follow Law on social media, but I did follow the blogs, so the other day, when the blogs took the video from his story, and reposted it for the world, I screamed, happy that the two of them were back together. I was with the rest of the world, wanting them to fix their problems, and get back together because they were truly a beautiful couple.
“Finish your tour first and then be in love. You need to have your head in the game right now. A man is going to slow you down,” she said, and I just laughed. I was talking to her about being in love, but Lord knows that I didn’t want that for real.
These Miami niggas out here just weren’t what I needed. With me being in the industry, it’s put me in rooms with other male rappers, ball players, and just any kind of man with acoin, and to me, I felt like they were the worst kind of men to entertain. Because they had money, and looked somewhat decent, they had a mindset of thinking that because they were the prize, they could treat a bitch any kind of way that they wanted. When that time came, and I was ready to settle down with someone, I wanted a regular nigga. Because I’ve already dated my fair share of scammers, drug dealers, ball players, and shit like that, and I knew what came with them, I would rather have a simple man, so that we could live a simple life. For me to have this mindset, that’s how you knew that I was maturing, and I’ve been doing a lot of reflecting these days because just a month ago, I would have wanted the hoodest nigga of them all. I was maturing, and I loved that for me.
During the car ride, I was happy when Yaya asked me if I wanted to go somewhere, so that we could sit down and have lunch. I really didn’t have anything planned until later. We’ve already started rehearsing for my tour, so tonight I had a late-night rehearsal session.
Yaya, and I decided on a restaurant quick.Longhornwas one of my favorite restaurants, and Yaya told me that she liked to eat there too, so that’s where she told the driver to take us. We pulled up there about fifteen minutes later, and the driver pulled the car up front, and he got out, opening our doors for us, and we walked inside. Because it was the afternoon on a weekday, there really wasn’t many people inside, so we were able to be seated right away. The hostess led us to a booth, and Yaya and I slid in on opposite sides.
The few people that were in here, they noticed us, and they thought that they were being discreet by pulling their phones out and trying to sneak videos of us. Shit like that was the reason why I could never leave my house looking like a bum. There was always going to be a camera in my face, or one that belonged to someone that was being sneaky and trying to record me. Iunderstood that it came with the territory, I just didn’t always like it.
“How have things been going between you, and your grandma?” Yaya asked me, once the hostess left the table. There were two menus that were sitting right in front of us. I ate here so often, never switching up my order, so I didn’t have to look through it.
When she asked me that question, I released a sigh. Yaya knew about the problems that I had when it came to my relationship with my grandmother. I’ve shared things with her in confidence, so a lot of times when her and I would have alone time, she would ask me how things were going with my grandma.
