The Breakfast Club - INTERVIEW: Rapsody Talks New Album ‘God Gotta Afro & Gold Hoops’, Spirituality, Afrofuturism, Collaborations + More

Episode Date: August 20, 2026

Today on The Breakfast Club, Rapsody Talks New Album ‘God Gotta Afro & Gold Hoops’, Spirituality, Afrofuturism, Collaborations. Listen For More!YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BreakfastClubPower1051FMSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Just hilarious. Salomey Naga. We are the Breakfast Club. La La Rosa is here as well. We got a special guest in the building. Ladies and you gentlemen, Rhapsody. Big rap. Good morning.

Welcome back. I ain't no special guest on family. That's right. How you feeling? Cousin is here. I'm good. Good. Good.

So good. New album, God, God, got an Afro and gold hoops. Yes. Break that title down. Man, I took a trip to Ghana before I went to Joe Berg to record to record the album. And we were up one morning going to see the Ashon. tribe right and they're playing this white westernized gospel music and I'm like why am I listening to this in Africa station at the station it just made me think like man even in the continent

spirituality and the sound of that and religion is co-opted and I thought about America like you know we're here in America and Jesus is painted as white and it's like man books are being banned and DEI is going away and they're whitewashing and rewriting history so I was like yo like we have to tell our stories. We got to preserve our stories and our truth. So the first thing is like, don't forget to see God in yourself. God, like, you can't comprehend God in our reality. Genderless, formless, shapeless, raceless,

but, you know, you got to see God in all things. And don't let them say black people aren't in the image of God either. So that was it. You recorded the whole album in Joe Bird? I recorded four songs in Joe Bird, the heart of it. Okay. Why Joe Bird? It was just calling me.

I hadn't been in like Twitter. 12 years, but it's one of my favorite places to go. Beautiful. It was just calling me, you know? Everything I was attracted to where I was looking at style and fashion or I was really in the fellow cutie listening to that. So I was just like, I was just answering the calling

that was in me. I called my manager. I was like, I think I need to go to Joe Berg to record this album. We just deal with felt good. The title pairs, air rings, well, oops with the afro. What's the significance behind that?

Man, I'm a woman, so it's like, you know, it's for everybody else. But, like, when I look in the mirror, I got to see God and myself, too. And at the time, I had just cut my hair, I was growing the fro. I love gold hoops. I was just like, you know, and we don't talk about women in that light enough. So it was like the end gold hoops is important, you know. So that was it. It was just like, that's how I see myself.

And that's pink blackness. That's ultra black. Yeah, it's super black. I'm black ninja. You know. I think of please don't cry, right? Like, please don't cry felt like you was taking a lot of armor off. I was getting naked for the world, for sure.

God got an Afro and gold hoops feels like you putting something back on. You said it exactly how I said. That's why when I asked you about the title, it makes a lot of sense because it feels like you're putting back on identity. Exactly. I got to take off what society, family, religion, and everybody put on me. I got naked, but now I get to redress myself, you know?

What did you rediscover about yourself between those two? Man, I think the one thing is like affirming and validating yourself. Like you're enough. You don't have to try to fit in any boxes or be any one thing. And you can love blackness and be black and it's okay. Like there's space for it. Like I just stopped trying to chase things. Validation Billboard hits.

What were you chasing? I don't feel like Rhapsody ever chases that. Like Rhapsody rapsity. In a way, like it's an artist. You know, I never. I wasn't looking at your sign. for nothing. I was focused.

To chase validation. I never got that from Rhapsal. Yeah, me even. Maybe not in a sense like everybody else does where like something's trendy. Like let me be with everybody else. Mine was like when I was growing up in what I thought validation and success, like, especially in his business, you know, it was awards. It was, you know, Billboard hits the best of the best.

We're sitting in those seats. It's really not like that. You can sit there and you don't have to be the best of the best. I have the best music. So, you know, that was the disconnect. I'm like, yo, if I want to be the best of the best, this is, here's to what Lauren and Queen Latifah and Missy Elliott and Jay and and Nas and all these people, they hit these markers.

Like, I got to hit those markers, you know. But it's all an illusion is what I found out. So, you know, you just walk your wall, you know. And that's it. Whoever come along, they come along. That's a great point, right? Because I want, like, if the blueprint was the blueprint, Just musically, but it wasn't nothing that can, no sales or nothing.

It would still be the blueprint. It would still be the blueprint. Yeah. And that's it. Like, you know, we can't allow people to put value on our art by those things. It's really like, how are you impacting people at the end of the day? For me, that's my measure. Like, when I go out in the world and I talk to people and they tell me how my music changed your life, okay, that's the currency for me.

Is that an initial measure of success too? Absolutely. The amount of people that are able to do that. Yeah, yeah. When you, in free your mind, you talk about how you were putting a lot on you, but not enough God? I always walk with God, but it's like you still can overthink in it sometimes. Right.

So, yeah, you got to surrender. And my manager gave me this great quote a couple months ago. She's like, we're in God's algorithm, God's timing. I think it's more of that, you know, like, I know I'm walking an assignment of what I'm supposed to do, but like, you can't worry about it. what comes, what doesn't come, some things don't come because it's divine protection. So you just, you let it go and flow. You know, everything is as it should be.

If you're doing what you're supposed to do, you're God's algorithm. I think growing up, Jehovah Witness does that to us. And I absolutely, I love, mom, don't take this the wrong way. Boy. I just feel like it's more discipline and practice than it is actual dignity of spirituality. Absolutely. You know, like we Jehovah's Witnesses' kids. So it's definitely that, like, going to the Hainham Hall to meet

and three, four times a week. That's right. Going door to door. Yeah, but, you know, one thing I am grateful for my mom when I was like 17, like, she was like, you have to make the truth your own. And that's something that stuck with me always. So just saying that, you know, I got to go in the world and just listen to other people and how they practice

and their relationship with God and figure out what's true for me, you know. And yeah, it, it, life. will make you go inward you know if you're not afraid to go in there and look in the mirror like it'll make you go and when you go that's where you're going to find god the most you know i think i love that you start the album off with the intro piece god because i don't know what it was about the intro it felt like a reminder like it was almost like oh shoot just in case you forgot you know yeah yeah that's like i wrote it like it i wrote this album like it was a book and it got banned you know and somebody founded 100,000 years later

you know 110 it could be 10 years later but they just found it in the future and it's like first thing I need you to know is like God again like you gotta start with God and that's why it's like peace God it's like 5% of you'd be on the street peace God like you know again see God and yourself you know your genius your strength your power

your intelligence all those things like yeah I love that because that strengthens young black women yeah everybody yeah but like a lot of us really need to you know especially to use yeah just lost child you know no GPS ever it's like that this is this is a good message for them is what else would you want you know young black women to take away from this album um not that you specifically wrote it for just young black women but like yeah you know I don't know I feel like it's so much messaging in your music, you know, specifically for black girls.

I felt that, though, with the first song, it felt like permission a little bit, like, all right, like we can, like I can step into whatever this error is that she's about to walk me into, and it's okay if I do that. Yeah, it's all that permission. It's just, it's just like really learning to be with yourself and know yourself and love yourself and be that. You know, the world is like that. It'll have you chasing all these things from looks to, you know, what success.

it's supposed to be for you and especially, you know, in my business, like a lot of women look and sound alike, you know? There's nothing wrong. Like, it's all just be your authentic self, whatever that is. Like, your truth is your truth. And I think anytime you operate outside of your truth, you know, that's when you have the friction in your life. So just be your authentic self. Don't look at the world and say, like, I have to be this to be validated to be successful. Like, that's what the bigger message is. You know, when you look in the mirror and you're at one with yourself and you have relationship with God and you know your purpose and your assignment and you walking at whatever it is no judgment but just let it be true to you that's it

have you have you always been like so grounded and so you know no comfortable in yourself absolutely not no this is a journey of becoming a forever becoming yeah yeah i'm going through phases of it but you know life will do that to you like we come in this world like he says naked and then you know we're raising families and you know your parents your family they do the best that they can and what they know to shape you and prepare you for this world and maybe that comes with things that you know you'll keep forever and some things you like that ain't i want to let that one go yeah you know then you go to school and school does this thing you have friends and know they do their thing religion and politics and all these things like you're trying to figure it out

and it's shaping you and you got to get naked and then ask yourself who am i you know what things really do fit me. Like you say, you redress yourself. So it was a journey for me. Like, I went through it all. I've had the highest of high self-esteem and I've had low self-esteem. Like, I've tried to figure it out, you know, but this is the most whole and peaceful and free me that I've ever been. I want to go back a second when you talk about, you know, the Kingdom Hall and Joy Witness. And this question for both of you, I always had this question. When you started working on your craft, right, for you as your art, with music, for you as radio, Do you, did you ever feel like I'm not going to go to that call and because you put so much time in the kingdom hall

and because you put so much time into the church? Did you ever say I'm going against what my, what I thought the beliefs were as a child? No, not me. I know some people, you know, their experience is different. I think a lot of times, again, it has to do with your village, your upbringing. My mom was Jehovah's Witness, all my aunts, her sisters, but my dad was non-denominational.

So I had a great balance. You got a balance, right. There were some families, like, you can't have friends out in the world. You can't play sports. You can't watch cartoons. You can't eat Lucky Charms if there's a leprechaun on the box. Some people go that deep, you know. You know, but, like, my dad really, like, balanced us out.

So, you know, I play sports. I have friends. Like, we were exposed. Like, I could listen to certain music. You know, so. And my mom's the youngest of 13 children, so she's, like, a little more hip, too. so they just allowed us to find our way you know again like she said i'm giving you all that i can give and teach you know it's up to you now to do what you want with it so you know i was allowed to

find my way and she's like the biggest supporter ever in life you know even in the beginning i think i was sleeping on the floor on the studio and on bean bags and she came in one day i was at the crib she was like i believe in you and i want to help you you know so this was at a time like um it was like 2020 houses were cheap. So, no, no, no. This was early 2013. She went and found like a townhouse that was cheap, bought it for me.

You know, like, so yeah. That was, you know, my experience. Do you feel like those three albums, these three albums, Eve, please don't cry, now God got an Afron gold hoops? Is that like a trilogy? It's like womanhood, selfhood and now like Godhood? I couldn't have made this album without Please Don't Cry,

but to me the trilogy is Eve, God, God, the Afro, and then the next one would probably be Adam. Yeah, so those are the three. Please don't cry. Maybe that was the bridge, you know. Is Adam done already? Because it seems like it's done on your mind already. I finish.

I have about 80 songs for that album. When we did, Please Don't Cry. I wanted to drop three albums back to back. But, you know, I'm a different person. Huh? I thought you were supposed to be doing that with somebody. him. MC, like her, call me out because of the, huh?

Nah. Somebody said, I don't know. I'm thinking about maybe doing it with Mad Liv, because we still got a project that's in the work. But I don't know. I'm seeing it through. Who was it that tour? Oh, that was Erica.

That's who Eric said that she's doing an album with an artist, a male rapper. Oh, she did say that, yeah. One of them songs you got your Erica by Duon, Apple Juice. I got my DeAngelo on. That was my DeAngelo. It was DeAngelo. I mean, we sampled one more gang off voodoo.

And when I was writing it, I had wrote like three or four rap verses, but it just didn't feel right. You know, I'm always working on becoming a better artist and growing. So I was like, man, like, let's really go up in songwriting. Like, how would DeAngelo approach it? You know, what would he say? Like, the king of talking about black love, you know? So, yeah.

How do you lock in? Like, how do you, what is your, the process when you're creating an album, right? Like, because I know you said this came to you, you know, and this album came to you. Are you in Johannesburg and the support of playing, you know, arranging the drums and things like that. But, like, how do you, where does your inspiration come from? Like, what does Rhapsody create a body of work? What do you need? What inspires you?

My albums are always snapshots of my life. Whatever I'm going through, that's what you're going to get, like, that portion. Like, please don't cry. I was going to a healing phase. I told you, I just got out of a relationship while I was feeling it. Please don't cry. It was like a return to self, you know. So at that time, like, I'm rereading my favorite book,

No Disrespect by Sister Soldier. And, you know, that's talking about the relationship between black and African men and women. So I'm inspired by that. I'm in D.C. visiting my friends. I have a good friend named Timothy Ann that works at the Smithsonian of Black American History culture and she's like you'll come see this afro futuristic exhibit we got so i'm just looking at that

and i'm like i never really dived in deep to afro futurism so i'm listening to sunrah you know and um you know i'm learning about that um it's just that's like so that's what i'm putting into the music and the world that we're living in right like you know we're living in a world that's very challenging um you know especially for people of color black and brown so you know i'm taking that in but at the same time like you know us like we knew it was going to be a ride but we we always we built for it like we've been doing it so we know how to have joy in it so I'm still you know figuring out what joy looks for me like I'm intentionally going out and spending more time with friends because I'm a studio rat but I'm like you know to make music you got to live yeah so you know I'm getting

on a plane and going to see my friends and it's not so much about work it's like we live in life You know, we had a house party, we're dancing, we're traveling. I'm going to Brazil. Like, whatever it is, I just went. You know, I didn't, sometimes I would go by myself, you know. I travel by myself a lot. So that's what this album is. Like, I'm just taking all those things and putting into the music.

Even the last song, Act 2, Bloodline, Growing Older, I'm at home, and my mom got construction paper on the floor, and she's like, I'm putting rails in the shower because we're getting older and I want to prepare. And I'm just like, wow you know like we in the studio and I said yo Danan like you remember the point where you walked in the house and you realized your parents got older oh my god it's such a crazy feeling yeah like I walked in I was like oh man it's like old people in here you know like you know so it's everything that I'm living and experience that's what I'm writing what about your bloodline what about your bloodline makes more sense to you as you get old oh man um the strength and the love of my people, you know, like, my people are loving people, all of ours, my family especially, like how we take care of each other,

like that's in our bloodline, the strength, the fight. My father told me a story some years ago, he said, don't you tell nobody. But I feel like I can tell it now, like, you know, it ain't nothing deep, but he was like, you know, telling me a story about my grandfather, and he punched a cop in the eye for calling him a nigger

and went to jail for two years. And I'm just like, oh, maybe that's where I get my fight from, You know, like, it's things like that, like, you know, I take and I'm proud of. You know, my mom's dad was a sharecropper. You know, my aunts would tell stories of, like, there would be two women down the street. There wasn't a man in the house and they have no food, so they come down and he'd give them food. And she'd be like, why you give them? They ain't help us do nothing.

But that taught her, like, you take care of your neighbor. You know, like, it's those things that are in my bloodline and I'm proud of. What's the first thing about aging that you're actually enjoying? oh when you don't give a f-u-c-k-k can i cuss up here yo it's like you know you get that age you don't you just don't give fuck you know like it is what it is you say what you say kind with kindness um like you don't care about the things that don't have value you know that's what it is like you really are free

like that's what i like you know you've gone through life you experience so much like you know it feels good what doesn't you know what it looks for you know you've done the work. Everybody has their timing in their journey. But in mine, I'm just like, hey, I'm searching for peace. That's all I want, however it comes. Pick aside is another dope record, right? Like, what are you no longer willing to be neutral about?

When you say pick aside, what is it? Oh, man, my integrity. Like, I can't compromise that for anybody, for anything, for no amount of money. that was the first thing Ninth one in Google told me before I ever did anything They were like, know your line You know, know what line that you won't cross If they came and put a million dollar check

And they asked you to do something that was cross your line You're taking the check? Like, nah, you know, so I had to define I was the first thing I had to define I've always moved toward that line So is that, like my integrity, my honor, like, Oh, you know, not necessarily loyalty because you could be loyal to a fault

you know but integrity for sure I saw you I saw you talk about on the effective immediately about us protecting the head in Gina yeah yeah gene views about protecting the art form of hip hop and who we sit down with and what you just said made me think about that you talked about how people like DJ Vlad no jumper they like sully hip hop in the conversation and why are we giving people that don't do it justice those interviews in those conversations yeah like you know baby What's up? Baby Sam was talking, you know, we're talking early, like, we have to tell our stories. That's exactly what she said.

Like, we have to be the ones to tell our story and protect our story because if not, other people will do it for you. And you can't let that sit in everybody's hands, you know, especially in this day and age. Everything is clickbait, you know. What can I get from your story? You know, like people live hard lives and may be entertainment for some, and it may be funny, but at the same time, it's real life. And what are you doing it?

How are you using that story? You know, like. It would just be weird to me. Like mad weird. And I'm just like, there's so many platforms like this one, you know, Rob Markman, you know, people, yeah, like people, Toray, people that really care about the culture and we live it. We live it together.

So, you know, they protect them in a certain way. I just think like, you know, do what you do, but I think it's something to stop and think about, you know. Are the platforms like glad them to blame them? Like these guys go up there and. tell all of these things. Yeah, I mean, say these things, you know. I get it. Like, everybody has free will.

But at the same time, like, people, it's enticing. You know, you feel like, again, what am I, what am I chasing? You know what I'm saying? Like, what am I looking for to get from this? Like, it's something that really is going to be good for me. So, you know, like,

it's just a crazy world to find your way through it, you know, and some people don't make it any easier. that's all that's how I look at it do you look at it because they a white boy suit because you name jump on no no because there's some skin folk

and ain't a kid folk too for sure I ain't saying no names I don't like to get people that kind of like but yeah it's just who you are and like how do you show up for the culture

you know for artists real journalism I also think that some of these artists aren't skilled enough to say what they want to say in their music. That's true. So they've got to get on podcasts.

Yeah, ain't nothing wrong with podcasts. I'm just like, you know, there are many, a lot of podcasts. Yeah. So it's just like, I just watch, man. I'm just like, that feels weird. That's all. What's one thing that has come to you, whether it's like a check or like an opportunity we were like, I'm good.

Uh-uh. That feels weird. That's crossing the line. I don't know. It's probably something. I just don't retain it. Like, I don't hold on to it. I can't think of anything necessarily in recent times necessarily.

I don't know. I think people know, too, like, I don't be playing around too much. Yeah. I have fun, I don't play around in that way too much. How much pressure is it not, because you say on the album, I can't remember the exact line, but it was like, should I show some tities of all the pop some pussy? Yeah.

How much pressure is that for an artist, especially a woman artist? I mean, I necessarily can't speak for anybody's experience. I can see how it can be, like, really challenging. Like, I have challenges myself and frustrations, but mine is never like, I'm going to go do this. It's just like, man, you just got to buck up or just go do something else. You know, like, those are the thoughts that rent to my head. But I can see how some artists, like, you know,

they want success or what they think is deemed successful and it's just like nothing else is working. So let me just pop a little titty, you know, because that's what, that's all I see. You know, like, on a mainstream level, that's a lot of what you see. There aren't too many other stories told. And ain't nothing wrong with it.

Again, if it's, yo, I love Little Kim. I like how she came out. I just felt like that's who she is. I love Cardi. Cardi came over the strip club. So, like, Cardi's just telling her story. But I don't think. Get Bell, Pure Fiber Internet with Crave Netflix,

and Disney Plus from $94 a month. Price guaranteed for two years on internet with a two-year term and auto pay credit. Visit bell.ca for details and to check availability. Bell, connection is everything. When I was 14 years old, I was kidnapped and held captive for nine months. I survived, and I've spent my life exploring

how other people survive what should have destroyed them. I'm Elizabeth Smart, and these are the Survivor Files. I just remember this low, taunting voice next to my ear saying, shut up, don't say anything. Every week, I'm with survivors who live through the unthinkable. I knew if he woke up, without a doubt, he was going to hurt me. I started feeling that there was someone at the end of my bed, and I just started screaming. They are abducted, stalked, controlled, and nearly silenced.

But these aren't stories about what's taken from them. There's stories about what it takes to make it out alive. Listen to the Survivor Files with Elizabeth Smart on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. If your bookshelf and your For You page are equally important to your personality, welcome home. This is Prose Society, the weekly podcast that's part book club, part group chat for thought daughters, pop culture obsessives, and anyone who thinks Pride and Prejudice and Love Island deserve the same level of distance. course. I'm Eli Rallo and every week we're connecting the dots between books, the internet, and the conversations everyone can't stop having. I'm going to have to look up this story. I'm obsessed. I'm obsessed. From bestselling authors and your favorite book talk creators to the latest

pop culture moments, nothing is off the table. It's like if you can hide some real messages inside compelling characters, then that is the Trojan horse. Whether you're looking for literary deep dives, smart pop culture conversations, or a community of readers who love to think a little too much, you're in the right place. Listen to Pro Society on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. See you between the pages. On the new podcast Solita, we share the messy reality of traveling alone as a woman.

I can wait four hours for the next bus or this random dude is offering me a ride on his motorcycle. I chose option B. I'm Julie Pinero, and I travel by myself because it's a rare space where I can say yes without asking anyone else first. I'm on a mission to reclaim the word solita, trading the pity for possibility. Every time I tried to be alone, I kept meeting people and they were like, you smiled at us. Not a lot of people smile around here. It's when you're alone that you're most receptive to the world as it is and not the lies you're sold about it. It can be a time where you

push your limits, change your mind, or wake up to a new version of yourself. So whether you're a solo travel veteran or you're too nervous to book your first trip, I hope you listen to Solita on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Those stories are everybody's story, and it seems that way to reach a certain level of success in the world. Like, I've talked to some artists, and they're like, yo, like, I really like what you do, and I'd be wanting to do something in that world. But, you know, like, you know. My best, that's it.

Yeah. Yeah. Now that line, is that one of the lines that they try to get you to cross that you never make a record that sounds like this? Do something that puts you in this. Is that one of those lines? If you talk about that, you're not crossing? You do it from the hall? No, that's a measure for everybody else.

That happened to me like very, very early in my career, like very, very early. I'm doing, like, the first records. I'm looking for guidance and somebody. I had just gotten off foot action. I had my foot action gear on. and they would actually yeah would I do around

no I don't think I don't know if not it's not it's sparingly but um I walked in

and they ain't even say like what's up how is your day it was just like I see what we could do with you put some heels on a skirt and I was like

I see what we can do you know but um nah I haven't I haven't had that you know um

not from anybody um yeah see it online I see comments like yo like man anybody gonna listen to you like you ain't sexy you don't show no ass you know like the some of the world thinks that you know because again that's all they see is what they think success is but you can have a beautiful career and not be plastered all over TV like you can have a very healthy wealthy life and and not be famous you know I also understand why we think that when the bars

that have been set didn't do that. Lauren Hill didn't do that. Exactly. Literally, brother said that. Missy ain't do that. Yeah. And that makes you think, like, what happened, you know? These are just questions.

This is what the album is. I just wanted to start conversation. Like, what happened that it turned to ties? You know what I'm saying? Like, is there another play? Like, what's going on? Who's controlling the images? Your message don't even match.

Like, y'all's messages don't even match that type of image. You know what I mean? Yeah. out and you know you know you got some suck that dick see your throat kids store like what I mean you know what I mean it has a place it does have a place but I'm saying if you're gonna say that you can't come in went dressing like no you got to be showing some some throat some ass some all that if you're going you know not necessarily because like Jill Scott doesn't just walk around with her body out but like she talks about

that she gets crazy but it's a certain way she kicked to you though like I think that's It's a thing. It's a certain. Jiz about it, though. They're not just strings. I think it's an appeal. It's kind of like when it's like, in you, not on you.

Like, it's, like, you meet Jill Scott and it's like, okay, yeah. Like, you're not listening to her talk about sex and like, oh my God, please turn this off. No, it's effortless with her. Like, there's just an appeal that she has that comes through.

I think everybody has any unique experience in a way they tell their life. You know, like we all have sex. We all do all these things. And it's like, but how do you express it? And a lot of the expression of it is the same.

You know what I'm saying? Like, everybody having a human experience. And I just think that's what it was. Knife used to tell me, like, people either want to be you or they want to fuck you. You know, the guy's got to want to fuck you and the girls got to want to be you. So you get the fat asses, you get the tities that sit up. Like, you know, it's like, damn, like, I dream of a body like that. And, you know.

So I don't know. I think there's space for everything, you know. Like you can do a lyric like that and dress like this. You can. Like I think that's what makes it cool for some people. It's like, okay, you talk of that talk, but you look different. You know, it's just like, how are you telling your story? That's uniquely to you, you know?

Everybody's telling it like Little Kim now. Mm-hmm. Like, shout to Little Kim, like, hats off. Like, one of the most influential artists ever. Like, if you look, that's her blueprint. all over, you know, but it's, I'm sure she's like, yo, I'm just me. Like, how are you going to be you? But she still had cold-ass bars, though.

Everything wasn't about sex. Banging. I know. She was still talking real shit. Like, I'm with you. Rolling with niggas can spit with niggas. Yeah. I want to hear everything about life.

Not only what you do in the bedroom, how your morning go, how your weekend go. Like. Who was some female emcees that you do like that you would work with if the opportunity presented itself? new or just in general it could be in general but I just want to know I'm gonna tell you who I want who I see okay okay you about to

A&R my next project okay okay I got you Maya Dhan I like her Maya Don Cole my sister's Tierra Wack you know she's one of the illest let me see

there's this artist out of Philadelphia and Neptune 21 she's fire let me think they so many I'd be forgetting them. But like those are just three off the top of my head. That's who, yo, like at least just one record.

I was going to say a joint album. Yeah, y'all never did nothing. Yeah, y'all's so creative. No, but we always be talking about it. Like, I've sent her like at least two songs. I think I sent her one for please don't cry and one for one something else. I just think, you know, either the record didn't appeal to her or just the timing wasn't right.

And then she just hit me like, yo, let's go rap on some alchemist type joint. We sending beats to each other But we just never We never finish We never get past that Because we get in our own world So that'd be so tough Yeah everything in due timing

When Tierra Rock was here She said that y'all talk a lot Just about like even like industry stuff Like yeah Because she was talking a lot about how she feels like Her bar like people overlook Like she's tired of being humble About what people don't see

When it comes to her And that you guys have conversations a lot about Just behind the scenes like what we're watching And how y'all feel on what things you think should be happening. Right. Yeah. She gets so frustrated with it.

She said, she don't even want rap. No, we need to. We need tea. And that's the thing, like, that's the freedom part. Mm-hmm. Where that don't even touch you no more. Like, I've been there. I've sat where she sat.

And that don't even touch me no more. Like, you've got to validate yourself. And I'm glad that she's talking. Like, tell them how cold you are. Like, just say it. If you believe it, then that's what it is. But, yeah, like, and it's good to have village in this. Because, again, like, we all have a human experience every day.

Ain't your strong. It's mentally. You know, so it's good to have somebody, especially, like, you know, I've been in it a little longer than her, so, you know, I can give her different perspectives than advice, and she can give me something new, you know, from her walk. And, yeah, like, this industry can be very clickish, too, you know. So it's just good to have people, you know. As the lyric says, what keeps you sharp, right?

I remember Bleak's been up here recently. They used to say that he used to go in the studio And everybody in the studio It made him want to write, right? Jay is over here and Beanie's over here So to make sure that you're sharp And still nice with it, what keeps you going? I love it that much, you know?

And too, like, I want to always keep growing And getting better, so, you know, I'm always listening to that, who's new, who's fresh, like, you know, even my peers, like, it's just healthy competition. Because you talk about the clickish, Is it a time now where you can go in the studio and everybody's just spitting bars wherever they go?

That's why I love what Naila does with the newer artists. They go in there together and it's like... That's how I came up. Yeah. That, like you throw it to the pack. You know, like, they just make this fit is survive. I want to get back to that.

You know, like now when I go to studio, it's just me to engineer. It's a small circle. There ain't too many people in there. But, yeah, when you get in with like other artists, It's love at the same time. It's like, hold on a minute. You need you about to get me today.

Like, I still got that fire in me, you know. Like, I think it makes for great music, and it makes everybody better when everybody's, like, trying to be the best that they could be, you know. So it is just. Of course, everybody says hold, right? We'd love to hear you with Hope. Like, that's.

Yeah. That I haven't gotten in with already. I mean, Hove and Lauren are still top of the list, Andre 3000. Mm-hmm. Let me think. I would mind getting in with like, I just did something for juvenile,

so that knocked out something on my list. I'm sorry, Jube. Y'all don't know if I was supposed to say that, but I couldn't help it. I'm excited. Yeah, I work with so many people. I mean, I want to do something with Tierra for sure. Yeah, I want to do another one with Kendrick.

You and Kendrick should have did a whole project. At least we always thought of that. Yeah. That was a conversation. right around to them butterfly he hit me he was like yo me you and Anderson ought to do something whole project just you know never got to it wow Anderson back and it would have been virus fuck yeah it would have been cold I want to go back to Afro Futurism right because you got the joint OMG yeah love the SunRoy record

and George Clinton's on there right yeah yeah he did a little talking part at the end you think George Clinton you think SunRod that's two people who expanded yeah black imagination beyond earth right other world cosmos do you think black people sometimes need Afrofuturism because America has made our history so painful? Absolutely. Yeah, like that's what it is, like seeing black people in the future, you know, and connecting it with, you know, they say people of the stars, you know, divine alignment, the doggone people. Like, we need that type of imagination and fantasy, but also just like going back to like the history of it all, you know, like, they like to, like, just.

say aliens built the pyramids. Why can't black people have built the pyramid? Like, you know what I'm saying? Like, you know what I'm saying? That too. That big black giants. Big black giants. Yeah.

I believe giants. Yeah. You know how big the dogs were. Why was everything so big? Who walking through that? I believe that too. I never heard aliens built the pyramids. They said that too.

White people, white people say that all time, man. You know, shut up, Sean. You know, Mexican aliens, you idiot, man. Go ahead. You don't question. who built a pyramid in Mexico, do you? No, I don't, actually.

Her husband's Mexican. And black. Yeah. Hey, black and brown, baby. Exactly. She only says that around that ultra black people. You were not going to be Mexican. You were not going to be.

I'm not going to play with him. She died for her bed. Yeah, you better. You better. Come on now. Don't let them do you. He didn't know this stuff. Why did you say that?

But abandoned me. Yeah. Yeah. Who made you understand the difference between being alone and being abandoned? Wow. What a question. Who made me realize the difference between being alone and abandoned? I'd probably say that was that 2020 relationship.

I did the most growth from that. and even learning like being alone is not really being alone like you may physically be alone but that doesn't mean you're alone yeah like 2020 that last relationship it made me look at myself made me look at past relationships how I was showing up how showing up for other people and yourself looks you know what genuine love looks like Yeah, I mean, I'm not going to go into depth, but yeah, just that part of life, you know, like you're sitting in your room and you're trying to figure out, like, what's wrong with me? There ain't nothing wrong with you. Nobody really left you.

They just chose happiness for themselves. That doesn't mean you were abandoned. You know, you got to learn from the situation, so it was that, you know. And, too, like, that song, I wrote it more from somebody saying that I abandoned them. when really I chose myself I chose happiness I chose peace and you still try to maintain a friendship

and they want more than that I'm not abandoning you I'm just choosing myself like you know and that's just what it is like yeah was that the was that the relation

following that or I guess and when you did that 3 a.m. conversation with Erica Badoo were you referencing that same relationship yeah okay so okay it makes sense because you were talking y'all were talking a bit about like

walking away, understanding your own boundaries. There was like a shadow work conversation there as well too. And I saw from the beginning of the conversation to the end just the turning point you even had while sitting and talking to her about the different things that you were understanding because she was giving you such a different perspective. Yeah, especially the one. I think I said something like, yo,

when you show up with love and somebody loves you, like, why would they treat you bad? you know what I'm saying like and she was like I would I was like what do you be like would you be I wouldn't why would you do that like if you love somebody why do you take advantage of them just because they're giving of you like and she was like you got to learn boundaries you know and that was one of the biggest aha moments I was like okay I still wouldn't though you know that's just just me but I understand the point that she was making

that boundaries are so important and that was another aha Like his point like Yeah like you got to put a boundary reason and choose yourself But if you continue to give and give And people going to take and take And how difficult is that? Like you're saying you travel by yourself You do things by yourself more

How difficult is that? I don't do nothing by myself like I is very rare that I do Maybe because I got six kids I heard about that That made it to your algorithm Disturbing people's peace Heavy they're hiking your leg up like a baby.

Wipe it. I ain't going to do you. I love you, Amy. Oh my God. Back to you. Being by itself. How difficult was that? Wasn't it at all?

In the beginning it was. Now it's easy. What was the difficult in the beginning? I didn't know how to be by myself. You know, like, you feel so much of your time and space where you don't have to, to feel and hear things. Like I come from a very big family. I'm one of five, but

my immediate family. I got 80 first cousins or something like that. Like friends, like always in the studio. Like, you know, you got people and things just always when you by yourself, you hear everything, you feel everything, you've got to sit with yourself. And, you know,

if you could do that work, they say, like, you don't really know how to love until you could be by yourself and learn to love yourself. So it's really easy for me now. Like, I enjoy time with myself. You know, I enjoy sitting in the quiet and just auditing and being with me. That's easy for me.

I was listening to Oprah on Kiki Palmer podcast. Yeah. Oprah was talking about how she liked to be alone. And she said, I'm not by myself. I'm with myself. That's some of Aquarius thing, too, boy. That's right. You know, I love my friends, but I'll tell her, I'll be like, I need some time.

I love you, but I need to be by myself. Like, that's something I require. What's your birthday? January 21st. Okay. February 13th, I'm like that too. I'm on the courteous too. I love to be by myself.

Yeah, period. Yeah. But at the same time, I be myself, I'd be like, damn, my phone dry as hell. Like, anybody checked up on me today? I know. You get any feelings about it. But when people do it, she was like, damn, I got to return a text. I got to call these names.

his back you know yeah it's about it you wouldn't got malice for black love yeah shout out the rock nation man look the rock nation they they and are that one he does not yeah that's yeah that's you know that's my co-work that's core he's an intern yeah yeah yeah he just show up what what is the hardest part about black love that we don't romanticize enough um I think think having empathy, right? And I learned that by rereading Sister Soldiers book No Disrespect. She has a

part where so it goes through her life. Again, her relationship with men, whether it be her father, her mother's boyfriends, her first relationships, like going from the suburbs and going into the projects.

She's learning about everything that's been done from slavery to systematic racism. all the things that have affected the family unit, the black family unit, our relationship as men and women with each other. And she has a bar. She was like, I'm not afraid of my people. I don't judge my people.

I know my people, but I love my people. And it makes you, you have empathy. Like, again, everybody's walking experience is different, you know. So, you know, you may see somebody and be like, why they act like that? and da-da-da-da-da. Like, their experience and what they had to go through is so different, and it takes time to find their way through it. You know, she talks about working in the welfare system,

and, you know, there's this one hotel in New York, and there's kids there, and they're seeing drugs, and some of them being raped and some of them were molested, some of them can't eat. They go to school systems that are undefunded, and you've got all these things, and you expect somebody to come out okay. And that's the empathy of it,

and that's just one building with hundreds of people And then you've got all of these buildings in New York and then you think about all over the country and all over the world. You sit back and you're like, I've got to have empathy. I can't judge my people because everybody has a different experience

and their timing and how they get through it even if they're lucky enough to get through. It's going to be different. You know, so you learn to be a light and to be a source for your people. You know, the malice is such an interesting choice too because I think about malice's public spiritual evolution

that we all witness like I know y'all have some fire conversations about God that probably we haven't even talked yeah like you know they were on tour when he was doing that verse

I got that verse about two two and a half weeks ago yeah it's fresh he represents Nolan well exactly yeah so as I put turn to album in it's not feature heavy like most of my projects are

and rock was like yo like what you think about malice I was like dang I think about it so they sent it he um He sent me a DM. He was like, yo, that joint hard. I got you.

That was it. So we still have some conversations to be had. He killed it. Oh, happy birthday, Mallee, with a camera. Yeah. The free your mind record. What's something Rhapsody had to free her own mind? Oh.

Wow. I think, you know, what I've been talking about since I got here, just like, you know, I had to unplug from the system, all the system, you know, the music industry, religion in a way, capitalism, like just unplug from and free your mind from all of it and find your truth in it and walk in that way. That's just it for me. I was like, none of this is real, you know,

so let me turn it all off and then open eyes and see what I'm attracted to, you know, what's real for me. You said the project is counter-programming at work with the very first song. So that's kind of where you're taking the people to, like, us freeing ourselves from those things as well. Yeah, like, you know, again, like, just even just this time, it's been happening since forever. History is being rewritten, books are being banned. Like, you know, you're really figuring out what the real truth is of all of it. you know we came over here on boats and we didn't have pen and paper and we had to pass information down

like it's just going back and preserving those things like go talk to your grandparents you know like preserve that information you know um read a book you know the ones that they're trying to destroy now there's information that's codes in there like it's that like don't let this world or the systems tell you what's what because a lot of times it ain't real you know everything's being shaped and manipulated you know the puppet eyes behind the curtain

is really being controlled by a bigger force Richard Pryor came out that curtain like it's not me you know like so is that part that's why always stuff we read girl Jess you got you got a book out too

let's promote it and I read it and I read it and I be reading it's all right girl got read. You got to read. We got to read a rhapsody book. She can't represent Sister Soldier. I know for a fact she got a coldest one to ever end her.

You talk about Sister Soldier. You talk about cold. The music, it does feel like a book. You said the vibration or the instructions in the vibration. I feel like a book with you would be, it would be like a character that I can follow through, but also like you're bringing us through something. She got a coldest winter. But it's like the roundaway girl at the same time.

Yes. I can see that. And when you love to learn, you do your research, girl, you travel and learn about tribes. But you also outside. I was that about tribes. Yeah, like you were around too. I think that was what was so fly about the coldest winner ever. It was like, she was just going through real life stuff and she was talking to us about stuff that we was actually dealing with to.

In the Santa Ana. But when you get a little older, you're like, oh, so like the brunt the nod to the brown skin and the black man is a little bit different than what we thought on the surface. Yeah. I'm going to do it, Charlemagne. I want to do it, Charlene. first but we don't put a book in there yeah and what's relationship with who kid I see who kid on the album so this album was executive produced with mr. Porter the non-porter D12 um he walked me through this whole he walked with me through the whole project and he's the reason why um the

growth is in it you know I walked in his house to answer your question that's who kid is his homie okay he was one like yo we need um who kid on this but um I walked in the house and I walked in the Allison, me and we've been known each other since 2012, 2013. I call him for every project, you know, but I was like, I'm coming to Detroit. And, you know, this is, you know, I got my own label now. Like, I'm just a more evolved human. And he was like, I have a mission with you. I don't want to do just like three or four songs.

Like, I want to walk with you the whole thing because I need people to see you how I see you. Wow. It's important that they see you how I see you. And he said that 10 years ago, but I just wasn't. in his face to receive it or meet him. And he was like, I know your path, I know your struggle, but I know all your superpowers and gifts, and I'm going to make sure that they see every superpower.

So he flew with me to Johannesburg. We recorded there. I only wrote and recorded when I was in Detroit with him. Like, he's so important to this project. It wouldn't be what it is without him. So, you know, those little nuggets, like getting a Who kid or some of the hooks on this project, like pick a side, he made the B and sent it to me with the hook on it

abandoned me that was one he wanted to give to Eminem but he was like I think this needs to go to you so yeah let's play something off the album what you want to hear when is this Aaron Friday

tomorrow? Let's do pick a sigh yeah who's that Amanda Reiffer man she's from Barbado Um, Kendrick, uh,

she did something on Kendrick. I can't remember which project it was. Um, but she's, she got flavor. She's gifted. She could write. She could sing.

She can rap. Like, she does all her own creative video. She makes her own clothes, you know, red carpets. You know, she's like,

I don't like to compare people, but she gives you the energy of like Rihanna, but she's her own artist. Like Amanda's cold. Let's get into it right now. Let's pick aside. It might be related. I'm looking at the forehead.

right now. Come on home, bro. Oh, my goodness. Rhapsody, we appreciate you for joining us. Thank you for having me, man. Thank you. But, put. The Breakfast Club is Rhapsody.

Hold up. Every day I wake up. Wake your ass up. The breakfast club. You all finished or y'all's done? I survived nine months in captivity, and I've spent my life exploring how other people survive what should have destroyed them. I'm Elizabeth Smart, and these are the survivor.

Every week, I'm with survivors who live through the unthinkable, abducted, stalked, controlled, and nearly silenced. These are stories about what it takes to make it out alive. Listen to the Survivor files with Elizabeth Smart on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. If your bookshelf and your for you page are equally important to your personality, welcome home. Pro Society is a weekly podcast that's part book club, part group chat for anyone who thinks pride and prejudice and love island deserve the same level of discourse. Each week, we're connecting the dots between books, the internet, and pop culture, with your favorite writers, book talk creators, and plenty of overthought opinions.

Yeah, I'm obsessed. I'm obsessed. Listen to pro-society on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. On the new podcast, Solita, we share the messy reality of traveling alone as a woman. I can wait four hours for the next bus or this rink. random dude is offering me a ride on his motorcycle. I chose option B. I'm Julie Pinero, and I travel by myself because it's a rare space where I can say yes without asking anyone else first. I'm on a mission to reclaim the word Solita, trading the pity for possibility. Listen to Solita on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Nick Tuturo. You probably know me

from NYPD Blue, the longest yard, or Spike Lease Black Landsman. And I'm my new podcast, Delivering Happiness with Nick Tattooro, I deliver pizza to a new guest. I've shared a slice with everyone from Seth Rollins. What are you doing? My belt. To Bill Burr. I don't think I've ever met somebody so exactly out of their mind as I am. And now we even have more great guests coming up, including the great John Tuturo. It's called Happiness, delivering happiness. And many, many more. Open your free High Heart Radio app. Search Delivering Happiness with Nick Tutro. And listen now. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.