Thursday, March 28, 2024

Da Brat Reps Chicago With New Artist Cornbread [EUR Exclusive]

RICKEY SMILEY FOR REAL

*TV One’s “Rickey Smiley For Real” airs  tonight, Tuesday, Jan. 3, and things get heated when Smiley and his son Brandon sit down with their counselor to hash out their differences on the next episode.

Meanwhile, Da Brat meets up with Rickey’s nephew Craig and learns that he quit his job. She offers to help him look for work because she knows his uncle will be livid when he finds out. However, Da Brat soon discovers Craig left out some critical information regarding his separation from his former employer that further complicates matters.

Viewers previously watched as Da Brat convinced Ed Lover to let her new protégé, Cornbread, perform at a talent showcase. As a multi-platinum artist herself, Da Brat knows what it takes to be successful in the industry. However, she quickly finds out that managing an artist can be even more work.

EUR/Electronic Urban Report chatted with Da Brat ahead of the series return this week about managing Cornbread and what fans can expect from her musically this year.

“JD and I make new music all the time. We’re probably going to do a promo tour at the beginning of the year. You can go to So So Def Soundcloud to hear all Brat and JD new music. We’re the first original dynamic duo, and we still are,” she said of her longtime music collaborations with producer Jermaine Dupri.

Check out the rest of our Q&A with Da Brat below.

READ RELATED STORY: Rickey Smiley: ‘Donald Trump Has Pulled the KKK Hood Off of America’ [EUR Exclusive]

vh1 hip hop honors

Anytime I hear ‘So Funkdafied,’ I think about the best block party I ever attended in our hometown Chicago, where I met one of my dearest friends. Do you mind sharing any fond memories you have about that time in your life, when this single dropped and the response to it.

Da Brat: It was crazy. When the single dropped, I was still in Chicago just chilling. I had been back and forth to the studio in Atlanta but it was an amazing feeling. It felt like, ‘Mama, I made it!’ And everybody on my block was coming to my house cause I was still sitting on the porch with the radio plugged in-in the house with the extension cord on the outside, just chilling on the front porch. So it felt great.

You’re co-hosting a radio show with Ricky Smiley — appearing on his reality show, and you’re managing an artist. Was artist management a natural foray for you, and what’s been most challenging about transiting from artist to artist manager?

Da Brat: It does come easy cause I’ve been in the game for over twenty years and I kinda have this blueprint and know what to and what not to do because of the mistakes and the successes that I’ve had myself. I have a guy that co-manages Cornbread with me. His name is Raphael Fisher, and he’s also a producer. I’ve known him for more than 20 years, and he’s very well grounded, and he knows the business side of things, and he’s articulate — that’s what I love about him. That’s why I chose him to co-manage Cornbread and any other artist we get.

RICKEY SMILEY FOR REAL
Rickey Smiley talking to a group of young students about how he grew up in Birmingham, Alabama.

Was it important for you to manage an artist from Chicago?

Da Brat: You know what, it actually was. I always wanted to pay it forward and do the same thing that Jermaine Dupri did for me and help me become successful. I always wanted to do it for somebody else, and I always wanted to pull somebody from Chicago, but I didn’t know that it would come one in the same and it would be Cornbread. When I first met him through social media, on Instagram, I just started following because I thought he was a cute kid and he had so much swag, and when I called him — he DM’d me, and he asked me for my number, so I gave him my number. When I called him, he was like, ‘Oh my God, you really called me!’ And he rapped and I found out he was from the 60644, the West Side of Chicago — K-Town, the same place I was raised. So I kinda felt like it was meant to be.

As a multi-platinum artist yourself, you know what it takes to be successful in the industry. What is it about Cornbread that’s going to take him to the top of the game?

Da Brat: Cornbread’s got good looks. He’s got the heart. He’s got the stamina — he’s been through a lot. His performance is crazy. He’s got the energy and he’s got the IT factor, and the look. The ladies love him. So I think all those things put together is a recipe for success. And he listens, that’s the most important thing. He listens.

What do you think Chicago rappers bring to the game that others seem to lack?

Da Brat: Well, I just think Chicago… you can’t really say nothing bad about no Chicago rapper to me. I’m Chicago to the death of me. I’m gon’ represent that til’ I die. I think rappers from Chicago have a certain type of knack or swag that no other artist has. From Kanye, to myself to Common — even like, Chaka Khan. I just feel like we have it cause we’ve been through so much. It’s a city and it’s so diversified and you run into any and every type of situation. I feel like we’re trained to deal with certain things and we handle it well.

I caught episode three of “Rickey Smiley For Real” where we see Cornbread perform, and I noticed how you were kinda off stage behind him and watching him very closely. What are you looking for your artists to deliver when they’re up on that stage?

Da Brat: I expect for the artist to make the person in the audience feel what they’re saying. I hate to go to a show and see somebody just standing there. Like, I’m from Chicago, I’m from church — I grew up in church where when the singers sing, you feel it from your head to your toes and I feel like rap should be the same way. Especially with us telling our own stories. If you singing a song about dancing then you better dance your ass off. So I just look for stage presence and personality, and I should feel it if I’m in the back of the crowd. That’s what I look for.

Jermaine Dupri records with Da Brat on May 26, 2010
Jermaine Dupri records with Da Brat on May 26, 2010

Do you have any favorite artists right now, or predictions about who’s gonna break in 2017?

Da Brat: I love Chance The Rapper. I always love Rihanna, of course I’ma Beyonce fan. I listen to many, but the sad part about today’s artists is that, you don’t know their damn name! Or you don’t know what the hell they look like cause we don’t have video outlets anymore, besides social media. We need that video outlet back, where you turn on the TV and it’s The Box, or MTV music television actually plays videos. Diddy’s trying to do it with Revolt but then you gotta get that channel, you gotta get used to that channel. There’s a lot of things I like on the radio, but Chance The Rapper is my favorite artist right now.

What’s exciting you creatively these days? Is your focus right now primarily on artist management?

Da Brat: I wouldn’t even say managing artists is my thing. I love doing artist development. Showing artists the ropes and things that I’ve been through and teach them what to do and what not to do, and what direction they should and shouldn’t go.

How often do you get back to Chicago, and what’s your favorite eatery to hit up when you’re in town?

Da Brat: I probably haven’t been home in about 6-8 months. It’s very hard for me to go home now because I’ve lost both of my grandmothers. My mother is still there, but I fly her back and forth to Atlanta. It’s hard getting off at those exists, or landing at those airports and not thinking of all the wonderful times and how I was raised and all of the family things that we used to do because we’ve lost the main part of the family. I was close to both of my grandmothers, so I don’t go home that often, or as often as I should because even though it’s been a few years, it’s still kinda painful. But when I do go home, I’m at Portillo’s. I’m getting an Italian Beef — dipped. Double dipped! I like it falling a part. I’m at Giordano’s for the deep dish pizza and I’m getting a Jew Town polish baby!.

Lastly, there are a lot of critics who believe hip hop is dead.

Da Brat: There’s no way hip hop is dead when all you hear on these commercials and advertisements is hip hop music. You even hear hip hop music in perfume commercials now. Or if it’s not the music, it’s the beat. They’re merging hip hop with country — I mean, c’mon, hip hop is not dead. If anything its evolved and it’s going to keep evolving. Hip hop is not just one type of music or one type of rapper. You have some more conscious rappers, and you have bull*hit rappers who are just in it to have fun. It’s all a part of hip hop. It all stems from the same umbrella, and it’s just growing. It’ll never be dead.

Catch Da Brat when “Rickey Smiley For Real” airs on TV One tonight, Tuesday, Jan. 3 at 8 p.m. ET.

 

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