Latto: The jaw-dropping 'Georgia Peach' dishes on rap feuds, falling back on men features and keeping bae private
Could you use a serving of Latto in your life right now? Say less. It’s all eyes on what the ‘Georgia Peach’ hitmaker has to dish on this week after pulling through for Apple Music’s ‘The Ebro Show.’ to dish on everything from rap feuds to why she doesn’t dish on bae - plus her disinterest in reaching out for men-featured collaborations.
Latto dishes on everything from rap feuds to her collaboration process
Low-key? The interview goes hard and clocks in to nearly 30 minutes. Needless to say? Massive salutes to Team Apple Music PR gang-gang for coming through with key quotes from the conversation between Big Latto and hip-hop personality Ebro Darden.
Latto on her new song, "S/O To Me"…
When I heard the beat, I fell in love with the beat. I told Coop, shout out to Coop, I told Coop, I was like, "I got to take this one home and write to it. This ain't one of them, just pull it up in the studio and just go in the booth." I wanted to get very vulnerable. And I think when I hear a good beat, if it's a good beat to me, it'll speak to me. So the first thing that came to mind was shout out to me. I wanted to be speaking from a perspective where it's like I'm talking to myself, almost. So it's like shout out to me. I don't play about us, me and my past self. And I just wanted to get very vulnerable and tell people my story. I do agree with you as far as I think a lot of times when Latto's name is in the media, I don't think it is about music as much as it should be. So I wanted it to be like, let me use this as my therapy and everything that y'all be hearing about me and saying about me, let me say how I feel about it on this song and not on Twitter. Get in the booth, bitch.
On her beef with other artists, including Ice Spice…
Ebro Darden: You said, "Ice is just water when it melts.”
Latto: Ice is just water when it melts.
Ebro Darden: And you said, "The crown is coming home soon.”
Latto: The crown is coming home soon.
Ebro Darden: And so you're taking the crown and you're talking, I'm assuming about the female rap crown. Or just the hip hop crown? Or what are we saying when we say this?
Latto: Just the crown. I think it's multiple crowns though. That's not like a dig at nobody or, "Oh, such and such don't deserve the crown," or, "such and such can't have the crown." I think it's just like one of them is going to come to me though. Just know that.
On wanting to create a full, intentional project and not just singles...
Latto: I feel like right now, not only female rap, but I think rap in general is needing somebody to pay attention to a project. I feel like the label got us hella gassed on singles. Everything is so single driven and club driven, especially in Atlanta. So I wanted to make a cohesive project. And I think with that, to sit through, what, an hour of one person, you have to be dimensional and be multidimensional and I think you have to showcase different sides and versions of your artistry. So I was definitely going in intentionally like, "No, I got enough of these type beats or this BPM. I need to go slower, I need to go faster or whatever." Definitely very intentional on that. I'm glad you peeped.
Ebro Darden: Did you have to fight for that? Was there pushback for that?
Latto: No. Hell no. Listen, this project, thank you God, I'm so blessed to have met Pooh, Griz, and Kaine. Them the people... And my brother Rico. Them the people that was in the studio with me every day creating this. And thank God my label gave me creative control to, I'm like, "I need y'all to fall back and let me create this on my own. I don't want outside opinions and pressure. I want to really make a piece of work from my perspective, my experiences in life." So literally this is the past two years of my life, me speaking that on wax.
On why she doesn’t reach out to men for features…
Latto: Teezo, I did not reach out personally. I'm kind of funny with men. But me and my... My sister put me on Teezo and super big fan of his work and I had the label reach out because I'm just kind of funny with men. But when he sent it back, I just had to reach out on some if, maybe, possibly, hopefully. And when they told me he was down to do it, I straight DMed him, "Thank you so much." Everybody I spoke to personally. I'll say that. Yeah.
Ebro Darden: On the funny with men, and there's a line on the album where you talk about dudes trying to fuck.
Latto: For a feature. I ain't fucking for a feature, go find someone else.
Ebro Darden: But is that because of your experience in the industry that it's kind of like if I reach out to a dude, they get the wrong impression and it's…
Latto: Yeah. I just think, yeah, it can get blurred lines. I ain't going to get too in depth with it. I think it could just get too mixed-
Ebro Darden: But people be acting funny.
Latto: Yeah.
Ebro Darden: That's fair though. People be acting funny. Or people be taking shit out of context and trying to turn it into something it ain’t.
Latto: Yeah. But you know I'm a bad bitch so it ain't... I understand.
On keeping her relationship private…
Ebro Darden: So assuming the internet is correct about who the person is, look, I appreciate that y'all keep y'all business to yourselves, I am for it and that it's not for promo, but do you guys enjoy that part of it too of... Because some people hate having to be private. Some people love being private. Where are y'all at with it?
Latto: The internet don't know a goddamn thing. Let's start there. But I like being private. I think it ain't really nobody business. Listen to the music and you'll know what you need to know.
Ebro Darden: Right, right. Was it hard to write these songs about your personal love life?
Latto: When other people in the studio, yeah, because I get to feeling like a simp and I'm so not a simp.
Ebro Darden: But you just said it's okay that you found somebody that you can be that with, right?
Latto: Yeah. It's just so weird.
Ebro Darden: You got to let that ego go, man. You got to let that go.
Latto: Yeah, let that ego go. Really letting my pride down was such a task. But yeah, I think it wasn't hard when I can be in that element fully if I'm sitting in the studio and really just writing my thoughts out. But when somebody right there I feel like a sucker.
On her disses not being about real beef, but just making art...
Latto: I'm exhausted. For real. I'm so over the beef. I'm going to put this out there. Latto don't got no problem with nobody. I'm so over the beef. I feel like life is too good right now. What did I say earlier? High vibrations only. Like dead ass. High vibrations only. That shit too low vibrational for me. Life too good.
Ebro Darden: But at the same time, when you say, lines like “when ice melt it's just going to be water.”
Latto: But that's not beef though. That's art to me. Dead ass.
Ebro Darden: But aren't people going to take, say you talking about somebody when you say that? Or there's another line on the album where you say somebody face look old or something, they going to think you talk, but-
Latto: I think art is up for interpretation and that's the beauty of it.
Ebro Darden: But in real life it ain’t-
Latto: In real life it ain't no beef.
On the influence that “Big Energy” had on her new song, “Squeeze"…
"Squeeze" was, so with the "Big Energy" success, I didn't want to just run away from that pop fan base that I had built. So I wanted to incorporate some of that without it sounding too poppy because I don't think that's where I'm rooted. I come from a rap competition show. I think it's very clear, very evident that I'm a rapper first. So I wanted this project to be that, but at the same time not run from progress that I've made in other areas because I'm super blessed. "Big Energy," I'm going to be rich forever off of that alone.
On her label pushing her towards pop music early in her career…
Latto: I can’t really speak for everybody. I think for me in the beginning I will say that was a lot of the label industry shit. I will say that. I don't think that's where my heart was, but I think-
Ebro Darden: But you was like, "Let me play the game-"
Latto: Yeah, let me play the game. And it opened doors and paid bills. So what's the harm in it? I think you just can't get lost in it. I think you got to keep a distinction between yourself and you got to play the game at the same time.
On producing her own beats for her next album…
Latto: Next album I'm producing some shit on my own.
Ebro Darden: You going to do a beat?
Latto: Yes.
Ebro Darden: You going to get on a machine? What you going to do?
Latto: Yes. Hell yeah.
Ebro Darden: Have you seen a machine that you would like to learn?
Latto: I watched them, I watched them on, what's the Fruity Loops shit?
Ebro Darden: Okay.
Latto: I know that's like rookie, rookie.
Ebro Darden: No, no, no. They got FL Studio. You could take Fruity Loops and turn it-
Latto: And turn it up. Yeah.
Ebro Darden: There's people who live on that. That's the thing. But there's Ableton and there's Logic.
Latto: Yeah.
Ebro Darden: And then there's the MPC.
Latto: Yeah. I don't know all the words yet, but next album, that's my next little endeavour.
