really knows her? Wouldn’t you both have something to gain if you worked together or collaborated instead of talking shit about each other? No. I don’t feel that she has talent. I pick and choose who I decide to work with. If I don’t respect you as an artist, why would I work with you? I just don’t like her music and I don’t feel that she’s talented, so I wouldn’t want to work with her – her or Trina. I don’t feel like either one of them are talented. They don’t write their own stuff. They have big-name features and major labels helping them. I’m by myself. I stand alone. How can you be a queen when you’re working for somebody else? You’re a servant if you’re working for somebody else. How are you the queen of the South when Trick or Deuce or Poe Boy got people ghostwriting your stuff? Every female artist that has come out was piggybacking off a man. Jacki-O had Poe Boy to back her up and Trina had Slip-N-Slide to back her up. They had radio promotions. They had street teams. I didn’t have that. I feel like I’m a queen because I stand alone and I write my own shit. I manage myself and book my own shows. Are there any other female rappers you would want to work with? To me, the only other queen is Queen Latifah. There’s no female artists that I listen to. When they rap, they try to sound too hard to be pleasing to men. That’s what makes me feel that a man is writing their stuff, cause it sounds like something a man would want a woman to say or do. My fan base is solid. My girls don’t want to hear that mess. My girls don’t want to see you give a lap dance on the stage to try to entertain a crowd. Females don’t want to see that. They relate to me because they know that I’m writing my own stuff, cause it sounds like something a woman would say. I write about situations; relationships and men. They’re rapping all hardcore about licking pussy and ass and all kinds of crazy stuff, and you can’t get a female fan base like that. You can tell that men are writing their stuff, cause ain’t no way a queen would say no mess out of her mouth like that. Women can’t relate to their stuff and that’s why their records are sitting on the shelf. Of course women talk about sex and relationships and guys, but you can just tell that men are writing their stuff and women don’t wanna hear that. As far as your image, do you think you’d be embraced more by the mainstream if you did have hairstylists and stylists? If you’ve got talent and skills, what do you need all that for? I’m pretty without makeup. I don’t need a stylist and I don’t need thousand dollar hairdos. Keep it real, you know those hoes look a hot mess. You catch Trina early in the morning without all that makeup on her face and that hoe looks a hot mess. Jacki-O’s got thousand dollar hairdos and big money features and big money videos. Trina’s got all that and her budget’s off the chain. That’s why she’s still paying Slip-N-Slide and she’s been signed to them for ten years. Hoe, they ain’t gonna let you go cause your ass still owes them for all the stylists and hairdos and makeup that make you feel like Homie the Clown. That’s all fake; it’s just a pretty picture they’re painting. How you gon’ say you’re reppin’ the hood and get on TV with Gucci and Fendi and hairdos and Bentleys, fakin’ with cake like you on The Young and the Restless? That ain’t how it is in the streets. We don’t walk around with our face painted up like that in the projects. How you gonna say you ghetto and street but then you getting on TV looking like Tyra Banks the supermodel? I’m not gonna let the industry change me. I’ma be me. That’s all I can be. I’m not trying to paint a pretty picture or sell an image. I’m just Khia. I wake up, get dressed, wash my face, put on my clothes and I’m out. I’m not gonna pay somebody to dress me or make my face up. For what? Y’all are not keeping it real in your videos. Y’all are selling an image that you can’t even live up to. Well, the critics could say that even though you did sell a lot of records, that was a few years ago. You haven’t been on the radar too much lately. My stuff is still hot and I travel all over the world. I just got the type of deal that I wanted for myself, and those types of things take time. You can’t just rush into a deal. Do you own your masters? Are you getting hundreds of thousands of dollars up front? Are you in control of your own situation? Do you get money? No. You’re paying a whole bunch of other people and in the end your account is zero. Yeah, they’re gonna give you the thousands of dollars and clothes and put you in a nice hotel, but you’re paying a hundred people and you’re not in control of your situation. They’ve got all your publishing. You don’t write so they’re giving all your writers credit, all your mechanical royalties, all your masters. You don’t have nothing, you’re bankrupt. I had to wait til it was my turn; til I found the situation that was right for me. Thug Missus Entertainment is in control. Thug Missus Entertainment is 74
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getting the check. I say what goes and what doesn’t go. I write all my own stuff, so trust me, my publishing and royalties are coming to me. Where are they making money? They can’t make show money cause every song they’ve got has a feature and their shows are horrible. They’re not making writing or publishing money because they’ve got to pay ghostwriters and the label is in control of their masters. So even though I’ve been out of the scene for a long time, I’ve been eating. I do shows every weekend. Everybody in the streets sees me. I’m still eating off my first album that’s five years old. Ask other artists if they’re still eating off their first single. I don’t think so. You have kids, right? How do you balance being a mother and a rapper? Yeah, I have two kids. It’s fun, you know? Sometimes I take them on the road with me when they’re out of school. They’re teenagers; they’re big. My son gets on stage with me and gets excited. He goes in the DJ booth and plays my CD in the right order. He’s gonna be a DJ. I’m trying to get him in this music business already. He’s only 14 years old but he goes out to the shows and sells CDs just like me. They check me into the hotel and carry my suitcases and everything. They’re great. They’re excited and proud of their mommy, cause they’ve watched how hard I work. I love them to death. I do what I do for them. “Snatch the Cat Back” has been out for a minute. Is that the first single you’re going with off this album? We just shot the video which is gonna be dropping at the end of this month. It’s hot, hot, hot. “My Neck My Back” was out for two years before it picked up and got big. So it took time to get into the right situation but yeah, “Snatch the Cat Back” is gonna be the first single. The response is crazy. We just did the video. I wrote and produced this whole album and I’m just so excited that it’s all me. Everybody will have the chance to see that the old Thug Missus is back. We got the streets on lock. The hood already knows. I have a point to prove for those who thought I was a one-hit wonder. There’s a lot of hating going on. There were a lot of people in positions where they could help me but they were intimidated by my strength so they wouldn’t. A lot of DJs hated on me. They knew my shit was hot but just chose not to play the music. But real niggas don’t listen to the radio; real niggas buy CDs. All the radio stations follow the haters, cause they’re followers and not leaders. They don’t know how to make their own decisions. “Oh, Khia’s a bitch. Oh, Khia’s difficult.” Oh, no. Khia is real. If you know me you love me, but if you hate me then hate me. But the bottom line is, what’s the reason to hate me? What did I ever do to you? I never did nothin’ but get out here on my grind and hustle and make a way for myself. Well, a lot of people do say you’re difficult. Not just Dirty Down. This industry is full of bitch ass niggas, for real. They’re intimidated by me. They’re some soft ass niggas and I’m just too real for them. They ain’t thugs; they’re bitch ass niggas with egos. They get intimidated so quickly. They don’t like a woman to be on the same level as them. They don’t respect my strength and drive. They feel that women should submit and bow down. If you come in here strong and know what you want, and you’re not fuckin’ everybody in the industry, they say that you’re a bitch or you’re hard to deal with. Trina has gotten a lot of publicity lately because of her relationship with Lil Wayne. Are you eyeing any famous rappers to help raise your profile a bit or you’re not concerned with that? Didn’t you hear what I just said? Trina’s fucked everybody in the industry. Trina’s name is trash in the industry. Lil Wayne had a crush on Trina when he was young, and those fantasies are filling his mind but he already knows. Honey, tell Lil Wayne to get him a natural beauty with some dreads. How’s he gonna represent the hood when he’s got a bitch with four different types of hair? I wrote the whole Thug Missus album listening to his CD. I love Lil Wayne, and this ain’t got nothing to do with Trina. I’m mad cause he even fucked her. That makes me not even want him no more. But tell him to holla at Khia. Tell him to get a girl with dreads. I know Trina looks cute but when he wakes up in the morning and sees how she looks, I know he regrets it. Is there anything else you wanna plug? Yes, my engineers, J.A. and John Miller, I couldn’t have done it without them. Make sure you go to www.myspace.com/khia or www.ThugMissesEntertainment.com. The wait is over, for all those who thought it was a game. July 11th, you be the judge. Oh yeah, and for all those who want to claim they the Queen of the South, we can do a show anytime, anywhere, and let the streets be the judge.