Rapper and Head Icy Girl In Charge Saweetie will be the first person to tell you about the Ls she’s taken in her career as she continues to grow into her position in the public eye, however, she’s committed to not letting her missteps or looks alone define her.
The 27-year-old “My Type” rapper opened up about her path to success during a recent profile with “Cosmopolitan,” and admitted that since the start of her career in 2016 there are still moments that haunt her dreams. Specifically, Saweetie, born Diamonté Quiava Valentin Harper, still recalls her less-than-spectacular “Ebro in the Morning” appearance.
“It had energy. There was energy there,” he initially said before providing his true opinion. “I just thought the raps was basic and I think you need to honestly need to get a little sharper on your diction, your clarity, and your content, if you gon’ impress me.” The hosts ended up giving her props for choosing to drop a few bars for them at all, but the experience still left a sour taste in the “Tap In” artist’s mouth.
“It was a really dark point in my life,” she said of the Hot 97 interview. “I went from being so loved so quickly because of ‘Icy Grl’ to, on my first promo run, well, you saw the interview. The script flipped really quick, like night and day. I was like, Wait…I had PTSD from that…Because ‘Icy Grl’ was so popular, I was being booked at huge festivals. I was literally thrown into it.”
Ebro Darden caught wind of the comments and addressed them on Twitter, asking his fans whether or not he should feel any guilt over the star’s negative feelings about the interview. “Apparently having an opinion on her freestyle rap gave Saweetie PTSD…. should I feel bad?”
On March 24, the morning show as a whole addressed her interview comments. According to co-host Laura Stylez, the team tried to avoid having Saweetie freestyle at all, even going as far as faking equipment failure, however, her team insisted the show must go on.
“When she came in we were down to do the interview, but her team was really pushing for her to freestyle,” she said. “I remember specifically us lying saying our equipment didn’t work,” which Ebro backed up with a ‘Say it again Laura.’ We didn’t want to do that to her. We lied and said our equipment wasn’t working. We didn’t want her to freestyle; let’s just have the interview.”
Ebro added that they “liked the song,” and “thought she seemed like a nice person” and wanted the interview to go as smoothly for her as possible, but after hearing her declare that she’s more than an Instagram model, decided to let her show her stuff.
“There are plenty of rappers who are successful at putting out music and are entertainers,” he explains at the 6:30 mark. “Captivating interesting personalities and they rap over records and they not dope freestylers…Y’all wanted to rap. We tried to avoid you rapping so that we could make it a soft landing for you as an artist!”
Saweetie isn’t in denial about her quick rise to success and says that although she “was literally thrown into it” she is still “really grateful” for the opportunity. “I’m really grateful for my start,” she told the magazine. “Because the mistakes, the struggle, the grind — it allows me to appreciate the rewards that come now because I know what it feels like to sleep in motels, to drive and do promo, to be stressed out.”
“Some of us have it naturally. And some of us don’t — like me,” she continued. “And that’s okay because I know that as long as I work hard, I’ll become one of the best.”
While she may be committed to proving talent as an artist, Saweetie’s brand is also partially built on the fact that she’s a self-proclaimed “pretty b***h,” however, when it comes to pretty privilege or the idea that more attractive people have it easier in life, she says she prefers hard-earned achievements and charitable gestures over vanity.
“I won’t act like there isn’t a certain type of power that comes with people admiring your face. But that’s not something that gets me off,” she stated. “I like being Female Athlete of the Year. I like getting 4.0s for a straight year. I like knowing that I write my own songs. I like knowing that I create my own treatments. I like knowing that I donated $150,000 to Black Lives Matter.”
Fans agreed that Saweetie’s 2018 Hot 97 performance gave them second-hand embarrassment as well, although some commended her on continuing to hone her craft.
“Yeah She can’t rap but that’s ok her songs still catchy and she still icy😭”
“Not ptsd luv you just was embarrassed.”
“She was nervous give her a break 😑”
“We all had ptsd after that honey nevertheless you kept at it and got better.”
It sounds like the rapper is committed to keeping her head up and overcoming any obstacles that come her way, which is probably coming in handy given her recent and very public split from longtime boyfriend and fellow rapper, Quavo.
