One day, as I found myself searching through the infinite possibilities of YouTube, I ran across a peculiar video by an artist named Cola White titled “Inner Push.” The monochrome visuals featured what appeared to be white teenage girl rapping about some heavy drug dealing themes. Never going into Slim Jesus or Stitches territory, the comment section was filled with questions about usage of the n-word and water whipping aesthetics. The following video for “All My Haters Die” was even weirder. This time, a fully grown black man sitting in a bed rhyming lyrics like “I’m so fly these niggas wanna give me head” was flat-out strange. Then, I realized it was the same voice from “Inner Push.”
I found myself searching for possible photos of Cola White due to sheer curiosity and didn’t find anything. Getting into contact with her management team, they were just as secretive. Once the time and date were secured, I found myself in the parking lot of South Central Los Angeles’ famed liquor store, The Liquor Bank. I was then told by Cola White’s management to hop in the backseat of Jetta, to sign a confidentiality agreement due to her drug dealing past and mission to remain anonymous. Shortly after, two men in red ski masks hop into the driver and passenger seat.
We headed over to a nearby ally and there she was.
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After setting up the camera and pressing record, here were some takeaways from HipHopDX’s time with Cola White.
Conceptualizing The Idea Of Cola White
“I came up with the concept Cola White by being completely enamored with my grandfather growing up. He had a whole bunch of grandkids and he loved Coca-Cola. If you were one of his favorites, he would share his coke with you. I was always one of his favorites so that’s where we got the Cola from. The white speaks for itself, like many African Americans, I dealt in drug dealing. So, it made sense to mix the Cola and White. That’s how we came up with Cola White.”
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Her Past Drug Dealing Lifetime
“I think it’s an easy transition. Majority of Hip Hop artists out male or female talk about experiences that they’ve had in their lives. Majority of the time, it has something to do with drugs. For me, it was easy. I grew up in a house with Marvin Gaye, Temptations and Run-DMC. As African Americans, we’re influenced by style and music. I was blessed with a talent so why not talk about my experiences and use my talent to do it.”
“I mean I’m not going to say names, but it’s easy. Any idiot can sell drugs. Anybody can sell drugs. I’m not saying I’m an idiot or people who sell drugs are idiots, but it’s not brain surgery. I want to get rich and nobody is out here moving keys or that much weight to be able to retire in two or three years. For me, it was being realistic. It was the cool thing to do, you got all the homies on the block. But at the end of the day, I want to have kids and be successful. For me, it wasn’t enough loot in selling dope. I had a few sticky situations where things could have went bad and God blessed me with the opportunity. You could keep doing this and going down this road, but there are a few ways this is going to end. I had some real close calls and it made me rethink about my life and what I wanted. I was given this talent and walked away. I didn’t owe anyone and was my own boss. So, I just walked away and left and been at this ever since.”
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Reason For Not Revealing Her Identity
I think for me, being a female Hip Hop artist is tough. Being a female in anything is tough. I want people to rock with me because of the music and not because I have big titties or big ass or a cute face or who I’m affiliated with. I want people to rock with me because they love the music. We’re over sensationalized with images and visuals. Let me take me completely out of the equation and leave it to the music and people will rock with me just for the music. If I never have to tell people who I am, I would love it to be that way because that allows the fan and consumers to create who they want you to be. Sometimes when they see you, it might be a letdown. You might have this dude who is rapping about some gangsta shit and he’s 5’5’. It’s a letdown. I just want people to create who they want me to be for them and also want people to rock with me because of the music.
Circa 2014: Cola White recruited various actors and actresses for her “Inner Push” video.
“I just think that’s our world and society and how perception and image is everything. I think sometimes, image trumps talent. To be honest, there are so many trash ass artists out there and the only thing they’re surviving off of is their image. That’s not any hate because if you can win that way, that’s what’s up. It doesn’t really speak to what rap and Hip Hop are really about because back in the day, you had to be able to spit. If you couldn’t spit, it didn’t matter how cute you were. It didn’t matter who you were affiliated with or how dope your clothes were. It only mattered about your bars. It’s all about the look. I’m trying to get away from that if I can do my little bitty part.”
Cola White – “All My Haters Die”
Her Mysterious Music Video Concepts
“That was easy. There’s this dope artist out who wears a ski mask and that’s official. I love it. You got Daft Punk and MF Doom. I love the whole secrecy and not knowing who they are. How can I make it my own? The only thing I thought was putting people in my place. This is the first time that I’m talking in front of a camera. I put people in my place and allow them to be Cola. For the first video “Inner Push” which paid homage to Pusha T, people were losing it because it was a white chick in the video. She was saying nigga and people were going crazy. That whole thing. The second video we did “All My Haters Die” we had one of my boys from the team in my place. It was a female voice but a guy’s image. Again, I want Cola White to be something to everybody. I want the little white kid in suburbia to connect to Cola White because they can make their own image of who Cola White is. By creating visuals with a different person, it helps fulfill that story.”
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“To be honest, there are so many trash ass artists out there and the only thing they’re surviving off of is their image.” — Cola White
About The Music
“I think right now we have two, I hate to say EPs. I think that sounds so corporate and record label like. For more, these are experience projects. One is called Dark Skinned In America which is rough and raw. I’m talking about experiences. Then we have another side called September 20. It’s paying homage to a relationship or breakup. More things that people can relate to universally.”
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Follow Cola White on Instagram @IamColaWhite
