Da Brat and her girlfriend Jesseca “Judy” Dupart just kicked off their new WE tv reality show, Brat Loves Judy, on Thursday (August 5). Just a year ago, this might not have been possible — the So So Def rapper kept her sexuality a secret for over 20 years. Meeting Judy finally gave her the courage to stop hiding.
Considering Da Brat has always been unapologetically herself, it comes as somewhat of a surprise it was something she was so afraid to admit. But as she explained to Variety in 2020, “Both misogyny and homophobia created a culture where coming out would have been career suicide for a Black woman in Hip Hop. I’ve always felt like being private is the better way to go, because then you don’t have so many people in your business.”
But Da Brat didn’t realize she was even into women until she was in her late teens, right around the time she signed with So So Def.
Label head Jermaine Dupri always believed in Da Brat though and she’s thankful he allowed her to be herself before female MCs were so hypersexualized. In fact, Da Brat admits she actually wanted to be a third member of fellow So So Def artists Kriss Kross, who were crushing it with their massive 1992 single “Jump.”
“I had my pants backward, cut a hole in my baseball cap, stuck my ponytail through it — I wanted to be the third member of Kris Kross,” Da Brat tells HipHopDX. “So I’m grateful that I had a producer like Jermaine Dupri who did not try to change me and say, ‘Hey, in order for you to be famous or sell records or become somebody, you need to show your t-n-a [tits and ass].’ So I am blessed that he let me be myself, I blended right in with them.
“I was a tomboy back then. I didn’t know I was into girls back then, I just thought I was a tomboy. I was never attracted to women until around maybe 18. So, yeah. And I’m grateful that I have someone now who shows me how to be a better person.”
In July 2019, Jermaine Dupri faced heavy backlash when he referred to artists such as Nicki Minaj and Cardi B as “strippers rapping,” but Da Brat understood what he was doing, telling TMZ, “Anything Jermaine Dupri does is done strategically. He knows what he’s doing. He’s a genius.
“You should be thankful that the conversation has even started on female rappers because now the focus is absolutely on us female rappers — new, seasoned, legends, all that. Everybody’s coming.”
Da Brat Explains How Her Girlfriend Judy Wound Up Outing Her On Instagram
With a focus on bars and quality music — not hypersexualized looks — Rapsody is almost an anomaly at this point. Speaking to DX in August 2019, she talked about embracing what she calls “tomboy femininity” and credited the late Aaliyah for giving her the inspiration.
“For me, especially in a time when we see music before we hear it, a lot of people judge us on our image and our appearance,” she said. “[I want] to redefine what sexy is. People think because I’m a tomboy and I’m fully clothed, that that’s not sexy. But there’s a tomboy sexiness in that.
“I grew up in a time where Aaliyah was the biggest thing out and one of the sexiest things out. She wore baggy jeans. She wore big, oversized jackets. She was that tomboy femininity. So, I wanted to just talk about, you know, ‘Don’t forget this image that you see, don’t think that’s the only image.’”
Da Brat presented a similar style and helped pave the way for women like Rapsody to be themselves – no matter what.
Really weren’t any women back then. When the era changed, she did it. Who remembers that video she had running around in the bikini in like 2000?
I do.
That’s that what do you like video..featuring Tyrese..
I hear you. There were female rappers though. MC Lyte, Queen Latifah, Monie Love to name a few. There’s also hip house music that’s never covered with a lot of UK artists that never got their dues like Leila K. But your point is valid.
None of them were flashing sex appeal. It was always on a female who could hang with the boys type of thing to the point that many people thought most of them were gay when Latifah was the only one. They would wear baggy pants, jerseys, and Tims or sneakers and shit and rap about the same shit as the men did. Even Salt n Pepa who did do some of the PG sex talk didn’t really flash it even though they were probably the closest ones to flashing sex appeal. HWA and JJ Fad didn’t even get too wild.
Other women of the era were Lady of Rage, Yo Yo, Bo$$, Conscious Daughters, Bahamadia, Mia X, Left Eye, Da Five Footaz, etc. So nobody was flashing ass and titties. It was all about girls who could be hard and spit like the men. I don’t ever remember women rapping too much about sex unless they were talking about taking men’s money.
The only female rapper talking that raunchy shit was Choice on Rap-a-Lot, the hoe rappers’ mother, and nobody knew who she was or what she looked like. She just rapped nasty.
She was dark, not cute, but fine as hell.
Yeah. I only heard it because my oldest sister had it, but I never saw a cover. Just heard the raps.
clearly she acts like a dude so she wouldn’t be able to show it off. now Missy Elliot got more sex appeal over beat, oof
spoken like someone who´s never seen her single with Tyrese
That single whatchu like she was going that tits and ass route maybe she forgot.