Da Brat is happy, in love, and ready to share that with the world.
Back in March, Da Brat came out and confirmed her relationship with Kaleidoscope Hair Products CEO Jesseca Dupart via an emotional Instagram post celebrating an early birthday gift.
In a new interview with Variety to kick off Pride month, Da Brat opened up about her decision to come out and what kept her in the closet for so long.
Check out an excerpt:
While people had long speculated and made assumptions, “the social landscape was very different when she first came on the scene,” noted African American-focused website The Grio. “Both misogyny and homophobia created a culture where coming out would have been career suicide for a Black woman in hip-hop.” Now, industry insiders are buzzing about other female hip-hop pioneers who might be inspired to follow Brat’s example.
“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,” Brat says. “I was fine staying quiet, but my partner is a social media mogul — that’s how she became who she is. And when you get with somebody, you have to meet in the middle. So to me, the middle was just letting everybody know: ‘Hey, she’s the one.’”
The announcement wasn’t planned; Brat didn’t even think to give her longtime manager a heads up. “Jesseca was showing me some pictures and we were going back and forth, joking ‘I’ll post it,’ ‘No, I’ll post it.’ So when she did, I was like, ‘Oh sh–! I just came out after 20-something years!’ But it feels good to share with the world when you’re happy.”
Brat stresses that it was her choice to stay in the closet, and not the result of pressure from label execs or managers. “I was always told you want to be fuckable to men and women to sell records — you don’t want anybody to discriminate,” she says. “It was absolutely my decision. I mean, you saw what happened to people like Ellen: Remember when she lost her TV show, and all these horrible things were happening? People were totally against it.”
Everyone has their own journey and their own timing. You can read the full article here.
