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Late last week, Teyana Taylor debuted her latest video called “Issues/Hold On.” In it, she stars as the passionate, often jealous wife of rapper A$AP Rocky, and they clash, falling in and out of love. At the end of the clip, which is set in the ’70s, there is a love scene between the two. It’s very sexy and quite convincing:
I loved it, but I wondered what her husband, Iman Shumpert, might think of it. In the past, he’s played her love interest in her more romantic scenes in videos. Shumpert has also been vocal in the past about too-close-for-comfort moments Taylor has had with other people. He had to publicly apologize recently after finding himself uncomfortable with a touchy-feely photo Taylor took with friend Draya Michele.
Soon after the video premiered, Taylor ended up doing an interview with Joe Budden for Pull Up about her music and more. He brought up the topic of what Shumpert thinks about, for example, her lapdance performances that include pretty sexual moments with other women. The two talked about double standards and why it’s okay for her to have these type of interactions when she knows she wouldn’t be okay with Iman doing the same.
“If I go to a show, I’m in the audience chilling, sippin’ a lil something, and homegirl says ‘Hey! Come on stage!’ and I come on stage and I get freaked, I think my partner would have — I think I would get a long text. Like a paragraph text about that,” he said. “That was my beef about [the lapdances]. I’m cool, but it’s a double standard because you wouldn’t be cool.”
In response, Taylor said, “So you’re saying you was cool with it, but if it was the other way around…”
“Yeah!” he said. “That sh-t wouldn’t fly!
“Yeah, it wouldn’t,” she responded, with a shrug. “The same way y’all ni–as could pull y’all sh-t out on the sidewalk and go and pee, it takes a lot more work for a b—h to have to pop a squat behind a car. Y’all ni–as will just go and stand there and do y’all thing.”
Taylor was attempting to state that there are plenty of double standards and things in life that are unfair for women and men, but it it is what it is. And in her case, according to her, her interactions with women on stage are supposed to be a “happy medium” for her husband. She’s not grinding on a man, so there shouldn’t be an issue.
“What I’m trying to explain to you is me bringing a female up on stage was a respect thing for my husband,” she said. “It’s very convenient. If I’m like a baby Janet right, and everybody knows these are my shows, as a wife, would you rather me bring up ni–as and give them lapdances or bring up b—hes and give them lapdances? It’s entertainment. That’s like me saying, ‘This is entertainment so technically it’s my job so I’m going to bring up another ni–a.’ I feel like it’s a yes, no and negotiations. If you say yes, mean it. If you say yes, mean it and don’t hang that over the person’s head. If you say no, don’t feel bad about saying no. If you’re willing to negotiate, you find a happy medium. The negotiation in marriage is, ‘Ok, this is my job, this is my brand, this is my image. How do I find a happy medium? How do I negotiate? Ok! I won’t ever bring another ni–a up on stage ever again! So, why not do it with females?'”
When Budden asked her about just giving a lapdance on an empty chair, she reiterated that the dances are strictly business, and her shows are “art.”
“I’m very professional. And after every lapdance of anybody I’ve ever given a lapdance to, it’s never been anything more than that,” she said. “I’m very like, ‘Lapdance. Alright, on to the next song.’ It ain’t no kiking. Next record. This sh-t is a job. It’s a job and I think that people don’t understand that. But when you’re passionate about your job, and you’re passionate about entertaining people and this is your show, it is what it is. The same way I perform “Never Would Have Made It” and I cry, I mean that, but that’s a part of my show where it’s going to get real. It’s still a part of entertainment and it’s a job.”
“It’s an off-and-on switch with everything,” she added. “Back to the lapdances, everything is just an on-and-off switch, whether I’m acting, or I’m performing or I have to entertain people at a party. It’s like, people pay you to entertain and turn up.”
You can check out this very interesting chat below, starting at the 9:00 minute mark:
