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In her first daytime talk show appearance since coming out, Da Brat recently discussed some of her personal and professional experiences leading up to her openly announcing her relationship with her girlfriend, Jessica Dupart, back in March of last year. During the conversation, Da Brat shed some light on when and why she’d choose to opt-out of her classic oversized and baggy style for more body-hugging and revealing ensembles.
While speaking on the Tamron Hall Show, the musician opened up about her style evolution over the years. After Tamron asked her whether she felt any pressure to dress in a more feminine way to appear straight, Da Brat’s answer was pretty straightforward.
“Absolutely not, it had nothing to do with it,” the rapper said. “I would not let anybody change me or put me in anything tight or anything ’til I felt it was safe or I felt like it. Now I did make most of my own decisions, really the majority of them — when it came to dressing. JD [Jermaine Dupri] never tried to change me. I stayed with my pants to the back and my big clothes for as long as I wanted to, and when I felt like, ‘Oh all these girls giving body, let me show I got something to work with too.’ So that’s what that was all about.”
“It had nothing to do with letting people know I was straight or gay,” she added. “I just wanted to be f*ckable, and that is what had to happen to sell records, which is what I was told.”
When it comes to her style, it sounds like the rapper has been prioritizing what she wanted her image to be since day one. Now though, it seems like Da Brat is more focused on continuing to prioritize her right to talk about all the love that’s happening between her and her boo.
Through the past year, she has definitely been more open with the world about her sexual orientation and how she chooses to identify. Shortly after coming out, on The Rickey Smiley Morning Show, the rapper said the reason she kept her sexual orientation private for so long was because she felt “it wasn’t cool back in the day.” Also, last year, when speaking with her long-time friend Kandi Burruss, the rapper opened up about bisexuality and even the possibility of marriage in her future.
“I never thought about marrying a woman but we’ve talked about it. I would love to marry her,” she said of Dupart. “I don’t think anybody would oppose. My grandmother’s probably turning over in her grave but as long as I’m happy, I think she would understand.”
