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Causing many at the time to question her talent and ability as a rapper, Saweetie recently opened up about the infamous Hot 97 freestyle she did back in 2018. While sharing it was a “dark point in her life,” she also mentioned being grateful for all the struggles she had to face earlier in her career.
In case you forgot, Saweetie was still fairly new to the rap scene when her freestyle on Ebro In The Morning went down. After prefacing his comments by saying he would be harder on the rapper if she wasn’t a girl, when giving his opinion of her freestyle host Ebro Darden mentioned that Saweetie’s rhymes were “basic,” and said she would need to get sharper on her diction and clarity before being able to “impress” him.
In the video, Saweetie took the criticism like a champ and kept her cool — but looking back on the moment recently during an interview with Cosmopolitan, the rapper said the incident left her with some emotions to grapple with after the fact.
“It was a really dark point in my life,” she said. Discussing the intense high following the success of her first major single in comparison to when she did that freestyle, she added, “I went from being so loved so quickly because of ‘Icy Grl’ to, on my first promo run, well, you saw the interview. The script flipped really quick, like night and day. I was like, ‘Wait…’ I had PTSD from that.”
Understandably, the “Tap In” rapper just wasn’t ready for the types of press and performances she would have to do following the quick success of that first hit. As she explained to the magazine, “Because ‘Icy Grl’ was so popular, I was being booked at huge festivals,” before adding, “I was literally thrown into it.” As Cosmopolitan noted, many online tried to discredit Saweetie’s talent and began pulling up her early performances as their form of proof that the rapper didn’t have what it takes to secure the position she holds in the rap game now. As Saweetie explained, the reality of the matter was that early in her career she was just trying her best to quickly adjust and wasn’t at her best yet.
“I’m really grateful for my start because the mistakes, the struggle, the grind — it allows me to appreciate the rewards that come now,” she added speaking on the things she had to do to get her career to the place it’s at today. “I know what it feels like to sleep in motels, to drive and do promo, to be stressed out.”
Inspiringly, Saweetie also shared that since the pivotal freestyle she’s put so much effort into honing in on her craft. She told the magazine — as their April 2021 cover — that her growth as a rapper has included breath control exercises, vocal lessons, and continuous songwriting. At the end of the day, she noted some are born with a natural comfortability when it comes to performing and others aren’t, but regardless, hard work would continue to help her achieve and maintain her success.
“Some of us have it naturally. And some of us don’t — like me,” she admitted. “And that’s okay because I know that as long as I work hard, I’ll become one of the best.”
Despite what the haters might say, Saweetie is focusing on her grind and her new album “Pretty B–ch Music.” If you recall, just a few months ago she spoke with us about how the project would include lots of samples (her M.O.) and that she was learning as she went through the process of creating it.
“… I’m just a student and I’m a lover of music so I love to flip other hits and make it my hit,” she told us. “But it is a joy to show people that I do have original songs because I work really hard on concepts and relaying these messages that I feel the world needs to hear.”
