“I love a tangy ass pineapple,” bbymutha declares set with a fruit cup in hand. It’s an unusually warm March day in Brooklyn and bbymutha arrives on set with bright turquoise hair and a colorful oversized outfit before putting on an eclectic playlist featuring anything from a few Lady Gaga deep cuts, to DaBaby and Lil Uzi Vert.
Two days later, I phone Brittnee in the midst of a dispute on Twitter about black women being ridiculed for wearing synthetic hair. “I get on the internet every day and there are women tearing each other down about their hair,” she says with a warm Tennessee accent. “If a bitch walks out the house and she’s comfortable with how she looks, why does it bother you? I feel like trying to judge someone for the quality of their hair is so fucking stupid. A lot of bitches be out here with $500 frontals looking like Sonic and Knuckles!” she exclaims before cackling with laughter.
Née Brittnee Moore, the slick-mouthed, unapologetic rapper, was born and raised in Chattanooga, Tennessee to a young pair of religious parents with two very different perspectives about worship. “It’s like gangbanging on morals,” says Brittnee of her separate religious upbringings. Her mom embraced predominately white nondenominational Christian churches while her dad was very much a pro-black Muslim. “My dad took pictures of me in the traditional Muslim garb one time and my mom nearly had a heart attack,” she says with laughter. “I feel like if you took shit from each religion and looked at it from a religious perspective, y’all would have no reason to beef with each other because y’all believe in the same shit.”
Though raised between two strict religious households, once 13-year-old Brittnee returned to Chattanooga to live with her dad full time, she embraced the self-proclaimed title of “badass kid” where she dabbled in sex, selling drugs and exploring the internet, where she found music and personalities she never knew existed. “The internet would show me there are alternative black bitches,” says Brittnee. “You’re not a weird person, you’re just different and eccentric.”
The Limewire and MocoSpace era birthed the beginning of Cindyy Kushh, a moniker bbymutha first began recording through her cell phone and releasing music from. She excitedly reveals the first song she ever wrote, appropriately titled, “Throw Up,” reminiscing on the early ages of searching Youtube for Travis Porter samples. “I forgot all about this,” she exclaims, recalling her first writing attempt. “I had found this beat by Johnny Juliano and rapped over it like ‘broke niggas make me sick / throw up!”
Now over a decade later, bbymutha is approaching music in a more serious tone, creating what has become her own true gospel of the realities she faces as both a black mother of 4 and a woman trying to navigate a complicated industry. Proudly independent from a major label, bbymutha has garnered a genuine following of supportive stans, captivated by her slick tongue, witty humor and unapologetic delivery. Her lyrics paint a picture of a life free of problematic men, bent on reclaiming what’s really yours and embracing your sexuality.
In summer 2017, the same internet that helped raise Brittnee was rapidly sharing clips from the music video for the new single off her Glow Kit EP titled “Rules.” With blue braids twisted up into a Marge Simpson-type of beehive ‘do, bbymutha roamed through the school hallways reciting to what became one of the most empowering anthems of the summer: “You can’t give your pussy to a nigga who not used to getting pussy cause that pussy gon’ be everybody business / You can’t sell dope to these niggas cause they broke and they snitchin’, got these niggas bussin’ shots up in your business.”
Though the video showed scenes of lighthearted fun as bbymutha and her crew of carefree black peers twerk in and out of the hallways and classrooms, the very real lyrics of this slow bounce track were initially inspired by a time when bbymutha was living with her children’s father, and a group of men kicked in his air conditioning unit before shooting him in the arm with an AK-47.
“My music is all about me. I’m very selfish when it comes to my art. I’m not here to save [music], but I’m not here to tear it apart.”
Her tracks tell the story of real-life woes and the dynamics of her womanhood. Nonetheless, Brittnee Moore is here to be more than your female rap savior and, according to her Instagram bio, she’s the antichrist of female rap: “Everybody’s always trying to make it seem like ‘this girl is about to save hip hop,’” she explains. “That’s not what I’m here for. My music is all about me. I’m very selfish when it comes to my art. I’m not here to save it, but I’m not here to tear it apart. I don’t think the devil was here to tear anybody apart either, I think he just… liked himself.”
Maybe it’s that selfish approach to music that helped bbymutha create such a relatable discography that tells real-life stories of struggle and pain, especially when it comes to her career. With lyrics that take aim at anyone from internet trolls to her dishonest ex-manager, bbymutha is one of the few artists today who can drop back-to-back projects that are not only consistent but good. And with that consistency comes the unfiltered storytelling of a black mom, who’s never giving up who she is for the sake of success. Like she raps on her most recent release, “D.I.Y,” bbymutha isn’t just here for the money: “I’m not rich and I may never be / But baby I’d rather be broke than be a wannabe.”
The video for “D.I.Y” shows a very different scene than “Rules;” this time shot between her family home and Chattanooga neighborhood, where bbymutha’s 4 children can be seen dancing alongside her as she raps outside her local beauty supply. Though many find her carefree attitude and transparency refreshing, that hasn’t stopped a slew of internet trolls, mainly comprised of bitter men, from attacking her character and talent. “They kind of shit on single black moms,” she reveals. “That’s how they look at me anyway. They look at me and my kids like this is a product of the devil, you know, Jezebel. I don’t know what’s up with the new internet where motherfuckers don’t know how to interact with people on a respect level. Even if I don’t agree with what you’re saying, I don’t have to cuss you out until you cuss me out.”
At 17 years old, bbymutha became pregnant with her first set of twins Mekel and Mekeila, and a few years later, coincidentally gave birth to a second set of twins, Tyler and Khloe. It was the early experiences in single motherhood and negative perception surrounding Brittnee as someone’s “baby mother,” that birthed her rap name and a career bent on reclaiming the negative stereotypes and reaching success on her own terms.
Brittnee speaks candidly about life as a single mother and trying to figure it all out as her career continues to grow. “I don’t balance this thing at all,” she says, referring to being a mom with a career. “Here I am getting ready to head to SXSW and I’m still struggling to get everything situated with my babysitter and I leave tomorrow night. It’s not even a balance, it’s just like, we gotta do what we gotta do to make it work, so we make it work regardless.”
Her kids are apart of a lot of what she does — her youngest, Khloe, can often be heard on the opening tag of most of her songs saying, “Mama, you look like a rockstar,” while the intro track of her Free Brittnee EP features a conversation with her youngest twins about their plans to purchase a rainbow house. “I include my kids in so much of my work because it’s just like, they be here anyway,” she says with laughter. “I don’t think there is a balance, I think I just had to learn how to work with them and not without them. That’s more [of] what it is to me — I feel like I’m working with my kids and I’m not trying to work around them.”
Now, the 29-year-old is weeks away from releasing her debut album appropriately titled Muthaland, which simulates the highs and lows of a bbymutha acid trip. “It’s going to be very fun. I’m excited about it,” she says of her first full-length project. “It’s got songs for everything on there, I got a section of the album that’s [for] turning up, dancing in the club. I got ‘beat a bitch up’ songs. I got my chill songs, songs about fucking, songs about relationships.”
Along with her upcoming project comes her tour dates alongside Earl Sweatshirt, a nearly perfect pairing of two artists who have become a quiet force in music: “I’m really excited because I respect him as an artist – his artistry is important. I feel like his art is necessary [which] makes me respect him as a person.”
Coming off a consistent wave of hard-hitting bars and an evolving career, bbymutha is more ambitious than ever. With a fashion degree and goals of one day creating her own clothing line, rap will continue to be a platform for her own self-expression and personal style. With Muthaland’s debut quickly approaching, bbymutha is taking the next chapter of her story into her own hands.
“My mental health is my biggest motivation. I have to motivate myself because no matter who’s depending on me, if I am not motivated it’s not going to feel the same.”
Photographed by @jeanphillippejoseph
Interview by @alexisn0elle
Styling @monsieur_wyzard
MUA @jesuis.alexandra
Hair @andrita
