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KG gave me this beat from [INAUDIBLE] gave me this beat.
And it had a jazz baseline to it, but it was really knocking.
And for some reason, I was just inspired by the stories around me.
And one of the stories was, at the time, my cousin was in an abusive
relationship.
And I really wanted her to get out of that relationship, and she seemed to
having difficulties.
And so I wanted to write about, to inspire other women not to take that
kind of treatment from a man, to think more of yourself and get out of those
kind of relationships.
So I wrote one verse about that.
And I wrote another verse about girls who were fighting at the school
because, at the time, a lot of girls were rolling in these clicks and think
they gangsters all of the sudden.
Girls who were cornballs the first day school, now, suddenly they tough
because they got a crew and just doing really heinous things to one another
and themselves and other people.
But ultimately, also it was really about, at the time, a lot of rappers
were calling females *** and hos in their records.
And my attitude was, who you calling a ***?
When she came out with "Who You Callin' a ***?", it's like, wow, I
wrote that.
Or I should have wrote it.
I said that.
Did I say it?
She was saying what every woman was saying, the
reason why I start rapping.
I think it addressed a lot of the issues that were happening on an
everyday basis in the community.
Ultimately, the record really was about unity, was about us really
getting together, respecting the black man, respecting the black woman, us
respecting one another and not treating each other that way, really
just finding that unity so we could all move ahead together.
When that came out, it was like a theme song for women.
You don't have to take these things, and you don't have
to put up with this.
And if you do demand and command your respect, then respect
will be given to you.
A lot of girls will come up to me and tell me that they were in an abusive
relationship.
And when they heard that record, something clicked in their heads, and
something really motivated them to get out of that relationship.
And for me, if you can make music and have the power to help someone do
something that difficult to do, that's the best payoff you could ever have.
It's not about how much money you make or how many records you sell.
It's about the fact that you may have saved someone's life that day.
She might have got killed that day.
That might have been the one day where it just wasn't a slap, a choke, a
punch, a kick, but it was actual ***.
And you might have helped save someone's life.
So I heard many stories along the way and got lots of letters about it.
And even guys would come up to me and say, my sister really likes that
record, or my mother love this song.
And that means a lot to me.