WEBVTT - The Mia X Episode 0:00:01.080 --> 0:00:03.880 Yeah, get up, you know, boys, it's back and rehoaded 0:00:04.240 --> 0:00:07.240 all in your mind. Yeah, and now deep throating. This 0:00:07.280 --> 0:00:10.920 is for the streets, the reel, the railroading, the disanfranchise, 0:00:11.039 --> 0:00:14.000 the truth, the scapegoating, and they ain't knowing we speak 0:00:14.080 --> 0:00:16.319 the truth, so they ain't quoted because we wrote it. 0:00:16.520 --> 0:00:19.160 The North South East coat is the g b B. 0:00:19.480 --> 0:00:22.439 Were keeping your head bobbing, It ain't no stopping and 0:00:22.560 --> 0:00:25.759 wants to be dropped head by then the system is 0:00:25.840 --> 0:00:28.040 so corrupt they throw the rock out their heads and 0:00:28.160 --> 0:00:32.280 then blame it on us. Don't get it twisted on 0:00:32.479 --> 0:00:39.520 code and me dancing for no buttament biscuits. It's Willie 0:00:39.560 --> 0:00:42.840 d y'all scarf faces in the building. Collectively we are 0:00:42.880 --> 0:00:46.080 the GHET old boys. Reloaded, Reloaded with another episode of 0:00:46.159 --> 0:00:49.960 information and instructions to help you navigate through this wild, crazy, 0:00:50.000 --> 0:00:54.880 beautiful world. In the studio, the first lady of note 0:00:55.120 --> 0:01:06.119 limit Mia X, ma'am, hold up, how me are still 0:01:06.200 --> 0:01:09.880 looking good? I'm talking about looking good good? How do 0:01:09.920 --> 0:01:17.560 you do? How do you do it? Mia? Your mama 0:01:17.600 --> 0:01:23.960 looked like that she did, she really did. My grandmother did? Okay, right, Yeah, 0:01:24.160 --> 0:01:27.400 got them good genes Huh I think so I hope 0:01:27.400 --> 0:01:32.440 so yeah man so man, I mean how how but 0:01:32.480 --> 0:01:34.679 how is your health? Speaking of good genes, how is 0:01:34.720 --> 0:01:37.160 your health? You know? I am taking one day at 0:01:37.160 --> 0:01:40.560 a time and if the Lord says the same, I 0:01:40.600 --> 0:01:45.440 will be cancer free five years March twenty third. So 0:01:46.040 --> 0:01:52.480 but um, you know, after you're ill, it seems like 0:01:52.600 --> 0:01:59.720 the body really fights hard to feel itself and you 0:01:59.800 --> 0:02:06.760 have other complications. You know, you have phantom pains, um. 0:02:06.760 --> 0:02:13.440 So I had. I had to get surgery, a complete 0:02:13.480 --> 0:02:22.600 hysterect me. Sometimes my stomach feels like everything is still there. Yeah. Uh. 0:02:22.840 --> 0:02:27.880 And I have I have like uh it's like pocket 0:02:27.960 --> 0:02:31.000 mask there benige, but they hurt my legs sometimes and 0:02:31.120 --> 0:02:36.040 make me feel like I'm walking with leg weights. Uh. 0:02:36.120 --> 0:02:39.520 And I still like battle fatigue. So I deal with 0:02:39.560 --> 0:02:42.360 a lot of things that sometimes your doctor tells you 0:02:42.360 --> 0:02:44.639 it's not there, it's in your mind, but your body 0:02:44.680 --> 0:02:49.840 tells you something else. And so um, I'm not complaining, 0:02:49.880 --> 0:02:53.880 but I will say for anyone that has ever battle 0:02:54.040 --> 0:02:57.440 cancer or had any type of serious illness, you understand 0:02:57.440 --> 0:03:00.040 what I'm saying about the fansom pain and how a 0:03:00.200 --> 0:03:04.079 body uh takes time to make you feel whole again. 0:03:04.160 --> 0:03:09.760 It's steadily working, trying to restore itself and deal with 0:03:09.840 --> 0:03:15.480 the things that you've lost. My kidney transplant exactly is 0:03:16.240 --> 0:03:20.480 that those effects are similar because I wake up feeling 0:03:20.560 --> 0:03:23.240 pain right where the kidney is, like oh ship, uh 0:03:24.360 --> 0:03:30.040 yeah exactly. And and and when your body fighting off 0:03:29.480 --> 0:03:33.080 I bought off this kidney. So my kidney went into rejection, 0:03:34.240 --> 0:03:37.640 you know, early and early and uh after the transplant, 0:03:37.680 --> 0:03:43.960 like a week later when and um, I mean it's 0:03:44.000 --> 0:03:47.280 a natural thing that your body gonna fight off any 0:03:47.560 --> 0:03:52.360 uh foreign objects are foreign whatever in your body. So 0:03:52.440 --> 0:03:54.000 that's what it did. It was like that you must 0:03:54.040 --> 0:03:56.480 have been thrown at the wrong gang side my body 0:03:56.600 --> 0:04:00.920 like this, you know what, I'm two niggas back there, 0:04:00.960 --> 0:04:05.120 but you you move exactly. They didn't knocked it out 0:04:05.160 --> 0:04:07.040 and I had to go back in the hospital again. 0:04:07.080 --> 0:04:09.240 I never really talked much about it, but yeah, I 0:04:09.240 --> 0:04:15.040 had a I had a young rejection in the early 0:04:15.080 --> 0:04:21.760 stage after the transplant. Mea, how do you keep it together? 0:04:21.880 --> 0:04:23.760 You know, you do a lot of things. You still, 0:04:23.760 --> 0:04:27.159 I know you did your cook book back into the team, right, yes, 0:04:27.600 --> 0:04:31.760 And how's that going? It's going really well? Um was 0:04:31.760 --> 0:04:35.719 the best seller two years straight at Essence Fest because 0:04:35.720 --> 0:04:39.360 that's where I launched it. Sell most of my stuff online. Um, 0:04:40.080 --> 0:04:43.359 but it's still doing really well. And now I have 0:04:43.440 --> 0:04:50.160 a season in and let me see it's all good 0:04:54.960 --> 0:05:00.040 and I'm working on Yeah, it's a low sodium, a 0:05:00.200 --> 0:05:03.839 purpose ses and then even doper it on my cereal. 0:05:04.200 --> 0:05:09.920 Yeah yes, and look at me. Yeah you know. Sylvia 0:05:10.160 --> 0:05:14.960 inspired me. Sylvia's of Harlem inspired me. And I remember 0:05:15.040 --> 0:05:18.320 being a kid in the grocery store and seeing all 0:05:18.320 --> 0:05:21.680 of the labels and then I saw this black woman 0:05:22.000 --> 0:05:25.640 and she had hot sauce and greens and things, and 0:05:25.680 --> 0:05:28.560 I was like, I really want to be her. Food 0:05:28.560 --> 0:05:30.440 has been a passion for me. I've been in the 0:05:30.520 --> 0:05:34.920 kitchen with my grandmother since seventy five. So yeah, why 0:05:34.960 --> 0:05:37.920 did my label like that? This is dope? This is dope. 0:05:38.680 --> 0:05:42.720 You know a lot of food success and failure comes 0:05:42.800 --> 0:05:47.159 down to packaging. What that label looks like and this 0:05:47.320 --> 0:05:52.760 looks like money? Thank you, beautiful beautiful. So I notice 0:05:52.839 --> 0:05:57.760 is Brad's um sample. But I'll take this and you've 0:05:57.760 --> 0:06:04.320 read another one. Um, because Brad had his a long 0:06:04.400 --> 0:06:10.160 time ago. He didn't tell me about the season. I mean, 0:06:10.160 --> 0:06:13.600 he was an expert in the culinary arts department, Williams, 0:06:14.160 --> 0:06:20.719 he's an expert in the thug depart Yeah, you can cook, 0:06:20.760 --> 0:06:24.359 we like for real, like really really the food and 0:06:24.400 --> 0:06:26.960 stuff online, I'd be like, man, that looks good. I 0:06:27.040 --> 0:06:29.360 want to eat some of my meals cooking. You gotta 0:06:29.400 --> 0:06:31.360 come to New Orleans. I gotta come to Did you 0:06:31.360 --> 0:06:35.080 cook Houston? No, I didn't get a chance this time 0:06:35.120 --> 0:06:38.400 because we were pressed for time with the concert. So 0:06:38.600 --> 0:06:42.160 but usually when I'm in Houston, I cook right. And 0:06:42.400 --> 0:06:48.720 the concert concert was so fun, so fun. Got to 0:06:48.760 --> 0:06:51.720 meet y'all big in the market at least one. It's 0:06:51.800 --> 0:06:54.799 one of them most definitely. I feel in love every 0:06:54.800 --> 0:06:58.200 time I'm in Houston, like every time, and that's been 0:06:58.240 --> 0:07:00.880 since before No Limit. He was and showed me love 0:07:00.920 --> 0:07:03.359 when I put my first record out thirty years ago. 0:07:04.040 --> 0:07:06.719 So you know, I don't look thirty years old. Girl, 0:07:08.120 --> 0:07:10.360 you just said I looked like I didn't say that. 0:07:11.080 --> 0:07:13.240 I didn't say that. I said you look like Grandma 0:07:13.280 --> 0:07:16.120 on that package. But I am a nigga grandmore. That's 0:07:16.120 --> 0:07:23.400 the So it's right in line with secret Willy. So 0:07:23.560 --> 0:07:25.880 me and me get on the phone, bro and we 0:07:26.080 --> 0:07:29.000 talked and cracked the funk up all day long. Bro. 0:07:30.400 --> 0:07:33.520 She is the funniest person I know. For real, she 0:07:33.680 --> 0:07:36.480 is super funny. How do you keep it in? Because 0:07:36.520 --> 0:07:40.000 I've never seen this, this funny side, because it comes 0:07:40.040 --> 0:07:42.880 out at times, and it's because I'm not trying to 0:07:42.960 --> 0:07:46.360 be people just laughing. Sometimes I went the way that 0:07:46.360 --> 0:07:50.200 wasn't supposed to be funny, but it just comes out. 0:07:50.320 --> 0:07:52.160 My grandmother was like that. You know, she was the 0:07:52.200 --> 0:07:54.840 inspiration behind the cookbook. You see all of those quotes, 0:07:56.000 --> 0:08:00.120 that's the way she spoke. And I just think I 0:08:00.240 --> 0:08:08.000 have that from her. Yeah, yeah, real from the Seventh War. Oh, 0:08:09.440 --> 0:08:13.560 that's right, from the Seventh War. How was it growing 0:08:13.680 --> 0:08:15.080 up in the Seventh War? Did you grow up with 0:08:15.160 --> 0:08:18.840 your grandmother? Yes? I did grow up with my grandmother. Um. 0:08:20.640 --> 0:08:24.680 I was supposed to be born in Dallas. Okay, Uh, 0:08:25.240 --> 0:08:30.160 my dad was from Dallas. What he did when my 0:08:30.280 --> 0:08:33.480 mom was six months pregnant he got another girl pregnant. 0:08:33.920 --> 0:08:38.200 Oh here, so, um, I have a sister, my Irish twin. 0:08:39.160 --> 0:08:42.560 She she's six months younger than me. But my grandmother 0:08:42.720 --> 0:08:46.199 came to Dallas and snatched my mama up, made a 0:08:46.280 --> 0:08:49.000 come back to New Orleans. She was in college in Dallas. 0:08:49.280 --> 0:08:52.440 You're gonna finish school in New Orleans. You're coming home. 0:08:53.360 --> 0:08:56.920 So I was born in New Orleans, brought home from 0:08:56.920 --> 0:09:00.440 the hospital to my grandmother and grandfather of this home 0:09:00.559 --> 0:09:05.079 because they brought my mom back home, and I grew 0:09:05.200 --> 0:09:08.600 up with my grandmother. I grew up with my grandmother. 0:09:08.880 --> 0:09:13.160 She was just a strong woman, and she wanted to 0:09:13.280 --> 0:09:18.319 make sure that my mom still finished school and did 0:09:18.400 --> 0:09:21.720 the things that she aspired to do as well as 0:09:21.800 --> 0:09:24.920 men her broken heart, you know. And so yeah, I 0:09:25.040 --> 0:09:27.640 was with my grandmother, and the Seventh Ward was beautiful. 0:09:28.120 --> 0:09:31.079 Seventh Ward was a place of community. We all looked 0:09:31.080 --> 0:09:36.160 out for each other. We shared everything, you know, food. 0:09:36.360 --> 0:09:40.000 Sometimes people was pulled and things happened, lose their lights 0:09:40.080 --> 0:09:44.040 were sharing that orange and statue cold. So you know, 0:09:44.400 --> 0:09:47.080 like sometimes when when the person lights get cut off, 0:09:48.240 --> 0:09:54.599 your neighbor everybody had these thick orange extension cards. You 0:09:54.640 --> 0:10:05.840 could put it through your window and well or orange orange. 0:10:06.920 --> 0:10:10.000 I love the color orange and I love to eat oranges. 0:10:11.960 --> 0:10:15.080 That's perfect, Okay, go ahead, But you know they would 0:10:15.080 --> 0:10:17.120 take the extension cord and you stick it from your 0:10:17.200 --> 0:10:20.120 window to your neighbor window and they can plug it 0:10:20.200 --> 0:10:24.719 in and use like some of your lights. They did 0:10:24.840 --> 0:10:29.280 that kind of stuff. In the seventh Ward they share. Yeah, 0:10:29.600 --> 0:10:33.920 so you know that sense of community and the seventh 0:10:33.960 --> 0:10:37.040 Ward we definitely had a strong sense of community. You know, 0:10:37.200 --> 0:10:42.959 we really the village was intact what happened. So I'm 0:10:42.960 --> 0:10:50.000 gonna say like, um, yeah, like around eighty three, I 0:10:50.200 --> 0:10:53.680 began to see the shift, and not just my community 0:10:53.840 --> 0:10:58.520 but just all around nine wall sixth wall for wall 0:10:58.960 --> 0:11:05.600 fifth wards thoughts seeing the change. Um, and it was crack. Uh. 0:11:06.040 --> 0:11:09.520 A lot of my friends parents got on crack, and 0:11:11.200 --> 0:11:14.679 crack killed a lot of the sense of responsibility for 0:11:14.840 --> 0:11:21.120 our adults. So yeah, because you know, Craig became the 0:11:21.280 --> 0:11:24.959 central thing, like I'm not gonna wash my babies, I'm 0:11:25.000 --> 0:11:27.120 not gonna feed my babies, I'm not gonna pay my 0:11:27.240 --> 0:11:32.280 bills because I want to rock and yeah, all of 0:11:32.320 --> 0:11:37.440 those things. Yes, that happened, and I saw it around 0:11:37.679 --> 0:11:43.120 uh eighty three, and then it got aggressively worse. And 0:11:43.280 --> 0:11:48.800 then uh, young people including myself, you know, we we 0:11:48.920 --> 0:11:51.800 were Facebook positions like to be in positions like if 0:11:51.840 --> 0:11:54.640 you can't beat them, join them, and so there you know, 0:11:54.760 --> 0:11:57.079 when we was thirteen seeing it happened. By the time 0:11:57.160 --> 0:12:01.760 we was fifteen sixteen, a lot of became the hustlers, 0:12:02.760 --> 0:12:06.200 the dealers, and it just kept going and going and going. 0:12:06.800 --> 0:12:10.400 But many kids were faced with two parents in the 0:12:10.480 --> 0:12:13.400 house that were on crack and they didn't have anything, 0:12:14.160 --> 0:12:17.080 and so they jumped off the porch and jumped into 0:12:17.160 --> 0:12:19.839 the game. And from there the feelings that we have 0:12:20.040 --> 0:12:24.240 for each other began to change. We we stopped, we 0:12:24.320 --> 0:12:30.160 stopped caring. You know, once upon a time, nobody would 0:12:30.160 --> 0:12:35.120 sell nobody, mama, nothing that would poison their spirits, their 0:12:35.240 --> 0:12:39.000 bodies and minds. But then it got to a point where, um, 0:12:40.480 --> 0:12:43.160 everybody was just trying to get by, and I don't 0:12:43.200 --> 0:12:48.520 think we realized someone else, Yeah, what we want to 0:12:48.520 --> 0:12:52.040 give it to us. And that's what started happening. That 0:12:52.200 --> 0:12:57.360 the man didn't affect any anybody in your immediate family, Yeah, 0:12:57.440 --> 0:13:01.400 because um, so like one of my cousins came told 0:13:01.480 --> 0:13:05.240 my mom my dad was always hard working. And one 0:13:05.280 --> 0:13:09.320 of my cousins told my mom, um, this is what's 0:13:09.400 --> 0:13:13.599 going on with your husband. Because certain things started to 0:13:13.720 --> 0:13:18.280 slip with us, you know. And then my daddy said 0:13:18.440 --> 0:13:25.480 that he had crunched up the rock in his weed yeah, 0:13:26.480 --> 0:13:31.400 the reason to say geeks. But um, he had lost 0:13:31.480 --> 0:13:37.760 his job. And at that point I went to my cousin. 0:13:39.520 --> 0:13:44.280 I had four hundred dollars and I said, um, well, 0:13:44.320 --> 0:13:45.880 I needed you to teach me howt the hustle because 0:13:45.880 --> 0:13:50.319 I gotta help my mama. Mm hmm. And one of 0:13:50.400 --> 0:13:53.480 my neighbors, she was like seventeen years older than me. 0:13:53.559 --> 0:13:55.080 She used to take me in the bar room when 0:13:55.120 --> 0:13:58.120 I was young, but she never did anything wrong. You know. 0:13:58.400 --> 0:13:59.880 I used to like to drink beer and I was 0:13:59.880 --> 0:14:04.400 a barroom baby. She went told my mama because she 0:14:04.600 --> 0:14:08.880 had a habit. She told Mom, she said, listen, you 0:14:09.000 --> 0:14:12.680 gotta get on Mia. Mia needs to do her music. 0:14:13.679 --> 0:14:17.000 And Mia sold me some drugs. So when I hit 0:14:17.040 --> 0:14:20.400 the dough, my mama like flashed out because that was 0:14:20.520 --> 0:14:23.920 never her. You know. My mom was like, what's this. 0:14:24.080 --> 0:14:28.200 I hear you selling somebody something, you know, and that's 0:14:28.280 --> 0:14:31.080 not for you. That's not who we are. You can't 0:14:31.160 --> 0:14:35.480 poison our people. You know. My mom was was really 0:14:35.560 --> 0:14:40.000 into us as a people, the community, and she was 0:14:40.320 --> 0:14:43.720 so mad with me, and I was so hurt that 0:14:43.880 --> 0:14:46.640 I had disappointed her because of the way we were raised. 0:14:46.880 --> 0:14:50.120 And then my dad was so messed up that my 0:14:50.240 --> 0:14:53.960 mama told him this is what's going on with her. 0:14:55.720 --> 0:14:58.880 I saw him change. My dad was a type of dude. 0:14:58.920 --> 0:15:03.080 If something hit him m hard enough, he just didn't 0:15:03.080 --> 0:15:05.320 do it. One time, you're smoking cigarettes and he set 0:15:05.360 --> 0:15:08.960 the mattress on fire, he quit. So when he saw 0:15:09.080 --> 0:15:13.640 that I was gonna jump into this game after all 0:15:13.720 --> 0:15:17.160 of the value that they had poured in me, he 0:15:17.360 --> 0:15:19.960 was like, nah, I missed this whole thing up. And 0:15:20.080 --> 0:15:24.240 then he got back on track. But for a lot 0:15:24.320 --> 0:15:27.640 of my friends, you know, we just kind of kept 0:15:27.720 --> 0:15:31.200 on in this game, in this game, in this trap 0:15:31.760 --> 0:15:34.280 that was placed in our community. When you say your 0:15:34.360 --> 0:15:37.440 dad got back on track, he got off track when 0:15:37.480 --> 0:15:39.640 he got into the drug game. Well, he got off 0:15:39.680 --> 0:15:44.480 track when he started smoking geeks because he yeah, he 0:15:45.440 --> 0:15:47.240 wasn't doing what he was supposed to. As far as 0:15:47.320 --> 0:15:51.560 the family, you know it down, He shut it down 0:15:51.760 --> 0:15:54.800 immediately because he didn't want me to be in the game. 0:15:56.200 --> 0:16:01.880 He knew what that led to, is your No. My 0:16:02.040 --> 0:16:07.720 dad died five months after my mom. I really did. 0:16:09.040 --> 0:16:12.560 I had some really really good people. They were honest 0:16:13.280 --> 0:16:18.520 about everything they did. You know, my mom, my dad, 0:16:18.680 --> 0:16:21.960 my grandmother, my grandfather. They never cut any corners with me, 0:16:22.320 --> 0:16:25.680 so we didn't live in a fantasy world. Whatever whatever happened, 0:16:26.000 --> 0:16:29.840 whatever went down, they brought it to us. They explained 0:16:29.840 --> 0:16:33.320 it to us. The lines of communication was always open, 0:16:33.800 --> 0:16:37.720 and that was for good and bad stuff. They speak 0:16:37.800 --> 0:16:43.680 more about your father, you know, we talked about so 0:16:43.800 --> 0:16:48.240 no so um, my biological father died when I was 0:16:48.360 --> 0:16:54.040 six years old, and and yes I have memory of 0:16:54.200 --> 0:16:57.320 him as a provider because he was in California. Actually, 0:16:57.440 --> 0:17:02.280 he became a concert promoter, uh in the late sixties, 0:17:02.360 --> 0:17:06.760 and he he promoted shows Gladys Night like everybody, and 0:17:06.920 --> 0:17:10.359 then he jumped into the rock side, and so he 0:17:10.560 --> 0:17:15.359 began promoting concerts like for Chicago Fleetwood mag He lived 0:17:15.400 --> 0:17:20.159 in California. Yeah, he really was. But he ran with 0:17:20.760 --> 0:17:23.359 the rock stars and party like a rock star. And 0:17:23.520 --> 0:17:27.159 his mom actually, uh, she lied and told me that 0:17:27.359 --> 0:17:30.439 he died from a brain aneurysm. But it wasn't until 0:17:30.640 --> 0:17:34.359 right before my mom died. She connected me and my sister, 0:17:34.640 --> 0:17:39.680 my sister Mick, and um, Mick told me that our 0:17:39.800 --> 0:17:45.120 daddy died of a heroin overdose. M All my life, 0:17:45.200 --> 0:17:46.600 I would think when I was a little girl and 0:17:46.680 --> 0:17:48.840 catch headaches, like I don't want to have an aneurysm 0:17:49.160 --> 0:17:51.040 thinking about my dad. So when I sat down with 0:17:51.119 --> 0:17:54.480 my sister, I'm like, so do you get headaches? And 0:17:54.640 --> 0:17:57.760 she was like, not really, And I was like, because 0:17:57.840 --> 0:17:59.920 I do, and I hope I don't get an annual 0:18:00.080 --> 0:18:02.200 is I'm like dad? And she said, well, Daddy didn't 0:18:02.240 --> 0:18:05.560 have an aneurysm. Daddy died of a hair on overdose. 0:18:06.359 --> 0:18:09.359 So then I go back to my mama and I say, Mama, 0:18:09.720 --> 0:18:13.560 Grandma Ta told me daddy had an aneurysm. You let 0:18:13.640 --> 0:18:16.720 her tell me that. But Mickey say he died from 0:18:16.880 --> 0:18:20.200 her hair on overdose. Then my mom broke the whole 0:18:20.600 --> 0:18:23.879 story down to me because I had no clue that 0:18:24.600 --> 0:18:26.919 me and Mickey was even the same age. My Grandmo 0:18:27.040 --> 0:18:31.560 T told me when I was uh six, that Mickey 0:18:31.680 --> 0:18:35.439 was three, but Mickey was six right with me. So, um, 0:18:36.600 --> 0:18:39.960 my mom met who I called my daddy because this 0:18:40.119 --> 0:18:41.840 man when she met him, he didn't have any kids, 0:18:41.880 --> 0:18:45.120 and then they had my sister, dr Ashley. But from 0:18:45.280 --> 0:18:51.520 day one, he really really loved me as his own 0:18:52.760 --> 0:18:56.760 and and and treated me like I was a part 0:18:56.880 --> 0:19:00.600 of what him and my mother was building. He was 0:19:00.680 --> 0:19:03.840 a good dude. He was a real, real, real good dude, 0:19:04.440 --> 0:19:07.960 and he dedicated his life to us. So you and 0:19:08.080 --> 0:19:13.159 Mickey have the same biological dad dad, Me and doctor 0:19:13.359 --> 0:19:18.200 Ashley have the same mom. Okay, but you the whole 0:19:18.359 --> 0:19:21.120 time you thought that you and Micky had the same 0:19:21.240 --> 0:19:26.280 mom and No. I always knew that I had a 0:19:26.359 --> 0:19:29.800 half sister. I just didn't know how many years older 0:19:29.880 --> 0:19:33.639 than her I was. And I didn't know much about 0:19:33.800 --> 0:19:36.480 her because they were just saying, oh, you know you 0:19:36.600 --> 0:19:41.520 have a sister because I was later in life. So 0:19:43.200 --> 0:19:48.480 in like about two weeks before my mom died, someone 0:19:48.600 --> 0:19:52.440 ranged my doorbell. My mom said, go open the door 0:19:52.520 --> 0:19:55.440 for your sister. So I was like, she got a key, 0:19:56.600 --> 0:19:58.920 and someone was like, go open the door. But when 0:19:58.960 --> 0:20:01.480 I looked on I came. I saw these two people 0:20:01.520 --> 0:20:03.520 standing at the door, and I was like, that's not Ashley. 0:20:03.960 --> 0:20:09.280 When I opened the door, I saw my face. I 0:20:09.440 --> 0:20:12.960 was like, all my life and my family they would 0:20:12.960 --> 0:20:14.480 say me, and you don't look nothing like your mama. 0:20:14.520 --> 0:20:16.720 Who you look like? You know? So I saw my 0:20:16.880 --> 0:20:19.359 face and so she was like, Hi, I'm Mickey. I 0:20:19.480 --> 0:20:22.600 knew I had a sister named Mickey. So instantly that 0:20:22.760 --> 0:20:25.879 connection was like on point. But I think before my 0:20:26.080 --> 0:20:29.879 mom died, she wanted me to know my sister and 0:20:30.080 --> 0:20:34.160 know my blood in Dallas, because I really didn't know them. 0:20:34.640 --> 0:20:40.200 So my mom actually put us together. And um, I 0:20:40.280 --> 0:20:43.080 mean me and Mickey we've been We've been tight ever since, 0:20:43.240 --> 0:20:46.040 and I'm grateful my mom. Did Dad, did your mom 0:20:46.160 --> 0:20:49.719 ever have any hangups about Mickey or with Mickey? I mean, 0:20:49.720 --> 0:20:51.760 I'm sure she had to hang up with your dad, 0:20:52.480 --> 0:20:57.440 but uh, because he stepped out right to have her right. Okay, 0:20:57.560 --> 0:21:03.359 So did she ever resent Mickey? Because never matter is 0:21:03.400 --> 0:21:06.000 the fact. She was always telling me when I was 0:21:06.040 --> 0:21:08.880 a little girl, or you have a sister, because being 0:21:08.920 --> 0:21:12.040 the only child, Um, when my cousins would go home, 0:21:12.119 --> 0:21:14.520 I would be lonely and I would always wish I 0:21:14.600 --> 0:21:16.720 had a brother or sister to be in the house 0:21:16.760 --> 0:21:18.080 and play with me. And she would said, well, you 0:21:18.200 --> 0:21:21.280 have a sister, but she lives in Dallas. She never 0:21:21.400 --> 0:21:26.840 felt anyway from what I could see, towards Mickey or 0:21:27.000 --> 0:21:30.520 her mom, because that was a choice that my dad made, 0:21:31.119 --> 0:21:36.679 you know. So uh, there was never any any animal 0:21:36.760 --> 0:21:38.240 city that I could see because she's the one that 0:21:38.320 --> 0:21:41.040 put us together. Me and Mick wouldn't even be the 0:21:41.119 --> 0:21:43.959 way we are now had my mom not found her 0:21:44.480 --> 0:21:47.320 reached out and said, hey, when you come to New Orleans, 0:21:47.400 --> 0:21:53.080 you need to see me. Yeah. She was a special, 0:21:53.200 --> 0:21:56.960 special special uh you know. And I'm not saying that 0:21:57.000 --> 0:21:59.280 because she's my mama, because she's going just as a 0:21:59.400 --> 0:22:04.840 human being. She was a one and m I found 0:22:04.920 --> 0:22:08.560 out a lot of things, like why we ended up 0:22:08.680 --> 0:22:12.160 coming back to my grandmother's house. That was very devastating 0:22:12.280 --> 0:22:16.480 to my mom, what happened with my dad stepping out 0:22:16.640 --> 0:22:19.720 like that because he was really like her first boyfriend. 0:22:20.760 --> 0:22:24.320 And Um, I found out that her blood pressure was 0:22:24.400 --> 0:22:29.160 so high she had a nervous breakdown when she gave 0:22:29.320 --> 0:22:31.720 birth to me. She had to stay in the hospital 0:22:31.800 --> 0:22:36.080 for two weeks, and I came home with my grandparents. Um, 0:22:36.640 --> 0:22:38.720 they heard a lot of that from me. Until I 0:22:38.880 --> 0:22:42.600 was grown. I never knew how it had affected her, 0:22:42.920 --> 0:22:45.400 you know, And it affected her to the point where 0:22:45.400 --> 0:22:47.720 I remember she used to always say, I don't want 0:22:47.760 --> 0:22:51.159 any more children. But then she met my daddy and 0:22:51.280 --> 0:22:53.840 they got married and they had my sister, you know, 0:22:54.080 --> 0:22:59.520 So yeah, it was rough for her. I can imagine, 0:23:00.680 --> 0:23:03.639 you know, how was it for you and died, And 0:23:03.720 --> 0:23:06.920 did it have any effect on your choice of men 0:23:07.160 --> 0:23:13.240 and how you viewed men in terms of fidelity? You 0:23:13.359 --> 0:23:18.440 know what affects me now because as a child, I 0:23:18.440 --> 0:23:20.399 didn't really know much about it. You know, it was 0:23:20.520 --> 0:23:22.560 it was one of those secrets they kept from me 0:23:22.640 --> 0:23:25.280 until I grew up. But when I found out everything 0:23:25.400 --> 0:23:29.359 and I was able to process things, it made a 0:23:29.520 --> 0:23:37.360 lot of fence. Now as far as um men stepping out, 0:23:40.119 --> 0:23:44.880 I think I chose older men. Oh um, quite naturally 0:23:46.160 --> 0:23:49.879 they would step out, but I wouldn't know. Um. And 0:23:49.920 --> 0:23:52.680 then I thought you were gonna say that quite naturally 0:23:52.800 --> 0:23:55.320 they probably got it behind them already, because most a 0:23:55.359 --> 0:23:57.440 lot of times women say they choose older men because 0:23:57.480 --> 0:24:02.240 they got all the horn behind him. Well, that wasn't 0:24:02.320 --> 0:24:04.760 the case for me because I was a young girl 0:24:05.520 --> 0:24:07.960 and guys were older, but they wasn't older in a 0:24:08.119 --> 0:24:11.359 sense where that maturity kicks in. They were still in 0:24:11.440 --> 0:24:15.239 that playful stage, but they were older than me. Um. 0:24:16.680 --> 0:24:18.600 My grandmother used to say, well, you know, if you 0:24:18.680 --> 0:24:20.840 get them while creep and expect to lose them to 0:24:20.920 --> 0:24:25.960 a creeper. So it made me not want um the 0:24:26.119 --> 0:24:29.879 next girl's man. While she had her man. But at 0:24:29.920 --> 0:24:36.120 the same time, um, the experience that I found out 0:24:36.160 --> 0:24:39.080 my mom went through in processing that and then being 0:24:39.160 --> 0:24:42.560 a rap artist and traveling with guys I got a 0:24:42.680 --> 0:24:45.520 chance to see my grandma used to say, a man 0:24:45.640 --> 0:24:48.000 to bring his dick many places, but he can keep 0:24:48.040 --> 0:24:52.439 his heart and on at one. So I started to process, like, Okay, 0:24:52.560 --> 0:24:56.760 some guys are just frisky and they are playing you know. Yeah, 0:24:56.880 --> 0:24:59.840 they're frisky, and they'd be all over the place, and 0:25:00.160 --> 0:25:04.520 you have to find your comfort in your relationship because 0:25:04.560 --> 0:25:08.720 I've had guys step out, and sometimes that was deal 0:25:08.800 --> 0:25:12.680 breakers and sometimes it wasn't you know, Like for instance, 0:25:14.160 --> 0:25:17.840 when I was sick, I knew that physically I wasn't 0:25:17.920 --> 0:25:22.520 in a position to uh be with the man in 0:25:22.600 --> 0:25:25.960 a way that he you know, intimately, And so I 0:25:26.080 --> 0:25:30.800 had to process that if you're with someone, they might 0:25:30.920 --> 0:25:35.480 step out during this battle, but it's gonna come down 0:25:35.600 --> 0:25:39.440 to how much they are there for me, because yeah, 0:25:39.640 --> 0:25:43.040 because it dick ship really ain't. That's not a big 0:25:43.119 --> 0:25:49.040 old thing with me more than that honesty and that communication. So, UM, 0:25:50.200 --> 0:25:53.080 I'm probably one of the girls that's a little different. Um. 0:25:54.359 --> 0:25:57.040 When we talk about the situation, if it's stepping out, 0:25:57.280 --> 0:25:59.639 and if it's some things I can understand and he 0:25:59.680 --> 0:26:03.320 can understand, it's not necessarily a deal breakup. You know, 0:26:03.680 --> 0:26:06.000 my grandmother always tell me you gotta be clear on 0:26:06.119 --> 0:26:10.600 your hell yeah and your nose. So who was your 0:26:10.640 --> 0:26:18.160 grandmother name? Her name was viola big name, mama, dear 0:26:18.600 --> 0:26:22.040 birtha understand or something. Yeah. So I don't usually step 0:26:22.119 --> 0:26:24.280 in and tell people like how to run their relationship 0:26:24.359 --> 0:26:26.000 if your man is doing this or if your woman 0:26:26.119 --> 0:26:28.119 is doing that, but I do say you gotta be 0:26:28.240 --> 0:26:31.520 clear on your hell yeah and your fun nose. You 0:26:31.640 --> 0:26:45.320 know you spoke about being the only woman I on 0:26:45.480 --> 0:26:49.480 tour with a bunch of guys. How was that just 0:26:49.640 --> 0:26:52.840 being around that whole No Limit family? You being the 0:26:52.920 --> 0:26:57.960 first lady of No Limit? You know, that was a 0:26:58.040 --> 0:27:03.000 great experience. Um, it was a blessing that I was 0:27:03.119 --> 0:27:07.800 around a lot of guys that love their mama's, love 0:27:07.920 --> 0:27:11.320 their sisters, loved the women and their families. They were 0:27:11.440 --> 0:27:17.720 always protective and always respectful. And I gained brothers. Some 0:27:17.920 --> 0:27:20.600