Da Brat recently spoke with friend and YouTube host Kandi Burruss about her historic hip-hop career and her recent story of coming out.
During a nearly one-hour interview on “Kandi Online,” Da Brat told Burruss that she had kept her personal life private for years because she didn’t think it was relevant. She once dated former Philadelphia 76ers star Allen Iverson, she said, but she decided not to make the relationship public. Her recent revelation about her relationship with entrepreneur and social media star Jesseca Dupart is the first time she has been open about her orientation and dating life.
In reflecting on her relationship with Iverson, Da Brat, whose real name is Shawntae Harris, recalled taking a trip to Japan with the 11-time NBA All-Star and having an on-again, off-again relationship. While dating the NBA star, she said she cooked for him and ironed his clothes.
“I was like, ‘This is it!’ But then I think you know, basketball players? (expletive),” she said. “He had a baby mama, some kids. He had a lot of stuff going on.”
The relationship lasted for a while, according to Da Brat, but she said it ended when a “half-naked” woman arrived at a hotel looking for Iverson while they were together.
When she began dating Iverson, the Chicago native had already reached a milestone in her career, becoming the first female solo rapper to go platinum with her album “Funkdafied.” She would collaborate with several other musical stars including Mariah Carey, Bow Wow and Missy Elliott. Her meteoric rise halted when she was convicted of aggravated assault after striking a woman with a bottle. She served time in prison but was released in February 2011.
After Da Brat’s release, Burruss, who befriended Da Brat when they both were artists on the So So Def label, advised the Grammy Award-nominated writer and lyricist to reveal more about her personal life, including that she dates women. At the time, she opted to continue keeping her dating life private.
Earlier this year, Dupart told Da Brat that she wanted to go public with their relationship.
“What do you do when you fall in love with someone that’s living life out loud?"
She told Burruss in the interview that she agreed to allow her girlfriend to post a photo of them, marking Da Brat’s coming out after 25 years in the industry. The co-host on the nationally-syndicated “Rickey Smiley Morning Show” confirmed the relationship in a June issue of Variety.
“I felt like I absolutely wanted to, because she was worth it,” Da Brat said in the interview. “I got nothing but good responses...It was like a weight lifted.”
Because she spoke about relationships with men and women in the “Kandi Online" interview, Burruss asked how the rapper would like to be identified. She said she did not mind being called bisexual because that was an “old term.” As far as other labeling, such as stud or femme, she said she did not want those identities attached to her. Because Da Brat has been known to wear makeup and also don oversized clothes that might be associated with masculinity, some of her fans had been referring to her as a stemme, a term in the LGBTQIA community that refers to a woman who dates women and exhibits attributes that are feminine and masculine.
“What the (expletive) is a stemme?” she asked. “No, I’m sorry. I’m not either one of those. It’s so many titles, I’m not that. A stem is something that comes out of a rose or a tree branch. I’m not a stem, I’m just Brat.”
Several fans were gushing over the details revealed in the interview.
For more of Da Brat’s interview, visit the Kandi Online YouTube channel here.
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