If you’re familiar with Rapsody’s music, you know she is going to give you real.
The 41-year-old North Carolina born emcee has always been truthful in her music dating back to her 2012 debut album, The Idea of Beautiful, but this time around the Jamla and Roc Nation artist says she is going to give fans a whole nother truth….this time about herself.
“My last album was Eve. It came out in 2019, so 4 1/2 years ago roughly” she told VIBE Magazine. “Every album before was really me, I think, trying to prove to myself that I was worthy, trying to gain the respect that I knew I deserved as an artist. I was shining the light on the world and everything else.”
“The difference between all of those and this one is it’s the exact opposite, where I take the light and shine it on myself. It was me unlearning a lot of things, relearning, reintroducing myself to me, getting to know myself, getting back to the core of who I was, and I wasn’t afraid to share with the world,” she added.
“It’s one thing to be who you are in the comfort and safety of your home, but to really allow yourself to be free to the world is one thing,” the Laila’s Wisdom artist proclaimed. “And really just sharing what a part of my life looked like or what it was like with my family or what I’m… It was really… I just wanted to be human, and my goal was I wanted to connect with people by allowing them to see themselves in me. So I had to stand in the light and allow myself to be seen.”
One of the early favorites on the album that has generated a lot of buzz is the Erykah Badu collaboration, “3:AM”, a song Rapsody says she particularly enjoys because she got a new appreciation for the artistic process from Badu while putting it together.
“That’s the one record I have enjoyed the most because it was a process, and getting to know her more and building a deeper friendship. She’s such a beautiful human being,” Rapsody beamed. “You know the talent is in this style icon. She FaceTimed me the first time and she didn’t even say hello. She was in bed and she had a microphone and she was just humming melodies, and it was so dope to see her process. And we were speaking the other day and I told her, ‘I appreciate your process. You taught me how to slow down.’”
“She taught me, just in that one song and interacting the way we did, that art can’t be rushed; you take your time and really get what you want to say and how you want to say and live with it,” Rap says of Badu. “So that was a beautiful experience. She really elevated that record.”
In addition to Badu, Rapsody also collaborated with a number of other notable artists including Alex Isley, Baby Tate, Bibi Bourelly, Lil Wayne, and even legendary actress and artist Phylicia Rashad shows up on three tracks.
Please Don’t Cry was released on Friday, May 17 and is available now on all digital streaming platforms.
Check out the album trailer below.
