By 2005, she signed with rapping producer/then-boyfriend Ryan Leslie’s Next Selection Entertainment, crafting her breakout record “Me & U,” a one-way ticket to rapping producer/now-boyfriend Diddy’s Bad Boy Records. Headlines penned her fictional diary with a rumored love triangle between her, Puff and R. Les, multiple pregnancies, boob job and—worst of all—lack of talent, especially following a less-than-stellar performance on BET’s 106 & Park. But the bad press was still good press as her 2006 self-titled debut cracked the top five upon release on the Ashanti- and Ciara-crowded Billboard charts. Cassie sat comfortably in the top 20 for two weeks, going on to sell 321,000 copies in the U.S.
Then the seven-year musical sabbatical happened. While the songstress-in-search-of-a-sound pushed out singles like 2008’s “Official Girl” featuring Lil Wayne and the Diddy-assisted “Must Be Love” in 2009, Cassie’s career was beginning to stack more lukewarm comebacks than Ma$e.
And then she cut her hair.
“Sometimes in life, you need a change … Something deeper than what you thought you were capable of,” she wrote on a three-year-old Twitter in April 2009. “Something that displays the ‘I don’t give a f—’ attitude that was always present, but never showcased, something that will shock your mother, but make her call you a ROCK STAR.”
There in her balding glory was a half-shaven head that would soon be jocked by musicians from Miley Cyrus to dance music DJ Skrillex. While the hit record was still missing, Cassie’s new image would go on to rival that of a notable Bajan hell-raiser and produce the successful New Jack City-inspired RockaByeBaby mixtape three years later, but ultimately mark the second coming of a good girl gone bad… for the better.
VIBE Vixen: There’s a level of confidence that’s so evident in the way you present yourself these days. You aren’t hesitant to talk that shit on RockaByeBaby. What caused the transformation?
Cassie: Most of the things that have happened to me have been very organic. The first thing that I actually put out was the “All Gold, All Girls (Remix)” with Trina and Lola Monroe. That was where the sound kind of started. The first song I recorded for the actual mixtape was “Numb” and then I added Rick Ross to it. It was a vibe that I was creating and the story came to be from the attitude of the songs. Like you said, I was talking a lot of shit. I was really putting myself out there but I love the fact that I finally got the chance to do something with the attitude that I have. You hold back to a certain extent when everybody is saying, “This needs to go to a chart and that’s the only way it can be successful.” But no, you can be successful by making music that people love. We got over 2 million downloads on this mixtape that I never ever imagined at all.
A lot of folks are saying that you signed with Drake’s OVO Sounds label. Is that true?
I honestly don’t know where that came from but I had heard about it. I went to the OVO Festival in Canada, which was really dope, but no, I’m currently signed to Bad Boy and Interscope. Drake and I talked at the festival about working together, so hopefully that comes into fruition.
How do you stand your ground as a woman in a male-dominated industry?
As a woman in the industry, there are so many things you’re up against. If you’re pretty, you’re too pretty. If you’re talented, you’re too talented to the point where people don’t want to listen to your music. And I’m not talking about Beyoncé, who is way up there. I’m just talking about people who are making the music that they love. It’s a confidence thing. It doesn’t matter what you bring out as long as you believe in it and back it up. That’s something that took time to learn. I would second guess myself a lot.
The first time I stepped out of the zone of standing behind somebody and being worried about giving my opinion was when I did “The Boys” video with Nicki Minaj. It was a trying experience, putting looks together with my team and being very, very involved and saying, “No, I’m not wearing that. This is not happening. This is how I want my hair and make-up.” That was the first time I really stood my ground and when everyone looked up, it was like “Girl, you really killed it.” It’s knowing what I want, being aware and sure of it. And not being phased by all the other bull that goes down.
There’s a saying, “You are the company that you keep” and you’ve been linked to super-talented musicians/businessmen.
What’s the key to maintaining a relationship when both parties have established careers?
The key to maintaining any relationship—be it a romantic relationship or a friendship—is honesty and communication. I travel so much, host parties and I just signed a new deal with Skam Artist, who predominantly DJs in the same bookings that they do at different parties. It’s New York, Chicago, Vegas so I’m constantly going.
So you’re going to start mastering the turntables now?
I hope it gets to that. I’ve been slowly but surely learning how to DJ. I’m really interested in learning how to do the turntables and I really want to do both dance and hip-hop. Dance is easier actually to mix when you’re DJing, but old school hip-hop and finding the real beat in there is way more difficult.
What about the ballads?
We definitely have ballads. I love slower records, like a good Sade record. Solange is putting out a new project that’s coming out really soon that I actually just worked on. She did a compilation of some of her favorite artists out right now and we did a really dope record together which I’m excited about. I think her deadline was like two weeks ago to finish everything, so it’s coming out really soon.
And you’re both singing on it together?
She’s in the background. What she did with each artist was let them just rock on a song. She produced. She actually played everything on the song she did with me. She’s so talented yet such a cool person, down to earth. We had such a great time working together. We worked together on like five songs a minute ago. She hit me back up and was like, ‘I love the mixtape. I would really love to get in with you,’ so we went for it.
Can’t wait to hear it. Now, let’s imagine many years from now, there’s a portrait of you in a museum. What would the piece look like?
If there was a piece of art in a museum of me, it would be no make-up, no hair. A bare portrait.
Would you have a happy expression?
[Pauses] Maybe a Mona Lisa smile. Actually no, I’d show teeth… I’ll give teeth.
Kim Atwater
Gorgeous! She is absolutely gorgeous!