We Talked to MoBo The Great After She Sold a Pair of Ray Bans to Attend Jay Z’s Concert Even Though She’d Already Performed at a Jay Z Concert

Four years ago, MoBo The Great (aka Monique Burrell) took the stage during Jay Z’s Blueprint 3 tour at the United Center in Chicago. No, we’re not kidding. She was 16 years old, and she killed it. Would you flip the fuck out if Jay Z humbly invited you to share the stage with him and start rapping? Yes. Did she? Not at all. MoBo kept her cool and after the show, she started pursuing music seriously, as most people would after being asked by Jay Z to rap at his show.

Flash forward to this past Thursday when Jay Z’s Magna Carta Holy Grail tour made a stop at the United Center. MoBo sold a pair of Ray Bans to get a ticket into the arena, holding a sign that read “I was 16 when I rapped on stage with you. Now I’m 19 and ready.” Jay kept the tradition going, and MoBo rapped in front of a packed arena—which you can watch above.

I reached out to MoBo via email over the weekend to talk about her most recent video for “Fuck The Public,” the story behind getting on stage with Jay Z, and what her career’s been like thus far. And we decided to premiere a new track of hers, too, called “Get The Money” produced by DJ L.

Noisey: I just watched your video for “Fuck The Public.” Is that a good introduction to what you have going on?
MoBo: “Fuck The Public” is definitely a good introduction to what I have going on because it symbolizes bravery. We live in a society where double standards rule all. As a female rap artist, i’m expected to be either over sexual or have bumblegum raps and if i don’t, I’m expected to be gay. I think Fuck The Public is a great introduction because it’s saying, “Hey. I am who I am and i’m happy being that. And if you try to put labels on me, Fuck you.”

How did you get started with rap?
I was always a great writer. I would always write songs for others as well as myself. I didn’t want to become a “rapper” until i heard College Dropout. I’m the BIGGEST Kanye fan. He’s my idol. I’ve been writing since fourth grade. I didn’t start recording music until after I got on stage with Jay at BP3 tour for the first time becauseI didn’t have access to a studio. So really I guess you could say I’ve been pursuing this seriously for about five years now.

I know you performed with Jay at 16—and then again yesterday. In short, how did that come together the first time, and again yesterday?
The first time he asked me if I wanted him to sign my hat and of course I said, yes. I then asked for a hug and he told me to come on stage and get one. After I hugged him, I told him I wanted to be a rapper and he said, “Oh word? spit some shit then. Don’t take my whole show though.” I rapped and that was that. Last night at Magna Carta, I had a sign that read, “I was 16 when I rapped on stage with you. Now I’m 19 and ready.” He read it and said, “Let’s keep it going” and the rest was history.

You said you started recording after getting on stage at BP3. Did people start asking you to come record with them after the first appearance?
After I rapped the first time at BP3, I did start having access to a studio. No one really jumped on my bandwagon that time like they’re doing now. It was more of a “Damn. You did it. Bet you can’t do it again.” I was actually talking to another Chicago artist by the name of St. Millie the other day and I said, “I don’t understand why people are acting like i’ve never done this before. Why is it taking off like this and it didn’t the first time.” and he said, “You have to keep in mind social media has expanded tremendously over these past couple years.” So all the bandwagoners I should’ve received then, I’m definitely receiving now but it’s all love. I understand the business and how everything works so there’s never any hard feelings.

In the past year or two, Chicago has been churning out artists. There’s drill, there’s bop, and there’s a ton of women like Sasha Go Hard, Katie Got Bandz, Tink, Dreezy, making waves. Where do you fit into the scene?
I don’t. No diss to the other Chicagoans females because I fuck with it. Katie’s “Pop Out” is my shit. Tink has a buzz going on right now and Dreezy is like Meek to me. I respect them all but honestly, i don’t fit into their category. There’s no other Chicago female who sounds like me right now. I’m like the female Chance at this point [Laughs],which i hope doesn’t get completely taken out of context.

Define “the female Chance.” He’s definitely seen so much success with Acid Rap this year.
The way the Chicago music scene is set up, it’s VERY divided. you’re either one the A side or the B side. The A side would be artists like Sosa, Louie, Durk, Katie, all your drill heavy music right? Then your B side would be more ‘conscious’ artists such as Chance, Arjaye Jeter, Vic, Myself, Kembe X, Wiley etc. I don’t wanna call us hipsters because we aren’t that but for the lack of a better word, sure. When I say I’m like the female Chance, obviously I’m not Chance but when you think of Chicago, the first thing you think about is Chiraq and the fuckery that comes with that so when I’m comparing myself to another artist in my city, I’m gonna say Chance not because I sound like him but because we have that same consciousness in our music and with everything that’s going on with me right now in the media, for me, 2014 is looking exactly how 2013 was looking in the city for Chance.

For those who aren’t familiar with your music—can you talk about some of the projects you’ve released?
For sure. I have a forthcoming tape entitled, Fuck The Public that I’ll be releasing soon. It has features from other amazing Chicago artists such as the beautiful Lili K and Village’s Kembe X as well as others. I released the official video to Fuck The Public on new years so that’s still in high circulation and we’re gonna keep pushing that as much as we can.

Who are some of your musical inspirations right now?
I’m very old school, believe it or not, for me to be so young. Jay and ‘Ye are my boys so i always ride with them when it comes to inspiration. Common, Big Sean, the Pharcyde, Tribe.. those are my influences. Freshmen acts like Chance, Sza and Louie are also great influences. Overrall, I’m a big fan of the new takeover my city is doing and Chicago is what inspires me above all right now because we’re so powerful. The way we’re coming out one by one. We’re like an army and we’re definitely gonna show the world we aren’t stopping any time soon.

You brought up the expectations that women who rap face. Do you think there is anyone aiming to change the perception of rappers who are female?
I’m definitely aiming to change the perception of rappers who are female. As i said before, because we are women in a male dominated industry, we have to dress like Lil Kim or Foxy Brown. Look at Nicki Minaj. I love her and i respect her but she’s sexual and credit, she’s grown as hell so she can do that. However, I’m a 19 year old female from Kankakee, IL. I’m still somewhat of a kid. What’s going to set me apart is that I go against these norms. You won’t catch me on stage performing in 6 inch heels. You’re gonna catch me on stage performing in some swag ass Nikes. You don’t have to be naked to get your point across. You don’t have to have bubblegum raps to get your point across. You don’t have to fuck to get your point across. All you have to do is believe in the God, yourself, the law of attraction and work your ass off. I live by the words Jay once said, “Don’t listen to anyone because everyone is scared.”

And you also mentioned that people assume you are gay.
Yeah definitely. because of the way I dress, the sound of my voice and the fact that I actually have bars, it can and does easily get misconstrued that I’m gay, which i’m not. People are scared to be themselves. People are scared to dress how they wanna dress for that simple reason. They don’t want to be made fun of or talked about. That’s the work of America and it’s sexist views which is why i love how Jay and Beyonce are fighting [against that sexism]. I have nothing against gay people. Lately, i’ve been finding that a lot of my fans are gay and that’s perfectly fine. I support gay rights. It’s just not fair that there’s automatically a label placed not only me but on others who don’t follow the norms of what society says is right. That’s where “Fuck The Public” came from.

What’s your next move, in terms of your career?
My next move in terms of my career is to stay consistent. I’ll be releasing new music in these upcoming weeks in honor of my forthcoming tape, Fuck The Public. On the bigger scale, i’ve been hearing talks of a possible bidding war so i hope to start capitalizing on this amazing opportunity and solidifying my place in this industry. A couple labels are interested but I won’t be signing anything until I have the conversation with who I need to have it with.

Lauren Nostro has never performed on stage with Jay Z. She’s on Twitter – @LAURENcynthia