Kehlani and Chance the Rapper are respectively prepping for upcoming studio efforts. While Chance took to BBC Radio 1Xtra, to reiterate that Coloring Book was a retail mixtape, Kehlani has already revealed her studio album will be named SWEETSEXYSAVAGE. The two collaborated on Kehlani’s “The Way,” and while appearing on The Norté Show, Kehlani detailed how she and Chance linked up for the standout single from her 2015 mixtape, You Should Be Here.
"I was sure that my mixtape was done, and then I went to the studio and Jahaan played me this beat,” Kehlani said. “I was like, ‘Why you didn’t play this for me weeks ago? We have to kill this right now.’ Me and Chance have been friends, and I knew it was time for us to put something together. I sent it to him to get an opinion, and he was like, ‘Let me just get that verse.’ I said, ‘Amen, because secretly that’s what I was trying to do in the first place.’”
Kehlani also talked with host Manny Norté about the influence of Lauryn Hill. A tattoo of Lauryn Hill can be found on her left arm, and the Oakland songstress explained how Hill’s music was so influential despite Kehlani being roughly four years old when The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill was released in 1998.
“How I connected with music when I was little was how my mom connected with music,” Kehlani said. “[It was] when she was going through it what she was listening to…when she was upset, what she was listening to. She would play a lot of India Arie to implement loving myself into me. For a lot of people my age, we weren’t adults to comprehend it when it came out. But it was fed to us. We’re growing up with it, and we still listen to it everyday.”
Kehlani and Nas joined Lauryn Hill’s “Diaspora Calling!” tour earlier this fall. She wrapped up the interview by talking about how her music is self-therapy and compared growing up in the public eye to living in a fishbowl. The theme of self-care was reinforced, as Kehlani said it was her job to check on the proverbial fishbowl and not let negative internet comments and tweets distract her.
The full interview, which also touches on Kehlani using Harley Quinn and Joker's relationship as a template for "CRZY" and her desire to someday do cartoon voice over acting will be archived on the Capital Xtra page in the near future.
