"Although I didn't write this song, it spoke to me in a way that made me feel as if it was my own story,” Brandon said. “I found myself playing it over and over again in my bedroom, remembering situations that I've been through.”
Check out the video for yourself below.
office had the chance to catch up with Rotana just in time for the debut of her EP In Her Life, a sensuous mixture of lyric and body that surges with energy. Positioned before a rich royal blue tapestry, the artist gifts the viewer with an immersive experience of her life that is as erotic as it is poetic.
What do you think the correlation is between lyric and body? How did this relationship inform your movement in this video?
I was really just moving to a feeling of being free and doing things for myself. Personally when I do that, very sensual relationship is created between body and lyric, one that reflects the relationship I have with myself and the way I interact with the world around me. That’s what this video captures, a very slow, intentional movement. I take my time, and really that’s what the words are talking about. You can barely hear it but the song is in the background, it’s an Arabic song about a girl waking up and listening to the roosters crow, and there’s this theme of really just taking your time when your doing something for yourself.
What type of influence does your gender have on the work you produce?
I mean it has all the influence; I write everything I write from a very personal perspective and my perspective is that of a woman. It’s all I’ve ever been, so it’s really everything. And also that piece is a very personal anecdote of my experience as a Saudi woman because it really took me twenty years to realize that anything I wanted was there for me to grab. To realize that everything that I did could be for my own pleasure, and my own enjoyment, and it didn’t need to be served to God, or men, in order for it to be worthy or sensible. I think that’s a very unique anecdote of my experience growing up in Saudi Arabia, but I don’t think that there is a woman on this planet that doesn’t have that moment. Some people have it when they’re six years old and some people have it when they’re seventy. I’m just trying to put out content that is going to help women to come to that realization sooner. My sister had that realization for herself when I started pursuing my music because she saw me do it. So I just want to do my thing so people can be like ‘oh shit, everything is there for me to grab!’ because no one told me.
Describe the power of performing under your first name.
To me I never even thought of not using my name, especially when decided to pursue the pop-music industry, which is so saturated yet there isn’t even a single female Arab presence in it. I’m guessing there are some Arab artists, but they were born and raised here in the United States. It was really important for me that I took my language with me. Rotana is a type of date in the Western province of Saudi Arabia and it comes from where the prophet lives, so there is kind of this cultural and religious meaning to it. I hold on to my religion and culture out of love and respect. I don’t follow it strictly or in any extremist way, but I want to insert that culture, that beauty, into the west because I think that there are very few voices that are using our language in a dynamic way. So it was never really an option not to use my name, and it sounds good, one word.
In interviews, J.T. and Yung Miami (real name Caresha) punctuate declarative statements with a spoken “PERIOD,” a tagline the girls say has naturally become part of their personal vernacular. Period also happens to be the name of City Girls' debut album, a fitting title for the assertive collection of outspoken statement songs. On the high-octane title track, the girls introduce themselves over an infectious drumline—“City girls from 305 / Ghetto booty, pretty face, thick thighs / Period!” Album standout “Millionaire Dick,” on the other hand, is a ticking, percussive advice column advocating that you seek out 14 carat cunnilingus, and settle for nothing less. “Ain’t no dick like millionaire dick / y’all bitches just scared, ain’t tryna get rich.”
"Period" is not an intentional allusion to menstrual cycles—the girls aren’t really the type to actively encode deeper feminist messages into their work—but it almost is. Whereas recent sex-positive female rappers like Cupcakke make an overt effort to assert their sexuality by miming deep-throating on stage or moaning through hooks, for example, City Girls are more nonchalant, as if spitting about spitting on the dick is the most natural thing to do. Duh.
J.T. and Yung Miami fully embody the spirit of their Florida hometown, but their ambitions target a vastly wider reach, which, judging by the assuredness with which they describe their plans to me, is well within their grasp. In a post-Khia world where females rapping about sex isn’t so shocking anymore, City Girls sit snugly at the point where filthy flow and saccharine marketability meet.
It's exciting to watch City Girls gun for the throne, but on J.T. and Yung Miami’s terms, they're already sitting pretty.
What do you think about the current state of female rap? There are so many female rappers right now—all of the “Dolls” and more.
JT—I don’t know. Everybody has their own sound, honestly. I don’t really think of people at all like that. I like them, but I don’t think about it that much.
How are City Girls contributing something new to female rap? Why is your work important?
JT—I’m guessing it’s because we’re a group, and we have different types of beats. And we’re from Miami. We’re bolder than most, I would say. We just unapologetically talk.
What is the process like in the studio? Do you toss ideas back and forth? Come in with an idea beforehand? How does that dynamic work?
JT—It’s more so I do my part, Yung Miami does her part.
Yung Miami—I’d say it’s more of a back-and-forth thing. We go back-and-forth a lot. We probably have a topic before going into the studio, an idea of what we want to talk about. And then we go back-and-forth.
What song from Period would you say goes over best with crowds?
YM—“Tighten Up,” “I’ll Take Your Man,” “Where Da Bag At.” All the songs, really. The crowd reacts good to the whole mixtape. The other night we performed “Not Ya Main,” and the crowd went crazy. Honestly the whole mixtape.
What's your favorite song to perform?
YM—“I’ll Take Your Man.”
Tell me what it’s like being on Quality Control. How did that happen, and how have the past few months been? You guys seemed to have blown up only within the past six months or so.
YM—Our manager knew Coach K, and he had reached out to us wanting to meet with us. Then we met with Coach in Miami at this studio called Circle House. He was just telling us that he had been watching what we were doing, that he loved us and loved our energy, he loved what we rapped about, he loved that we come from the hood, he loved our personality. And then he wanted to sign us. We started off in August, and then in November they signed us. We got signed on November 30.
I would say being on Quality Control is, like, fun. We love the Migos, we love Lil Yachty, we love Lil Baby. Every time we see them, they talk to us and give us advice. We can call Lil Baby, and he’ll help out in the studio with any issues. It’s fun.
So it’s more like a family thing.
Yeah, it’s definitely a family thing. They’re our brothers.
Do you have any thoughts on the recent death of XXXTentacion? It’s definitely controversial, but he was still a huge up-and-coming force in rap nonetheless.
YM—I find it sad being that he was from South Florida and he got shot. He wanted everybody to be on the map, he was doing charity events and doing positive stuff. He wanted everybody to be peaceful. He was like Tupac in a way. So for him to get killed, it was just sad. He was 20 years old. It made me feel more conscious of my surroundings, and it just made me want to move differently, being an upcoming artist. People on the outside think you’re so famous and that you got all this money, and they’re so envious that they want to take it from you.
There’s a huge discussion about his past and his abusive relationship with his girlfriend. It brings up this argument of, can you separate the artist from the music?
YM—We don’t know what they went through in their personal life or their relationship, and it has nothing to do with his music. If I had a boyfriend and I was getting abused, you know, my relationship doesn’t have anything to do with my music. That’s something that the media will use to take away from his talent. I personally don’t feel like his relationship with his girlfriend should affect his music or his legacy. Everybody has a past, and everybody has been through stuff, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that he was a great artist.
Do you think that you fit within the Miami music scene, or is what you’re doing bigger than that?
YM—I think it’s both. We definitely have a Miami sound, the way we talk is very Miami. The things we rap about, people compare it to Trina, but we’re trying to go bigger than that, not just go with the “Miami sound.” It’s more of both.
Recently there’s been an influx of Soundcloud rappers making it big. It feels like every week there’s a new Soundcloud rapper with a Billboard hit. Do you think it’s easier for male up-and-coming rappers to “make it” than it is for young female rappers?
YM—Mmm, I don’t know. I really don’t know.
JT—Yes, I do. Of course. Boys kind of got it easier with music. Girls lately have been doing really good, but it’s still male-dominated. We do good, but we’re also surrounded by powerful men, you know? It’s hard to be a female rapper coming up on your own nowadays. Boys will blow up with one song, and you’ll hear about them all over the place. And for girls, it’s harder to get support from girls. Girls are more competitive than boys.
Boys support us. Girls think boys are cute, so they down for them, and so boys have boy and girl fans. We got girl fans, too, but I’m just saying, like.. you know?
In the making of this mixtape, were you guys inspired by any music people would be surprised that you were inspired by? Do you listen to any pop stars?
JT—I listen to a lot of different music, but on PERIOD, I always went for the “Miami sound" and it ended up being all over the place. I wanted to stay sounding like Miami, you know, but still universal—everybody can listen to it. Not so much Miami local, but hyper, fun, stuff like that.
What’s next for City Girls? Are you releasing anything in the last quarter of 2018?
JT—Yes, we are actually working on our new mixtape right now. We’re doing a lot of new stuff. We’re doing a video right now, we’re getting ready to shoot the “One of Them Nights” video. So we’re just shooting videos, putting together a project. We have a lot of songs that didn’t make PERIOD that will probably roll over onto this new mixtape, and we’ve been recording a lot of new music as well.
Is there anything you can say about the new mixtape?
JT—The new mixtape is still fun, it’s still us. People like what we’re doing, so we don’t really wanna change it too much so we can please the people. You know? It’s the same thing. Relatable.
#FreeJT
All in all, Dustin is owning the damn thing, and making their takeover seem so effortless. Read on to hear about Dustin's typical night out, the queer struggle in Paris, and what they have to say to young budding creatives trying to make it.
Why did you start DJing?
I had been a part of the club scene—the gay club scene—for two years and I played music at all the after parties. One night a friend of mine just asked me to play, I said yes, and I haven’t stopped since. I’ve been doing this every weekend since I was seventeen.
What makes the Parisian club scene special?
There’s this kind of honesty about it. The thing is that it’s so small, everybody knows each other and expects a lot. You have to bring something new to the table every time you go out.
And I heard that you’re launching a new party soon!
I already have one party called “Polyester” with a friend of mine, but it’s a really intimate gay, queer party that’s mostly Italo-disco. So I’m trying to do a new party, something very raw. I like that when fashion people go out in Paris they don’t care about shit. They really don’t care about their appearance.
Yes! Everyone just looks so good in the beginning of the night and then they just go for it.
Exactly, then everyone has to do a walk of shame when they go home. I love that. I want to do something unexpected, like mixing very different DJs and combining it with art. And have it in warehouses! That’s where the real parties of Paris actually happen, but fashion people only pick the fabulous establishments. Ugh. I like to be where you can sit on everything, walk everywhere and do whatever you want.
Let’s talk about more about fashion. You’ve walked so many great shows now.
Yeah, I did Margiela. It was so incredible, especially having Galliano there and being the only trans person there. It was kind of surreal.
Fashion has really embraced the LGBTQ community recently, which is such a good thing. But sometimes I’m scared that it’s just a passing fad and not a real progressive change.
I think it’s going to change. For some people it might be a trend, but once you opened the gates you can’t go back. Fashion has always been queer, now we’re just taking it back. The queer community has always been the inspiration. I think this is a breaking point, people feel more of a responsibility to act respectfully.
Full look by Studio Pierre; Dress by Rodebjer
I read in an old interview that the advice you’d give to young people is to not let anyone define them according to gender or sexual orientation.
I really don’t think that your gender defines your personality. You’re born with it, it’s your person. But it doesn’t have to be the first thing you talk about. My gender and my sexuality doesn’t concern anyone else. I mean I wouldn’t ask anyone about their CV or something like that. I think you define yourself, by your personality and your character.
Do you think you can ever live somewhere else than Paris?
I was thinking about going to New York, but I can’t get myself to leave this place. If I would leave, I’d always come back here. I’ve been in Vietnam for a month, but I was like, “Ugh. Take me back.” I love Vietnam, but I miss Paris too much.
Have you been to Vietnam a lot?
Yes, when I was young we went every summer. My mum is from Vietnam, and my father, I don’t know. No one talks about queer issues in Vietnam. I was there with a friend who’s black and bald, and we were really the talking point of the whole town. Everybody was like, “Is it one boy and one girl? Is it two boys, or two girls?” And I speak Vietnamese, so I understood everything.
You showed them something that they didn’t know.
I don’t think it changed anything though.
I think it does! In some way.
You do? Maybe. When I’m in Paris and meet someone who’s ignorant, I never return the ignorance with hate. I believe that people respond better to education. And even if that person didn’t understand your point that time, they might be more respectful the next time. I actually just saw an article saying that Paris has been voted the most gay friendly city in Europe. Which is so weird.
But maybe it’s true that Paris is the most gay friendly city? Perhaps the other cities are worse?
There is a huge queer scene, but the “other” scene is also huge. All queer people, it’s actually quite sad, but when we go out we take cabs. We’d never take the subway. It’s not safe. I had two friends who walked up to me bleeding in the street the other week. I think London is much more gay friendly. Even Berlin. If I’m thinking of a gay friendly destination I’m not going to think of Paris.
What’s a normal night out like then?
I start by fixing my face for like three hours. Then I usually go to my friend’s house—she lives on my street—or sometimes we have a pre-party at one of my friends’ bars. If the place we’re going to is in Paris, we usually stay there for 4-5 hours and then have an after party, but if it’s outside of Paris.. Then we just stay, stay, stay. Nobody wants to go out in the sunlight.
Dustin is currently working on their first single, a secret project with Paco Rabanne, and of course their next party in Paris.
