AllHipHop.com: What's the first thing you did when you got out?
Da Brat: Went and ate a steak. [laughs]
AllHipHop.com: I know JD first announced that you got out, but were you in some kind of transition situation?
Da Brat: Yeah, since last February, I was in a transitional center, but I got out of that, but that's like connected to the same [jail]. That's where you go out and get your lil' job, wear regular clothes and blah blah. You can eat Taco Bell and all the fast food you want. I got out of a transitional center yesterday.
AllHipHop.com: How do you feel over all?
Da Brat: I feel like a brand new me, you know. Lessons learned. I've learned not to take s**t for granted. A lot of people in there don't have nobody that care about them, but I got like 10 and 20 pieces of mail a day from family and fans. I had all kinds of visits up there like Mariah [Carey], Nick [Cannon], Katt Williams, my sister, all my family...my whole squad. My Rare Breed soldiers. I was supported and loved. It made me see that all of the things that I just kind of looked over when I had them right at my feet I was ready to get back to them and I couldn't. That was the most painful part of it all.
Ain't nobody f**k with me. I ain't have no issues. It ain't like a maximum facility place where people getting jumped on. You do have your folks going crazy in there. Some girls couldn't take it. They in there cutting their wrists. You had a lot of cutters in there.
AllHipHop.com: Wow.
Da Brat: People trying to set their beds on fire. People trying to tie their sheets to the bars, trying to hang theirs elves. There's a lot of s**t going on but I'm grateful to God that I was able to stay strong. I had a solid foundation and good upbringing. I was good, you know?
AllHipHop.com: How did you occupy your time while you were in?
Da Brat: What I do? I was in the Office Club, I wrote a book. That took a while. I learned how to do a bunch of stuff. That s**t [jail] was kind of like college. There were a lot of courses they had. They had culinary arts, they had electrical wiring, they had automotive stuff, they had auto paint... I could occupy my time doing just about anything, but I joined the Office Club. And I wrote a book.
AllHipHop.com: What's the book about?
Da Brat: Pretty much my life. This lil sucka a** [C.O.] put me on lockdown. I [inaudible] on him in front of some girls he was talking to and he told me to "cuff up." So, I had to go on lockdown, because he was jealous. I encountered a lot of that. Because the officers was pissed. Because I make more money than them or they have a preconceived judgment about me before I get there. But overall, even them, they saw that I was a cool mu-f**ker. And everybody was like, "Wow, we misjudged you. We thought you were going to come in here and be all rowdy and loud." I just minded my business. If it was a problem, I handled that and that was it.
AllHipHop.com: He wasn't messing with you because you were writing a book or anything?
Da Brat: Nah, he was just messing with me. One day I had to go to rec and I was late going to rec. And he was standing there talking to some girls. So he asked me where I had been. And I was like, "Why don't you just get on your radio, because you gonna call anyway to see where I was." I had some drink in my cup that was not clear. And you had to have clear drink. I think I had a Coca Cola. So, I had to go back and swap it out to get me a Sprite or something. When I came back, I was late. He was like, "What?" And I'm looking at him like, "What's the problem?" He was like, "You got five minutes to go back to the dorm." I was like..."I just came back." Then, he was like, "Well, turn around and cuff up." I'm looking at him like, "You gotta be f**kin' kidding me." But, I held my tongue. That's one thing they tell you...its best if you just don't say s**t of you going to be in more trouble with more time. So, I learned a lil' patience in that joint. For real.
AllHipHop.com: Well that's good. Did you write any rhymes?
Da Brat: Nah, I wasn't really motivated to write in there. I need to hear the bump [beat]. I need to have some bump and some volume so I can get into it. I need to have it loud. All I was working with in there was a CD player when I was in the transitional center. I was [also] able to have a portable CD player. But, it couldn't have no parental advisory sticker on it. I had to finagle the bagel, you know what I'm saying? I had my people cut off the sticker, get it unwrapped, get it wrapped back up like it hadn't been touched so they wouldn't look at it too tough. I wasn't motivated to write. But now that I'm out, I ready to get it in.
AllHipHop.com: You have a crew or something? I heard you mention them.
Da Brat: Before I went in, I had a whole crew. My squad was Throwing Tantrums, because that like my publishing company. But its Rare Breed now. Rare Breed, Inc. That's my n***a Mista. He been hot and he done got better. And then I got Jamel and that's Slick. And I got a producer and his name is R. Fisher. He hot. He from VA. I'm trying to help them and put them out like JD did to me.
AllHipHop.com: I know this may sound a lil random, but you've been gone for a while. The landscape has changed since you were gone. Have you kept up with the changes?
Da Brat: I kinda have, you know. Through the magazines and stuff like that. I ain't have no computer access. I kinda see and here what's going on. I heard the internet done like really f**ked the game up. People ain't really making no money unless they doing tours or making appearances and stuff like that. And the mixtape game is still what it is. And right now
And right now, its just the internet. So, I'm on that. I'm getting hooked up as we speak. JD just put me on the Global14, his social network. I gotta shut that Facebook down. There's somebody on there acting like they me. I think that's f**ked up when people can act like they you and then people hit them. I looked on that s**t and its like my family members and a bunch of people think that's me. So, I gotta shut that down. The [messed up thing] about all those things is that they can say they you and they can set it up like they you. But when you gotta get it shut down, they take you though the ringer. Its like going in circles. I'm trying to get that Facebook shut down and start my own. I'm going to get my Twitter page probably tonight and see what's happening with that. I just gotta get back into the swing of things, because I ain't had no computer access for like two and a half years.
AllHipHop.com: You seem like you're already on it.
Da Brat: I'm trying to get in where I fit it and make sure I'm up on every thing.
AllHipHop.com: Do you have any regrets.
Da Brat: I miss my family. That's the main part of it, I missed my family. And being able to hug and kiss on my mom, my granny and my aunt. My family, most of my family is in the Chi, in Chicago. I can't fly for a minute still. My granny's been going through some medical issues so I just miss her a whole lot. That's the worst part about it - not being able to get my grind on, not being able to make my paper. My royalty checks have done me well. I been out for a minute so all those collabos, all those people that I wrote with and wrote for. You know, Bow Wow records and those Mariah songs and the Missy [songs] - you know, they doing me lovely. "Funktified" all of that. All that's still getting airplay. My royalty checks is nice.
AllHipHop.com: By the way, the female Hip-Hop game is kind of crazy right now. You have any thoughts on it?
Da Brat: I don't know what really happened. I know before I went in, before I got locked up, it was like slow paced. It was pretty much like they weren't trying to hear to the females. They weren't really trying to let us get no nothing and I know for a fact that everybody was trying. But it was like the door was getting shut in our face. I don't know why. I know a lot of them had some hard s**t like Shawnna from Chicago. Trina still had her style. I'm grateful the door has opened a lil bit so I'm ready to put my foot back in it and kick that b***h.
AllHipHop.com: Any final words?
Da Brat: I just want to tell everybody thanks for all the love and support and all that diehard Brat fans. I really appreciate that. Man, I don't know how to say thank you, but I will when my s**t comes out. You'll hear the things that I been through and you'll hear how I'm a better person. A better mu-f**ker now. That's what's up and I can't wait to express that. I'm trying to do a lot of different things. I'm trying to get this reality show thing poppin' about me starting over, putting my artist on... Some of the women that got out, I kinda want to let them know, its alright to fall, because you can get back up and start over. And, you can do it all over again and you can do it better. And you can be a better person and and spit my s**t and make it happen. All I can do is be Brat. People don't understand, I can't be worried about that. People are going to have s**t to say regardless, but I'm going to ride out on that surfboard like that.
AllHipHop.com: On the reality show tip, is that something you are pitching to somebody or is that already in the works?
Da Brat: That's already in the works.
AllHipHop.com: Do you already have a network situation for it?
Da Brat: Yeah, I already have a situation! [Sings it, then laughs] Its happening, but I ain't gonna spill the beans on that yet. I've done some footage all this. Its in the works.
AllHipHop.com: Last thing, did you ever get to talk to the girl that you had the altercation with?
Da Brat: No, ain't making no contact. Something's going on with that. Something pending so...I can't do nothing with that right now. But, once I can, I'ma get to tell my side...its a whole story with that. It ain't everything that people has it cracked up to be.
AllHipHop.com: Let me ask, is it a civil suit or something?
Da Brat: Definitely.
AllHipHop.com: Ok, well...welcome back.
Da Brat: I appreciate you taking the time to talk to me.
As reported by All Hip-Hop
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