Rapper Young M.A. Sets The Record Straight, Confirms She Is Not A Lesbian Although She Loves Women, Says She Does Not Like Labels

Young M.A. had North America and parts of the world singing out “Ooouuu” loud and strong when she dropped the song in May of 2016.  The single would end up near the top of many end of year lists that year and thus began her career.  From her flow to her delivery, Young M.A intrigued the masses with a tight grip.

While the rapper hasn’t been in the headlines a lot as of late, she recently appeared in the news, but not for her music.  The Brooklyn native was arrested on Friday, December 4th in Atlanta for reckless driving, but saw her freedom restored two hours later, according to a report by XXL.  She was seen confirming her release from jail via her post on Instagram where she’s holding her middle finger up, capturing the same sentiment in the caption as well with an accompanying emoji.  

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Fans of hers that had been awaiting new music after the release of her long-awaited debut album, 2019’s Herstory in the Making, had their thirsts quenched when she released her Red Flu EP in May of this year. One thing that the masses never had to speculate on was the New York rapper’s sexuality, as she’s made it very clear from the jump.  Young M.A. (short for “Me Always”) mentioned in her interview with The Breakfast Club that she would always play with Barbie dolls when she was younger, but would transform them into “Ken” dolls by cutting their hair and drawing mustaches on them. 

The rapper appeared on VladTV where she further discussed her journey she knew around kindergarten/first grade that she was gay. “I held it in though for a long time, though,” she stressed,  “Because I never understood it.  It was like, ‘Why do I feel like this?’  I never seen nobody else act that way, even though as a kid, you know, I played like little house games, you know, with girls… kissing…but my mom’s never knew anything about it.”

She continued, “Growing up, I was confused. I’ve had boyfriends, though, you know what I mean?  Like, I’ve had boyfriends in my past.  I’ve never denied that I had boyfriends. But it was always a part of me that just was like, something’s different about me. Like, it’s hard for me to not look at a woman that’s attractive and be like, ‘I like her.’ You understand? So I thought that was weird as a kid.”

The rapper then acknowledges the moment she came out to her mother, is the moment she deems her official coming out, at 17.  “My mom asked me plenty of times growing up [if] I liked women; I always told her no,” she confessed.  “I don’t know, I was just scared.  Like, it was just a scary thing. I don’t ever really talk about it as much, like I don’t even talk about it in my music, because I felt like (pauses) I don’t know it was just like, I know people can relate to it but I look at it as like, I just want to talk about now that I am officially out there… like, be free with it, you understand?  The struggle is the struggle, we all go through it, but the best part about it is being comfortable with it.”

However, although she may be comfortable with her sexuality, what she is not comfortable with are the labels like being called a lesbian rapper.  While doing a press tour for her ‘Herstory In The Making’ album, the rapper sat with Hollywood Unlock, when Jason Lee addressed her as a lesbian. Young M.A. responded, “No, just Young M.A….No, I don’t do labels.” She was then asked if that means she is still into men, to which Young M.A. replies, ”Absolutely not. That’s it. I just wouldn’t date a guy…I’m just Young M.A., man. I just don’t dig dudes. I love women.” She added that she also doesn’t like the label “female rapper” saying, “I don’t buy into that. I’m just a rapper. I’m Young M.A.”  

She continued, “First of all, female rappers alone seem to be the only ones in a box because you don’t say ‘male rapper… You really don’t…When you see a male rapper you don’t call him a “male rapper,” you call him a rapper. And with the female rapper, it seems like the female rap thing is more glorified. And then the gay rapper thing, I feel like if we don’t want to be separated…if we’re uniting and we’re doing all this type of thing where we want people to accept us for us, and stuff like that, then as people, just like you’re a human and I’m a human, why still separate yourself? To me, it just doesn’t make sense. If you just want to be accepted for who you are, just say, ‘I am me’…I just came in the game being me.”

Being a female in the industry is hard enough as is, adding to the fact that she is a woman of color in a male-dominated industry, as well as genre, and a member of the LGTBQ+ community.  Young M.A. would soon have to defend herself from controversial rapper Kodak Black, who’s used to feuding with hip hop artists like The Game and Lil Wayne.

The Florida rapper referenced her in his song “Pimpin Aint Eazy” with disrespectful lyrics found in the chorus and second verse.  Doubling down after receiving backlash, he hopped on to Instagram Live to once again shoot his shot to M.A.  “How you a girl but don’t want your [expletive] penetrated? How? … Don’t be mad at me because I want you, baby. Don’t be mad at me cuz I want you.”

In the middle of her own Instagram Live session that occurred shortly after his comments spread, the rapper became inundated with questions on how she felt about Kodak and his lyrics, as well as his remarks concerning her.  “Y’all keep talking about this Kodak situation. Y’all n—s is weird, bro […] “I’ll holla at him if I get a chance to see him. Y’all do this internet s—t too much, bro. I don’t like the internet s—t, bro. I deal with my issues in person.”

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