Saweetie Almost Gave Up On Rap Career: “I Started Going On Job Interviews For Hospitals”

Before she became the “My Type” hitmaker, Saweetie was just Diamonté Harper from the Bay Area. She drifted down to Southern California when she attended college, landing at USC where she studied communications and business. However, upon graduating, Saweetie decided that she wanted to leap into the music industry and make rapping a career and not just a hobby.

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She talked about the move on FUSE TV’s series Made From Scratch. In an episode that’s set to air next Tuesday, Saweetie, her aunt, and her grandmother got together in the kitchen to cook up gumbo and cornbread—a tradition that the women have carried on for years. In a clip of their forthcoming episode, the ladies chatted about Saweetie almost giving up on her dreams.

“I don’t know what I would be doing without someone like my grandma in my corner,” the rapper said. “I’m not conscious about being classy. I’m not conscious about being smart. I think I was just bred that way.” 

Her aunt chimes in that Saweetie shared with her family that she had rap star aspirations, but her career wasn’t launching as quickly as they thought. “She calls me, she’s like, ‘Auntie, I wanna find a job.'” Saweetie adds, “I started going on job interviews for hospitals and I was lying on my application.” Her grandma said she knew that Saweetie was only doing it to “make us happy.”

“They would offer me these positions, and right before I would agree to be hired, or whatever it was, my heart just didn’t feel right,” the rapper said. She told herself “Imma go hard for a year, and if it don’t work out, Imma go back to the Bay and I’ll just live with my family and figure it out.” Her grandmother concluded that the moral of the story is to “follow your dreams.” Watch the clip of Saweetie cooking up some soul food with her family below.