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If you’re one of the few who aren’t already on Kehlani‘s wave, you better get hip fast. As she continues to perform in front of sold out crowds and celebrate the success of her latest mixtape, You Should Be Here, it’s clear K is up next.

Now, the Oakland-based songstress has landed another magazine cover. In the September issue of The FADER, Kehlani (never one to shy away from getting personal) keeps it real about her difficult upbringing, her sexuality, her *alleged* relationship with Toronto crooner PARTYNEXTDOOR, and more.

Check out the highlights below.

On sexuality:

“I got my first girlfriend in ninth grade. Then I told her I didn’t know what I wanted and broke up with her. I think I was always just, like, you have to be gay or you have to be straight—that those were conflicting. I learned that there’s really no wrong or right, that it was cool to like everything. But it was a lot for me.”

On her many tattoos:

“At first it was like, ‘This is changing me into what I really want to be!’ I’d always wanted tattoos, but I think I actually got so many because I hated myself.”

On growing up:

“There were times where I really had to do shit like wait outside of a train station and snatch iPhones out of peoples’ hands and run and sell them,” she says. “I went through people’s houses. I ran through cars—all type of shit that I feel like made me grow up so fast. I’ve been banned from Walgreens. I’ve been banned from Walmart for stealing fucking clothes and food. Lucky’s caught me with a box of Wheat Thins and some bread. I was like, ‘Can’t you tell I’m stealing because I’m hungry?’”

On her business relationship with Nick Cannon:

“Nick Cannon got back in touch with me. He was just like, ‘Yo, I remember you. What are you doing now?’ I’m telling him, ‘Nothing.’” Cannon brought her back to L.A, where he tried to place her in a rap group he was forming. “The morals were twisted,” she says. “I was up there rapping shit that I didn’t write. It wasn’t something I wanted to be involved in.”

On her fans:

“The girl that needs me is the outspoken, awkward tomboy,” she says. “She looks hard, but she’s very soft. She’s misinterpreted, coming into herself, openly growing.”

On her supposed love affair with PND:

“Whether or not I’m in a relationship, I never want that to be the focus of what I’m doing and what I’m trying to accomplish,” she says. “I prefer to focus on myself.”

On finding “the one:”

“I think I function better in a relationship because it gives me things to write about. As I’m learning somebody, I’m able to learn myself.” Her ideal relationship is mutually character-building and monogamous. “I want to be with someone who makes me work harder and keeps me on my toes, where I’m enjoying watching them grow and they’re enjoying watching me grow.

To read the full story, click here.

SOURCE: The FADER  | PHOTO CREDIT: Instagram

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