Teyana Taylor surprised fans and critics alike a few weeks ago with her Complex interview. In it, she mentioned the likes of Rihanna and Rita Ora, explained how she paved the way for their “sexy boyish” look, as well as how she was rapping and singing before it was cool.
VIDEO: Teyana Taylor Feat. Wale “Make Your Move”
This is what Teyana had to say:
“I do feel like I influence a lot of artists. But the way I look at it is not in a negative way. I love them. When I came in the game, it wasn’t okay to be a girl and wear sneakers and hats and streetwear. They called me gay. Now the tomboy thing, it’s sexy. Rihanna and Rita Ora are fly and sexy. I’m happy I was able to pave that way. I love seeing our artists dressed like that. You ain’t gay if you throw on sneakers and a hat. Nobody can take that away from me and say, ‘Oh, she didn’t start that trend.’ They all know. I’ve always been about this life and mixing kicks with high fashion on some ghetto chic shit.”
In regard to her rapping and singing years ago, she told Complex:
“The music that a lot of artists do now, if you listened to my first album that I recorded when I was 15, you’d gag. I was on this wave years ago.”
In the days that followed, superstar Rihanna tweeted a picture of herself in a snapback cap and wavy hair with the caption, “Me being me.”
PHOTOS: Teyana Taylor Channels Janet Jackson & Shows Her Boob Tattoos For Lance Gross
This sparked Teyana to subliminally tweet:
“Really b!t$#?! How are you being YOU when you’re dressed like ME??”
To which Rihanna’s Navy went off. During the chaotic back and forth between T and the Rihanna Navy, RiRi tweeted “Poor dat.”
Seems like Teyana may be a little fed up with artists she feels are stealing her style and getting more credit for it. More recently, she wanted to make her original statement clearer. She stated:
“Just don’t give credit to that person for starting a trend because they’re more famous, or have more records out. Those are the people who take from the people who haven’t yet reached their level of success and we all know that its been going on before I was thought of. I love my style, I love to dress, its fun to me and I just wanna be respected like any other person who started something or brought something back to life when people were too iffy to do it.”
Teyana and Rihanna need to clear the air … we don’t need any more female artists beefing in the industry! To read her most recent statement in its entirety, visit Necole Bitchie.
Credit: Complex || Photo Credit: WENN
