Hip-hop can be a difficult space for someone like Tay Money to thrive in.
Born Taylor Noelle Watson, the 28-year-old is part of a small subset of rappers who are female, and an even tinier subsection are White females. She’s certainly not the first under her demographic, as the likes of Chanel West Coast, V-Nasty, Kreayshawn, Lil Debbie, and Iggy Azalea have come before her, but there’s a territory that comes with it. All of the aforementioned artists received mass public backlash and have had to defend accusations of appropriating Black culture. It’s a natural response for the community that lost genres like jazz and rock and roll to White counterparts.
With Tay Money’s latest hit “Assignment,” the single with the repetitive chorus that features four words of Internet slang popularized by Black Twitter, she can be seen as an even easier target for Black social media users to criticize.
https://twitter.com/dan1elle___/status/1456836138333790209?s=20
Despite the public backlash, Tay Money’s optimistic spirit can be felt as soon as she walks through the doors of any room. Fresh off signing with Geffen Records and Interscope Records, the Texas native wears a smile she can’t wipe off.
“You definitely have to have thick skin,” Tay Money told rolling out after performing at the Atlanta Hawks’ game on Dec. 10, “but there’s nothing I set my mind to that we can’t do. I do feel that hate is necessary. It is in a way necessary, but it’s whatever. God’s got me and that’s all that matters.”
Continue reading on the next page.
