Images by Dave Ellis for Steed Media Service
The atmosphere at the über-sexy TWO Urban Licks restaurant and lounge was a bit subdued on this typically busy Tuesday night, thanks to a system of rain showers that moved into the Atlanta area earlier that afternoon. But even as the torrential downpour kept the patrons away, it could do nothing to quiet the electric energy inside the building. It was here that singer, songwriter and “Atlanta Housewives” star Kandi Burruss held court with rolling out.
As she effortlessly charmed our cameras, adding a surprising air of sex appeal to the proceedings, the never shy Burruss chatted about topics ranging from her displeasure with reality shows creating overnight celebrities to the demise of her former group Xscape.
In many ways, the conversation took several unexpected twists and turns. No complaints here though, we enjoyed every minute of it.
We’ve continued to watch you on “The Real Housewives of Atlanta” and we have to wonder if this is a realistic portrayal of who you are, or is your persona the victim of editing by the producers?
It’s definitely realistic. It’s what you would see if you were one of my girlfriends and we hung out together.
In hindsight, do you regret joining the show?
Not really. I mean, there’s a good and a bad side to being on the show. The good side is that it can help put shine on your businesses and on the different things that you have going on. The bad side is that you put yourself out there to be criticized and talked about. But if you don’t care about that part, then you’re good.
How do you handle the criticism? There have been some pretty rude things written about you in the past.
Sometimes I feel like things are said about me that are not justified. Don’t get me wrong, I can take it if it’s true, but if you’re just taking a little piece of the truth and trying to twist it to make me look bad or to be mean for no reason, then I don’t like that. I don’t like when people just try to go in on you unprovoked … I just don’t get it.
What would you say to people who do that?
I don’t care what you think about me, but this is what you can say: I’m a good mom, I do right by my daughter, I handle my business and I help a lot of people. So before you say anything about me, put that in front of it.
You even had a recent confrontation with Usher’s ex-wife, Tameka, where she basically called you a whore on Twitter. Why did you feel the need to respond back to her on Twitter?
To me, I felt like she was really out of line. With Twitter, you’re always going to have people saying crazy things about you. But if it’s someone that you know personally, and they say something about you, I view that differently. Because in my mind, I’m going to have to see her again, and when I see her, I want her to know that I didn’t appreciate what was said. So she can’t expect to come up to me and [expect] things [to] be cool, because they aren’t. I’m just real cut and dry like that.
Is that when the real Kandi has to come out instead of the politically correct, celebrity Kandi?
Sometimes I react, and then I think later. I’m sure if my publicist [had] known, she would have been against me tweeting her back. But sometimes the ‘realness’ can get the best of me. … When you’re in the public eye, you just have to remember that there are certain things that you can’t do. In certain instances, though, I just can’t help it … that was one of those instances.
Switching gears, there is a lot of celebrity derived from reality shows. What are your thoughts on overnight celebrities since you were a celebrity before the show?
I’ve always looked at people on these types of shows and thought, ‘oh, great she’s a celebrity because she’s on a reality show.’ Even though I’m on a reality show myself, that’s how I honestly feel. A lot of these people are famous and haven’t done anything, while there are so many talented people who get overlooked. Me being on this show is just something that happened. I didn’t seek it out, it just kind of fell in my lap, and it seemed like it would be fun to do. I still feel like it’s crazy that people are popular from reality TV, and become overnight celebrities for doing nothing.
Well that describes most of your cast mates, doesn’t it?
I guess that’s true, but you asked me my opinion and I’m just being truthful. I do reality TV on the side. I’m in the entertainment industry for a living … it’s my business, and I have other things that I do like the store and real estate. That’s my business. But the reality show is just something on the side. I see a lot of reality show people who are reality stars first, and then everything that they do is on the side. For me, regardless of if there was a television show or not, I would still be in the entertainment industry.
Speaking of the entertainment industry, you have a new album. Tell us about it.
I really put my all into this album. I brought out all of the big guns; I’ve got Ne-Yo, Bryan Michael Cox, Justice League, Jazze Pha … a lot of people. And then my girl Tiny did a duet with me. I did my best to give you a really strong R&B album. There are a lot of ballads and mid-tempo records, similar to what an old Xscape album would be. I’ve written a lot of fast songs and party songs for other people, but this time around, I wanted to come with an album where I really came strong vocally and lyrically. So I feel like there are a lot of songs on this album that people will be able to relate to.
You’re a solo artist now, but many of our readers are still wondering why Xscape broke up. What would you say to them?
People always think that I left the group. I did not leave the group … that’s first and foremost. Secondly, one of our group members — Tasha [LaTocha Scott] — wanted to do a solo project after our second album. So when it came time to negotiate for our third album, she basically told the label that in order to agree to do a third album they had to agree to allow her to do a solo project. The label agreed, and So So Def signed her. Now the album never came out, but that is why the rest of us started working on our own things. Going into the third album, I really had to start thinking about what I was going to do with my career. If she was going to leave and do a solo album, where was that going to leave me? It just really caught me off guard. So that was a scary time in my life. But looking back on it, she did me a favor. Because of that, it forced me to take a look at myself, and develop a skill set to be able to thrive in the industry by myself.
So looking forward, how has the breakup with Xscape and all that has transpired since then helped you?
It has all worked together and taught me how to be a survivor. I’m not going to let myself fall apart for nothing or for no one. I developed the drive, and now there’s no looking back.
