Lauren LaRosa (2:45)

I'm the home girl that knows a little bit about everything, and everybody knows you don't lie about that, right?

Podcast Narrator/Host (2:51)

Lauren came in.

Lauren LaRosa (2:52)

Hey, y'. All, what's up? It's Lauren the Rosa. And this is another episode of the Latest with Lauren LaRosa. This is your daily dig on all things pop culture, entertainment news, and all of the conversations that shake the room, baby. All right, y'. All Hopping right on in. Behind the scenes of the grind. Back on the grinding.

Bleacher Report Representative (3:13)

Woo.

Lauren LaRosa (3:13)

We have almost made it through the week. No, we have made it through the week. It's Friday. Oh, Lord. Y'. All. It has been a long time week coming off of that travel from the, you know, south by Southwest speaking engagement where you guys heard me and Sierra talk about, you know, her song one two step being used in the one two prep commercial in Texas and then heading on over to North Carolina for battle of the bands and then landing right back here after doing the show from North Carolina and then waking back up again to do the show. And then all week long, I am child a weekend. Don't owe me nothing. I can't wait to see and get to this weekend right here. But I am so grateful, though. A lot of you guys have been hitting me up, DMing me, people tweeting me as well, my lowriders who listen to the podcast. I love to see how we connect from the podcast over to social media. Because when I talked about my feature in Brown Style magazine yesterday, you guys wanted to see it. So you went, you saw it. You saw my post on Instagram. Like, y' all did all the things and I appreciate you guys for it. I did want to give you guys an update, though, because yesterday I listed a website where you could go and check out the magazine and check out my cover story and also purchase the magazine. And I gave you all the wrong website. Okay, so the website and shout out to the Brown style team who also listens to the podcast and let me know I gave the wrong website. So the website where you can go check out Brown Style magazine, where I am their cover star for this month's. For this month's. For this month's issue is iambrownstyle.com and my cover story is just all about figuring out life outside of the grind. So the COVID of the magazine with my photo lists me as the Brown girl who's always grinding. And it talks about the soft life, like exploring the soft life with the brown girl who's always grinding. And we talked a bit about that yesterday, so make sure you guys go check that out. I'm in the magazine. Vanessa Simmons, sister of Angela Simmons. You know, Rev Run's daughter is in the magazine as well, too. And there's just a lot of good information there, especially for black women. Like, this is really. This is one of them ones. This is one of the episodes or episodes. I keep saying episodes because I'm so used to television, podcasts, and radio. This is one of those issues. This is one of those magazine issues that. And I don't read magazines back to back all the time. I feel like there is too much sometimes, like too many things inside. But this one was so concise. All of the content was very targeted and focused. It just. It made a lot of sense and it felt good reading through it, but it was actually really helpful. It helps you have conversations about figuring out what your life looks like in totality, just outside of the grind. So make sure you guys go check that out and let me know when you have. Okay? Because now y' all got the right website. Now let's get on into the latest. Hey, y'. All, what's up? It's Lauren LaRosa. Okay, let's talk curls for a second. Because you already know if you have curly or coily hair, moisture is not optional, it's essential. Dryness is one of the biggest challenges for curly hair. In most products, they clock out after wash day. The new Ultra Moisture collection was literally designed with our hair in mind. Curls, coils, all of it powered by Botano oil and Jamaican Black castor oil. Which means the science is actually doing the work. Clinically proven to help retain moisture for up to five days. Five whole days. The shampoo gently cleanses without stripping. The mask deeply, conditions and helps reduce breakage. The leave in adds a lightweight hydration with hyaluronic acid. And the curl cream defines without crunch. No sulfates, no parabens, no silicones, no mineral oils. Just nourishment without the compromise. Because here's the thing, your hair deserves products that actually understand it. Moisture that starts at the root and keeps going. Well past Sunday, that's the Ultra Moisture collection from Cantu Explore, their full line, built for every curl pattern, every hair routine. Available now at Walmart, Target, and Amazon. Go get it.

Dr. Jay Barnett (7:34)

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Lauren LaRosa (8:33)

Connecting changes everything.

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Lauren LaRosa (9:35)

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Bleacher Report Representative (9:39)

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Lauren LaRosa (10:07)

So speaking about taking care of yourself, Monica, Monica, our girl. I feel like Monica's everybody's like favorite, like homegirl or aunt or. I mean, I don't know if she likes to be called auntie. I'mma just not say she's everybody's favorite auntie or aunt because I don't know if she likes that. And I know that, you know, not everybody wants to just randomly be called auntie. Some people lean into the auntie face, some people don't. But Monica, so gone, you know, boy is mine. Monica sat down with Michelle Obama and her brother Craig Robinson for the In My Opinion podcast. And they had such a great conversation. They talked about a ton of things. You know, Monica, for us who really love and know her music, we know she has always been very vulnerable and very open about the fact that she has not always had the best, you know, love situations. She's been through some things where she had to kick down the door and smack a chick, literally. And she talked a bit about, you know, what her past has been when it comes to relationships and how her husband, now his name is Aunt Anthony, who also is in the business as well, works with music artists like Chris Brown and a ton of others and, you know, produces shows and he is just, he's a go to guy. She talks about how, you know, this go round and, you know, being married to him, it just feels different because they were such good friends first and she's not doing it alone. Let's take a listen to Monica talking about her love.

Monica (11:40)

Anthony and I have done a lot for it to remain the way it was as a kid. Yeah, for him it's very different because he grew up as an orphan, but he also.

Interviewer (11:50)

And Anthony is your husband?

Monica (11:52)

Yes. He's incredible. He was my friend for 14 years first and I always say that is the one thing I missed. I don't feel like I missed a lot, but in that friendship I missed all the other things we could be.

Lauren LaRosa (12:09)

Now one of the things that I thought was interesting, right, so it's like, okay, she sets the scene of her and, you know, her children and what mom her is like and how she got the name Gunica because Michelle Obama, I guess people call her Mo as well. So they were kind of joking about, you know, being on set and people saying Mo. And Monica's cousin who has been by her side since the very beginning, like, you know, Monica in her early, what like 13, 14, teen years, starting out in music, she says that, you know, one of her Cousins. That was there. That kind of was confusing. The Moles had been with her for some time, but she. She gets into, you know, just how having the support of her husband now really paid off during. Not paid off, but was really something she leaned into during the time of the Boy Is Mine tour. So during the Boy Is Mine tour, we did not know this, but Monica had a very serious health issue going on with her throat to the point where it could have completely messed up her singing and just changed everything. Let's take a listen.

Interviewer (13:16)

Got to see you on Tour in D.C. at Capital One Arena. The concert was amazing.

Monica (13:24)

Thank you.

Interviewer (13:25)

You know, I mean, you all are singers. You know, you're not real singers.

Monica (13:31)

Yes.

Interviewer (13:31)

Your real voice. No buffering.

Lauren LaRosa (13:35)

No.

Interviewer (13:35)

You know, and so I knew that it was gonna be amazing, but it was really. It was really empowering.

Monica (13:44)

It was so challenging to start because I found out that I had vocal paralysis in the right vocal cord.

Interviewer (13:53)

So what does that mean?

Monica (13:54)

That means it should be moving, and it's not. And now I have all these major obligations, and this is when you want to be in the best shape of your life. And we've been trying to figure out what was happening for quite some time. Things started to sound very different. The way I hear them, the way they would come out. And it was after I had surgery initially for my sinuses.

Interviewer (14:17)

And this was before the tour.

Monica (14:19)

Well, we didn't find out why this was happening until two weeks before the tour.

Interviewer (14:24)

Oh, wow. So you were already experiencing what was.

Monica (14:27)

I had been experiencing it for a while, but Dr. Renee Gupta is the one that really figured out what. What was happening, because I've always been able to do whatever I wanted to do vocally, and I started realizing that these things aren't happening, so I had to learn it all over. And we did it in a. It was one day where it was just tears. For me. It was just tears. I just had to get in Anthony's lap and cry.

Interviewer (14:55)

It must have been frightening, too, right?

Monica (14:58)

Very much so. And not even the idea of the judgment of it all, but because I hold myself to a standard that I did not realize.

Lauren LaRosa (15:08)

What's so crazy about that is, though, I went to go see the tour, and she's talking about, like, you know, how she realized her voice was doing things differently than what she was used to being able to do with her voice. Monica sound amazing. Like, she sound amazing. Nothing about her performance gave me that she was dealing with anything, like, you know, readjusting to new control of her voice or anything being Wrong with when it came to her at all. Like, not at all. I, I also saw her on the Fitment Forward Family NSC crew. She was one of the first performing acts on that cruise as well too. The mic was on, like she sounded amazing. I think it's, it's so crazy to, to think about, you know, like, what so like her quality of like perfect and 100% so different than like how we look at her and how we analyze how she sounds and how perfect she sounds and you know, and she says, I mean, you guys heard her. People don't really check on entertainers because you want to be entertained. But also, I mean, I feel like the, the front that they put up is like one of the best because you would have never known ever. I think I have some audio back from when I went to the concert. Take a listen.

Monica (16:44)

Never would have known.

Lauren LaRosa (16:45)

Okay. Never would have made it. Never would have known at all. Now another one of the things that she talked about a bit was just her protection over Brandy, which is also very, very evident when you go and see them perform. And they may be doing another, another round of the Boy is Mine. But that is nothing that is confirmed yet. But promoters say that there are, you know, people that want it in, in, you know, venues and stuff like that. But she talked about the conversation that her and Brandi had that got them to a place where they could actually do the Boy Is Mine tour. Let's take a listen to that.

Monica (17:19)

And then Brandi and I had a conversation that really was the catalyst for the change that was needed for us to do this. So many people wanted us to do it, but it was too much unresolved. And we had not spoken at all when we did verses. We had not seen each other in almost seven or eight years. That's not the way you do a co headlining tour. I kept saying we just need to speak because the women we've become, I believe they can come together in a completely different capacity. And that's what you saw.

Interviewer (17:54)

Do you. Can you share some of that? I know Brandi's not here. Brandi, love you. Hugs to you. I know she couldn't make being here and shouts go out. So I don't wanna ask you anything that feels like it's a private conversation, but if there are aspects to what the content of that was for you,

Monica (18:12)

you know what, I'm very protective of her and it happened without me.

Interviewer (18:17)

And I could tell behind scenes. I could tell, you know, I mean, yes, I could tell in our greet and I mean I get it. You know, a lot was required of her. Yeah. Yes.

Monica (18:32)

See, I did what I wanted.

Interviewer (18:33)

Yeah.

Monica (18:34)

Whether it was good or bad, I did what I wanted. She did the right thing all the time.

Interviewer (18:39)

All the time.

Monica (18:40)

And that's heavy. That's a heavy load. And she loves for things to be perfect. She challenges herself. All that dancing you saw.

Interviewer (18:50)

It was her. Yes. She's celebrating.

Monica (18:51)

It was her. It was her.

Interviewer (18:53)

Because, y', all, if you didn't go to the concert. Cause. Are you all extending. Cause you talked about.

Monica (18:58)

We've not decided.

Lauren LaRosa (18:59)

Okay, I'll decide.

Interviewer (19:00)

I know that there's a request. You all have dates.

Monica (19:03)

I'll do it if she wants to.

Lauren LaRosa (19:04)

And as she goes into discussing, like, why she feels like she, like, feels the need to protect Brandi, and y' all know we talked about Brandi on our last episode, you know, when it came to the Shine and, you know, Cameron and Mace conversation and what I realized, because, you know, Brandi made a statement. She spoke out. She, you know, denied ever dating Shine. She also mentioned that, you know, she rarely speaks on things, but she just wanted to make that clear. And she also, you know, said that she didn't understand why this was still being discussed 20 years later. She says that they were just. And one of the things that Brandi talks about when she spoke out in response to everything that was happening with Camron and Mace and Ray J, she also distanced herself from Ray J, too. She said she loved her brother, but listen, I ain't got nothing to do with all that craziness. But she talked about how people have always been able to create their own narratives for her. And when you think back about it, Brandi was always like. Because she was working at such a high level with so many greats from a very young age, she always had to be very polished. Now Monica doing just as big things and, you know, but Monica talked about in this interview with Michelle Obama that, you know, their backgrounds were so different, you know, coming into their careers, and just everything was so different. Monica didn't struggle with that, having to be perfect. But Brandi then, and I feel like even now, lives in this very curated, protected space of celebrity, which is a different era of celebrity, too. Like. Like, Brandi comes from a very different area of celebrity. She rubbed elbows and worked alongside some of the most famous people in the world. Whitney Houston, like, we don't have celebrities. Like, what Brandi is used to being around and learning from and, you know, all of those things. Right. And even herself, like, Brandi is not like, we have few real celebrities left. Like, and when I say real celebrity, I don't mean that there aren't famous people. I mean, like, hysteria. Like, if Brandi walked down the street, people would freak out. And Monica, you know, she broke down the fact that, like, her and Brandi both had this very little sister, big sister, close relationship with Whitney Houston. And for Whitney Houston to be so unreal to so many people, she was so real to them. And I think that that goes into, you know, Monica and her decision to really protect and wrap her arm around Brandi in various situations, even though Brandi didn't ask for it. Yeah, wait till Guna could see all this mess. I mean, I'm sure she's seen it by now with Ray J and Cam and Shine and, like. And to be honest, I think because, I mean, I talked to. Not even think I know I spoke to someone in Shine's camp last night as I was preparing for my segment on the Breakfast Club that I did yesterday. And if you go back and listen to yesterday's episode of the Breakfast Club, when I talked about this, you know, Shine didn't. His intent was not to be disrespectful. But I think as a woman, we see those type of conversations way differently than men do. Way differently. So I know Guna could probably, you know, Monica over there like, child, let me make a few phone calls because stop playing with my girl, B. But the fact that Brandi even had to come out and and say anything shows how annoying these type of conversations are for women. Brandi, don't comment on nothing. I don't remember the last time I've seen a statement about something from Brandi. You live and you learn, and you learn to keep some conversations in the group chat, okay? Some of them just belong in the group chat. And that's what I told the people, you know, that I spoke to from Shine's camp. Some conversations just belong amongst friends and not on platforms. All right, y', all, so this has been another episode of the Latest with Lauren LaRosa. I am your host, Lauren LaRosa, and I tell you guys every single episode. Y' all could be anywhere with any old body, but you guys choose to be right here with me every episode, and I appreciate y' all for that. I really do. My little riders, I really do. Make sure y' all are continue to shop your merch over@browngirlgrinding.com as well, too, and join the movement. I'll see you guys in my next episode. This is an I heart podcast guaranteed human.