UB Celebrates #HipHop50: Saluting Raps First Platinum Female MC Da Brat

Continuing with UB’s Celebration of Hip Hop, today we spotlight one of our favorites, Da Brat.

With So So Def celebrating their 30th Anniversary this year, there’s no better artist to feature.

In 1994, Da Brat born Shawntae Harris, was one of the first of a new breed of hard-edged female MCs to hit the hip-hop scene.

The original first lady of So So Def, hails from the Chicago’s West Side. Her stage name was inspired by being an only child and often referred to as a “brat.”

Da Brat started her musical career in the same place many young black artists do, under the steeple of the black church. Only Brat wasn’t lost in a sea of faces belting it out in the choir…. she was keeping up the downbeat playing drums. “That’s where I get my rhythm from,” she stated in 1994.

In 1992, Brat got her big shot at fame by winning a local MC contest. The contest, hosted by Ed Lover of “Yo MTV Raps,” featured an opportunity to meet Kris Kross in person. “At that time Kris Kross were like BAM! The shit! And I was like ‘what if I can be down with them niggas for real?’ and I just kinda went for it,” stated Brat.

Discovered by chart-topping producer Jermaine Dupri, when she arrived to meet his protégés. With their endorsement, JD signed her to his So So Def label.

Soon after, Da Brat was making her wax debut flowing along side the late Mac Daddy and Daddy Mac on the title track of their highly-acclaimed platinum sophomore album release “Da Bomb.” Her flow was so raw, before the video was released, most assumed Da Brat was a teenage boy. After the success of the single, it was Brat‘s turn to shine.

“Funkdafied,” was released in 1994, it sold more than 62,000 copies its first week in stores. The title track was an instant hit, going platinum and reaching #2 on the Billboard R&B Singles charts and spending nearly three months at #1 on the Billboard Rap Singles chart.

Then “Funkdafied,” the single, went platinum, making Da Brat the first female solo rap artist ever to deliver a million selling single off a debut album.

The video stayed in high rotation on the fan controlled video network The BOX. The success of the single and the follow-up singles “Fa All Y’all” and the gold-plus “Give It 2 You,” helped Da Brat become the first female rapper ever to earn a Platinum-Selling album.

The album also hit #1 on the R&B Albums chart, a staggering achievement at the time for a debut release by a female rapper.

Da Brat took home the Soul Train Lady of Soul Award for “Best Rap Album” and the Billboard Award for being the #1 Rap Artist.

Da Brat was then featured on R&B group TOTAL‘s debut Bad Boy single, “No One Else.“ Diddy remixed the song and added Lil Kim and Foxy Brown, along with Brat. Which ended up being one of the hottest songs that fall. The song reached the Top 5 on the charts and the video, included an appearance by the Notorious B.I.G.

With her oversized gear and hair in kiddie braids, Da Brat was something new: A young woman with a signature style strong enough to match a personality overflowing with charisma. Brat was playful and business-like, youthful, yet self-possessed. She was something we had never seen before.

Da Brat had won fame and fortune without ever shaking a rump, batting an eyelash, or employing any other sex ploys, that have become de rigueur for so many young females rappers.

In another unprecedented move, the label released a clean version of the album, that included a new single entitled “Da B Side,” featuring the late great Notorious B.I.G.

“If your talent is great, and a great team supports you, you can go,” Da Brat stated to Billboard. “Salt-N-Pepa were first to go platinum, but I’m the first to go platinum solo. I don’t like to feel I’m less than a man! Please! A woman gave birth to that man!” Something Brat knows all about in current day.

Da Brat‘s sophomore album “ANUTHATANTRUM,” celebrated it’s 27th Anniversary this week, originally released on October 29th, 1996.

The album led with the gold hit “Sittin’ On Top Of The World,” which reached #2 on the Billboard Hot Rap Songs chart.

The album is filled with tracks which not only reflect Brat‘s maturing musical style but also her more demanding life. Success, fame and dealing with pressure (i.e. getting lifted) undercut every track on the album. “It’s material that comes from my heart, soul and mind,” stated Brat.

“When a person matures, you see it. There is a change in my attitude and the way I feel about things. It’s sort of like going from a freshman to a senior. I’ve made it past all these levels. I’ve been through more things. I’ve learned a lot about the industry.

Now, I’m trying to take niggas to a whole new level. On this album, I gave my all making sure the lyrics really had high standards. I didn’t want to be saying the same things that niggas are constantly saying.”

“My Beliefs,” is a slickly produced, mid-tempo jam dripping in caramel-coated synths and assorted soulful slither. “My Beliefs,” explained Brat, “Is about keeping focused, keeping it simple and never taking a step backward.”

“ANUTHATANTRUM” also featured some guests: Krayzie Bone from Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, delivers his one-of-a-kind melodic flow on “Let’s All Get High.” Brat laughs and stated, “I don’t care what people say. I love to get high. I love to smoke and I love to kick it with my homies. I have to do what makes me happy and not try to please everybody else all the time.”

Hip-hop genius Jermaine Dupri showed up for a duet on “Keepin’ It Live.” While TLC‘s T-Boz did her thing on the classic gold single “Ghetto Love.”

The supremely talented Trey Lorenz backs up on “Just a Little Bit More.” Trey so impressed Brat that she had to spell out his musical skills. “He can sang, that’s S-A-A-A-A-N-G!” she stated.

Da Brat was the collaboration queen and stayed in demand! Anytime Da Brat jumped on a song, she laced it in a way only she could.

She joined Kris Kross again, on the 1996 banger, “Live And Die For Hip Hop” with Aaliyah and Mr. Black. The following year she joined Missy Elliott on the song and video for her gold smash, “Sock It 2 Me.”

She contributed a rhyme to the hip hop remix of Mariah Carey’s hit, “Always Be My Baby.” During the summer of 1997, Da Brat appeared along with JD on another remix of Mariah’s “Honey (So So Def Remix)”

In 1999 she rejoined Missy on “Stickin’ Chickens” also featuring the late great Aaliyah. On that joint, Brat delivered some of the most fire lyrics; “How you gonna slumber wit’ a bitch I’m supposed to be cool wit’? Went to grade school wit’, couldn’t pay me to believe you hit it. To think I footed all the bills and now you breakin.’ Stop accusin’ me of that dumb shit, that I don’t even participate in.”

Brat jumped on Lil Kim‘s 1996 smash “Not Tonight” with the late great Left Eye, along with Missy “Misdeameanor” Elliott and Angie Martinez. The song went platinum and was a hit around the world.

That same summer, Da Brat made her feature film debut in Kazaam with Shaquille O’Neal.

She joined good friend Kelly Price on the remix to “Secret Love,” which also features Jermaine Dupri. In 2001, Brat assisted Mariah Carey again, when she jumped on the monster-hit “Loverboy.”

Da Brat also killed her verse on the remix to Brandy’s 1999 “U Don’t Know Me (Like U Used To),” and appeared in a video for the track. In 2000, she was also featured on a remix of the Destiny’s Child single “Jumpin’, Jumpin’” and later recorded with them again on the remix to “Survivor” in 2001.

Over the course of her career, Da Brat has collaborated with many more A-list artists and producers including Usher, Twista, Dru Hill, Xscape, Lil’ Jon, Ja Rule, Jagged Edge, Timbaland, Snoop Dogg, M.O.P., Cee-Lo, Lil’ Kim, Cherish, Dem Franchize Boyz, Beenie Man, Bow Wow, Omarion, Kelly Rowland, and several others.

The platinum album “Unrestricted” with the smash “What’chu Like” featuring Tyrese was released in April of 2000. The album also included the hit single and video “That’s What I’m Looking For.”

The album was a turning point in Da Brat‘s career, as she embraced and fully explored her sexuality on wax for the first time.

“Limelite, Luv and Nightclubs” followed in 2003.

One of the tracks included on the latter, is the JD produced “Ain’t Got Time 2 Waste;” “It kind of speaks for itself. Everybody’s getting older and it’s time to really be focused. I’m really all about getting some money, making myself happy, and you know, living good, eating good, smelling good, and looking good,” stated Da Brat in her label bio.

That album also gave Brat her first solo Grammy nomination for Best Female Rap Solo Performance with “Got It Poppin’.”

In 2016 she became a permanent fixture on the Fox morning show “Dish Nation.”

Da Brat hit the road in 2018, live on stage as Cleo from the classic 1996 film “Set It Off.” The play went throughout 2022.

It’s important to note, Da Brat lends her time to charitable organizations like Kaleidoscope Kares, Kamileon’s Kloset, Hosea Feed The Hungry and Saving Our Daughters.

Da Brat and her wife, Jesseca Duprat, will share the joy of their newborn son, on the upcoming “Brat Loves Judy: The Baby Special.”

Take A Trip Back with The Music of Da Brat!