Rhyme & REASON

With her BRASH LYRICS and GENRE-BENDING SOUND, Atlanta rapper LATTO is one to BET ON. Here, she reflects on her HARD-EARNED RISE and how a NEW GUARD of FEMALE ARTISTS is pushing HIP-HOP to NEW HEIGHTS.

- ARIANA MARSH

My dad is a hip-hop head. He loved N.W.A. He loved Tupac. He even listened to female rappers back in the day, like Left Eye, Trina, and Lil' Kim. He loved Eve because he loved DMX, her Ruff Ryders labelmate. My dad was into cars heavy, so he had old-school cars with candy paint and big rims that he would rent out for music-video shoots. I was on set for the filming of Ciara's "Goodies." I was on some Jagged Edge video shoots and sets for B5, this group Diddy had. I remember my parents arguing about my dad having me on set until 2:00 a.m. on a school night. That's definitely what made me want to do music: growing up around that scene.

My mom and dad didn't go to college. I watched them work their asses off to provide a certain lifestyle for me and my little sister, Brooklyn. I sold candy in elementary school, and I was balling, making $50 a day. And in high school, I threw parties on the Southside in Clayton County, Georgia, where I grew up. I was probably making $10,000 a night doing those. I've always been frugal, so I just stacked up my money. That's the Capricorn in me.

In our household, when you do something, you do it fullfledged; it's not a hobby. So after I told my dad when I was eight that I wanted to rap, I would get picked up from school, do my homework in the lobby of a music studio, and then go record.