Her viral track may have introduced a new wave of fans, but Omerettà The Great has worked on her career for years. "Sorry Not Sorry" ushered in a new era for the Atlanta star as people debated who truly is a native of the ATL. Beyond her controversial release, Omerettà also highlighted aspects of her personal life in the Love & Hip Hop franchise. Her short-lived tenure on the series further pushed her into mainstream conversations.
For our On The Come Up series, we sat down with Omerettà to discuss her first years of fame. Like many other emerging artists of this generation, the rapper gained attention thanks to social media. More recently, the rising star delivered her Emotional Gangsta EP which hosted looks from Key Glock and Tink. At first glance, Omerettà's petite frame and baby face don't match her raw bars; however, her distinct sound and authentic delivery command attention when she grabs the mic.
Although her music aspirations have her schedule filled, Omerettà revealed that she has bigger goals on the horizon. Fashion is an industry that she one day looks to dominate, because, as she told us exclusively, that's where the real money is.
"That's why Rihanna, she got her own thing," said Omerettà. "You see Beyonce branching off to fashion because that’s where the real money at. Even when you think about basketball players like LeBron. What do they make—they make from, like, shoes and stuff. They all—Michael Jordon, he got shoes. Like, everybody in the entertainment business knows that fashion, clothes, shoes, and selling stuff is where the real money is at."
Read more of our conversation with the rapper as she tells us about valuable lessons she's learned, her inspirations, and earning respect from her hometown for carrying Atlanta on her back.
This interview has been slightly edited for clarity.
HNHH: Omeretta, how did you get into music?
I got into music when I was about six or seven years old and me and my sisters had a group called 3XD. I was also the songwriter of the group. So, I started writing music then.
Tell me more. What was the name of your first song?
[Laughs] It was called “The Lies Of So Many Years.” I think me and my big sister wrote that. It was: “The lies of so many years, got me nearly broke down in tears…” [laughs].
Who are some of your musical inspirations?
I feel like I’ve been inspired by Lil Wayne, Eminem, and Jeezy. I used to be a really big fan of Lucci, I love Rihanna. But right now, currently, I don’t listen to nobody.
Who’s your G.O.A.T.?
Who the G.O.A.T is? Lil Wayne. Nobody is harder than Wayne.
What was the turning point that helped you realize you were on yourway to becoming successful?
My turning point was when I dropped out of college in 2015 and I hopped on the internet and I started—well my first rap on the internet went viral and that’s when I knew that I was gonna use the internet to be successful.
If a music fan were to discover you today, for the first time, what song would you suggest that they listen to?
I would suggest that they—to get to know me? I would suggest that somebody listen to my song called "Reality" because it basically kinda…it don’t tell my story but it would show them who I am as a person.
Tell us about us a valuable lesson you’ve learned during your come-up.
A valuable lesson that I’ve learned is not taking stuff personally. 'Cause Ifeel like a lot of times in the game, new artists—well, artists period—well,just in life period, a lot of the things that happen, people, we tend to takeit personal when it’s in the business field. Also when you in this industry,it’s not personal. Like, when they do stuff to you, you just do it 'cause theygotta do it for themselves it ain’t really towards you for real.
Read More: Omerettà The Great Is Feeling Like An “Emotional Gangsta” On Her New EP
Summarize your debut project, mixtape, single, and what inspired you to create that.
I would probably say it was my—everybody say it’s a single, my song “SorryNot Sorry,” but it’s really not a single. It’s really a freestyle that turned into a single cause of how viral it went, but I wrote that because I was just bored. I just needed something else to write about so I figured I'd write about people not being from my city. And then that sh*t just like, blew up way more than I expected it to blow up. I also thought that people—I knew people was gonna be mad but I thought they were just gonna wanna go fight and stuff.
Did you have to lay hands on a couple of people?
Nah, I almost did, in the club. Girl was trippin, like…
How do you feel about that? Like, when people hear that song some people look to you now as the voice of Atlanta. How does that make you feel?
Good, that make me feel real good. Because it made me feel like I did something right. Like, I feel a lot of people in Atlanta that’s actually from Atlanta respected it a lot, 'cause a lot of us be saying the same thing all the time. Like, you got so many people down here now that’s from the outskirts and they swear that they from the city, but we actually from the city for real. Had to struggle here and go through all this different stuff. So, its disrespectful to come down here and say that you from here. I feel like a lot of people that’s actually from the city they like, “Respect, this shawty actually stood up.” 'Cause ain’t nobody else standing up. I actually stood up and, like,put Atlanta on my back.
Where do you hope your music career takes you?
I hope my music career takes me far. I’m actually using music as like a stepping stone cause I want to do a whole lot of different other things. 'Causemusic—like, I love making music, it’s my passion, but the music industry kinda weird and it’s kinda something that I don’t really see myself just absorbed in.So, it’s like, yeah, I make music and I wanna build my fanbase so that when I branch off and do other things ima have customers and stuff. But I still want to be big in the music industry. just cause I wanna be great at everything that I do. But I don’t really see myself getting wrapped up in it, for real.
Talk to me about some of that business right and where you wanna go with it. Run up the bag? What are you investing in? What do you see yourself doing in the next 10 years?
After music, I feel like—well it’s not that that I feel like, I know for a fact that I'ma get into fashion. I already been starting on my fashion line, and I’m finna go to school for fashion, 'cause I really love fashion. I feel like that is where all the money is. Like, music is money, but if you look at the richest people in the world, they sell stuff. So, you know what I’m saying?
Music, we’re selling stuff. Most music artists, they don’t make all the money from the sales of they songs. They make their money from touring and merch and all this different stuff. So, it’s like, we not even getting paid for our real—like, if we was getting paid for our real songs, music artists would be way richer. But the labels getting paid for that, so the labels is rich.
But that's why Rihanna, she got her own thing. You see Beyonce branching off to fashion because that’s where the real money at. Even when you think about basketball players like LeBron. What do they make—they make from, like, shoes and stuff. They all—Michael Jordon, he got shoes. Like, everybody in the entertainment business knows that fashion, clothes, shoes, and selling stuff is where the real money is at.
Gotta educate. A lot don’t know that. If you could create a dream song what would it sound like and who would feature on the track? This is with an unlimited budget, past or present artist. Who would you put on the track?
If I had a dream song it would be a Pop song for sure. I would have Rihanna and Adele on that because both of them are just like, they fire. And I really like them.
If you could give one piece of advice to an up-and-coming musician what would be that advice?
My advice to an up-and-coming musician would be to basically just always continue to be themselves. 'Cause following trends, you will literally crash out trying to follow a trend 'cause trends die. And basically, continue to put out your work, put out your content. Don’t be scared to put out content, know the people around you, and know that everything is good.
'Cause a lot of times, when artists are blowing up and money start coming in, they just start thinking, "I’m lit, I’m getting money.” But they don't even know all the money that they missing out on. They don’t know that people doing stuff on the backend. And they don't know that they spending more than what they making. So, just being aware of everything that's going on and just continuing life. Be yourself in the process.