Dawn Richard has had quite the journey throughout her career. The world watched as the singer auditioned for Diddy back in 2005 for Making The Band on MTV and saw the rise of pop girl group Danity Kane. By 2009 DK was a wrap and Richard was working with Bad Boy Records, eventually joining Diddy and Kalena Harper to create Diddy-Dirty Money.
Since that time the 35-year-old has continued to evolve both professionally and musically, so it's no surprise that when Jezebel asked her to name an artist she considered to be groundbreaking, she gave herself the title. “I don’t want to be cocky but, yeah,” she said. “I think what we’re doing is pretty f**king groundbreaking. And I had to say me because you know the reality is when you’re independent, you don’t get cheerleaders. So you have to co-sign yourself because if not, you'll miss the moment."
In January, Richard released her fifth studio album new breed, but she's never far from reuniting with her Danity Kane sisters. Five years ago the women got together to revamp themselves as DK3, considering only three of the original members agreed to regroup. That same year things fizzled once again, but in 2018 the ladies gave it another go.
"The recent DK reunion is awesome," Richard said. "We just choose to never give up on the brand and who we are and the fans, right? They've been very loyal to us. And though we have put them through the f**king ringer...man. We're like that boyfriend that just keeps f**king up, right? They've been very loyal to us and so, I think we understand that and we want to give them what they deserve."
Things weren't always so friendly with bandmate O'Day, but Richard revealed that they talked things out and decided that even though they were on the same page, they needed to look at the bigger picture in order to work together and get that paper. "So, there was reconciliation between me and Aubrey," she said. "She text me and said, 'I'd love to talk.'" I was skeptical at first but she came from a genuine place and we talked for like, eight hours. We realized that we come from different places. I wanted to explain to her the reality of what it is being a black female. We never really that conversation of me and my journey as a black woman in this industry and her journey as a white woman and the differences in how we see things. And though we don't agree on everything as women, we don't always have to agree on everything and still get the job done."