00:09Hey, this is Issa Rae, I am the star of the
00:11new movie, "The Photograph" in theaters now
and right now I'm with Genius and we're going
00:16to go Between the Lines.
00:21It is a dream come true to be mentioned in
00:25rap songs. The first reference I ever heard
was from Common and I was like, "What? I'm
00:33in a Common lyric." But then I started noticing
a common theme and I was like, "Oh, I fucked up."
00:39At this point, I'm only doing new projects
00:41so I don't get name checked as insecure. So,
that's really my only motivation. I hope that
00:45rappers continue to name drop me. "The Photograph"
is coming out. Hopefully, you can be like,
00:51"I take flicks like Issa Rae, Photograph all
day." That's just an example. That's the template,
00:58but you can make it better. Just think of
me beyond insecure, but I'm grateful either
01:03way, but let's do better. Challenge yourselves.
01:07"Squeeze" by Amine, my God.
01:17This was a blessing. First of all, I love
01:19Amine so much and I was in his Spice Girl
music video playing his prison bae, but I
01:25was cussing him out. So, was he really my
bae? No. I definitely practiced in the mirror.
01:31I never rap in the mirror, that was just something
I came up with for my web series, Awkward
01:36Black Girl that I knew I wanted to keep in "Insecure" and as a part of "Insecure." But yeah,
01:42it's just a good way to pump yourself up.
When I'm practicing, it's so I can see what
01:46my facial expressions are looking like so
I can be as animated as possible or chill
01:51as possible. You're literally seeing yourself
and in a way, that you never get a chance
01:55to. So, it's very useful.
01:57"Black is Gold" by Wale.
02:17He got my heritage up in there. Shout out
to my dad. I didn't necessarily claim my Senegalese
02:24side super hard because I didn't, I speak
French, but I don't speak Wolof and certain
02:29African communities were so tight knit and
had been born and raised there and so I didn't
02:34necessarily feel like I fit in with them,
but I was always proud of where I came from.
02:39And my future, potential kids will know that
they're Senegalese as well.
02:44We have "Sue Me" by Wale. Wale!
02:55I mean, I made it a hot line, he made
it a hot song. Thank you, Wale. This is amazing.
03:02When I tell you I did not want to go to the
Emmy's that day and I was forced. So, me being
03:08on the red carpet was just like, "What question
you got? Okay, cool. Yeah, this is my answer."
03:14And then, no. So, in short, I had no idea
that a quick red carpet interview that I did
03:19would have the impact that it's had. And,
I'm honest, I'm glad that I went that day.
03:24Thank you publicist for forcing me to go.
03:26China was making shirts out of it, run me
03:28my money, China. It was Chinese websites that
were buying domains like black pride, black
03:35sister, my sister, whatever. China, run me
my money. I was so mad. People were like,
03:41I bought your shirt, girl. Came up. And I
was like, "I am not selling shirts. I would
03:44never do that. So you bought a shirt from
somebody in China. Great."
03:48Bbymutha, "Janis Ian Dyke".
04:01I liked her energy in
this. Broken pussy bitches beware because
04:06Bbymutha's coming for you. "Mean Girls" is
a classic. It is a staple. So, Janis Ian rebel,
04:13kind of a mean girl too. Was Janis Ian a little
bit of a mean girl? She's very judgy. So,
04:19broken pussy came about after a conversation
between me and Larry Wilmore. The conversations
04:26that I would have with my real life friends
and one of my real life best friends in particular,
04:32And it was like, "what? Whatever show, whatever
04:35we're writing, we're putting that in there."
And as the pilot evolved, we had the idea
04:40to make that essential part of this, this
rap that Issa goes up to perform. The lyrics
04:46changed as the drafts evolved over time, but
for the most part, that core broken pussy
04:52bar stayed in there. And it's just crazy how
many people come up to me on the street and
04:59say broken pussy to me as if my pussy is broken.
It's not.
05:05"Situated" by Pharoahe Monch.
05:22This is black as fuck. Playing
spades with Issa Rae. Why he playing spades
05:26with me? He thinks I'd be a good partner?
I'm so honored. I'm not a good spades partner,
05:32but shout out to Pharoahe Monch for thinking
so. I wonder why he associated me with playing
05:36spades it it because spades and Issa Rae rhymes?
And Tanqueray? Oh, look at that. It rhymes
05:43more with Tanqueray, then spades. I don't
play it often, so when I get in and when I
05:47get three, four games in, then I'm good. But
obviously, that's not useful to my partner.
05:53So, I need to do a newbie's round of spades
first and then I'm untouchable.
06:02"Insecure" by Fabolous.
06:19I'm surprised that it took
someone so long to make this rhyme specifically
06:25because people always, story of my life, especially
coming up career wise, people be like, "Oh,
06:30Issa Rae's coming." And people would be like,
"LisaRaye?" And then they'd be like, "No,
06:34Issa Rae" and they'd be disappointed. Now
I know how they felt. I was like, "Oh shit,
06:39wait, run that back." It's so funny, I tweeted
just the lyrics and so many people guessed,
06:44I don't even know this song, but I know this
is a Fabolous bar. After this song and after
06:49this particular bar, it's kind of a wrap.
You can't do anymore. Okay, we get it. You're
06:55insecure like Issa Rae. Ha, ha, ha. It's done.
06:58"God Speed" by Royce da 5'9", which is very
07:02ironic title given these lyrics.
07:13That's a visual. It's not one
07:15that I would partake in, but like, I get it.
I get the word play there. Yeah, it's just
07:23"Go Girl" by Ro James.
07:33randomly listening to music, listening to
the hot new songs in my car and got to the
07:39third verse and was pleasantly surprised to
hear this song out loud and I hit up Wolf
07:44and I was like, "This? What? What did I do
to deserve this?" I just felt so honored.
07:51This song in particular and to be a part of
it, felt, I guess to me like, with the R & B
07:57music, it has gone the way of my "Suck my
dick bitch, if you know it what's good." It's
08:03always very provocative, it's less romantic
and to be a part of a song like this that's
08:09praising black women and takes us back to
the nineties era, through the video, through
08:14the music, it just made me feel nostalgic
and it makes me want to see more of this and
08:21to hear more of this kind of representation.
08:23I'm especially excited to be a part of a movie
08:26like "The Photograph" which pays homage to
those films of the past, like "Love Jones"
08:32and "Love and Basketball" and takes its role
seriously in terms of incorporating the images
08:37that we want to see in the mainstream again.
08:40"Nonchalant" by 6LACK. 6LACK, sorry.
08:52And I read it right on purpose because I know
what you meant, 6LACK-Black, but you know
08:58I appreciate the drop. If I didn't feel insecure,
I would be a superhero. I think that I'm for
09:04sure, very confident, but do I have insecurities?
Absolutely. Do those insecurities shift over
09:12time? Yes, but I will never not be insecure
about something.
09:17"Cranes in the Sky Remix," Common.
09:33name drop ever and I saw it on Twitter and
I screamed. I was like, "What? What this bitch
09:39talking about?" And then I looked up the song
and it was in a Solange remix, no less. So,
09:43it was just like all my worlds coming together.
I used to have a huge crush on Common back
09:48in the day. So, if only high school me knew
Common was going to shout you out in a song
09:52one day, those days would have been brighter.
You know, I'm a ray of sun. Let it be known.
09:59They had something in common. Yeah.
10:01A little punny here and there. I do this show and so
that was the reference. It was a reference
10:05to the show, not necessarily a personality
trait of mine. My favorite mention, I'm going
10:10to have to say all the ones that don't have
insecure. I mean I loved Amine's mention to this
10:16day because that song goes so hard. And Common
because he popped my rap cherry. And I love
10:26Wale because he turned "Sue Me" into such
a beautiful, beautiful song.
10:30What was the wackest one? Why you gon'
10:32do that? There were no wack ones whatsoever.
I'm not doing that so they could be like...
10:39In that bitch Issa Rae. No, I don't want
to change the bar. So, everyone stellar job.
