Amy Luciani Talks “Bag Lady,” ‘Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta’ & Her Charity Covered Atlanta

Amy Luciani is a whole vibe, and she’s here to leave her mark on the rap game. Hailing from Detroit but now residing in Atlanta, Amy prides herself in her strong, authentic sound while writing her own bars. Her tone is real and raw, and her lyrics are inspired by real-life experiences she’s lived through — which is what differentiates her from other female artists.

When asked to describe herself, Amy states she’s “as a girl who walks to her own beats. I love waking up me. I love learning, I don’t want to try to be anybody else. I try to find what I like, what entertains me, what I love to do. I try to work hard, stay in my own lane. I’m focused on my s###.

Most recently, Amy Luciani unveiled the official music video for “Bag Lady,” featuring Bigga Rankin. Completely freestyled off the dome, “Bag Lady” is a female empowerment record to go out there and get in your bag, putting in the work and hustling to get to where you want to be.

To date, Amy’s gotten some big cosigns from Rick Ross, JT from the CityGirls, Latto, and more. Additionally, Amy Luciani will be joining the cast of MTV’s reboot of Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta, which airs on June 13th. 

AllHipHop spoke with Amy Luciani in downtown Los Angeles to discuss her roots in Detroit, being part of a girl group with her sisters, her name, shooting “Bag Lady,” secret to abs, doing Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta, her charity Covered Atlanta, writing her own children’s book, new EP Amy’s World, and more!

AllHipHop: How important is it to write your own bars?

Amy Luciani: It’s very important to write your own bars. No shade, I know a lot of people aren’t doing that right. lt’s the norm now. Being an artist and being able to be prideful in saying what you really feel, it comes off better on the track. Versus reading somebody’s lyrics and having to memorize it, “no say it in this tone.” It can work, but it’s so much of a better sound when you can tell she meant that. She said it, she probably wrote that s###. If you’re a real music artist or a person who listens to music, you can start differentiating who’s getting written for and who’s saying it passionately. It’s very important I continue to write my music, so I can let the girls know: this is how I feel. This is really my emotions. It brings people more personal to the music.

AllHipHop: You’re from Detroit originally, how was that growing up?

Amy Luciani: Detroit was definitely a city where you grow up fast. You learn quick, we definitely jumped off the porch probably much faster than we should have. But it’s a city you’re gonna learn how to hustle. You gon’ know how to work out there. You either gon’ drown out there, or you gon’ stay afloat. It’s not really you’re rich or poor, most of us are right in the middle of trying to be successful. It’s definitely a city where you watch a lot of women hustle and try to grind, try to get out of the lower community areas — which most of Detroit is. It’s a city where you’re going to learn to get some tough skin.

AllHipHop: More than ever, Detroit has the biggest Hip Hop wave. Are you influenced by any of those artists? 

Amy Luciani: I won’t say I’m influenced by any of the artists in Detroit, but I’m influenced by anybody that’s hustling. I don’t really want my sound to be particularly “oh, that’s a Detroit artist.” I want it to be universal, I want everybody to rock with me. Sometimes, Detroit artists are really talented, but they categorize us as “that’s the Detroit artist.” I notice with a lot of the sounds coming out, our accents are so heavy, and our delivery and the type of beats we rap on, that most Detroit artists get stuck on being like “play that Detroit sound. I like that Detroit sound.” I don’t want to just be a Detroit artist, I want a sound. I incorporate the finesse of being from the city, but I don’t want people to identify me and group me into that.

AllHipHop: When did you realize you could do music for a living?

Amy Luciani: I’ve been doing music on and off since I was a kid. My three sisters and I had a singing group called Entrance when we were kids. We used to tour, we used to open up for Bow Wow, B2K. We were on TV shows. We all sung and rap so at one point, we were the little girls in Detroit rapping. We got a buzz going. I’ve always known I’d do music, but more recently I realized I should focus on it more and make it into a career. It’s always been a hobby and something I was good at, so I had the energy like girl, you can always come back to this. This is what you do naturally. But as of recently, I’m like no, you need to make this into a career and really focus. Recently, we’ve been going hard with it.

AllHipHop: Before that, what was your main focus?

Amy Luciani: My business, building my brand. I was doing a lot of things to get the name and the voice out. A lot of brand partnerships, writing for others. Doing studio mixes, mingling, because I was writing at one point for different artists. Coming in and out to write for different companies and labels. Even while I was doing that, I’m thinking girl, I got a whole idea. I’m trying to get this deal, y’all think I’m in here just to write. I’m in here to network with y’all. I’ve definitely been working for a long time, trying to pull this off.

AllHipHop: What’s the inspiration behind your name?

Amy Luciani: Funny thing is, my real name is Amber Rose. That’s my government name. Technically no shade, I’m the real Amber Rose. The Amber Rose name isn’t Amber Rose, I’m really Amber Rose. I always went by my government name. Of course when Amber Rose emerged on the scene, I remember someone’s like, “oh I see you’re at this big club in Atlanta this weekend.” This is the third call I’ve gotten about that, no I’m not. What’s going on? They’re like, “It’s all over the radio, Amber Rose.” Who the f### is Amber Rose? Of course naturally, I go to Google. Who is this?

After a while, trying to pursue the music, I’m tired of running into conflict of interest. Which Amber Rose are you? Did you get your name from her? Did she get it from you? You know what, the fake name I give to guys in the clubs has always been Amy. My sisters know. If I say Amy, they know this is not a guy I’m interested in. Eventually I told my team, I think I’ma come up with an artist name because this Amber Rose thing is starting to be such a clash on what I’m trying to do. They’re like, “b#### that’s your name. Keep it, fight over it.” Ehhh. I was listening for a while, but Amy was my fake name in the club. Luciani just sounded gangsta. I just put the two together, Amy Luciani.

AllHipHop: You just dropped “Bag Lady,” best memory from the music video?

Amy Luciani: I’m not gonna lie, just seeing everybody. Me not being from Atlanta, when I moved to Atlanta, I moved to an area that wasn’t so good at first called Clayton County. I was there eight years in a row when I first moved down, so I really did a lot of work out there. I did all the open mics. I’ve won competitions, I’ve lost competitions. I’ve really done the independent artist thing in Clayton County. This is my first video I’m about to really go big with, I gotta go back to the stomping grounds of the city that stood behind me when I left Detroit. 

What was important about that is to look up, it was so many promoters, DJs, big, small, in the middle that I hadn’t seen in 10 years. To see them showing up when the career is a little higher up then what they last saw me, everybody was congratulating me. “We’ve been watching from afar. We haven’t seen you in a while, but b#### look.” That was the best part, to see everybody happy. “B#### you working, we were not missing this.” I seen a guy who used to really put me on a lot of stages, I hadn’t seen him in about 10/11 years. He said “I was not missing this. I’m so f###### proud of you.” I felt real good. I could see a little growth. Sometimes when you’re doing it, you don’t really see the growth or feel it, because you’re really in it. But that showed me like damn, I really have been in Atlanta for a while. Look at all these old faces and new faces. It felt good.

AllHipHop: What brought you to Atlanta? The music?

Amy Luciani: The music, yup. Shout out to DJ Scream. I was always doing my music. Even the year I moved to Atlanta, DJ Scream reached out to me. “You’re dope. I think you should give Atlanta a try. Even if you come up here, work. Detroit is cool, but I’m a DJ.” He was one of the biggest at the time. He’s like, “Detroit has a cap for y’all female artists. You’re gonna get here, what else is in Detroit? There’s not too many media outlets, not too many stages to perform. It’s Detroit.” I came out for one weekend, I’m like yeah moving to Atlanta next year. I end up coming in nine months after that.

AllHipHop: I was watching your video, sis has abs. Secret to staying snatched?

Amy Luciani: You gotta workout, because I am not a healthy eater. Literally, I’m not a full body workout person. I’m not a fake person, I can’t say I diet. I don’t. 

AllHipHop: Are you just blessed? Because some people are blessed.

Amy Luciani: Half of it is blessed, but I have lost the blessed body before. Eating, coming onto a little money like oh b####, I can eat steak and lobster every day. I definitely had to come back down. I’m not a gym head, I can’t dedicate myself to a gym. But I mentally wake up and I immediately get down. I’m crunching, because I know I’m not doing it for the rest of the day. You start doing it, you can almost form ab definition. Girl, do it every day. Try to do 50 of them every single day, you’ll be like “is this abs coming?” Imagine six months later. If you eat b####### like me, you gotta balance it. I got the body where you can see me, I could be slim and fine. In six months, I could be another size bigger. I gotta get down and do my crunches.

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AllHipHop: Definitely want to talk about Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta! Congratulations. What’s been the highlight so far? 

Amy Luciani: Thank you. I’m just appreciative to be able to be on such a big platform, to showcase the music. This is the third time the show has reached out for me. I accepted this one because the first two times weren’t going to be around the music, it was around nonsense. People from the past that I’ve dated in the industry, b#######. 

AllHipHop: Who you dated?!

Amy Luciani: Some people, some boys that ain’t worth mentioning. [laughs] But they wanted to dig into old stuff that was literally seven, eight years ago. I didn’t want that to be my story. I’m not coming on as “the talented artist who used to date someone so and so.” This year for them to come back and make it focused on music, the sound and everything my team and I are building, I felt like it was a perfect opportunity. 

The best part about it is showcasing the music. They’ve been in the studio with me, they flew to Texas with me. They’re really focused on music. That’s been an entire goal for the last year to put all the energy into the music, so to take opportunity to get such viewership for all these people, I’m excited. It’s like a billboard for the music I’ve been working real hard on. 

AllHipHop: I remember I had Amina Buddafly on my show. She said when Love & Hip Hop aired, she got 20K followers the first night. Do you expect your following to grow as it airs on June 13th?

Amy Luciani: We did the first press release two weeks ago, and I started seeing the insights go up. But I’m a social media person anyways, that’s where I started from. I already know once the show comes out, it’s gonna do its natural thing. The following will grow, which means more money. Because I don’t give a damn about them the numbers and following, I’m trying to make it make sense for business. Numbers gon’ bring the money, so I’m definitely excited. 

AllHipHop: What was your first moment of social media success? Did you go viral? 

Amy Luciani: I first went viral on The Shade Room, I did a freestyle. I honestly was in my old hood ass apartment. My hair was all over my head and somebody recorded me. I’m reading it off a paper, that’s what I used to write my verses. I’m reading it, going off. The first person who posted it was Avant, the singer. That was so odd. He’s like, “This is what they want to hear. Some real bars, who is she?” 

The next thing I know, Worldstar posted. I woke up to The Shade Room posted it. I swear to God, overnight. I got 60K in one night. The next day, I went up another 40K. What the hell, how is this possible? Oh, so that’s what it takes. I started doing more freestyles. I ended up dating somebody, we were doing content. Really content was paying the bills for a long way. We gon’ use this network of viral situations and refocus it on the music.

AllHipHop: Were any labels calling?

Amy Luciani: I’ve had quite a few label meetings. It’s so tricky, because you can get the money amount you want — the money offers were never the issue for me. It was always the stipulations. I don’t believe in 360 deals. Because you signed me, you now get a percentage off my YouTube. Off my product Pritty Kitty, things I did before I ever met you guys. 

Most labels are 360s this time around, but I’m not going for it. I know the right situation is gonna come, we gon’ see. I’ve worked so hard to get played in the end. Right now, I’ve had a lot of success and blessings without a label. If one is to come and I accept the offer, it gotta make sense. Because I’ve already figured out how to do it without a label. 

AllHipHop: How is the independent grind? 

Amy Luciani: I love it. I love to be able to run my own narrative. I’m cool with the labels, they control in a smart way because they put so much money behind. But you can lose the narration of who you are as an artist. If they say, “we want you to start dressing this way or become this person,” what do you say when you got $2 million in your face? Being independent and being able to be myself while still making the money, I might not make as much as the label. Again it’s given, because it’s not your money. We know you’re paying that s### back. I rather do it my way, keep the money and pay my team. But I always say if the right label presents itself and it makes sense, I definitely would entertain it.

AllHipHop: Talk about getting cosigns from Rick Ross, JT, and Latto. How did those happen?

Amy Luciani: That feels really good. I definitely want to shout out Ross, one of the first people who reshared a video. Two years ago, DMed me. I sent him some records. I did a sponsorship with Bel-Air and him behind it. We were supposed to be in a studio but whatever he got going on, it never happened. I’m not doing no begging, but it’s gonna happen right on time. 

To see people like Latto and JT even comment on things I’ve done, it’s clarification: keep going. Keep working. I don’t really do it for the people who’ve already made it to notice me, but to get that appreciation when they’re already up there. They don’t have to look back right like “she’s fire. Let me go repost her.” I definitely appreciate it because it looks good to people. It lets you know, you’re not working in vain. They see you.

AllHipHop: Talk about your Covered Atlanta charity organization, that’s so dope.

Amy Luciani: Thank you. I started Covered Atlanta in 2017. It started off with giving covers, blankets, pillows, pillowcases to a lot of the less fortunate, the homeless people all around Atlanta. It’s a lot downtown. I was going somewhere and I saw it, I came to offer someone who was less fortunate. Whether it was food or money, I remember she said “I really need a blanket. A pillow.” Dang, I never thought about that. First thing I do is: here’s $5. Here’s $1, $10, whatever I have. She said “do you have a blanket in your trunk? Do you have a pillow?” Duh, they need blankets and pillows! 

You know what? I’m about to start a charity. I went and started the charity, my mom helped me license it. My first Covered Atlanta, I had a little over 300 people show up that day. Everybody brought a gently used blanket, a cover, pillows. We walked the whole strip, everybody got a blanket. Imagine weeks driving by and you’re seeing them covered up. I felt better doing that versus giving them $5, where it could be misused. Could be mismanaged, but you can’t really mismanage a blanket. And we know you need it. 

From there, we started doing toiletries with one of the big corporations downtown. I partnered with Helping Hand Foundation. We started doing contraceptives, condoms, all types of kits for different sexually transmitted diseases. A lot of stuff the homeless deal with. It grew, we started collecting sleeping bags. One year, I collected over a thousand sleeping bags. I focus on trying to keep them warm during the winter season. Of course, I want to do Covered Detroit. Maybe Covered California, with your help.

AllHipHop: Girl, you know Cali needs it!

Amy Luciani: Definitely, because we saw the tents. We gon’ grow it, we’ll make it a Covered foundation where we cover all the cities. That’s the ultimate goal.

AllHipHop: You wrote a children’s book?

Amy Luciani: I did. I’m an eight times aunt, seven girls one boy. I have a brother too, it’s five of us total. My brother has one little girl, I’m the only sibling with no kids. I wrote a children’s book called Good Touch, Bad Touch. I’m releasing it mid-July. It’s a healthier and more softer conversation for parents, or even an aunt or grandmother or father that are raising kids, about inappropriate touching. What makes it inappropriate, teaching them how to comfortably talk it.

They are young and they don’t know what uncle did that was inappropriate. Not only men always, what the aunt did, or the babysitter or stepbrother did. They don’t know because it’s a conversation that’s obviously uncomfortable. Obviously it’s age. How old are they before we talk about it? My mom was super hands-on, but she didn’t have too many conversations about inappropriate touching. I was inappropriately touched by an uncle. I got in high school and  realized what he was doing. After I shared with my mom, she was only wondering why didn’t I tell her? At the time, I didn’t know. I got older, so inappropriate what he was doing! It could’ve been so worse, thank God it wasn’t. The little he was doing, I didn’t know. Is that bad? Is that inappropriate? Do I speak up and tell it?

As my nieces were getting older and started spending the night at people’s houses, their friends would come to my home. I had a fiance at one time who lived in the  house, we had a house full of kids. I’d always look at the kids and ask little questions. I’ve noticed, they’re not being talked to about inappropriate touching. They wouldn’t even know that’s inappropriate, so I wrote the book. It’s really good for kids. It’s illustrated, bright pictures. Every ethnicity in the book: Chinese, black, Muslim, everybody. It’s really a conversation that needs to happen, especially in the black community. Because research shows we are the most sexually either offended or assaulted race. Not saying we have the worst s### happening to us as black people, but typically we have more single home parents in the black community. Even with my mom having five kids, single mom.

Mom is trying to get a babysitter, uncle might have to babysit. The neighbor might have to babysit, the stepdaughter. There’s a lot going on with African American households where the parents are out working and we have to depend on the community to help us, babysit us, assist in raising us. Not everybody’s going to be appropriate when children are left in their care. I wanted to write a book where parents can have that conversation. Almost possibly save a child or a life by at least letting them know if this happens, this is how you comfortably talk to me about it. Because it’s not that us as kids don’t want to tell you, sometimes it’s so embarrassing and awkward where we’re trying to figure out what was that? What was he doing? Did that just happen? 

We don’t know how to talk about it. The book is a one on one conversation. It’s not a book I’d propose for a school reading. This is if you had a child and their turning of age: hey, let me sit down. Let me read this. Your child walks away, they’re gonna know these parts you don’t touch, unless your mommy and daddy saw. Definitely a book I’m excited to drop in, it’s gonna be real helpful to everybody.

AllHipHop: What are you excited for next? 

Amy Luciani: Girl, I’m excited. I’m trying to get a #1 record. I’m focused on the music. I’ve been doing 15, 17 hour a week studio sessions. Really focused on putting together this EP I’m about to drop called Amy’s World. Trying to get the best songs on there, the best production, and really letting them know I’m here. The music is here. I know they know me from a lot of social media, a lot of viral this. A lot of supporting and writing for this person, but this season is about my music. I’m excited to bring them into Amy’s World. 

AllHipHop: Anything else you want to let us know?

Amy Luciani: Just keep your eyes open. Amy Luciani is definitely coming. I’m definitely excited to bring back more lyrics to the industry. I want to bring back substance. I know some girls are doing it, some are not. I love for everybody who’s winning, but I definitely want to bridge back the pretty face with the bars. We might be going a little farther away from a story in music or a moment, a feeling, emotions in music, so I definitely want to bring back lyrics. 

I hear a lot of people talking about the girls aren’t doing it. I’m silently waving my hand like, listen to me! I’m gonna keep making the voice louder so they can really see there is a girl out here that’s rapping while making good music. Next focus is making the voice louder, and the name louder.