Amber Rose is a legend in her own right, and she continues to bless the world with her undeniable energy and beauty. Best known for her nickname MUVA, Amber is a down home South Philly chick at heart. And while she boasts over 23.1 million followers on Instagram alone, her humility is what fans can appreciate most.
Amber stands for all things female empowerment and women’s rights, reminding individuals all around the world to be confident, unapologetic, and always stand their ground regardless what comes their way. Using her enormous platform for the greater good, Amber went on to start the SlutWalk, a global movement calling for an end to rape culture, including victim blaming and s### shaming of sexual assault victims.
Surrounded by music her entire life, dating back to her roots in Philly, Amber is finally ready to step into the limelight as her own recording artist. Most recently, Amber connected with the legendary Mannie Fresh to release her new single and visual “GYHO,” which stands for “Get Your Hoe On.” The songs flip the Cash Money classic, “Get Your Roll On” by Big Tymers.
On the 44th episode of Shirley’s Temple, Amber Rose discusses getting Nicki Minaj on Kanye’s “Monster,” working with Mannie Fresh, her mental health, going through divorce, her experiences with therapy, her forthcoming album, and more!
AllHipHop: Definitely want to touch on the music, I saw an interview where you said you were doing music even before you were pregnant.
Amber Rose: So I’ve been working on my album right after I had my baby, so two years. Everything is pretty much done now, and I’m doing it all independently. Have really dope features.
AllHipHop: Give us one.
Amber Rose: I can’t. I can’t give you one, but you’ll be really surprised. I really took my time. I always loved music, I just always focused on other people’s music. I said f### it, I want to do it.
AllHipHop: That’s not talked about enough though. The fact that you got Nicki Minaj on “Monster,” that’s legendary.
Amber Rose: You know what’s so crazy about that? Nicki already said that eight years ago. Kanye already said that 10 years ago. Once I say it, it’s craziness. Everyone just goes crazy. I’m a type of person, I would have never said that if they didn’t already say it. There’s so many different things that I’ve done throughout the years that I will never talk about because I don’t feel like I need validation. But when I said it, I’m like how do you guys not know this? They already said it before.
AllHipHop: Did you get the A&R credit?
Amber Rose: No, I don’t think so. I never really looked into it. Again, I don’t do things for that reason. She’s dope, he has a song that she’d be dope on, I wanted to put that together. People think, how could he have not known her at the time? But you gotta think, once the album comes out, that was two years before that. It takes a long time. I love Nicki, she’s so talented. I’ve watched her career throughout the years, and I’m proud of her.
AllHipHop: When did you feel like you were ready to release music? You didn’t say anything for two years.
Amber Rose: Because I have children, I really didn’t want to be out during the pandemic when we really didn’t know what was going on. Wear a mask, don’t wear a mask. Six feet, blah blah blah. Watching the news every day, people were really dying left and right and it was really scary. I wanted to be in my house, go to the studio, go back to the house. Just wait for the right moment to be able to put it out and feel free to work it.
AllHipHop: You gotta tell us how “GYHO” with Mannie Fresh happened.
Amber Rose: I hit him in the DM, to be honest. That’s how I got most of my features, I DM them and hope for the best. The worst thing someone could say is no. You’ll be like okay cool, I’ll hit somebody else up and see if they say yes. And that’s what I did.
With Mannie Fresh, I said I want to do “GYHO” over “Get Your Roll On” beat. I initially had the “GYHO” beat sped up and looped, and I sent it to him. He said “this is f###### fire, but I need you to come down to Houston and let me reproduce the whole thing.” It was tight, we went to his house. He has a whole huge studio at his house, he was so accommodating and so f###### dope. Sometimes I still can’t believe that I worked with Mannie Fresh, it’s crazy.
AllHipHop: That moment must be surreal for you. Just seeing other rappers and their legendary sessions, and to now have your own. How does that feel?
Amber Rose: For him to want to work with me, that’s really cool. Because he could have wrote me off and said “b####, why the f### you trying to do music now?” I know that people feel like that and that’s fine, you have to prove them wrong. He had my back from the beginning. He loved my voice and said “yo, this s### is tight. Let’s do it.”
AllHipHop: Talk about getting him in the video, I thought that was legendary.
Amber Rose: We flew to the Dominican Republic, we shot it there. We got a huge big ass mansion out there, partied and worked. It was fun. Shout out to Playboy, shout out to Centerfold. Playboy definitely helped all that happen. “GYHO” was everythingthey wanted to be about. It was empowering for women to own our bodies and do what we want without explaining ourselves, and that’s what Playboy and Centerfold is all about.
Also, a misconception that I put that song out the same day Roe v. Wade got overturned was just not the case. When you’re independent, you have to upload a song a month before and set a date, then it comes out that date.
AllHipHop: Who do you distribute through?
Amber Rose: Distrokid, I do everything through Distro. I didn’t know that was going to happen, it actually came out the day before that happened. I saw that all over the internet. Why would I say: okay it’s such a traumatic time for women, let me put out a song. Some things people need to know, it’s ridiculous to think that.
AllHipHop: A big part of the show is mental health. How are you doing? How is your mental state?
Amber Rose: My mental health is better. What I do besides meditate, I really am into Buddhism. I’m learning, but I love that they’re not judgy. It’s really a simple philosophy of be a good person, and I love that. It’s not like if you’re gay, you’re going to hell. If you lie to someone… Christianity and all that s###, I don’t even want to get into that because that’ll take hours. Just be a good person.
One thing that I do for meditation is K’NEX. You can make ferris wheels, you can make helicopters. They came out in 1992, I came across them on Amazon one day. I’m like oh s###, I used to do this as a kid! They had a motorcycle one, so I made it for Slash. My little baby. I sat there for two hours, I didn’t think about anything. I didn’t think about b####### or my family or any toxicity or anything that I’d been through. It really was a form of meditation. Now I literally bought every one you can get. They have the Eiffel Tower, the Empire State Building. I take my time and put them all together.
AllHipHop: How do you fall into Buddhism? Did you have an awakening?
Amber Rose: One of my family members was Jesus-ing me to death. One of my friends said “you know Buddhism is the #1 philosophy/religion in the world?” I never really looked up Buddhism. I started looking it up, I started getting books. I’d read and read and read all day. I like it, itfeels good. It feels comfortable. I went to a Buddhist temple.
AllHipHop: I was going to ask if you went to a temple.
Amber Rose: Yeah, I took my niece. It was really nice. Again, it wasn’t like the church where if you have pink hair, you’re not welcome. I can’t even get into that. Everyone there was from all different walks of life. It was very welcoming, loving and warm. I just felt comfortable.
AllHipHop: Your divorce with Wiz was very difficult. What helped you get through that? I’m sure there’s a lot of females out there that are in the same position.
Amber Rose: I cried for three years straight, while dating other people. I’d be with them, then go in the bathroom and cry. I watched my mom be in such a toxic relationship my whole life. When they broke up, she never moved on. She was forever f##### up over that. It’s been 14 years now and she still hasn’t dated anyone since then.
That’s one of the mistakes I made during my divorce, was pushing myself to date people because I didn’t want to be like my mom. But I wasn’t ready. It’s f##### up, but it’s true. I can be honest. I’d be out on dates with them and literally go in the bathroom and cry. Come back and be like okay! I wasn’t happy for a long time.
AllHipHop: What finally helped you?
Amber Rose: I cried it out until I couldn’t cry anymore, that’s all you can do. Nothing can mend a heartbreak, it just takes time. It doesn’t just go away. There’s no Buddhism or nothing you can do to make that feeling go away. You gotta let time heal it.
Just know it’s temporary. When you really love somebody like that, that never goes away. But it does get better, it definitely gets better. That’s why me and Wiz coparent so well, because we’ve come to terms with our relationship a long time ago. We respect each other and our significant others. When we have parties for Sebastian, we all come together as a family. Even AE and Wiz, we all get along. There are times where Slash wants to go to Wiz’s house to see his brother, we’re one big happy family now.
AllHipHop: That obviously had to take time, right?
Amber Rose: Yeah, it takes time. We’ve always been really good coparents. Because even if you’re mourning, you still have to make it about the kids. You can’t make it about you, or who he’s dating or who you’re dating. You gotta make it about your baby, and that’s what we did.
AllHipHop: Growing up with divorced parents, were there things you saw that you didn’t want to happen in your own life?
Amber Rose: With my mom’s situation, I didn’t want to end up like that so I forced myself to date when I wasn’t ready. Being famous and married is a million times harder. If the statistics already say “non-famous people are getting divorced at a rapid rate” – when you’re famous, it’s way harder. We get photographed or there’s fake stories about us.
If I go out with my friends and an NBA player is in the same restaurant, the next day: “Amber was seen with so and so.” I don’t know him! That’s unfair for you to make a story about me, and now I have to live with that and explain myself when it’s not the case. It makes it that much harder. Especially, we were young when we got married. We weren’t really prepared mentally for that.
AllHipHop: When was the first time you went to therapy?
Amber Rose: A couple of years ago. It didn’t really help me. I guess it was someone to talk to, but for me, make the pain go away. And therapy doesn’t do that, they just talk and they’ll give you homework for a week. Then you’ll talk to them the following Thursday.
“Hey, don’t have these negative thoughts. I’ll see you on Thursday.” B####, I just paid you $400. What’re you telling me right now? Give me something, I’m paying you to figure it out. People should try it though, it might work for them. There’s therapy for a reason, but it wasn’t for me.
AllHipHop: You went to couple’s therapy right?
Amber Rose: It was the same. It was just homework. You need to figure out what’s wrong with you, and move accordingly. Because that’s not my problem.
AllHipHop: Was mental health discussed in your household growing up?
Amber Rose: Girl, hell no. Not at all. My whole family is f##### up.
AllHipHop: Do you discuss it in your household?
Amber Rose: Yes. My children are very little, so it’s not really a conversation with them yet. You know what, I’m lying. Because with Sebastian, he has friends that gaslight him. They’re young, so I try to have those conversations with Sebastian. Because he has a friend, she always makes him jealous on purpose. That’s not a real friend Sebastian.
Because a real friend would be honest with you and say, “I want to play with a different friend today.” Or “I have a playdate with this person, I’ll call you when I’m done.” He’s so loving and sensitive, he really gets his feelings hurt. She’ll be like, “I’m not playing with you now because my best friend is here.” Sebastian, that’s not cool. You don’t need to be friends with people like that. I want to be like b####! Talk to my f###### son like that. [laughs] I’m playing. She’s nine.
AllHipHop: I know you named Slash after Guns N’ Roses, music’s really been a part of your life.
Amber Rose: Yeah babe, I grew up in South Philly. I grew up in a very soulful city. Every barber shop, every corner store, every hair salon, every car that drove by, it’s always music. My mom was a waitress my whole life. When I was young, she couldn’t afford a babysitter. I’d have to sit in a booth in the diner and listen to music all day, color and s###.
I was Sebastian’s age: eight, nine years old. I knew all the Four Tops, Temptations. I knew Donna Summers, Anita Baker, word for word. I knew every song ever. I’d go home and watch MTV, so I knew all the grunge, the heavy metal, the rap. I knew it all. I fell in love with it. That’s probably why I date artists, because I think it’s hot. Being creative, I want to be around this.
AllHipHop: Is there a line that you can’t cross in hoeing?
Amber Rose: People are so shocked that I say that. I’m not saying please go out and share your body with everyone. I’m not telling people to do that. I’m simply saying that those derogatory labels that are used against women, will be used against you anyway. So live your best life, whatever that may be. Because again, I was called a hoe online when I had one boyfriend in the industry. I was the biggest w#### on earth, I had one boyfriend.
It got to the point where bruh, I’m not dealing with this s###. If I’m a hoe because I’ve dated your favorite rapper and now you’re mad at me, that’s also kind of gay. Stop being mad at me because I’ve dated your favorite rapper and they loved me. That’s what you’re really mad about, because they all loved me. It wasn’t fake relationships. We cared about each other, regardless of who I dated. Why are you really upset? Why am I called all these derogatory labels? That’s why I got to the point where I embrace the derogatory labels and I don’t let them hurt me. My fanbase and all the girls do the same. You know what? I’m not going to let this hurt me either. We created a whole movement around that.
It’s similar to what the gay community did with the F-word. These kids were committing suicide because they were being called that in school, they didn’t want to live like that. Now gay boys call each other that all the time. Same thing with the N-word with black people, we’re taking these words back and not letting them hurt us anymore.
When I say be a compassionate hoe: why are you out f###### married women or married men? Why are you breaking up homes on purpose? Because you think it’s cool, it’s not. You can go be single and be a hoe, that’s what I’m telling you to do. If you want to do that, you should do that. But don’t involve family and children, people’s hearts and their mental health. That’s not cool, that’s not what I’m about at all.
AllHipHop: What can we expect from your album?
Amber Rose: My album is a mix of Marilyn Manson, System of Down, Madonna, Rick Ross, and Lil Kim had a baby. That’s my album. “GYHO” was literally put out to disrupt the market. We didn’t even make a clean version for radio. We wanted to p### people off real quick, and that’s the tip of the iceberg of the songs that we have.