SHIFTER’s Yannick Mutombo speaks with rapper ScarLip about carrying East Coast hip hop into a new era on her new mixtape Scarred B4 Fame.
“I stay me. I keep it real. I bring that ScarLip energy. I don’t let other people sway [who] I am or what I do.”
Hip hop experienced another significant milestone when the Bronx-born genre celebrated its 50th anniversary— the 2020s female rap boom. Let’s face it, Nicki Minaj dominated the 2010s. And, by the turn of the decade, Minaj had cemented the blueprint for a new class of aspiring femcees such as Megan Thee Stallion, Cardi B, Latto, and Doja Cat to capitalize on the public’s renewed hunger for female rap, its profitability, and the potential to crossover into bonafide pop stardom.
IN THE BEGINNING | A BRONX TALE
Today, ScarLip is one such rapper. She, too, was born in the Bronx, and it was her embodiment of East Coast and hardcore hip-hop which characterized her 2023 breakout single, “This Is New York”. The song received critical acclaim for its grittiness, authenticity, and cathartic lyricism. In 2024, ScarLip landed a spot on XXL’s Freshman Class roundup, garnering further praise for her and poetic freestyle and electrifying cypher. Said one commenter, “ScarLip raps like a supervillain casting spells”. ScarLip’s rise to fame is intertwined with the complex history of Black Americans and hip-hop music, which she may further complicate. For now, she’s only scratched the surface.
“I was born in the Bronx, raised in Brooklyn. I bounced around a lot as a kid. New York has a big impact on my life, the way I dress, the way I talk, the way I move, my culture, you know what I’m saying?”
ScarLip joined our video call from her apartment in New York. We both donned black headgear (hers, a headscarf, mine, a durag). She remained standing in her kitchen for the entirety of our interview and let her eyes wander while she searched for an adequate response to my questions, often pausing a few beats. Some might think she’s timid. But if you squint, you realize there is a measured self-assuredness to her at play; the outcome of a tumultuous childhood and teen years.
“I was born in the Bronx, raised in Brooklyn. I bounced around a lot as a kid. New York has a big impact on my life, the way I dress, the way I talk, the way I move, my culture, you know what I’m saying? That’s the land of hip-hop, and it was embedded in me. I definitely carry that on my back”, she began.
ScarLip’s mother died in a hit and run when the rapper was 12. As a teenager, she entered the foster care system and migrated from home to home. This was ScarLip’s introduction to writing poetry and rap.
“A lot of people don’t have outlets. Some people [take] other routes, do bad things or harm themselves. When I started writing, that was a way of getting my feelings out in a healthy way. Music definitely saved my life”, she said.
Multiple female rappers have achieved mainstream recognition and chart success in the last five years. And yet, hip-hop remains a male-dominated genre. Misogyny often runs rampant, and female artists often experience predation, coercion or other forms of violence at the hands of men in the industry (i.e. the shooting of Megan Thee Stallion). Still, ScarLip remains optimistic about asserting her presence—she is uninterested in conformity.
“A lot of people don’t have outlets. Some people [take] other routes, do bad things or harm themselves. When I started writing, that was a way of getting my feelings out in a healthy way. Music definitely saved my life.”
“I stay me. I keep it real. I bring that ScarLip energy. I don’t let other people sway [who] I am or what I do. If I come and I got my [Timberland boots] on, and I rap like this, and talk like this, I’m not gonna change it because it’s cool to be something else. This is how I got in the game, and this is what people love me for”, she explained.
Being well-versed in the female rap landscape, namely in the East Coast and the South, ScarLip listed Nicki Minaj, Cardi B, Megan Thee Stallion, and GloRilla as her current favorite female rappers. Each woman is a trailblazer in her own right. But what sets the latter three apart from Minaj—and subsequently characterizes ScarLip’s own ascent—is internet virality. After her song “Glizzy Gobbler” blew up on TikTok in 2022, her follow-up and subsequent breakout “This Is New York” became popular across Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok, earning cosigns from Busta Rhymes and Cardi B, a remix with Snoop Dogg, and a record deal with Epic Records.
“What people don’t understand is when you’re young, and you’re not really a rapper, not a celebrity, you’re not creating to make the next viral record. We’re just creating. We’re in our zone, coming up with ideas and trying things. And so, [with] [‘This Is New York’], I was like, ‘yo, let me do this DMX-type beat’. We went in the studio and it just came. You’re not thinking too much. You know what I’m saying? Just having fun”, she said.
LATEST MUSIC AND PAYING HOMAGE
Scarred B4 Fame is ScarLip’s latest mixtape, her first full-length release under Epic Records. Don’t be fooled by its 20-minute runtime—the star-studded project is an immersive amalgamation of newer and older tracks which deftly demonstrate ScarLip’s stylistic versatility.
“Some of these songs [were] made seven years ago, before I even got a deal. Like ‘Lord Please’. When you hear Anthony Hamilton singing, that was my reference. ‘Fruity Pebbles’ was also made before [signing]. There’s new tracks—‘Melanin’ was a freestyle turned into a record, ‘Pop That’ was a record Swizz Beatz [produced]. Beatz had to drag me into the studio and say, ‘we not leaving until this is done!’ It was a bumpy process, but it was fun. Best experience of my life”, she said.
“To get the feature from Lil Wayne was crazy. When you have a favorite rapper and you’re able to get a song with him, it’s a dream come true.”
ScarLip is equal parts brazen and laidback on mixtape opener, “Pop That” (I be chilling in the hood, ni—as know what’s good / Say it to my face, man, I wish a ni—a would). The track closes with a verse from Lil Wayne. He compliments ScarLip’s energy with his nonchalant provocativeness we’ve come to know and love. Here, it is Tunechi’s tongue-in-cheek delivery which makes the track, well, pop.
“To get the feature from Lil Wayne was crazy. When you have a favorite rapper and you’re able to get a song with him, it’s a dream come true. I didn’t even know he was gonna get on the record. Swizz surprised me with it”, she said.
On “Runaway Love Freestyle”, ScarLip samples and reimagines Ludacris and Mary J. Blige’s 2007 hit. ScarLip stays true to tradition, narrating the suffering of fictional young women. Originally meant to be a one-off social media post, it was ScarLip’s team who convinced her to officially release her version.
“I had this idea for Women’s History Month. I was doing freestyles to show love to women in hip hop—The Lady of Rage, Queen Latifah, Lauryn Hill. And then, I was on my way to [make] ‘Runaway Love’ freestyle. I said, ‘yo let me send this to my team’. I’m on my way already to shoot it. Swizz said, ‘turn around. You’re not doing a freestyle to this’. I was like, ‘I set the cameraman up, I got the crew ready. Everybody’s waiting at the scene!’ He was like, ‘no, not happening. This is a record’. “, she said.
Mary J. Blige featured in the “Runaway Love Freestyle” music video, adding to ScarLip’s list of cosigns. ScarLip spoke highly of her interaction with Blige, who is often called the “Queen of R&B”.
“She’s exactly how I thought she would be. She’s a sweetheart, and she was very welcoming. She believed in me and gave me an opportunity. I really appreciate her. No one’s required to do anything”, she said.
“Pop That” is ScarLip’s favorite song from Scarred B4 Fame. Though, she gave honorable mentions to “Melanin” and “Runaway Love Freestyle” and we bonded over the catchiness of the production and hook on “Eastside” (which may or may not sample Josh Levi’s “NASA”). Ironically, “Pop That” was also the hardest song for her to write.
“I was under a lot of pressure, because I was in the studio with Swizz [thinking], ‘oh my God, I gotta come hard with these bars!’ “, she said.
LOOKING AHEAD
With her first project finally out, ScarLip is preparing for what’s next—potential collaborations, going on tour, and working on her debut album, which she hopes to release next year.
“I want to do a song with JT. I want her to get on ‘Melanin’. I love Kendrick Lamar”, she concluded. “I plan to go on a Scarred B4 Fame tour. We’re going to keep it in the East Coast, probably do a little bit of the South and the West. My fans want to see me [in] album mode. We’re gonna drop some singles this year for sure”.
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