Baby Tate is a rapper, singer, and songwriter, and the daughter of Grammy award-winning singer Dionne Farris. On a steady rise since the mid-2010s, the Georgia native first made the charts with “Hey, Mickey!” (2016) and released her debut album, Girls in 2019. She was featured on what would become her first RIAA-certified gold single, “Stupid,” headlined by Ashnikko.
Baby Tate spent her time singing in choir, playing piano, and making beats growing up in Atlanta. In her teens, she released her first EP, ROYGBIV. Her music is a colorful combination of pop, hip hop, and R&B. One of her goals in her musical career is to inspire and empower women in their sexualities.
In 2021, Baby Tate joined the cast of VH1’s Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta for its 10th season. She opened up to her fans and came out as bisexual, and now pansexual, making her a true gay icon in the hip hop world. She takes pride in her sexuality, which is a theme in much of her music and her newest EP, Sexploration: The Musical.
In 2022, I saw Baby Tate perform for the first time at Lollapalooza in Chicago and was blown away by her electric performance.
Baby Tate is currently working on her next album, C U Next Tuesday, which is set to come out in summer of 2024. We had so much fun hearing from her about her favorite past performances, what her perfect day in Atlanta looks like, and why being sex positive is so important to her.
What were the highlights of your recent Sexploration headlining tour?
Every night was really amazing. It was a four-city tour. Every night had its highs. I’ll definitely say in DC, they kind of forced me to do an encore doing one of the songs that I didn’t even perform, one of my older songs called “That Girl.” So that was really fun to feel that love from the crowd on one of my older songs that I hadn’t even planned on performing. So that was really fun.
Are there any hidden gems or places that you would tell people to visit that you found when you’ve been out on tour or traveling?
I really love Austin, Texas. That’s one of my favorite cities that I’ve toured or just visited. I love the food, the environment, the music, and the culture. It’s just a really fun place. I love the whole slogan, “Keep Austin Weird.” It’s a really fun place.
Atlanta had a great night of music at the Super Bowl. What does your perfect day in Atlanta look like?
I would probably start off doing brunch somewhere. I’m a regular Atlanta brunch type person. I don’t necessarily want to be at the brunch where there’s a DJ and stuff. I want to just actually eat and get some mimosas. I really love Ria’s Bluebird. It’s one of my favorites. It’s a little quaint spot over on Memorial by the cemetery.
Then maybe walk the Beltline a little bit. Then go through the park for a while. Maybe Piedmont. After that, I’d probably go home, get dressed and get ready to go to a strip club and get some wings.
What’s the best advice your mom has given you about the music industry?
To remember that it’s a business, and it’s not just a hobby.
What’s your favorite song to perform off Sexploration?
Probably “Wig.” I love what we did, especially with the tour. We passed out wigs to everyone that bought VIP tickets. When I performed “Wig,” we asked everyone to throw their wigs onstage, similarly to how you would throw roses on a stage after a performance. So that was always really fun performing that on tour.
All your videos for Sexploration: The Musical were great. I could see the theater kid in you come out. You’re always making sex positive music. I think that’s really important for women and really all people. Why do you think it’s important?
To just allow young women and young people to know that it’s okay to have rights over their own bodies. I think that for so long in music, men have dominated over women’s bodies and how we’re seen. For me as a woman, I want to change that narrative and flip the patriarchy on its head.
That’s why it’s so important to me. I don’t do it just to be like, ‘yeah, everybody go be a slut.’ If you don’t want to be a slut, that’s completely fine. But if you do, that’s also completely fine. You can do that and still be respected and still have complete autonomy over who you are and how you’re perceived as a person.
I know you came out as bisexual in a big way on Love and Hip Hop: Atlanta, and now you’re pansexual. Have you been met with any pushback in the hip hop community or have you been embraced?
I think because of the fact that I’m a woman and I’m femme presenting, I don’t really get as much pushback on my sexuality as other people in the LGBTQ+ community just because of the way that I look and present myself. For me, it’s kind of just opened the door for women to slide in my DMs. But other than that, nobody was like, ‘oh, this is weird’ or whatever. I didn’t get any type of backlash.
We recently had a big Grammy’s weekend. What was the highlight of your Grammys week?
Meeting Janelle Monáe for the first time. She’s really amazing and I really look up to her. She really inspires me. I told her, outside of her artistry, just who she is as a person, even as a queer woman and a queer black woman in the music industry and the things that she’s been able to do are so inspiring. It was really dope to meet her and to be embraced by her.
I know she also does a lot of acting. Can you give us any hints on what you’re going to be doing in the future or upcoming acting roles?
No, I can’t. TBD. I wish I could. I’ll definitely be staying in acting and music.
What are your must pack items when you travel?
I’m actually a really bad packer, notoriously. I pack both of my cell phones, my wallet. I’ve left that a couple of times. Some type of headphones.
I’m sure you’re working on new music all the time. What’s inspiring you right now?
Right now, I’m just really inspired by fresh sounds and fun. I’m working on my album, which is coming out this year, this summer, and I’m super excited about it. It’s called C U Next Tuesday. It’s just going to be super fun, super fresh, super c*nt, and I’m super excited.
What can fans expect the sound to be like?
I think if you listen to some of my earlier music, like maybe the Girls album, and you understand that, I think you’ll understand this album. It’s going to be just super fun. A lot of singing, a lot of sexual expression. More of the same, just in a bigger and better way.
Do you have any dream collaborations you’d like to get on it?
There are some collabs I would absolutely love to get on C U Next Tuesday. I was just talking about something yesterday. I would love to hear Reneé Rapp on it. That would be really fun. Shooting for the stars, I’d love to hear Bruno Mars on there. Maybe a little Megan Thee Stallion. Doechii would be fun. But, yeah, we’re still finishing it up and whoever gets on it will be a dream come true.
What’s next in 2024? Are you going to be touring or sticking to focusing on the album?
Right now, just focusing on the album and once that’s out, we’ll start talking about tours and stuff like that.