“ah ah you don't embarrass me!” Latto jokingly warns her pet Shih-poo, Coca. The fluffy pup — the first of many in his brood soon, if Latto has his way — is deciding whether to use a grassy area outside a North Hollywood rehearsal studio as a bathroom. Fresh from a delayed flight and dressed in a cheetah print hoodie, matching set of sweatpants and her trademark cheetah print thong, Latto lives up to her latest alter ego name: Big Mama has arrived.
After a two-hour, energy-boosting IV treatment and a few shots of vitamin C directly into her rear (“It's okay because I've got a lot of cushion back there!”), the Atlanta rap superstar will head straight into hours of rehearsal for her upcoming shows at her BET Experience Fan Fest on June 29 and the 2024 BET Awards the following night, where she's up for Best Female Hip-Hop Artist — an honor she won last year — and Best Collaboration (“Don't Play With It,” the hit her Billboard Hot 100 with Lola Brooke and Yung Miami).
The 25-year-old rapper moves through the rehearsal space with the composure of a seasoned professional and the sardonic humor of a Gen Zer. At the BET Awards, she's set to perform a medley of “Sunday Service,” “Big Mama” and “Shoutout to Me” — the latter two for the first time on television. All appear on her upcoming album, Iced tea with honey and sugar, due in August. Today, not a single detail escapes the artist born Alyssa Michelle Stephens – from the volume levels in her ears to the drums in her diverse live mixes to the final hair rub in her high-octane choreography.
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