The last time The Hundreds spoke with Kamaiyah, it was during the lead up to the release of her debut mixtape, A Good Night in the Ghetto, in 2016. The project was a watershed moment for her, as she delivered one of the best mixtapes of the year and was praised for creating a celebratory soundtrack for young people who were thriving, living, and having a good time. To this day, you could still play this tape from front to back. Songs like “Out the Bottle,” “Niggas,” (which appeared on a Season 1 episode of Issa Rae’s Insecure), and her breakout hit “How Does It Feel” have become must-plays at her live shows. Regardless if Kamaiyah feels like she’s outgrew some of her early songs, they’re still slappers.

Over the years since A Good Night in the Ghetto, Kamaiyah wasn’t dropping new music at the rate she had hoped for. She blames her former label Interscope for essentially slowing down her momentum, preventing her from reaching the superstar status she should have attained by now. “They just wouldn’t allow me to be Kamaiyah,” she says. “They wouldn’t allow me to drop music like I wanted to drop music. They didn’t want to spend the money to make me a top-tier artist. That’s how I see it. ‘Cause I came in already with the buzz. I feel like they put the fire out.”

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