YOUNG M.A

To me, beauty is natural beauty. If you're naturally yourself, you're beautiful.

I like being humble.

I need to just be myself, express myself.

My hair is the most beauteous thing to me.

I hear from all different people, not just people like me, or lesbians. It be straight people, it be grown men, it be grown women, people that have been sick or depressed that say, 'Oh, you made me want to go do what I want to do for myself and chase my dreams.' That's my purpose.

I never wanted to be a cheerleader; I wanted to play football.

I always liked Drake.

I paid attention to the music industry and watching a lot of stuff on TV, behind-the-scenes stuff on old DVDs, and paying attention to interviews from artists and rappers and just really watching a lot of stuff as a kid.

There's a lot of rappers out there, a lot of gay girls expressing themselves; I'm not the first to say it; I'm not the first to rap about it. But I'm the one who broke down those doors that everybody has been trying to break down. I did that. I'm the one who went triple platinum first.

Music is my expression. Music is my release. Music is my therapy.

Growing up, I never expressed myself to nobody. I never told nobody when something was wrong.

I didn't want to wave the flag and be like, 'Look! I'm gay! Da da da.' I just wanted to say, 'This is my lifestyle.'

If I'm not driving a Ferrari or a Lambo, I'm not gonna talk about it in my raps.

If I was to try putting makeup all over my face, it would look weird. People would be like, 'That's not Young M.A. That's not her style; that's not her soul.' I'd just rather be natural.

I try to make music for people to relate to, and I like to keep it realistic.

We are all people... don't label me as an LGBT rapper or a female rapper... I don't like to be labeled.

For the sexuality thing, I really feel like the reason I speak so blunt about it is because I held it in for so long. I never told my mom. I never told my family. I kept it to myself. Now, I'm happy with who I am. Either you accept it, or you don't. There's a lot of rappers out there that's like that, but no one's stepping up.

I did retail. I worked at TJ Maxx before. I did fast food at Shake Shack.

I don't fear nobody, and that's how I live my life. I live my life with no fears.

I appreciate every moment.

If I change people's lives, that's all that matters to me.

I do want to get more involved with clothing, TV shows, movies.

I was always a tomboy. I always wanted to be around the boys, always wanted to play sports - basketball, football, kickball, whatever it was. I was real aggressive. I wanted to be around the bros!

I've been a fan of BET since I was a kid, growing up watching the awards, thinking that one day I would be there.

When I was a kid, my favorite rapper was 50 Cent. He was definitely a big influence on why I wanted to do music.