Before Latto brought the “Big Energy” to her 31 million monthly Spotify listeners, she was DIY’ing tours in her hometown of Atlanta. Starting at age 10, Latto performed in local talent shows and open mics, posted flyers on stop signs and handed out mixtapes of her best raps in Walmart parking lots. Her 2019 breakout hit, “B*tch from da Souf,” was the lead single on her EP Big Latto and landed her a deal with RCA Records. For the self-managed rapper, control means maximizing gains— she says she charges an average of $300,000 for an appearance. Between those appearances, revenue from music royalties, brand deals with the likes of Rihanna’s Savage X Fenty, a tour with Lizzo and a quick acting stint on the TV sitcom Grown-ish, Latto claims she’s on track to earn $12 million in 2023 (up from $3 million last year). Her cardinal rule is to earn a profit of at least 50% with every venture. “My mind is working around the clock when it comes to me as a product because at the end of the day, we are products as artists,” she says. With two Grammy nominations—including one for Best New Artist in 2023—and performances at festivals including Coachella, Latto cryptically tells Forbes that she’s launching a business venture in 2024. “Music doesn’t last forever,” she says.
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MusicTranscript
00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 - Lotto, thank you so much for being here with me today.
00:06 - Of course.
00:07 - So I wanna start with you at the very beginning.
00:10 Tell me how you got your start in music.
00:13 - Okay, this is kind of funny, so follow me.
00:16 My dad is like street dude, into cars,
00:21 just knows a lot of people.
00:23 So I'm around this like fast lifestyle.
00:26 And then in school, language arts was always my favorite
00:30 subject.
00:31 - Mine too.
00:31 - Really?
00:32 - Yeah.
00:33 (laughing)
00:34 - Smart girl.
00:35 I just loved wordplay, like metaphors, similes,
00:38 writing essays and poems, like that was just so second
00:42 nature for me.
00:43 So I had this passion and then this lifestyle,
00:46 I'm already growing up around it.
00:47 They kind of just like combine my two worlds.
00:51 - So then how did you start breaking out into the scene?
00:53 Walk me through the steps you took.
00:55 - So in my household, if you say you wanna do something,
01:00 we doing it full fledged.
01:01 Like it's not a hobby, we prepping for real life,
01:04 like we taking it serious, like a career.
01:06 So when I told my dad that I wanted to rap,
01:09 from that point on, I'm doing talent shows,
01:12 open mics, cyphers, posting like my flyers around the city
01:17 on stop signs.
01:19 We printed up my mixtapes and we're passing them out
01:22 at festivals in Atlanta, selling them in like
01:25 the Walmart parking lot.
01:27 I'm getting picked up from school, doing my homework
01:30 in the studio lobby and then going to the booth,
01:32 like full fledged, this is your career now.
01:35 (upbeat music)
01:38 - What would you say are some of the difficulties
01:40 of managing yourself as a brand?
01:43 - Everything is difficult.
01:44 (laughing)
01:45 Waking up early, difficult.
01:47 (laughing)
01:48 Scheduling things, making sure you're allotting
01:52 self care, self time, 'cause you can easily crash out
01:55 with this industry and just the amount of time it takes.
01:59 Like a lot of people have work a nine to five,
02:02 this is like a 12 to 12.
02:05 So I think everything about it is difficult
02:07 and I really love what I do.
02:10 This is so strenuous that I would have been quick
02:14 if I did not genuinely enjoy it.
02:16 It's so strenuous and so demanding of your time
02:20 and energy, it's like I can't even choose the hardest thing.
02:23 - I'm sure.
02:24 How do you manage that, like you know,
02:28 just flipping into that business side of the brain
02:30 'cause you know you're a creative.
02:31 - Yeah, I really wear so many hats
02:33 that it's just another one of the hats.
02:36 It's like at this point it's just another one of the hats.
02:38 I try to stick to my expertise, which is creative.
02:43 But I'm gonna always have my nose in the business
02:47 'cause at the end of the day that is the goal,
02:49 you know, music don't last forever.
02:51 Not gonna be listening to Young and Fine forever.
02:54 - Going along with that, how do you handle the stress
02:59 of constantly marketing yourself,
03:01 your own product?
03:03 - My mind is constantly running,
03:05 like I have a notes app in my phone
03:06 and it'll say like PR ideas, next video ideas,
03:10 next photo shoot concept ideas.
03:12 I watch documentaries, I scroll on Pinterest.
03:16 Even small things like watching a movie
03:18 can like spark interest or spark inspiration.
03:21 It definitely doesn't stop.
03:22 - Who is your dream collaborator
03:26 both in the business world and in the music world?
03:29 - Business?
03:30 RiRi.
03:31 RiRi.
03:32 RiRi.
03:33 I just feel like she touched our generation
03:36 in a whole different way.
03:37 Like I feel like women like me
03:39 who might have like a little motion,
03:40 little motion going on, you know.
03:42 She showed us that it's possible for us
03:45 to take it to a whole different level.
03:48 So definitely RiRi.
03:49 Really music and business.
03:51 What's up RiRi, call me girl.
03:53 - Speaking of that, what's next for you?
03:56 Like what are you most excited for in 2024?
03:59 - I'm excited to see how me managing myself
04:04 and I also have a team too,
04:05 but like for the most part I'm managing myself.
04:08 Where that takes me,
04:09 like me having two hands on the steering wheel
04:12 because I started so young,
04:13 it's like I'm not used to having to say so
04:16 and just being such a decision maker in my career.
04:21 It's been fun to like see my visions come to life.
04:25 As a kid, you know,
04:27 I feel like there's always been a lot of cooks in the kitchen
04:30 I'm the cook in the kitchen.
04:31 So 2024 should be very inspiring
04:35 and motivating for me, for Alyssa.
04:37 (upbeat music)
04:40 (upbeat music)
04:43 (upbeat music)
04:45 (upbeat music)
04:48 (upbeat music)