Childhood can help guide an artist to a passion in life, directing them to who they'll become as an adult. In the case of Jucee Froot, the straight-talking, southern rapper from Memphis, her interest in hip-hop came via her sisters. On car rides together as kids, her older siblings knew all the lyrics to the songs of the time, and Jucee Froot didn't. Wanting to keep pace with them led her to becoming a fan of rap.
Jucee Froot's background as a talented choir kid built her confidence in her voice. She made her first song at 12, and a life in the studio was born. After jumping into hip-hop that way, the aspiring rapper has been consistently dropping mixtapes since 2015. She's dropped nine projects between then and now. Her big break came in August of 2019, when she dropped "Shake Dat Ass" with Zed Zilla, a bouncy strip club jam anchored by Jucee's bold rhymes and well-done hook. The video has more than 6 million views to date. That same year, she delivered projects Schizophrenic Flow and Sextape.
The no-nonsense attitude coupled with her touch for writing songs that fit together seamlessly has made Jucee a standout artist. Atlantic Records took notice of her talent, and signed her in 2019. According to her, she didn't even have to play all 10 songs she brought along for the meeting. The label was all in. Her major label debut, Black Sheep, dropped last year in March, shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic put the world at a standstill.
Even though the world was in turmoil, Jucee Froot still managed to thrive in 2020. In addition to having a child, she got her song "Eat Itself" placed on HBO's Insecure soundtrack, is the voice behind the theme song "Down in the Valley" on the STARZ show P-Valley and secured a spot on the Birds of Prey soundtrack with her track "Danger." Her song was across TV and movies, even when she couldn't tour or promote her music the usual way as a result of the pandemic.
Now that she's pushing her new single "Could Never," released in October and which features the Moneybagg Yo-assisted remix, Jucee Froot is receiving more of the recognition she deserves. With more new music on the way, the self-assured rhymer set some time aside to talk to XXL for this week's The Break.
Age: "A lady never tells her age."
Hometown: Memphis
I grew up listening to: "Lil Wayne, Three 6 Mafia, Destiny's Child, LaChat, Gangsta Boo, Project Pat, Juicy J….the works."
My style’s been compared to: "Mia X. I've heard people say that I sound like Moneybagg Yo, Fynesse2times. People say that I sound like…ooh, I hate saying this…Doja Cat? I don't know why people thought that was me. I got a little oomph up in my voice. It was [Doja Cat's 'Juicy' lyrics] 'And if you see it from the front then you can see it from the back.' It caught me off-guard. Dreezy, we sound alike and come real hard. Omeretta [The Great]."
I’m going to blow up because: "All of these random blessings that just fall up outta the blue. That's for one. And two, how much a nigga be hating up on posts, and bitches be unbelievable. I know I'm finna make it ’cause y'all going really hard for something that ain't that serious. Other than that, it's just something inside me that just be like, you know, from where I come from and for everything that I been through, to go from being broke as hell and sleeping in rental cars to now. I got the label and drivers and things like that. It's a different lifestyle, and if it wasn't meant for me. None of this stuff would be going on."
What’s your most slept-on song, and why?: "I feel like I got a lot of slept-on songs. 'Down in the Valley' isn't slept-on, but it's a lot of people that don't even know that it's me. I can say when the pandemic had hit, that was one of the main reasons why most of my songs got overlooked. It was, 'Don't touch me, you got the cooties' type shit, and nobody was worried about listening to this and that, and I didn't get to become a familiar face. I came in as soon as coronavirus was getting ready to hit, and I wind up having my daughter. But we here now. We just gon' keep it pushin'."
My standout records to date have been: "'Devil Want My Soul,' 'Could Never' and the remix. What I feel like one of my biggest freestyles was 'Pour One.' 'Eat Itself,' too."
My standout moments to date have been: "When I made it on Madden [NFL 21 soundtrack for my song 'Champion']. It was like, Damn, now my son get to get up on the video game and start going in on folks like, 'Come on and get this ass whoopin' and then on top of that, you hear my mama?' Having that type of feeling, just knowing my child could hear me, and he's in school and other people could know me, it's like I'm doing something, and I got something my children could actually be proud of. Other than that, it was the P-Valley intro. Even though they can't watch the show, they was like, 'That's my mama!'"
Most people don’t know: "I'm very shy and I'm really not as mean as I come off. I can be funny as hell, but I also be putting up that lil guard ’cause I don't want nobody to hit me with no bad vibes."
I’m going to be the next: "Biggest female rapper that is gonna set goals for anybody that's under me and my kids."
Follow Jucee Froot on SoundCloud and Instagram.
Standouts:
"Shake Dat Ass" featuring Zed Zilla
"Psycho (Remix)" featuring Rico Nasty
"Could Never"
Black Sheep