In the burbling tumult of her formative years in Mobile, Alabama, Tamia Monique Carter — known to the world as Flo Milli — had always felt an almost jarring disconnect with her peers, a stark difference she attributed to an indomitable belief in her kismat, that she was bound for remarkable greatness.
Her high school years painted a canvas of obstinacies. She was met with hostility from a throng of girls who revelled in making her the cynosure of their derision. Unvetted and perplexed, her only recourse was her godfather, effortlessly anthropomorphizing an encouraging Gould’s chorus.
He invested the young girl with a dire appreciation for affirmations. His words planted seeds that would gradually emerge as her morning ritual. Before the school gates swallowed her in, she would huddle in the quiet of the restrooms, etching affirmations about her worth into existence. She nurtured that nebulous certainty of being ‘that’ girl with continuous repetition. And over time, she claimed them, slowly metamorphosing into the avatar her declarations envisioned.
Now, revered by the rap community, Flo Milli, the original ‘Never Lose Me’ rapper, has seen her avowals bear fruit. Not too long ago, she dropped her third studio album, ‘Fine Ho, Stay’, amidst vehement echoes of praise. It’s lauded as her best work yet, catapulting her into the discourse of hip-hop’s female sovereigns, a destiny she had prophesied.
At 24, she speaks with a soft demeanor that is a stark contrast to her boisterous on-stage presence. Her faith in the power of affirmations remains unwavering. “Everything I have now, I would just say it. Saying it over and over, writing it down just makes it more real because your mind just has to see it through.”
What has materialized is a 14-track album, a harmonious concoction of talents that hails production prowess from titans of the hip-hop industry like Juicy J, Bangladesh, and ATL Jacob. The album title emerged from an internet serendipity – a social media comment that tickled her sense of humor.
However, her music is a serious craft, a mosaic of whimsy, bravado, and voyeuristic vulnerability. Despite hits like ‘Fruit Loop’ and ‘BGC’ not featuring on the album, Flo didn’t disappoint her fandom. She fuels the album with the vivacious trap-beat tracks ‘Understand,’ ‘New Me,’ and ‘Neva.’ Then, she juxtaposes the aggression with more somber tracks, revealing a seldom seen softer side – tracks like ‘Toast’, ‘Edible,’ and ‘Can’t Stay Mad’, where she croons, ‘When you love me like that / The best I ever had / You take me out my attitude / I cannot stay mad at you (Mad at you).’
She hints, meditatively, towards these lyrics being a trinket of her sentimentality. She views the album as a manifestation of her versatility and a tribute to her lineage of singing in the church. Her sonic range is proof of inspirations like Nicki Minaj and Lil Wayne and her fierce signature style.
Her audacious entry into the industry, with a viral TikTok track ‘Beef (FloMix)’ laid the foundation for her persona. Her lightning-fast rise to fame is attributed to her genius self-marketing stratagem of underwriting influencers to promote snippets of her music. Her subsequent collaborations with RCA resulted in hits like ‘Conceited’ and ‘In the Party’ that topped charts and garnered impressive 34 million YouTube views.
Flo Milli’s ambitions go well beyond music as she hints at an interest in acting and modeling. Defying the constraints of her childhood, the ordinary girl from Alabama became the ‘it girl’ of her dreams, flawlessly capturing the essence of those semi-forgotten hallucinations scrawled on restroom walls.
In a reflection of the twists and turns of her journey, Flo proclaims, “Sometimes, I be in shock. You gotta actually accept and appreciate what you already have and realize that, you know, you used to be praying for this.” Her story stands as evidence that affirmations and resilience can shape dreams into tangible realities.
