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Siya on Season 3 of “Sisterhood of Hip Hop”

In 2014, Oxygen premiered the first season of Sisterhood of Hip Hop, a reality series following five female emcees with very distinct styles and personalities. Among them was Siya, an openly gay rapper whose career was on the rise thanks to the support of her mentor, R&B soul singer Tank. But her success was tempered by a controlling girlfriend, Renee, and Siya ultimately decided to end their relationship to focus more on herself.

The second season saw Siya make a move from New York City to Los Angeles where she was courted by the likes of T-Pain and recorded tracks with Chris Brown and Sage the Gemini. In her personal and professional lives, Siya strives for perfection, and it looks like Season 3 might where she finds both love and the chance to create her dream record, a project she’s working on called Siya vs. Siya that fans will hear more about on tonight’s premiere.

We talked with Siya about some major cast changes, doing long distance with her girlfriend, Daisy, and giving the ladies what they want.

AfterEllen.com: You have some new cast members this year! What happened with Bia and Nyemiah Supreme?

Siya: Well, of course, you know my girl Bia’s out here working. She’s been on tour with, I believe, Pusha T. Working hard, still grinding. Same thing for Nyemiah you know. Still grinding. I just felt like, you know, Oxygen just saw fit for the show to bring in two new cast members. I guess to freshen up the season.

AE: Did you know the new artists before shooting with them?

Siya: I knew Audra. When she first moved to New York, I kind of took her under my wing and showed her around the studio and what not. I didn’t know Lee Mazin.

AE: So what was the dynamic like this season bringing in some new people?

Siya: The whole vibe was awesome, you know what I mean? The fact that I knew Audra was dope. I got to meet Lee Mazin, get to know Lee Mazin-she’s awesome, she’s amazing as well. It was a great dynamic. We all rock with each other. As we get further into the season, you’ll see a little bit of distance from one cast member. You’ll see a little bit of drama with one of the girls, but I can’t spill all the tea now!

AE: You’re always kind of the peacekeeper and making sure everyone’s getting along. Is that the same this season?

Siya: That’s just my natural character, you know what I mean? I don’t want us as women for one, to look crazy on television, and number two, as female emcees and what we represent, especially to the youth. I try to keep the peace for all the women, but that’s just my natural being in life, period.

AE: This season we find out you are dating Daisy, who we met when you put her in one of your music videos. Can you tell us what happened between seasons and how you started a relationship?

Siya: Me and Daisy, we’ve been friends for years. I actually met her through my best friend years and years back. Me and her have always been cool. My circle is very small when it comes to my friends, so as time went on, after my ex and everything I went through as far as that, I took time for myself and I don’t know what happened. Friendship turned to spending more time together and getting to know each other on a deeper level than friendship, and it turned into love. I mean there’s always been love there as far as friendship, but it became something a little bit more deeper.

AE: I had to laugh because there’s the whole stereotype that lesbians move in together really quickly, and you guys actually waited three months before even talking about it!

Siya: It’s actually more than three months because, like I said, we’ve been friends for years and our relationship started before we started filming. The conversation about moving together wasn’t even a thought. Our only concern was building a relationship and making sure we continue, and will always remain friends, regardless, through it all.

AE: The struggle for you has always seemed to be making the time for both your career and your relationship, and with Daisy, she doesn’t even live in the same city as you. How was navigating that and does it get easier for you as the season goes on?

Siya: The thing about the past relationship was I actually did give all of my time and attention to that person. I actually overcompensated myself to that person. This time around, I’m in a more understanding relationship. I’m dealing with a grown woman who understands that there’s gonna be distance between us, that I need to focus on my career, and she needs to focus on her career as well. We support each other. It’s really not even the end of all when it comes to that situation, just because we’re two women so once in a blue, we might be like “I miss you too much! I want to spend more time with you” but it’s never on her end a “Well, fuck you then. This that and the third. You can’t give me this and that and your time.” It’s never like that. It’s genuine, and it’s real.

AE: What can you tell us about your new album, Siya vs. Siya? I assume we’ll get to see a lot of you recording this season.

Siya: Yeah, it’s my debut album; my first-ever album. It’s awesome because I’m genuinely giving all of me. I’m showing the fans two sides of me. I’m showing the fans-my female fans that want to hear me sing and rap on the record, get my Drake on. And then the other side of the album is my street side-it’s what my male fans want. It’s what more of my female street fans want. They want to hear that love, that raw lyricism.

AE: So you have some female fans that are looking for some more of that sexy and romantic type of song?

Siya: I mean, the women just want to hear me finesse. They want to hear me talk that talk. That’s what they be liking! They wanna feel like I’m talking to them; like I can make them understand something.

AE: What has the fan response been like?

Siya: We’re going on three years now, man. Three years on television and my whole life being an emcee in that spotlight. My fanbase continues to grow, and it’s just awesome to be able to step outside and people acknowledge me and praise me in terms of my music and how much I inspire them and how they look up to me for not being afraid of who I am as far as my sexuality. It was pretty awesome because my grandmother was out here-actually, you’ll see it on the show, to spill a little bit of tea. I took her on one of them L.A. tour things , and my grandmother had never seen people fan over me and so fans started fanning over me and she goes, “You know them?” “Naw, Grandma, those are my fans.” That was dope.

AE: You have had some really great special guests on the show. Is there anyone you can tell me about for this season?

Siya: I gotta keep it quiet. I gotta stay strong. What’s awesome about it is that we got more episodes this season so there’s a lot of juice.

AE: Is there anything else you can tease a little bit about this season? Anything you’re excited about?

Siya: Nothing luxurious but I’m definitely happy about overcoming some of my fears on TV and showing fans a side of me they’ve never seen, or probably even knew that I dealt with on a personal level. So fans will learn something new about me and I definitely brought some awareness to my situation that you will figure out later in the episodes. It’s definitely something a lot of artists have but don’t really talk about.

Sisterhood of Hip Hop returns tonight at 9pm on Oxygen.

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