 Big shit, big shit, big shit, big shit, it's a unique hustle, nigga, big shit, big shit, big shit, name another podcast like this. Check it, check it, check it, it's a unique hustle, it's your boy, E.C.E.O. And I'm here with the lovely official, Mr. Mako, what's going on? None of my dad walk on. Man, hey man, it's going down, man. Today we got a special guest in here, and she ain't playing no games, man. Hey, I listen to her sound, man, she dope. She is. Listen, man, I'm your Monika's in the building. What's going on, sweetheart? What's up, what's up? Hey man, thank you for coming on the show. Yeah, thank you for having me. Man, hey man, hey, I always like to get started by letting the official Miss Jamaica, she likes to go down that rabbit hole and find out who you really are. Is Anya Monique your real name or your stage name? No, that's my real name. Wow, that's dope. Hold on, Monique is your… My middle name. Okay. And Anya is my first name. That's a pretty name. Thank you. Okay. Wow. So where are you from? I moved around a lot, you know. Born? I was born in Tacoma, Washington. Oh, okay. And you know, I wasn't there very long, only like baby, baby. Then my mom, she was going to school in New Orleans. So I lived down there. Then Katrina happened, so… Where was your dad? He was your dad there at the time? My dad, he moved a lot for his job. He was never with my mom, so my mom married my stepdad when she was in New Orleans. Okay. And then after Katrina, we went and stayed in Ohio for two years, then we came to Texas. Wow. Okay, okay. So how did you get along with your stepdad? You know how stepkids and stepparents be? Yeah. And it was a lot, it was a lot. I mean, it was okay. And you know, there were times that it was just a lot going on. It was just really rough. And it was the first time that you can think about it, you can let us know about it. It was mostly like just the way that I felt like I was being treated, you know? Give us an example. I kind of felt like I was treated a little bit lesser than like my siblings that my mom had with my dad. And I would get in trouble for a lot of stuff that wasn't intentionally like being like a bad kid. Like I wouldn't say I was a bad kid, I would just say I was a kid. And you know, sometimes he would just take stuff I would do a little bit too serious. So I ended up, I ended up, my mom, she actually gave over her custody to my grandma. So I ended up leaving my grandma for a semester and then I moved to my actual real dad. But that, I don't get along with my real dad at all. Oh, okay. Oh, you don't get along with him? No. Why, are y'all like just alike? No, we're not alike. Yeah, we're not alike really. We just have a lot of differences. And most of my life he was just kind of like a, you know, I go stay with him for six weeks in the summer and holiday type dad. So, you know, it felt like you wanted to always be with him then. Yeah, so I went off on my own. How old were you? I had just turned 17. So you just couldn't wait to get out of the house? I just couldn't. I was just trying to be myself and didn't feel like home was where I could be myself. But how old were you when you moved in with your grandma? I was 15, maybe about to be 16. So wasn't it okay living over there? You know, grandparents are not as straight as usually mom and dad. Yeah, they, living over there kind of allowed me to, living over there kind of allowed me to be myself a little bit more. But like, with my dad, like he didn't really police me. So it was like, I kind of got to experience a little bit more living with my dad. But I just didn't want to, just the interaction between me and my dad was never. You said you got to be yourself. Can you tell me what yourself is when you first discovered who you are? Who are you? Well, first I'm goofy. I'm a little bit soft-spoken. I, you know, I'm, I'm not willing to be like argumentative like that. Like I'll get argumentative, but I'm not about to yell. I'm just the type of person to just chill. And also like, you know, I like to have fun and be adventurous. And I like, I would say I'm, I guess I'm like a little weird. No. So everybody says, but I just, you know, I like things a certain way that I like. That's fine. There's nothing wrong with that. But when did you find your love for music? Oh, I found my love for music when I was a kid. Like how old? Ever since you could start talking? Yeah. You've been singing? I've been singing. Yeah. And it's so crazy because my parents, they didn't really let me listen to like music like that. Like we could listen like, if I was listening to music with my mom, we would listen to like old Janelle Monae. We would listen to the 80s like Michael Jackson. There's nothing wrong with music. That's music. That is music. No, right. That, that's what I was exposed to. Okay. But like all that other, like other music, like one time they took my Alicia Keys CD and I was like so heartbroken. So you weren't allowed to listen to the Alicia Keys. Yeah. Like R&B, like I wasn't really too much allowed to listen to like 90s to 2000 R&B like that. So like I kind of secretly did. And that's when I realized, and I started writing my own songs when I turned like 12. Wow. And I started just like finding, and I also played the violin. So I started making music on my violin and getting into making beats in my room and stuff. Cause you know, we didn't have TVs in the room. We didn't have cable. What situation inspired you to write your first song? I'm trying to make a girl group for me and my, my sisters. You thought you would be Beyonce. You thought you would be Beyonce and what's the cousin name? Michelle is the, she ain't the cousin. Kelly. You feel the rocking on out with these your cousins with you. No, her sister. My sister. Oh, y'all feel really. Can they sing? Oh, y'all forget to with. Yeah, they can. So it's in the family. Yeah. Cause your mom can sing. Yeah, that's dope. Let me ask you this. And just to get to the music a little bit, artificial. Yeah. How did you process that? What was the whole process behind that? So the producer who made the beat, he also had like an idea already for the song. So he sent what he had to me. And then I just filled in the pieces that he didn't have that he didn't send to me. And we just kind of went from there. We just kind of collabed on it. It was just kind of like a spur of the moment. He was just like, here's this song. And then feeling right to it. And then we recorded it. And y'all got who shot the visual on it? Rob Rillo. Rob Rillo. Yeah. Yeah. I'm a dope man. So are you, what's the, what's the project, the big project that you guys are working on next? So I'm working on my EP. Okay. I honestly haven't picked a name for it yet. I don't really know what I'm going to name it. But I know that the direction that I want to go in is kind of talking about things that women go through with men and not necessarily just women and men, but kind of relationship wise, you know, just trying to bring back that old school vibe of R&B. Yeah. Talking about love and relationships. I miss it because I'm going to be honest with you. I like to slow dance. Yeah. Me and my wife, if you can make us a banger. Something we can drag too, because I like to throw the old leg up. I'm from an old school. Yeah. You had to swing the leg where I come from. Yeah, right. You don't know. You had to swing the leg up. If you didn't swing the leg back and move in a certain way at my, during my day, you weren't dancing. Right. We slow drag. You young folks don't know nothing about that. She like it. We be jamming. I be jamming the old school. I love old school. Yeah. Oh, I don't really listen to new music like that. Really? I listen to old soul. I listen to Michael Jackson a lot. I'm on a date. You like Mike? I love Mike. I bet you don't. Do you like him more than Chris Brown? I feel like that's too different. No. We got a guy that came on here saying Chris Brown better than Michael Jackson. She knows Aldi 300. You know Aldi? Not 300. Aldi from Houston, right? No. No, you might think he is. Isn't that Aldi 300? He doesn't do screw music? No. No. You know, I know who you're talking about. Yeah, I know Aldi. No, this guy here, he does, you have to, it's a different guy, but regardless all that, he says that Chris Brown was, uh, uh, yeah, better than Michael Jackson. Okay. I'm just going to put it like this. You can't be better than somebody that you tried. I tried to tell him that. To emulate. I tried telling him. But that's my guy though, but I love to talk to him because he's going to tell me about Chris Brown. I think Chris Brown is a goat. I think people sleep on Chris Brown, but I just think that he gets a lot of his style from Michael Jackson. Of course. Of course. There's no, that's why I said there's not really a comparison because Mike is a trend. That is a trend setter. He set the wave to me. So let me ask you. I asked him which one was it. Was he competing with Lil Mike or Mid Mike or Big Mike? You know, it's a bunch of mics. You can't just, Chris Brown is, he's in one category. The light skin or the white. Which one you competing with? The little young boy or the big nose boy or the brown skin boy or the one after he could burn his hair or before he burned his hair. Which one was it? There's a lot of mics. You understand what I'm saying? There's a lot of Michael Jackson to compete with. I think he's more of the light skin mic with the long hair. So that's the one when he would have to go with her. Do you remember the time? Yeah. You know what I'm saying? He used a lot of those moves. You've seen him on BET after he got to perform again after Mike passed, he was crying and everything. It hurt him because Mike, Mike heard about, Usher tell you this. I don't have to tell you this. Hell, anybody tell you this. Mike was a different, he was a different breed. He took Paul McCartney for a ride on the girl's mind. You don't know nothing about that. I was singing the girl's mind the other day. I didn't even tell me all night. I know all the rest of the girl's mind. So I want to know, all the time that you've been singing, have you had any celebrities come up to you and be like, man, your voice is so dope? Do you have any stories that you can tell us about those experiences? I mean, I've... You want to be modest, huh? She's thinking. She's trying to be modest. Because I was a promoter at Prime Bar. Okay. So many different people, you know. And they actually heard your voice, though. I don't think... I think sometimes they'll hear my voice, but a lot of times, you know, I'm just kind of chilling and I'll show them my music just a little bit. I have social anxieties. You can't be like that if you want to get out. Yeah, I know. I know I'm trying to get myself out of it. I think you're doing dope. I think, and I go here with you, whether you want me to or not, I always go to here, but I think it's a thing where you have to keep God first and pray and make sure whatever way you go and you guide it with prayer. And when you sing, you're singing for God. I don't care if it's R&B or whatever. Whatever you do, you do it unto God and you'll put it on a whole another level when you do it. Absolutely. You feel me? Yeah, it's crazy because of my name. My full name means Gracious Spokeswoman. Hey. And so, like, you know... So you have to live up to that name. I have to live up to my name, you know. You got to stand behind that. Stand on that, you know. But I think that... I think you're on a great path, man. I mean, just from the visuals that I'm looking at. You know, my wife always had... And you're working? Oh, yeah, you're working. I'm looking at it. You got stuff out of just a week ago. What is your next project, Dropping? Well, I'm about to drop the video for Lying For No Reason. Yeah, Lying For No Reason. I seen you in the studio. You had dropped a clip on that. So I don't really know when I'm going to drop my AP. I'm still trying to get myself together, you know. How often do you intend to start dropping? Being a new artist and stuff. Well, it depends on how many hits I crank out. Or how many songs I feel fit to put out that I feel are quality enough to put out. Because you say how many hits, but then even like sometimes you put something out and you think it's a hit, but then it don't get anywhere. It's not a hit. It's not a hit, but you shouldn't let that discourage you. You should keep putting it out because you don't ever know which one. Right, could be it, right? Right, so you don't ever let that discourage you. You just keep going. Yeah, so I like to take like the songs that I feel like, you know, are quality for me versus the songs I feel like maybe this, I should revisit this later or change some stuff. And then I just go from there. Whichever ones I can get done the fastest, you know. Because right now it's really just like me and my manager, Dre. Yeah, dope manager. How long has he been your manager? Like three weeks, right? Like wow. Like three weeks. Did you have a manager before that? No, I didn't have a manager. So this is your first manager? That's dope. That's dope. Wow, that's cool. Yeah, so he's definitely taking me to new heights, okay? Oh, that's good. I won't be shy by the end of this, I promise. Oh no, and anything that stretches you, you don't want people that you get comfortable around anyway. Right. You want things that's going to take you out of your ordinary box to take you into an extraordinary box. Absolutely, yeah. You like that? Yeah, you know, and it's like sometimes it's a little stressful because I'm so used to having my own back. Yeah, and being so conservative about how you do things. Yeah. But he's the type of guy and I know this. He's out with it. He's pulling you out of that box and I like that. Which is good. You're going to need that. I know you were telling us that because we asked you, how did you find him? But you said he found you. How did he find you? One day I was singing. I think I was singing Michael Jackson in a bathroom on Snapchat and he was just like, he had told me he was an artist manager. So you found him on Snapchat? Yeah, he found me on Snapchat and then he messaged me and then was like, hey, we got to meet and then we met up and we wrote, line for no reason, we wrote another song called Creepin and we wrote another song called Friends with Benefits. And he was just like, oh yeah, we in this. He was like, yeah. Yes, I did. Oh yeah. We in this. That's what's up. I love your analogy of it, Ms. Will. Yeah, and somebody who you find have faith in you and see things in you that you might not see. Right, yeah, because I've come like, I've been singing for a minute, just knowing, just being on the scene and never being really just, you know, appreciated for my talent or anything like that. Nobody's ever just tried to really just help me go further in the right correct way or really tried to push me. Just make sure that I'm getting there. And you know, he pushes me to make sure I'm getting there. No distractions like quality music where quality person and just taking me from being, you know, by myself and trying to make it to making it. And that's good because being a female too, you have to look out for the guys and make sure that they're not trying to have ulterior motives, so to say. Absolutely. So that's a good thing as well. Yeah. Yeah, you go ahead. I really was just going to say you, you definitely seem like you guys got a good chemistry and structure is so important. And I think you did a great thing by choosing a manager and you know, just bring the right people under the umbrella, whether it be a stylist, make sure all of it. Yeah. Yeah. Got your best interest in whatever whatever the whatever's happening. Make sure again, make sure you believe with prayer. I always say that. Don't just don't just do it, you know, but but think it through properly because every move that you make, every step that you take is basically you articulating away to your destiny. Absolutely. So just make sure you stay focused. And I know, hey, we got all things are possible. And don't walk in fear. Right. No fear. It's all faith. Right. It's easier said than done, but it's possible. Let us get this song. I was just about to say because we had a pleasure over hearing you. No, no, no. We want to hear your mic. We want our fans to hear you. Yeah. All right. We'll go ahead and I'll go ahead and I'll sing the line for no reason. Let's do it. All right. Something's up with you. You've been acting brand new. You've been telling me lies. But I see straight through you. I want to know who's been calling your phone. I need not blowing up your line who you talk into. Yeah, you've been lying for no reason. Your mouth's telling me lies. But sure I speak the truth. Yeah, you've been lying for no reason. For no reason. And I'm sick and tired of the things that you do. All right. All right. All right. That's enough. I love it. I love you. You sound so amazing. No, she sounds amazing. Yes. And that's your song. And you wrote that song. Yeah. Well, me and Dre wrote it. So was that inspired by something that you went through? Oh, definitely. Wow. Wow. Hey, that was hate. Hey, man. Hey, y'all, get in them comments, man. Let us know, man. What you thought about that, man? My girl putting it down in here. Don't play. Don't hold back. We need all the critics to come on in. Because constructive criticism is always amazing. Man, I don't think you're going to hear nothing but good things about that. That was music to my ears. You know what I'm saying? And I love the way, you know, it wasn't pitchy or nothing. Just great, man. Great delivery. It wasn't pitchy. No, it wasn't for me. For you it was. I mean, I heard the pitch for you. You're hard on yourself. Yeah, yeah. That part. That part. I heard that one part. But that don't matter. Nigga know what it is. He nigga know what it is. When you went high for that one part. No, one thing I can tell you about it. They know what it is. And I'm going to tell you I enjoyed the hell out of it. We've had a lot of people come on there and sing. And you're going to watch the episode. You're going to be like, wow, you're going to go back and look. There's so many different people singing on that mic and that seat. And it's just a blessing. Most of the time it's females. Yes. Beautiful man. And you guys are doing a great job. So where can they find you? I'm actually available on all platforms right now. Artificial in line for no reason or out. And then. What's your name that it can find you on all platforms, please. So you can look up Anya Monique. And my Instagram name is Anya.the.singer. Wow. And so Anya is A-N-Y-A. A-N-Y-A. A-N-Y-A. Oh, could you give me the top three artists of all time? Dead or Alive. Any genre. Oh my goodness. Number one. Oh. Okay. So my number one has got to be Michael Jackson. I knew it. He's been talking about him for a long time. Mike was number one. I have a whole painting of him. Wow. I love him with a passion. Number two. Man, number two. My number two favorite is Beyonce. Beyonce? Side out to Beyonce. She's straight up from Texas. Salute. That's what I do on here with Salute. She is. What's your favorite Michael Jackson song? Wait, we ain't got the third one yet. Hold on. I'm going to get it. Oh, my favorite Michael Jackson song is his rendition of Butterflies. I love the way he comes on that. It makes me get Butterflies every time. I always sing it. Don't leave me alone. Give me. You give me Butterflies. Give me number three. Your number three. Oh. Okay. Inside, inside, inside. And the way he rides it, he's just so. Hey. He's so cool. And who's your number three? My number three. Man, of all time. Oh, goodness. Okay. That number three be getting them, don't it? Everybody have an issue with that number three. Like, who do I want to put that last slide? I appreciate. I appreciate a lot of artists. Who you got? Eric Abadou? Don't give them names. Hold on. I really, I really didn't get into listening to Eric Abadou until I got older. Okay. Number three. My number three. I think Janelle Monay. She had a very big influence. That's dope. I love her. And I love her. Yeah. Yeah. I love her too. So who would you like to work with? Who would you love to work with? I would like to work with her. I would like to work with Janelle Aiko as well. Okay. I would love to work with Janelle Monay as well because she, I would just want her input if I could sing with her too, but just her for her teachers and stuff, you know. Is there any rappers that you would like to do a collab with or you think that you would, you know, compliment? Because your style is unique. I feel like I could, rapper wise, like, I feel like I could be versatile enough to do a few rappers. Like who? You know, like, I think, I like Gunna. I like his voice. I feel like his vibe. Gunna. You like that Chris Brown song with Gunna? Which one? Man, it was about a year ago when that thing was really popping too. I can't even remember the name of the damn song right now. I just like the way he kind of gets on stuff and sometimes, you know, I'd be having that chill vibe that he has as a rapper as well. So that's the person you think you would do well with? I feel like we would have a good collab. If we collabed. Okay. I feel like we would have a pretty decent collab. Okay. Do you, what else you got for the young lady? That's it. Oh yeah, so, I tell you man, we want to tell you first of all, we love you. We love you. One more question. You got another question? I knew you was going to do that. One more question. I knew you was going to do that. I love you too. If you could go back to the younger you, probably say, say the 15 year old you, because you're just getting out of your mom's house and you had to advise her to prepare her for the journey that she's about to go on. What would you tell her to even maybe get her started a little bit earlier or something, just anything? I would have told her to stay home. Wow. And deal with the stepdaddy. No, I would have stayed at my dad's house. Okay. Despite having all the issues. I probably wouldn't have stayed with my mom. It just took stream. But that's another story for another day. But yeah, I probably would have stayed at my dad's house continued. You know, I had a job and everything. So I probably would have continued and just, you know, because by the time I was 19, I had my own spot and it just kind of made me a grown woman really fast. Just being on my own. So I would say stay home and stack my bread up and really have gone after my goal for my dreams then. Going now, now in life, it's like I've done things and made decisions that have kind of set, they've kind of set me back just a little bit, but they haven't set me back. Like it's just made me more aware. But I kind of, not that I don't wish I would have went through it, but I could have avoided having to go through a lot of stuff that I went through. You've learned from all of that and it made you be the person that you are today. Yeah, like I wish that I had the patience I have now that when I was 15. But most 15 year olds don't have that patience at all. No, they don't, but definitely I would just tell myself be patient and, you know, it'll work out for sure. Okay, cool. What about, do you, you hadn't mentioned Drake and then are you a Drake fan? I mean Drake, I like Drake. You don't get to rock with Drake. I like Drake. I like all Drake. You don't like Drake. I like all Drake. So this new album, you're not into it? I didn't, I didn't, I haven't listened to it. I haven't listened to it. But I have, I've been in, I've been in my music mode. I haven't really barely been listening to music, honestly. I mean, Michael Jackson came out with a song. He did. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, let's be real for a minute. Yeah, that was that. Yeah, I knew you were gonna, I was gonna get you. I was setting you up for the kill right then. You didn't even know it. You put me on the spot with that one. I got hot flashes for sure. Man, man, you know, one thing I can tell you is, man, we love you. And anytime you got something new coming out, now that you've been on Boss Talk 101, just link back up with us, man. We're gonna always be looking to see what you're doing, you know. And we just thank you for coming on our platform. Man, we early in the game, we just getting started this year, man. And we appreciate you, man. For sure, for sure. Thank you for coming on here. Thank you guys for having us. Man, hey man, it's been another great segment of Boss Talk 101. And are we out?