Kandi opens up about how Grammys nominees are picked

DJ Scream and Big Bank share nothing but “Big Facts” in their podcast, as they chop it up with today’s popular figures in the entertainment industry.

DJ Scream and Big Bank returned with another episode of the “Big Facts” podcast, this time with the multifaceted entrepreneur, singer-songwriter, and actress Kandi Burruss.

Big Bank started off the interview by giving the 44-year-old her flowers for being one of the first women in the entertainment industry to be recognized as a true boss.

Besides having had a very successful music career with her former Xscape bandmates, Tameka “Tiny” Cottle, and sisters LaTocha and Tamika Scott; Kandi is also a fan favorite on the Bravo reality show “Real Housewives of Atlanta.” She’s opened up several restaurants including the southern style eatery, Old Lady Gang, an intimate toy line, and she also stars on the Showtime drama series “The Chi.”

While the singer was humbly reluctant to accept her influence over fellow businesswomen, at first, she says she could now see how that came about. “Now looking back, yeah, for sure. I get a lot of women who say that. Now I do recognize that I do inspire women,” Kandi admitted.

At the same time, Kandi said that’s one reason why she tries her hardest to hold herself accountable to follow through with any goal she sets for herself, especially when revealing them on reality television.

“I don’t like to be on the show just talking about shit. If I say something, I want you to actually see it happen,” she added. “I hate when on people on TV talking about ‘oh I want to do this’ and you never see it come together, you never see it come to life. Like, I never want to be on there talking about some stuff, and you never see it come together. If I start talking about some stuff at the beginning of the season. I want to actually have something, whether it’s a sample or something of substance happen by the end of that season.”

Astonishingly, despite all her triumphs, Kandi was still shocked to find out she was deemed wealthy by her peers and fanbase. “You know the funny thing is, before I got on that show, I didn’t really think people knew I had no money like that,” the songstress quipped.

“To be for real ‘cause I felt like I was always pretty low-key. I didn’t really buy a lot of big stuff. I didn’t spend big. You know what I mean? I had a house. But, I didn’t buy a huge house.. I didn’t buy a lot of jewelry. I had a decent car. I wasn’t buying big big cars or nothing.”

Whether she likes to flaunt her riches or not, the success is evident, and the simple fact that Kandi has been able to stay on the radar for nearly three decades is a feat within itself.

Longevity is not something a celebrity can easily maintain in the entertainment world, especially as a musician. The “My Little Secret” artist revealed that the key to her relevancy was always to reinvent herself.

“You can’t stay the same and stay relevant. You can’t. People stop caring at some point,” the singer explained. “And I always tell everybody, ‘Nobody cares what you used to be.’ Like nobody cares. As soon as you did it, so what? What’s next? Do something else. Do it again.”

Kandi shared a little gem that her cousin once told her that she says stuck with her throughout her entire career, saying, “Used-to-bes don’t make no honey, so don’t nobody care what you used to be.”

She admitted that one of her biggest fears was being a “used-to-be.” “I constantly am always trying to figure out what’s my next move. Always. When I am in my current move, I’m thinking about what’s my next move,” she expressed, adding, “Whatever is hot right now, whatever I’m being celebrated for today, is what I worked on last year, what I worked on last month. If I ain’t have something that I’m working on right now, I’m not going to have anything out next week, next month, next year. I gotta be constantly working on something new to keep it going.”

Kandi doesn’t plan to slow down anytime, either. The Grammy award winner revealed that she wants to write a book and is thinking about doing a fictional series.

Before she left, the hosts figured, if you want to know something about the ever-frustrating Grammy Awards, why not ask the Grammy winner — a winner who also happened to be a board member at that. This year’s nominations were controversial, per usual. Many of the industry’s heavy hitters were snubbed including Travis Scott and The Weeknd, who made his grievances with the awards show public on Twitter.

Kandi dropped a few secrets, and it was basically what we were all thinking. While there are many people involved in picking artist nominations, those who get to make the final decision either are not Black or brown and don’t listen to rap or R&B. They pick artists based on different criteria.

“It’s a popularity contest at that point, and you [are] just going through voting off of the name you recognize,” the singer revealed “because the majority of the people in the Grammy association are not people who actually listen to rap music. The same way, if I’m voting, I may not listen to classical music. I’m just voting on a name. I don’t know who that is.”  

Check out Kandi’s full episode of “Big Facts” above!