'Love & Hip-Hop's' Rasheeda on 'Ratchet' TV & Success Not Meaning 'Mainstream'

The new reality TV star gets candid

Rasheeda is one of the few cast members on VH1’s “Love & Hip-Hop: Atlanta” whose drama is relatively healthy. The popular rapper is in a loving relationship with her husband of 12 years, Kirk Frost, who's also her manager. Together, they run the family business of making her a star.

The Loop 21 caught up with the Atlanta cult favorite to chat about her career, the state of women in hip-hop and how she brings balance to the show.

Loop 21: You seem to have a healthy relationship, but critics focus more on the negative aspects of other castmates. Is it fair?

Rasheeda: It doesn’t matter whether I think it’s fair or not because people are gonna say and do whatever the hell they want to do. The difference between us and these people is that our drama is playing out on camera, so the ratchet shit that goes on in people’s lives -- that we don’t see -- happens for real. You can’t go on television doing a honky-dory positive show. No one wants to watch that. People want to see struggle. They want to see how others deal with similar situations to what they’re going through. You have to entertain when it comes to television but, at the same time, tell your story. Do they grow from it? Do they fall? As far as the show is concerned, it’s not a scripted thing. I can speak for myself and say the only thing they do is present the place where things may play out — the scenery — and then it’s on and poppin’ [laughs].

Loop 21: You and Kandi are friends and she’s been on reality TV.  Did you get advice from her?

Rasheeda: Of course! I was going back and forth with her and Toya prior to everything. I wanted to get my feet wet.

[ALSO READ: Is There a Transgendered Woman on 'Love & Hip-Hop'?]

Loop 21: On another note, ladies were loving your husband!

Rasheeda: I told him I’m gonna have to put a low-jack on his ass, some kind of security system lock down on him. We were in the mall yesterday and the girls were like, 'Hey husband! Rasheeda, you gotta be nice!' I’m not mean like that but we go through our problems and that’s just part of a marriage. That’s what we do. We work together, we’re husband and wife, we have a family, we have our issues, we bump heads but at the end of the day, that’s my husband.

Loop 21: What was the conversation like with him about you being on the show?

Rasheeda: He thought it would be the good with the bad. But, at the end of the day, I can really use this platform to elevate.

Loop 21: You’ve been through a couple of major record deals and have said they didn’t understand you as an artist. Can you elaborate?