Rapper Da Brat is taking a trip down memory lane. The femcee has been a part of some massive hits in music’s history. In addition, she is the first female rap artist to achieve a platinum-selling album. Still, Brat has seen significant success as a featured artist as well. Recently, the Atlanta rapper reflected on her appearance on the remix to Mariah Carey’s 1996 hit, “Always Be My Baby.” Included in the story was her experience with Carey’s ex-husband, Tommy Mottola, whom she says had Mariah “Trapped in a castle.”
We’ve all become aware of Mariah Carey’s tumultuous marriage to music executive and former Chairman and CEO of Sony, Tommy Mottola. At twenty years her senior, Mottola married Mariah Carey in 1993 and divorced in 1998. Recently, the legendary singer detailed the events of her life in her 2020 memoir, “The Meaning of Mariah Carey.” In it, she discussed the experience of meeting and recording with Da Brat, along with super producer Jermaine Dupri and R&B group Xscape, and the trouble they got into.
While interviewing with CBS Sunday Morning last year, Carey described the “huge drama” she went through just for taking a short ride with Da Brat to get food while recording the song. Highlighting that it was her “first-time” meeting Da Brat, Carey expressed her desire to make a quick escape with her and saw no issue. “I was like, yeah, let’s go for a ride,” she told the reporter, “because it was normal for most people to just leave their house and go literally five minutes down the street to get French fries or just take a ride.”
Carey shared that it’s one of her “favorite stories” and that she can now laugh at it, although it was no laughing matter at the time. Their decision to leave the shoot got the singer in “trouble” with Mottola. “You know, it’s like having a completely controlling father or warden,” Carey described it.
Now, Da Brat is speaking up about the experience. First, the “Funkdafied” rapper, who is a radio personality on The Rickey Smiley Morning Show, reminisced on the first time seeing such a “big mansion,” which Mariah Carey calls “Sing Sing” in her book. “They lived next door to Ralph Lauren,” exclaimed Da Brat. Then, continuing to set the scene, she describes viewing a massive indoor pool outside the studio’s window. “It was amazing,” she said.
Admitting that she has “so many memories” with her legendary friend, Da Brat’s tune changed as she reflected on the “sad parts.” Although Carey was one of the biggest stars at the time, her personal life was suffering. “She was like a princess trapped in the castle,” she said. Furthermore, Da Brat claimed they had to do things like “whisper” when they spoke due to microphones being in the walls of the mansion and studio. The Atlanta rapper also stated that security monitored Mariah Carey’s every move, prohibiting her from freely being herself.
“If she would laugh or something too hard, security would come stop her and see what she was doing,” stated Da Brat. But according to the rapper, their friendship was an “instant” one. With all of the restrictions the Grammy-Award-winning singer was under, Da Brat claims that Mariah Carey seemed to want to “live vicariously” through her. “I really didn’t care what I said back then,” Brat remembered. “So she was like, happy to be around somebody that didn’t care, [and] that they could just speak their mind because she didn’t get a chance to do that.” The rapper also expressed that all can be confirmed within her book.
Speaking further on their marriage, Da Brat states that although it could have begun well, it didn’t stand a chance. “[Tommy Mottola] was like, real possessive and stuff,” she said. Brat shed light on Mariah Carey’s desire to spread her wings and collaborate with rappers. Still, Mottola ultimately wanted to make her into “something that she wasn’t.” The rapper also claimed that Carey had several around “20 cars” that she could not drive. But, they would end up taking one of the cars to go “a block away” to get some food. But the “huge drama” would end up scaring Jermaine Dupri. He called them and begged them to return because security was swirling around incessantly looking for Carey.
