Boardroom sits down with the Icy Girl herself to learn about the upcoming Pretty Bitch Music album and her new gig as music coordinator for MNF.
It’s not easy being Saweetie. You may think it is, because the 32-year-old Bay Area native has made a career of making the exigent seem effortless. But the multi-hyphenate born Diamonté Quiava Valentin Harper didn’t stumble into success. She worked for it. After graduating from USC in 2016, Saweetie decided to pursue her dream of being a rapper and committed to dropping freestyles regularly on Instagram. One of those freestyles, done to Khia’s 2001 hit, “My Neck, My Back,” gained some traction and prompted Saweetie to expand on the idea and record it to an original beat. That freestyle became “Icy Grl,” a career-defining song that propelled her into the national consciousness.
After a string of platinum singles, viral moments, and big brand deals like her 2021 collab with McDonald’s, Saweetie hit an inflection point. Behind the scenes, she was wrestling with a record deal that, in her words, kept her from realizing her full potential. Now, freed from those constraints, Saweetie is entering could be her true prime.
This season, Saweetie has teamed up with the NFL’s Monday Night Football to create a series of original music mixes, an unexpected yet seamless blend of her love for sports and culture. The collaboration marks a rare kind of crossover: a hip-hop artist reimagining one of America’s biggest sports institutions through her own sonic lens. For the NFL, it’s a signal that the league is serious about evolving its sound and presentation for a new generation. For Saweetie, it’s an extension of something deeper: her family legacy.
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Sports have always been part of her DNA. Her grandfather, Willie Harper, played linebacker for the San Francisco 49ers, winning a Super Bowl in 1982. Her father was a college football player. Growing up, the game wasn’t just background noise—it was a family language. And now, with her Monday Night Football partnership, Saweetie is translating that language into her art.
On this episode of Boardroom Talks, Saweetie unpacks her evolution, talks about her love of football and who her all-time favorite players are, and shares what she wishes she knew about the music industry when she first signed a deal.
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