Saweetie Has Famous Industry Relatives, but She Didn’t Seek Their Help for a Relatable Reason
Saweetie is one of the top up-and-coming rappers in hip-hop right now. With hits “My Type” and “Tap In,” it is clear is that her star will only continue to rise as time goes on. In a recent interview, the Bay Area native spoke about why she doesn’t seek help from her famous relatives.
Saweetie has a lot of famous relatives
Though Saweetie has a number of relatives who are in the industry, the relationship that most people are familiar with is the one with Gabrielle Union. The actress and television/film producer is cousins with Saweetie. It was speculated on social media for some time that the two were related before Union confirmed the news in 2018.
She said that Saweetie was her cousin in an Instagram post honoring R&B singer Kehlani, noting how she “collabs with other great talent like my little cousin @saweetie.” Union went on to elaborate on their relationship in a tweet, which also included a fun fact about one of her movies. She tweeted, “Yup. Her father and I are 1st cousins. Her grandma is my aunt Joanne Glass who I based Eva from “Deliver Us From Eva” on. #FunFact #DozensOfCousins.” Last year, Saweetie also performed at Union’s birthday party this year and they had on matching outfits that referenced Union’s role in Bring It On.
MC Hammer is also Saweetie’s uncle. The rapper has said that MC Hammer is her cousin’s father, meaning that her aunt is likely his mother.
“Our family grew up with the Burrell’s [MC Hammer’s family],” she said in an interview. My cousin’s dad is MC Hammer. We all grew up together and it’s interesting to see how we turned out.”
And though they aren’t related by blood, Saweetie and music producer Zaytoven refer to each other as cousins.
Saweetie is all about being ‘self-made’
She may have a lot of connections through her relatives, but according to Saweetie, she doesn’t want to be known for who she is related to. As a guest on an episode of Desus & Mero, Saweetie denied claims that she got where she was because of her family. In actuality, she said that her family didn’t even know much about her music before she got started.
“They were all kind of upset at me because they heard ‘My Type’ and was like, ‘We didn’t know you was doing music. What you doin’ over there?’” she said with a laugh.
The rapper says she appreciated knowing people were in her corner, but also wanted to make sure that she was making waves on her own merit.
“But me, I have so much pride,” she continued. “I believe in being self-made and trying to figure things out on my own. I appreciated that they reached out and was like, ‘We see what you’re doing. Our friends keep talking about you. We see you and if you need our help, please let us know.’ So I appreciate the support, but for me, like, I’ve always been self-motivated. So, instead of asking for help, I just wanted to see if I could do it on my own.”
