Correction: (Sept. 19, 2019): This story has been updated to reflect that the abuse referred to in this article has not been confirmed by Blavity and is the account of rapper and actress Stormi Maya.
Stormi Maya is the epitome of a triple threat. In addition to starring in the upcoming film Hustlers and recently finishing a music video with Rick Ross and Drake, she is working on her debut album. However, the hustle comes naturally for the 24-year-old Bronx native, who shared that she was forced into adulthood at a young age. Maya said she was placed into foster care at 15 after suffering physical and emotional abuse from her mom.
“The older I was getting, the abuse from my mom started to become worse,” Maya told Blavity. “I guess she was like really obsessed with me having sex. I really don’t know where it came from. It just seemed like she thought I was going to have sex and get pregnant, and she started getting really aggressive with it. We were also dealing with homelessness, and I guess the stress faced from that made the abuse worse.”
The singer and rapper said hardship is what fueled her passion for her budding music career, which started taking form earlier this year with the release of her debut EP Body of Work. With songs like “Conscious Coochie” the five-track EP captures Maya’s experiences of being a sex-positive Black woman highlighted by energetic prose that’s reminiscent of 90s hip-hop. Her music is also pro-Black. Maya is biracial, and as someone who is both Black and white, she discussed having pride in her Black heritage.
YouTube | Stormi Maya – Topic
“I’ve always identified as a Black woman, but when I went to school I was told I was 'light skinned' as if it’s different from being Black,” Maya said. "Everyone wants to be exotic, but I’m Black and I love being Black. I don’t necessarily need to play the whole 'mixed' and 'light skinned' card, because it seems to me that that’s been glorified a little too long. When you add the word 'Black' onto things ,it isn’t as glorified. So just because of that, my artistry has always been very pro-Black. Eartha Kitt and Lena Horne did it. I can too.”
It took a long time for Maya to thoroughly embrace her sexuality, as she does in her music. Maya said she was consistently hyper-sexualized as a child, which made her ashamed of her sexuality as she matured.
“I wasn’t a bad kid at all, but throughout my childhood, I was constantly accused of having sex and other sexual things before I even did,” Maya said. “I was very religious as a kid and very conservative and really scared of sex because I was always called 'whore' and stuff like that when I was a kid. For a very long time, I was so shameful of sex.”
“It was really crappy, and my escape from that whole process was being in the modeling industry at 16,” Maya said.
After being kicked out of foster care, Maya shared that she bounced around from homes of boyfriends she’d dated, which eventually led to a stripping career — in addition to modeling. She appeared in music videos for artists like Fetty Wap and 50 Cent and she got her first big gig as a Playboy model when she was 19.
"I was in different music videos. It was the only time in my life where I felt like I wasn’t this poor little child who was unwanted. I felt like a superstar — and I stuck with it. That’s why now, years later, I’m starting to see a lot of results — because of my hard work.”
Maya wanted to take on the acting world next, which led to roles in indie films and guest roles on TV shows. But this year became a breakthrough for Maya as she appeared in season two of Netflix’s She’s Gotta Have It, playing the role of Mars’ girlfriend. Next month, she stars alongside Cardi B and Jennifer Lopez in the film Hustlers. Maya plays the role of Angel, a crafty rookie stripper whose confidence blooms while under the veteran leadership of Ramona played by Lopez.
Acting in Hustlers was a full-circle moment, considering how stripping was Maya's escape from her dark past. She also enjoyed working with fellow Bronx rapper Cardi B, whom Maya had met before.
“I actually met Cardi B before she was famous,” Maya said. “We both worked at Starlets [Club] in Queens. I was a bottle girl and she was a stripper, so we’ve met a couple of times because the Bronx is kind of a small community. I liked how blunt and confident she was, and that’s how I wanted to be, so it was definitely a realization of just being on set with her years later. It was so epic because I’m also playing a role that was my reality.”
According to Maya, those moments helped build the nascent stages for a music career that embraces her sexual agency.
“Now, I found a way where I can be empowered by it,” Maya said. “I feel like when you’re a girl and you’re told sexuality is wrong, you become very ashamed of it. But I’ve realized that by not being ashamed of something, you take your power back. When you’re ashamed of being a stripper or ashamed of sex work or showing your body, you’re letting people have power over you because now they can throw in your face. Once I started owning, I felt like I was 'that b***h.'”
That said, it didn’t take too long for Maya to receive negative criticism from men who couldn’t fathom the idea of a woman being both sexy and intelligent. Maya shared that her Instagram comments are occasionally filled with hate from men discussing her breast implants, which became the message of her aptly-titled song “Fake Ass Titties.”
“Yea, I can be sexy as hell,” Maya said. “Yea, I have naked pictures [of myself] on the internet, but I’m still smarter than you. That’s the whole joke to me like [men look] at women who show their bodies and think they’re stupid, but it’s like dude I’m making money off of you looking at these pictures.”
It’s that same confidence that Maya hopes will help to build her future. Although Maya is busy these days traveling and doing press for her upcoming film, make no mistake — she’s just getting started.
“I’m still developing myself as an artist,” Maya said. "I’m still developing my sound and confidence because I noticed that when I first started in the industry, a lot of my confidence was based on my appearance — everything was physical. When I started doing music, I noticed how vulnerable I became as I started expressing myself. The future of me is definitely continuing to grow my confidence as an artist. I definitely want to do a tour and collabs with some dope women. I’m also going to continue acting.”
Maya's victories are sentient proof of the artist's unyielding determination to succeed. With a work ethic adopted at an early age, Maya's professional growth shines. Her modeling, acting and musical pursuits paint an ostensibly moving portrait of a woman who doesn't see failure as an option, and has the confidence to match.
