No Foreign on How She Blew Up, Life In LA & New Music OTW

This week No Foreign comes through for another fire installment in our 2020 interview series. Hailing from LA, the budding rapper made waves early in her career by dropping dope freestyles to popular songs like Lil' Kim's "Not Tonight" and Tay-K's "The Race". Since then, sky has really been the limit as No Foreign has racked up over 1 Million streams and grown a loyal fanbase well into the 100,000s. Learn more of her journey below, as well as a special message to all her fans. Right now and only on Hype Off Life 👊🏾

So, for those that don’t know, how did you get your start in music

Well, I started doing music, I started music around 2 years ago now, just saying in the strip club and have been around artists and producers. I was supposed to go on this TV show and basically me and my team back then, we had already mentioned that I was doing music, which was a lie so when we got back into town, I had no choice but to get back, get in the studio and start recording stuff. And it just picked up from there. I had done my first record. It was a remix to Lil Kim’s “Not Tonight” and then it did its thing and I just kept it going.

Yeah, I saw some of your freestyles, they were dope. How’d you come up with the name No Foreign? 

I actually use to go by Angie No Good. So, everyone referred to me as Angie No Good, you know that was my nickname. One day on Instagram I decided to change my Instagram username not just because of a specific reason and I ended up changing it to “not foreign” and one day I took out the t and was like “you know that sounds like a nickname” and I just kept the name. 

Speaking of Instagram, you have a lot of followers, how did you grow your audience?

It all started off with just my selfies (my selfie game is strong, lol), just being in the clubs, going out a lot, good pictures, meeting a lot of people, networking and it just picked up. Anything I did from photo shoots to music, just anything.

How would you say growing up in LA influenced your sound and mentality?

Growing up influenced my mentality for one, I grew up all around South Central, there was nothing but hustlers... just witnessing my mom and other single mothers having to play both roles: the father figure and the mother figure. I put the independence of that and my sound sounds a bit gangster but I try to keep it cute and cool. I still try to remind them that LA, Cali chicks are still cool and smooth. I’m just trying to state the fact that I’m a female but also a hustler and I can do what men can do too. 

Speaking of your mom, you just released a single called “Dear Ma” 

Yeah, I did, it was actually a birthday surprise to my mom and I decided to a record dedicated to her and give it to her as her gift.

OfficialNoForeign · Dear Ma'

What was her reaction?

At first, you could tell she was like “what you really did a song just for me”, but then she got emotional. I knew that from the jump that she would get emotional because I got emotional too. She was happy though, she loved it.

It’s a nice record. It shows your versatility and everything. Is there any music you’re working on that we should keep a lookout for?

Yeah actually. I can’t forget the fun sound. I like the club environment, the good times, the partying style. So, I have a few records that I'm putting together into an EP. But, it’s just the beginning so I don’t have much detail on that right now. But, I do have a record that I’m looking forward to putting out. It’s called “Point Her Out”. It’s just a fun sound and it’s a little ratchet.

What would you say is one thing about yourself that has contributed to your success the most? 

I would say it’s my drive, God and my hustle. I would say those three.

Do you have any message for your fans that you would like them to know before you go?

My message to my supporters is first and foremost, thank you for supporting me throughout these years. It’s any little thing that I put my mind to and I get to do, they just support me and have my back 100%. So, I just wanna say thank you and keep going and pushing, and don’t look back.