Sheree Whitfield on Becoming a 'Singer,' Portrayal of Black Women in the Media

In part two of our chat Sheree Whitfield she shares her thoughts on images if Black women in the media, why some artists need to be more respectful to women with their lyrics, the joy of her South Africa Trip and whether she'll make more music. You can check out part one here if you need to catch up first but if not, enjoy:

What’s going on with you music, it sounded like you could actually hold a note?

I can’t sing but ok, thank you [laughs]. I was actually just having fun. I was just flowing or whatever and it was definitely me stepping outside the box because this is something I never wanted to do or thought about doing, but when the guy hit me on twitter about doing the song—he hit me two years ago but he stayed consistent about asking me to do it. Every day he would check my twitter line and there were so many people saying “who gon’ check me boo,” I can’t live it down. And so, I told him to make it relevant to what I’m going through today and he did. We attached it to a program for inner city youth out of Chicago, and their mission is to not only educate the kids academically but also artistically and culturally, so for me to get out and do this—hopefully this can inspire other people who actually want to do this and step outside that shell and dream big and never limit themselves, so I’m glad I was able to show my kids that I can step outside the box and do something different.

Are you going to make another song now that you’ve seen the response?

I don’t know. I just fell into this but I’m trying to put together a promotional tour right now and we’ll see how it goes.

And if it goes well, you’ll be enlisting Kandi’s help, huh?

I wont say never. Kandi does a fair share of—I mean—I’ve heard her on the last episode pretty much say that she didn’t want to work with us anymore, which is fine with me. I get it; it’s the same Phaedra and I mixing business with friendship we had to stop.

Are you still friends now?

Absolutely! We’re still friends. It didn’t work out with her being my attorney but I like her as a friend.

Are Kim and Kroy getting their own show?

I would love—the story is just amazing. For her to meet this guy at my fantasy event, have a baby, move into a huge house, get married—all of that should have been documented. That’s a story within itself because a lot of women think it can’t happen and Kim and Kroy are proof that it does. I don’t know if that would happen with all they’ve got going on, on this show but it would be interesting to see.

What would your spinoff be about?

I’d probably tailor mine toward something in health and fitness. We need to get America healthier, especially the kids, so it would be related to health. And I know people say Sheree and Lawrence should get their own show, I think it would be funny because we do have great chemistry that’s genuine.

How do u feel about the images of Black women in the media?

On TV, I think that of course, it’s sad that the portrayal is always, or seems to be negative like, we’re always angry and fighting and there has to be drama involved when it comes to black women but I think with a lot of the songs [in hip-hop], these guys and maybe some of the girls too—I don’t really listen to it because I listen to more R&B—but the words that they call the women or how they portray women in the videos and things like that—I think people are looking at it like if they don’t respect their women then why should we respect American women. Maybe African American men should be a lot more respectful to the women.

What can we expect from your South African trip and the rest of the season in general?

Going to south Africa was a wonderful experience. I experienced probably every emotion one could have over in South Africa. Watching it, you guys are gonna be laughing, maybe almost crying. You’re gonna be sad you’re gonna be happy—it was really, really touching. I think the people are gonna appreciate it. That was my first time going. It was an eye opener; it was a great experience. I don’t know how many episodes it’s gonna run but it’s definitely gonna be great for TV, and for the rest of the season we got a bunch of crazy girls on this show so of course there’s more drama. And with me, I think—my storyline was more about my family, which I love.