There are few girl groups that ignite 90’s nostalgia and Xscape is one of them. We recently we caught up with one of its members– Tameka “Tiny” Harris— to chat about balancing music, new business ventures and family life. If you are a reality TV fanatic, you’ve also seen the seductive song bird and entrepreneur star in T.I.& Tiny:The Family Hustle with rapper husband T.I.
Keep reading to learn about her “Name My New Tequila” contest (Now ended as of February 18th), the OMG Girlz and some unexpected interests.
Photo Credits: Getty Images
VIBE Vixen: Tell us about your most recent business venture,the “Name My New Tequila” contest.
Tiny: Well, you know I wanted to do some kind of beverage and tequila was one of the things that [I like]. I like tequila, but most of the time tequila is very strong and very hair chest growing..So I wanted to try to get a tequila that did not burn your throat so bad–also a flavored tequila.
I like so many of them right now, that it’s kind of hard for me to chose a name. Of course my partners…like Tiny’s Tequila. They like that a lot, but I feel that I got so many great names that came in, that we should look into those more. It’s a couple of names that stuck out to me, so we’re going to narrow them down.
We have followed your music career since you were a teenager in Xscape. How exciting is it to be launching your very own Pretty Hustle record label?
The label is something I wanted to do after I started working with creating the OMG Girlz. I wanted to have a real solid platform for the girls and just be recognized as a real company–someone who’s really making moves in business and not just out here without any knowledge of what’s really going on. I think that we/I have put a couple of people in place to help me pretty much take this company to the next level and also merge with another partner that is a big time producer. This will be an OMG project and so I’m excited about that, too. So once we solidify it, I could definitely spill the beans on that. Pretty Hustle is my baby and OMG is my baby so its attached to Pretty Hustle and that is my biggest project yet to me.
T.I. & Tiny: The Family Hustle is returning to VH1 soon. What are some things you do daily to balance being a fabulous mother, wife and successful business woman?
I try to give a little time to everybody–make sure that I’m comforting and being nurturing to my husband with his needs and also just seeing about my kids and making sure they’re straight. I wont lie– I have help because it’s a lot being that I have so many kids. I travel and then with my husband and everything that he’s doing so, with help and just staying focused on what the bigger picture is and my goal is. Then it’s to be the best mother that I can be and also keep them grounded and stay grounded and also try to achieve something so they can look forward/up to, and want to do as well as their mother and father or better.
What can we expect from The OMG Girlz this year? Do they give you flashbacks of working with Xscape?
Oh man, I always have flashbacks. With any girl group, there’s always some kind of something. With the OMG Girlz, it’s not much of a discrepancy or big fights because OMG–two of them–they’ve been together since birth, Zonnique and Bahja. They’re the closest and they’re always with each other, so they’re really, really tight like sisters. And then Bre, which is “Baby Doll,” she’s very laid back. She’s a sweet girl, but every now and then they have their little run in’s, which any young teenagers would.
I guess my newest girl group that I have, which is “French kiss,” they remind me a lot of my me and my group. Just because they bicker and they fight all the time, they have replaced one member, brought her back and replaced her again. They have gone through their ups and downs so quickly, and at the beginning of their career, so it kind of puts me in the mind of taking me back to the old Xcape days. I’m telling them, you have to be aware of each other, your well being and what each other wants and being respectful because you guys can kill your own career because you are a team. So, that’s more of my struggle with French Kiss more so than OMG.
But OMG-this album is a long awaited process and I know they have a lot of fans that are like internet fans. They just have their own little following and these fans are really disturbed that they have not put out an album just yet from the OMG Girlz. Being that they came from Interscope [records] and now back off Interscope, it took some time. Now we’re just making sure we can bring them them the best album possible with the girls. They have awesome music, they’re growing and they’re ready. I see the growth in them on stage and they’re just becoming some little stars. And when they do drop an album, it’s going to be A-1.
We hear you’re considering an acting career. What type of roles are you interested in playing?
Well, you know I’m a TV fanatic so, I always, always wanted to play a Basic Instincts roll. Sharon Stone? I love that roll she plays. I like to be seductive and I’m not stuck to any role. I would love to play on Sons of Anarchy. One is because I like Jacks– I think Jacks is like the man, okay (laughs)? Two, because they killed Tara off and I feel like he needs a new woman. Three– because they should add a little more color..I know it’s motorcycle riders and all of that, but it would be nice to see just a few sprinkles here and there [of color] and I would like to be that person. Let me just talk about this Scandal show; Yes, Kerri Washington’s role is awesome! I want to be taken seriously [in] whatever role I do. I want to nail it and even if it’s a ghetto girl, I know I can play that hands down-no problem.
Since we’re wrapping up Black History Month, which African-American woman is most influential to you?
I say Oprah Winfrey or Michelle Obama because I think that Michelle Obama really helps keep things grounded. She holds her house down and she supports her husband; she’s like the brain-child to me. [I think] she’s the brains behind it all and she just helps to motivate. You cannot take away from Oprah ’cause she came from nothing to something and she’s so powerful and she has not stopped yet. Her longevity is what makes her [to me] one of the most powerful black history women.