Coi Leray recently spoke with Billboard, sharing her response to hearing Latto’s version of “Blick Blick” for the first time.
The Jan. 26 interview finds Leray being asked about the pride she has in her songwriting abilities and how it was impacted after 130 of the acclaimed rapper’s songs leaked in Nov. 2022— including a reference track for one of Coi’s own. “I had no clue that she cut that record,” she insists.
She then elaborates on why allowing other writers into her creative process doesn’t hinder her own, seeing it as a collaborative effort.
“I kinda look at it like a collab. It’s like if Gucci or Moncler wanted me on the cover wearing their stuff, and I like the stuff, then if I don’t like it, I don’t have to wear it. It’s the same thing with that song. If you play me a song and I think I could kill that sh*t.
“I’m a businesswoman — not only am I talented, I’m also about my business. If that sh*t’s a smash and I’m like, “All right cool, let’s do it,” I have the option to change whatever I want in the song. I have the options to tweak or do whatever. Once you give me the song, you can’t tell me what to do. You could give me advice and I’m a cut it.”
Leray then name-drops Latto and proclaims that two “Blick Blick” tracks have different verses while admitting, “the hook was already cut.” Later, Coi asserts that, regardless of what the formula for a hit song may be, none of her women contemporaries are on her level.
“Even when we did “Blick Blick,” the hook was already cut and we did the verse together. That’s why the verses sound different. I heard Latto’s version and the verses sound different but the hook was there. A lot of great music hooks are written and I don’t know — it’s a formula. I’ve only been in the industry for four years, and now I’m at point where I feel like I’m breaking superstar status and I’m learning that formula.
“I’m gonna be at a point where I’m making those f**king songs for the biggest of the biggest just off the simple fact I learned the formula. I didn’t learn it on my own, I had to be in the studio with these other amazing creatives to be like, ‘Alright, this is how this works.’ But if you put me in the studio with any one of these b–ches I swear they’re not seeing me in any way. They’re not coming out with no hit. And I say that in the most humblest, friendliest, loving, and friendly competition way.”
However, immediately after her bold assertion, the “Players” rapper then clarified her comments, stating that while there are a litany of women making noise in rap right now, she doesn’t “compete with them.”
“I don’t compete with them, because you just can’t,” she said. “The best thing about this industry [is], there’s room for everybody. That’s why it’s no competition. I could be here and you could be here right with me. At the end of the day, even if we at the top of the mountain, I’m a be Coi and you gonna be you, and we could trade places or I could become someone else. I’m gonna determine my greatness, my destiny, and my future. What’s for you is for you, while we’re at the top together. Steel sharpens steel.”