If you had the pleasure of attending one of NLE Choppa’s shows on his latest tour, and you were early enough to catch the openers, then you had the opportunity to watch 10K and White Russian do their thing on stage. When combined, they carry undeniable energy that does not go unnoticed, and their swag and bars speak for themselves.
Welcome to Trap Gurlz Entertainment, the new hottest female label on the scene. Founded in 2019 by 10K, Trap Gurlz is a hub for female rappers to express themselves and of course, get to the bag. Whether it’s shows, hostings, or bookings, Trap Gurlz is all about female empowerment, going after your dreams, and having a damn good time while doing it.
10K states, “It’s the first female label. She [Russian] has her individual project and I have mine, and we collab. We are all under the same thing. Like the CMG, we‘re building an empire.”
Hailing from Memphis, 10K is the definition of a bad b####, someone who owns a multi-million dollar hair salon, has a baby with Moneybagg Yo, and still manages to find time to be a recording artist herself.
Having collaborated with Ice Cream and Celebrity Pinkie from Memphis, 10K has one vision for Trap Gurlz: to become the hottest female label in the world.
Her friendship with White Russian, who hails from Mississippi, came into fruition in 2015… and the two have been inseparable since! In fact, they call themselves the M&Ms. Their latest single “What I Like” has been taking over clubs and functions all over the country, and they show no plans of slowing down anytime soon.
AllHipHop caught up with both 10K and Russian at The Novo in downtown Los Angeles, moments before their opening set for NLE Choppa on his NLE Tour.
AllHipHop: First off, can you introduce yourselves.
Russian: My name is White Russian, I’m part of Trap Gurlz.
10K: I’m 10K, the CEO don’t play.
Russian: My sis lit as f###! [laughs] She feeling herself, she looking good. Looking like a bag of money and she feels like it, I love it.
AllHipHop: How’s it been opening for NLE Choppa on tour? His performances are so lit!
10K: It is! You know what, this is my first tour. I actually did the Legends Tour, I did one day on that tour. But this is my first real experience being on tour state to state, and it is a wonderful experience. It’s exciting. It’s almost like a high that you keep chasing. We keep on talking about that, it’s a high that you get. The crowd participation, the love they show you, you have real music lovers. You keep chasing it, it just makes you want to perform more and give it your best.
Russian: You just want every city to be better than the next. If we came out last night and they were lit, what are they about to do in this city over here?
AllHipHop: LA is the last show, what are the vibes?
Russian: LA, it’s the last show there’s no doubt in my mind they have to turn up. It’s the last show and I’m super excited because I love LA. I’m excited. If they don’t turn up, I’m going to be sad. But they don’t have no choice but to turn up with us, so I’m not worried about that.
AllHipHop: What’s been the craziest show?
Both: Boston! [laughs]
10K: Boston was the most lit show that we’ve done, Boston is so lit. They had more energy than we did.
Russian: On God they really did.
10K: We had to reciprocate. They were like “yeah b####, turn up some more! More! More! More!”
Russian: You would’ve thought they knew every word to our song, they were so lit. They were recording, they were interacting with us. The engagement was crazy. The energy in the whole building was crazy.
10K: They were performing. We was there as the guests. [laughs] That city, hey Boston lit as f###.
Russian: Shout out to Boston, we coming back!
AllHipHop: How did you guys meet initially?
Russian: We’ve been friends way before.
10K: It was a mutual friend, somebody in Atlanta. Was it a road trip? Or a cross country trip?
Russian: I feel like it was one of your birthday trips. We kind of knew each other before that, but you reached out to me for one of your birthday trips years ago.
10K: No but there was a reason, I’m trying to think. It’s been a long time, probably been since 2015.
Russian: About 6.5 years. I’ve been in Atlanta for 7 years, so I met her shortly after.
AllHipHop: What happened in 2019 that Trap Gurlz became what it is now?
10K: 2019, it was a vision I had. Damn, there’s no female record labels out here that are really dominating the game. B###### not duplicating themselves. It’s no women doing that, it’s a lot of men doing that. You know how Jeezy had CTE? And Dolph had PRE, Gotti had CMG. There’s no girls like that running the hip hop world. S###, f### it. Let me do it. I know some dope b###### like Russian, and I know a couple more. I’m trying to get it all together and she’s the perfect fit. [laughs] B####, let’s run this s###! Trap Gurlz label. Russian has her solo projects coming out, I have my solo projects. We want to tag team and duo off of each other, maybe do collab albums here and there. We’re the first female record label, Trap Gurlz.
Russian: Coming out the m############ gate! [kicks leg]
AllHipHop: What sets your music apart from other female artists?
10K: Basically our music… I’m getting money. Sis getting money too! It’s really about hustling ass women. It’s about dope ass women that’s getting money on their own. Don’t get us wrong now, we ain’t f###### with no broke. [laughs] We gon’ f### with something that’s valuable to us as well. It’s not like we out here, we got it all and don’t need nobody for nothing. But we really don’t need them n*ggas either, but we want them. So you know. [laughs]
Russian: We don’t want to spend our own.
10K: There you go, but we got it if we have to. We can book our flight back home, if it’s a problem.
Both: [laughs]
Russian: Read between the lines, if you picking up what I’m putting down.
AllHipHop: Talk about the record “What I like” going crazy!
10K: Oh yes! They loving “What I Like,” because it’s what we like.
Russian: “What I Like” is the last song we recorded on the project. They’re like nah okay, it’s just a song we gon’ record. Da-da-da. It ended up being now the single that we’re pushing off of the whole project. Off top, when we were really supposed to drop a project. We said “no, let’s go ahead and see what this single’s talking about.”
10K: Some people hated it, some people liked it. It was a bunch of mixed reviews. We’re like f### it, we’re going to ride with it. We played it one time in the club, we had a hosting somewhere. We saw the crowd, ass bumping everywhere! We all looking at each other like this is the one! We just rolled with It.
AllHipHop: What can we expect from the rest of the project?
10K: It’s called Trap Gurlz Reloaded. It’s getting into the lives of the trap girls. How we move, the s### we pack on the way. [laughs] We only book one way, we might not stay the night. We might get up and go. [laughs] We be winging it.
Russian: The true definition of winging it, on God.
10K: Definitely. It’s a lot of female independency on the album.
AllHipHop: How does it feel being independent?
10K: You know what, it’s a lot of money being spent. I have my mixed feelings about it, but it feels good. Anything that’s worth having won’t come easy. It’s a lot of sacrifice, it’s a lot of grinding. It’s a lot of faith. But when you get it back, it’s all yours.
AllHipHop: 10K, talk about owning a multi-million dollar hair salon in Memphis.
10K: I like to tell people: I didn’t choose the beauty industry, the beauty industry chose me. It’s something I’ve been in all my life, ever since I was a little girl. Little little girl, I’m talking about 6 or 7 years old. I’ve always done hair, did everyone’s hair in my family. My mom, my sisters, my cousins, the neighborhood friend girls, all of that. I even used to do the basketball team’s hair. [laughs] I was a good braider.
I’ve always been a hustler too. I’ve always been into sales. I sold clothes, I sold cars, I sold furniture. Anything I felt was lucrative and I could sell it, I would sell that s###. I ended up coming across hair extensions one day a long time ago. I was selling the hair and putting them in their hair, I started making bank. I ended up being one of the first females in Memphis with a storefront, that you could pull up and purchase the hair extensions. This was back in 2013 when I opened, you could pull up. You don’t have to order or anything. You can see it, you can touch the product, and you can get it. That’s what brought my success in.
I moved to Atlanta in 2014, I was one or two years in business. I’m over there calculating the rent I’m paying. Damn, I could be paying this kind of money to own my own stuff. I had some plans drawn up. I ended up going to a bank, trying to get approved. Of course, I hadn’t been in business that long. I kept getting denied, then decided to take my talents to Atlanta. I ended up meeting Jordan out there. When I got out to Atlanta, I was thinking I’ve been in music all my life. This guy named Mr. Ian was out there as well. He’s real well-known in music, one of Memphis’ legends. He said “10, you need to rap. You really need to rap, you got it!” So I started rapping while I was in Atlanta.
In 2016, f### it I’ma buy some land. I bought the land in Memphis while I was living in Atlanta, and I opened up a salon in Atlanta. I’ve always been simultaneously doing both: music here, and the money. Trap doesn’t specifically mean for us selling drugs, it’s doing whatever you have to do to get it done. You’re turning nothing into something you gonna make it happen. I don’t give a damn if you doing facials, maybe you don’t have a towel warmer. B#### wet your towels up and put them in a warmer case or bag. Get it done, you trappin’. I’m moving around and getting s### done, that’s what it means by all means.
AllHipHop: Russian, what’s your story?
Russian: Whew, my story. I’m just a small town girl from Mississippi. I moved to Atlanta 7.5 years ago, I was 19. Started dancing in the club, I’ve been dancing now for 7 years. I met 10. I’ve been doing music on and off for 4 years. But really taking it serious serious, the last year and a half. Really investing in myself and taking the extra steps that I need to take to get where I want to be.
Me and 10, we’ve been friends before this. We the turn up friends. We used to really party together: birthday, out the country, having a good time. She caught on that I was doing music so of course, she came to me like “well s###, what you trying to do? We trying to do Trap Gurlz Reloaded project. We’re laying this on the table, what you wanna do?” So we agreed to do the project together, and…
10K: We are here. And it’s working! It’s really working. Russian is a real team player. She’s a real performer, she’s hard working. Music for her is not just “oh I wanna do something.” She’s really devoted and dedicated to It. That’s a really big thing for me because I love women that are dedicated and devoted to s###, and she’s like that.
Russian: I’m ready, I’m hungry. It’s time. It’s on, we aren’t getting any younger. Let’s go!
AllHipHop: Artists wish they can open up for a big artist like Choppa. How’d this opportunity present itself?
10K: Man, it is everything! It’s such a blessing that Choppa really believes in us, our music and our whole movement. It was a big blessing. I said “wassup, let a girl open up for you.” He’s like “you want to do this forreal?” I said “yes!” he said “come on!” Russian, b#### pack your bags. We outta here! We ain’t got no outfits.
Russian: We got the call the day before we left for our first show. You know how we were scrambling? That’s why I said the real definition of winging s###, because we haven’t had no rehearsal, no soundcheck, no nothing. We literally were going out there, feeding off of each other.
10K: But we deadass get cursed out every night by Johnnie Cabbel. He’s like “no,” hated it. He’s a gift and a curse. He’s gonna critique something every time. Some people are like “Johnnie, you’re too hard on them.” “No! 10, you ain’t really bouncing around. Russian, you’re doing all this cute s### on stage.” We’re like what the f###? So we get to bouncing around, we jumping and everything. He’s like “y’all ain’t talking to the crowd! You ain’t talking to the DJ.” So we bouncing around, jump around. Do backflips, backbends. Holla at the DJ. We do all of that and he says “y’all doing too much talking and not enough rapping!”
Russian: It’s so crazy because at the same time he’s telling us all this, there are people steady coming up to us like “man, y’all did a good job. Y’all were lit. Y’all got the crowd…” People steady coming up to us giving up compliments, we looking at Johnny like…
10K: And he still has something to say! He’s still like “who are you gonna listen to? Me or them!” Both: [laughs]
Russian: The people who gon’ download our s###, that’s who we gon’ listen to.
10K: But no, I really learned a lot. I got better with crowd engagement and entertaining. He helped us out a lot with this.
Russian: It’s definitely a learning experience. Shout out to DJ Toon, walking in!
AllHipHop: What can we expect next?
10K: We about to drop our video to “What I Like.” We shot it in Miami. The whole song is based in Miami.
Both: [sings lyrics] “Prime 112 when it’s time to eat dinner, I like shaking my ass like a stripper. LIV on Sunday when I feel religious, church!”
10K: We definitely had to take the M&Ms from Atlanta to Miami. We had to live up to our s###, because that’s what we like.
