From Her BBL to Her Music, Erica Banks Is Done With Criticism From Haters

Although women in hip-hop have overcome every obstacle in recent years to become the most dominant force in pop culture, they remain one the most criticized artist groups. One of the biggest names at the forefront of rap is DeSoto’s own Erica Banks.

Over the last few years, Banks' career has been plagued by misunderstandings, drama and scrutiny. Her lyrical abilities are adept, but the publicity has been mixed. Like other women in music, Banks was also confronted by colorism.

It takes immense confidence to persevere in the public eye, and Banks' serene attitude in the face of criticism comes from her childhood.

“I've always been a confident girl, even as a kid,” she says as she sits down in a luxurious lounge in Addison. “It is necessary to be confident in this industry because everybody's not going to like how you look, how you talk, how you sound, how you rap — and that's OK. People think that I'm going to speak about it because it is cool to speak about right here.

“People often say, ‘Oh my God, her BBL [Brazilian butt lift surgery] is entirely too big. Oh my God, why did she do that? It looks crazy.’ And to me, I wake up like, ‘I'm fine as hell. I love it. What are you talking about? I look great.’ So yeah, when it comes to people just having a strong opinion about what you look like because of your skin color or what you look like, because of what you did to your body, it's just like, at the end of the day, it is my shit. I'm going to bed with it. I'm waking up with it.”

On her latest album, Cocky On Purpose 2, Banks is as confident as ever. Among the 11 new songs, the Flow Queen shows growth even through a prurient style and dominating appeal. The album's most energetic songs, including "Extra," "Hoe Please" and "I Ain't Fresh," reveal her renewed sense of fun with music. Rather than being influenced by naysayers, Banks says she's becoming numb to them.

“At this point, it's like, 'Oh, if Erica Banks does it, says it, wears it, speaks on it, whatever. Oh my God, we hate it so bad.' But I just learned that, OK, that's just how they're going to take me. It is what it is. What can I do? All I can do is wake up and continue to be myself. And so that's why at a certain point you have to understand you can't please everybody. It's a part of life. Everybody's not going to like you. Everybody's not going to accept you, and some people will just simply not like you because you're you. So a lot of you just got to be like, 'Oh, well, what's next?'”

Throwing all caution to the wind, Banks focused on creating her best work yet.

“I want my music to sound better every time I deliver it,” she says. “Anytime I put out a project, I like for it to be better than the last, so I go in making the music with that intent. And then I didn't want it to be all about my life-ish. I wanted to be more fun, clubby, unisex. So yeah, I really wanted to show my growth.”

In 2019, Banks came into stardom with her aggressive flow, outspoken personality and a hard-fought campaign for the title of “Queen of Dallas.” Though she claimed the title at first, she ultimately won it fair and square over local rival Mz.G after they exchanged diss tracks in 2020.

But that title no longer holds meaning for Banks.

“I would say no at this point. That's kind of only a thing when you're coming up and you're trying to, I guess, prove something," she says. "But once I went viral and I got the platinum head, and now the world knows me, I was kind of like, OK, cool. I did that part. So now that isn't really the biggest thing to me anymore. Now I want to be one of the Nicki Minajes or the Missy Elliotts. Now that's where I'm at. So I feel like that was just a point in my life where I was just coming up and just trying to prove something.”

“Buss It” and “Toot It” propelled Erica Banks to fame, and then she got into a grudge match with Minaj. In a 2022 interview, Banks said that Nicki Minaj collaborates with low-tier female rappers. Banks claimed that her comments were misunderstood, but she says her label executives say Nicki still has issues with her.

In September, Nicki Minaj’s Pink Friday 2 Tour stopped in Dallas with Dorrough as an opening act. Based on Minaj’s consistent support of younger female artists, Banks could have easily filled this position. As a Nicki fan, Banks attended the Houston show, though the two rap stars never cleared up their issues.

“I actually went to the Houston show and had an amazing time. I never even expected to be one of the Dallas openers just because I felt like she wouldn’t be ready to do it," Banks says. "If she were ready to do something like that, maybe we would've at least had some sort of conversation prior to that. I had a great time at the Houston show.”

Banks' success secured her role on the 11th season of the popular reality show VH1’s Love & Hip-Hop: Atlanta, where the rapper navigated her career and love life on the show. The term "reality television" has a different meaning for Banks after the chaotic experience.

“Reality TV is not reality,” she says. “I don't know why they call it that but, hey, it is good money. it's great exposure, and it's helped my career a lot as far as expanding my fan base because I know a lot of older people watch Love & Hip Hop, so my middle-aged people know me from TV, and then my younger crowd knows me from music. Being able to grow in a different area was always a benefit.”

The new album features an all-male rap cast, following her previous album, Real Rap B*tch, which had all-female support — this is something she hadn't even pondered until we bring it up.

“I didn't even notice that until you said that, but I knew I had previously worked with women before,” she says. “I hadn't really gotten to the guy side. So at one point I was like, OK, let me tap in with the guys, but I didn't realize I was doing what you just said, but that's actually kind of fire. So it turned out to be two great projects.”

Cocky On Purpose 2 is a sequel to the 2019 original album that made her a breakout. This is Banks' second release after leaving Warner Music in 2022 under Create Music, her new distribution agreement, and it's her fourth release with 1501 Certified Entertainment. Since she signed with the label in 2020, the relationship has deteriorated, and animosity has spilled out into the public arena. Banks says she left 1501 Certified in 2023, and the label's owner claimed it hadn’t made any money from investing in her. Due to their contracts, the artist and executive have found a way to ameliorate their relationship.

“We're just doing business on both of our ends,” she says about her relationship with Carl Crawford's company. “I'm on my end. He's on his end. He don't cross his line over there. Don't come fuck with me. I don't cross the line to go fuck with him. This is just until this distribution deal is over because we are in a joint distribution deal at the time with Create Music. So that'll be up once I deliver two more projects. Cocky on Purpose 2 was the first. So two more projects, and yeah, I'm a free agent.”

The new album highlights an exciting collaboration with fellow Dallas rap star BigXThaPlug. X’s rise to prominence has been one-of-a-kind in 2024, and Banks having enlisted him on the album made for an amazing experience.

“That was fun working with him,” Banks says. “He had hit me up and said, ‘Hey E, I need you to come through. I need you on the record. I'm going to drop my album. I need a song for the girls.’ So I came, I did that and then in exchange, he did the verse that's on 'Big Risk. 'So we basically did a swap and it was cool working with him. They had fried chicken at the studio waiting for me when I was on my diet. I still ate it, and we had a great time.”

"On His Face," the album’s first song, introduces the moniker "Murder Case." She had intended only to play around with metaphors, yet fans naturally gravitated to the words.

“I didn't think it was going to stick the way it did, but people super liked that song and always remember 'Vertebrae' and 'Murder Case,'” Banks says of her lyrics.

With "One Wish" and "Bad Bizness," Banks taps into her 2000s R&B infatuation, sampling Jagged Edge's "He Can't Love U" and Ray J's "One Wish.” She's currently working on a concept for a music video for “One Wish.”

“I might have to do the rain scene," she says, thinking back to the 2005 original. "I'm not going to lie. I'm going to be the one in the car. He going to be blowing up my phone and be like, 'Uh-uh.' That's going to be fire.”

Her album tour begins on Nov. 1 and will cover 15 cities. Banks will be accompanied on the road by the buzzing artist Gloss Up, whose best-known work is as a reality star on The Impact Atlanta and the 2022 hit song "Shabooya."

“Gloss Up is super cool, super sweet. She's one of the very few girls that decided to rock with me and stand by me regardless of what the blog says, regardless of what people think," Banks says. "Since she came into this whole industry, and since I met her, she's just been so down to earth, and we've been hanging out outside of music. We'll hang out, go to the club, I pull up to her stuff, support her, she supports my stuff, and I was like, this is a great pick for me. So we’re going to have a good time.”

After the tour, Banks intends to focus on self-growth, hoping this will lead to the creation of her next introspective album. As far as she is concerned, her capabilities are limitless.

“I always feel like I have more room to grow,” she says. “I still haven't done any deep music. So to do that, it would take me to sit down, really think, and ponder on what I want to talk about … maybe try different beats or try slower sounds, or try faster sounds. [There's] always room for growth, so I'm definitely open to growing more lyrically.”

Cocky on Purpose 2 was about having fun again, but now she's ready to present an all-new Erica Banks. Through this evolution, Banks wants her fans to be a part of her life through her music.

“I feel like I got all my fun stuff out. I got all my club stuff out," she says. "Now I'm ready to sit down and really put together, I guess a ... I don't know, I don't want to say a biography, but I want to start putting my life more into my music now because I've never really sat down and done that. And I have slightly, but that was back in 2019 when I was trying to get on. Once I got on, I'm like, OK, let's make the party music. Yeah, going into my next project, it'll probably be a lot more personal, a lot more heartfelt, a lot more vulnerable. Yeah, just a different style.”

Banks already has experience in reality television, but now she's eager to expand into acting.

“I'm ready for movies,” she says. "I think I do great acting. I've never tried it in my life, but I do think that it would be great. So, Netflix, if you want to call me, Hulu, somebody documentary, movie role, 50 Cent, anybody.”

Acting would increase the world's scrutiny, but Banks believes it will be nothing to worry about.

“I don't think it can get no worse than this," she says. "Shit, at least for me. if I can handle life right now, oh yeah, I'm great.”