Rap-Up TV: Jasmine V Talks Kendrick Lamar, Debut EP, & Love for Beyonc

Published: August 21, 2014

Three years after releasing her mixtape S(he) Be(lie)ve(d), Jasmine V has inked a deal with Interscope Records and is readying her debut EP. The 20-year-old L.A. singer, who starred alongside Justin Bieber in his “Baby” video, has amassed 1.7 million Twitter followers along the way and scored a coveted feature from Kendrick Lamar on her new single “That’s Me Right There.”

But the collaboration came as a surprise to many including Jasmine herself. “I didn’t believe it at first. I was like, ‘Something great happening to me, really?’” she told Rap-Up TV during a recent studio session. “I was trying to not get too excited about it, so I just let it ride out.”

One day, her management played her the mixed track, which she thought she had already heard. “We were listening to it and everybody pulls out their cell phones and cameras and they’re recording me and I’m just sitting there like, ‘This is weird.’ I heard the Kendrick verse pop up and I was just like, ‘What?’ I looked around and made sure nobody in the room was rapping or trying to be funny. But when it sunk in, I was like, ‘This is amazing.’”

Last month, she shot the video with Kendrick and director Gil Green. “It was great. He’s amazing,” she said of the TDE rapper. “So low key and he’s so quiet, but he’s such a humble guy. I was definitely honored and blessed to be on the same set as him.”

She plans to drop her as-yet-untitled EP later this summer featuring contributions from Harmony Samuels, Sam Hook, Soundz, Jeremih, Problem, and Ne-Yo.

While she’s been inspired by many artists, her favorite is Alicia Keys. “She’s my idol,” gushed Jasmine. “If I ever even just got to be in the same room with her, I’d go crazy. I love her. She’s beautiful, naturally pretty, she plays instruments, she writes songs, she sings awesome.”

She’s also a proud member of the BeyHive. “I saw [Beyonc] in concert and I almost fainted. It was like seeing somebody that wasn’t from this planet,” she said.

A collaboration with Nicki Minaj is also at the top of her wish list. “Everything she puts out is amazing. So I feel like if she hopped on one of my songs, it would just make it that much better.”

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