By: Amanda Anderson-Niles
R&B singer Mya made headlines recently when a tabloid suggested she was creeping around with Jay Z amid the ElevatorGate drama, but she claims the reports were false and she never had anything with Jay Z back in the day.
On the rumors, she tells the Hip-Hop Socialite:
“I laughed [when she first heard about the Jay-Z rumor] because I’m a single woman, and it just came out of the blue from an unreliable source, and you just have to laugh at stuff like that. Now had I been in a relationship or something like that, that would have been very messy, you know. But I know what comes with the territory of being a public figure, and that’s just how it is and that’s how it’s always been. It doesn’t matter if you’re minding your business, if you’re married, if you’re celibate, if anything. Some things are just going to happen, and I thought it was quite disrespectful, but you never know where the source comes from, and you just stay prayed up. I know who I am – it doesn’t really affect me nowadays.
“We’ve never been in touch, not even when we did the song [2000’s ‘Best Of Me’].”
Mya also says she’s fine when it comes to money, despite her career cooling off:
“My mother, being an accountant, has been a blessing. I’ve been very fortunate for her to have read all the Donald Passman books early in my career before I signed anything, so I’ve been very aware since I was sixteen-years-old about how things work. But I’ve gotten hands on experience of the processes of making, producing, recording albums, keeping things down to a minimum, negotiating, doing contracts, all of that stuff I’ve acquired, and, not mastered, but I’m doing quite well for myself hands on. Regarding labels and them looking out for your best interest financially, hell no, that’s now how it works. You hire people to do that, financial advisors, accountants, and CPAs, business managers as an artist, and not all of them have your best interest at heart or stay on top of things. But my mom, since 1998, has been my accountant, and I have no debt, I’m fine, and I live simply, below and never above my means because this is a very inconsistent game that I’m in, and I do quite well for myself, but I live a simple life, and I don’t go overboard like a lot of these guys out here because I want to be free, and I don’t want to live a slave to any possessions that get old the next year. So my mom, thankful for her.”
After all these years, she’s still fine. Good to know.
I could have swore they did date.
I always like Mya. She seems to have a good head on her shoulders. It’s hard to stay successful in the business for many years. That’s why artists have to be smart with their money.
*liked*
Well good for her for staying up on her finances. The downfall of many an artist has been not knowing what they’re signing, and not knowing the caliber of person on their staff. I always remember Luda saying the best think these black artists could do for themselves, is take a business course.
Now she knows damn well she put those rumors out there herself. Not too long after she was performing at some rinky dink strip club. And now we remember she exists.
*Flatline* I just can’t lol you a mess.
Smart woman.
What rock did she crawl from up under?