In case you haven't heard of Teyana Taylor, lemme tell you about my girl: At 15, she was signed to Pharrell's Star Trak Entertainment AND choreographed Beyoncé's "Ring the Alarm" music video. Since then, she's acted, modeled, and dropped some of the best R&B to ever bless our ears.
Well, the 29-year-old recently took to Instagram with a shocking announcement that she'll seemingly be retiring from the music game.
She shared a pic of her 2020 Spotify Artist Wrapped, revealing she had over 162 million (!) streams this year.
In the caption, she wrote she felt "super under-appreciated as an artist, receiving little to no real push from the 'machine', constantly getting the shorter end of the stick, being overlooked, I mean the list [goes] on and on lol."
"I’m retiring this chapter of my story with the comfort that I can depart with peace of mind seeing that all the hard work and passion put in was indeed loved and supported somewhere in the world!"
"Don’t worry, y’all know all hustlers have the understanding that when one door closes another will open...Either that or I’m pickin' da locks!" she concluded.
Teyana also expressed frustration when the Grammy nominations were announced last month. Despite her latest album debuting at No. 1 on Billboard's Top R&B Albums chart, she received no love from the Recording Academy and pointed out all she could see was "dick in this category."
Y’all was better off just saying best MALE R&B ALBUM cause all I see is dick in this category. https://t.co/LlL769FbTR
Well, Cardi B recently hopped on Twitter to comment on her friend's announcement.
The "WAP" rapper revealed she hated that Teyana "feels how she feels 'cause she sooo talented."
If you know me then you know Teyana Taylor’s album it’s my favorite of 2020.I swear she really got the best album this year.I hate that she feels how she feels cause she sooo talented and the music is soo good.
This sparked a ton of conversation in the comments about the industry. Some pointed out that Black women have a tough time in the R&B genre because the radio favors rap, especially from men:
@d0nteventryme @iamcardib It's not that. Black R&B female acts have a hard time getting played on about every radio format to gain wide exposure for their music. I started seeing this when Top 40 wouldn't play MJB, Monica, etc. Urban doesn't even play R&B like it should - mostly rap from male rappers.
Others thought the problem was really the lack of media coverage of R&B artists:
@iamcardib We need more media dedicated to R&B music the way so many are dedicated to hip hop. The music deserves. Teyana hasn’t even peaked yet and continues to wow us.
And some people just appreciated that Cardi used her platform to uplift another female artist:
@iamcardib I love to see a woman genuinely support another woman. This why I dig you @iamcardib it’s more than your music, it’s your energy. ✨
TL;DR: Black women in R&B deserve more love!!!
