Rapper Alyssa "Latto" Stephens is baring her soul like never before by offering a glimpse into her love life and unveiling her aspirations of becoming a mother.
The 24-year-old rose to fame in 2016 after winning the first season of Lifetime's competition series The Rap Game, produced by Jermaine Dupri. Immediately following the show, Stephens would continue to release music and landed her big break in 2019 with "B--h from da Souf." The track ultimately earned the emcee her first entry on Billboard's Hot 100 charts in 2020.
That same year, Stephens released her debut album Queen of da Souf. Since then, the lyricist's stardom has only skyrocketed from there after dropping her second studio album, 777, in 2022. The album featured her Grammy-nominated single "Big Energy" and "It's Givin."
At the height of her success with her recent track "Put It On Da Floor," Stephens sat down with Cosmopolitan magazine for the publication's Skin Issue cover story. In the June interview, Stephens revealed why she keeps her relationship away from the spotlight and why she considers motherhood the most significant achievement.
Latto On Keeping Her Relationship Private
Although there are few details surrounding the "Muwop" rapper's romantic partner, news outlets report that Stephens is dating fellow rapper 21 Savage and has been for years. (Last weekend, 21 Savage brought out Latto and Cardi B during his performance at Hot 107.9’s Birthday Bash in Atlanta.)
Despite the claims, neither party has addressed the rumors. In the discussion with Cosmopolitan, Stephens shared that she doesn't publicly talk about her relationship or disclose her boyfriend's identity because it's something she wants to keep sacred.
"If something is special to me, I'm going to keep it close to me because everything else has to be front and center about my life," she said.
When asked if Stephens ever thought about having her partner see her perform onstage, "The Biggest" lyricist explained that although it has crossed her mind a few times, she values her privacy a lot more.
"I be thinking that, but my privacy is more important. I can't have people putting two and two together," she stated. "This is the longest relationship I've ever been in."
Latto On Motherhood
As the topic shifted to motherhood, Stephens revealed that she can't wait to experience that next chapter in her life because of its impact.
Stephens added that she idolizes motherhood so much that she constantly watches TikTok videos about mothers and finds opportunities to spoil friends and family members with children by purchasing lavish gifts.
"I want to be a mom so bad. Let me tell you, I think moms are superheroes. Man, I literally idolize motherhood. Like, with Mother's Day, I get all my friends that have kids, my grandmas, my aunties, cousins, anyone who's a mom around me, I send them flowers and gifts. I don't play," she said.
"I send my assistant to Chanel to get, like, 10 bags for everybody I know. I'm obsessed. My TikTok algorithm is all moms talking about their experiences and packing like, 'Get ready with me.' Moms cleaning up after their kids. It's so weird."
Further into the interview, Stephens disclosed that despite all the professional success she has accomplished over the years, she still feels like she has yet to reach her greatest potential, at least in her personal life.
"I'm not going to feel like I made it for real until I have my kids, I'm married, I just got my house out in the country, and I'm just ducked off with my little family," she said.
Stephens wrapped up her remarks by praising other female artists, including Rihanna, Cardi B., and Yung Miami, for showcasing that motherhood doesn't hinder one's career and inspiring her when she decides to become a mother.
"That's why I love RiRi down. Cardi did it too. And Yung Miami. I feel like they kind of supersede the stigma that it's over for women when you have a baby—like your career is over," she stated. "They give me inspiration for real. They make me feel like I can do it too one day when the time is right, you feel me?"
Feature image by Daniel Knighton/Getty Images
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Skylar sees things differently. At the time, she was shooting content on her iPhone. Temi came into the picture with a new perspective, an understanding of tech, and, eventually, a camera. “He doesn't give himself enough credit,” Skylar says. “He wasn't just my tripod. He wasn't just standing behind the camera and going ‘click.’ He was giving advice. He was giving me insight to how I could look at things from a different perspective. And I was like, 'Oh, he’s an artist.' I think it was maybe a heartbeat of that kind of energy of like, ‘Baby, can you take this picture?’ And it turned so quickly into, we're partners. We can work together in a way where we're advancing each other's creative thinking.”
The pair often says they’re two sides of the same coin. Skylar is an Aquarius. She attended art school, paints, and loves poetry. She’s more than happy to let the couple’s management firm and agency, Kensington Grey, handle their admin work. And, she loves to sleep in. Temi, on the other hand, wakes up early. He’s a Virgo. He loves a to-do list and regularly checks in on the couple’s brand partnerships spreadsheet to make sure everything is on track.
Because his storytelling was steeped in his love of technology, he didn’t always think of himself as a creative person. “Where I [am] the dreamer who wants to pluck things out of the sky and spend all day with my head in the clouds, Temi [is] so good at grounding me and helping me figure out how to make things make sense on paper. We just work together in such a complimentary way,” Skylar says.
It’s been more than six years since Brooklyn-based couple Temi and Skylar started dating, and nearly four since they cemented their working relationship. On TikTok and Instagram, the couple’s travel, fashion, and home content regularly rack up hundreds of thousands of views. They’ve worked with brands such as Coach, Aesop, Away, and Liquid IV, bringing their vibrant perspectives to every campaign they execute. Still, nearly two years since both Temi and Skylar committed to full-time content creation and creative directing, the couple says their romantic connection remains their priority.
“We told each other we would much rather go back to full-time jobs and preserve our relationship than to be full-time freelancers, barely getting a night's rest [and] barely kissing each other because we're so busy shooting,” Skylar says.
Working from home can make it hard to separate work from personal life for any entrepreneur. It can be even more challenging when your business partner is also your lover. Temi and Skylar had already used couples therapy as a tool to help them effectively communicate with one another. When they ran into challenges while working together, their therapist helped them set physical boundaries to help combat the issues.
"We told each other we would much rather go back to full-time jobs and preserve our relationship than to be full-time freelancers, barely getting a night's rest [and] barely kissing each other because we're so busy shooting."
“It actually took us doing very specific physical things to create boundaries between work and play in our relationship,” Skylar says. “So, for instance, we will only have conversations about work when we're out of bed or we're at the table or in the office. Initially, when we started, we had to light a candle to say that, 'Okay, this is a space where we're connecting, we’re not talking about work.' We needed really hard boundaries at the top. And then it became a little bit more organic.”
The boundaries have been crucial to implement, especially because the couple began working together so naturally. When the pair first met, Skylar was NY-based a social strategist for BuzzFeed and was using content creation to drive business to her lingerie company. She was shooting her own content. Temi was working for Microsoft in D.C. He’d recently traded in his DJing equipment for a camera. “I've always loved taking pictures,” he says. “Even when I was a kid, my African mother would wake me up at 3:00 a.m. [during a] party, and be like, 'Come take the family picture.'”
Growing up, Temi says he watched his parents support each other and be the true definition of partners. He knew he wanted the same for his own relationship. But, the couple also wanted to make sure they were being financially responsible. The pair didn’t quit their traditional jobs until they’d saved up two years' worth of their cost of living. And, Temi received his Master of Business Administration from New York University with the knowledge that it could either help him advance in his corporate career or be applicable to his business with Skylar.
Temi and SkylarCj Hart @hartbreakToday, they say their working relationship is more of a “quiet dance.” They still implement some of the boundaries they learned in therapy, but they also lean into their natural strengths and deep love for one another. When we speak, Temi has planned a date for the couple to see Princess Mononoke in 4K IMAX and added it to their Notion so they can factor it into their busy schedules. “I fully plan to date for the rest of my life,” he says.
Skylar says the couple doesn’t just wait for date nights to check in with one another, though. This often happens in the mornings, after Temi has made her peppermint tea and poured himself a cup of coffee. When they ask each other how they slept, she says, it’s not just a “nicety.” It’s a genuine question meant to foster connection.
“A lot of it happens during the day in the midst of work. We'll stop and we'll hug. Or we’ll slow dance in the kitchen,” she says. “Sometimes it's hard to set a whole date night when you have 7,000 things going on. So, we must grasp these moments and check in when we can. And I think it's become so organic to us that I actually didn't even realize how often we do it. But all day long, we're like, 'Are you good? I felt like your energy shifted,' because we're best friends, we just know. We just feel it happen.”
What’s better than being in love? Building wealth while doing it. Watch Making Cents here for real stories of couples who make money moves together.
Featured image by Cj Hart @hartbreak