Alemeda is 24 years old.
Shes signed to TDE in partnership with Warner Records, which has a longer rock track record.
Now, Alemeda writes quippy rock bangers that her breathy voice makes sound deceivingly gentle.
Maria-Juliana Rojas for Rolling Stone
All the dark-skinned women were making videos with it.
She had been kicked out by her mom right at the end of high school.
I wasnt ready for it at the time.
I was working multiple jobs, and it was just really frustrating.
We would get into these fights every day.
Shes like, Im not going to talk to you until you put on your scarf.
After a particularly big blowup, Alemeda says her mom threw her clothes out and changed the locks.
(Ethiopian people, theyre all connected, Alemeda adds.
They all know each other all over the world.)
Alemeda was desperate to leave the airport and even Arizona behind.
I texted him, and I was like, Yo, I could literally fly in tomorrow.
He had me fly into a ScHoolboy Q video shoot.
I got to get the fuck out of here.
This is going to sound really crazy, she says when I asked her how she developed her voice.
Brandys father trained me.
Tell me about being a rock artist on whats primarily a rap label.
These are well-produced songs with layers and layers of guitars and drums.
So once I learned how to produce, I started really working with musicians who actually play instruments.
Once I found those types of people, it just got really easy.
TDE definitely also helped me find some people, too, once I realized what I needed.
Youre now the third woman on the label.
Were all very different: three different women doing our own sound, our own thing.
None of us makes each others exact music, genre-wise.
I feel like its inspiring.
Thats so fucking cool.All the women on the label are Black women that are darker.
Did anybody hit you up like, Excuse me?
Youre on TDE?You know what?
If people did see it, they didnt say anything.
You know whats crazy?
The place that we filmed was very monumental, one of the first clubs in Ethiopia.
They crashed it down with bulldozers.
Wow.So Im glad I saidit there and then in that time and place.
What I felt was no one was going to see it and I think I was right with that.
Is there something that youve learned or youve done recently that made you think, You know what?
Im very much better at reading people upfront.
You have a great song called Guys Girl about a friendship that fell apart.
Was that about a relationship that happened in the past three years too?Yeah.
I had a friend that was very male-centered.
We were very opposite in that sense.
I was anti-men,all men should be locked up before proven innocent, you know what I mean?
And she would put her boyfriends or whoever she was talking to before her friendships.
I didnt care about it; I was like, Oh, no, we love each other.
This is not good.
So much of the music youve released so far is about heartbreak in one way or another.
Why do you think that is?I think it ties into growing up and understanding things better.
I was so naive.
I viewed the world in such a happy-go-lucky way.
There were a lot of lessons I had to learn, trying to be that person that carried people.
The heartbreak is in realizing hard truths.
Whats your faith like now?Im still Muslim.
I take all the good things like praying, and I do Ramadan.
That was the biggest thing with me and my mom.
Every religion has good in it, and its like, why not lead with that?
It was just culture.
I had to go find [my faith] on my own.
You were also raised between Ethiopia and the U.S., going back and forth pretty frequently as a kid.
They just say, Oh, no.
Were just going for a couple of months.
And then now youre there for seven months to a year, to two years.
Its a thing they do.
Somali people have a name for it when youre finessing your kid into going to Africa.
Sometimes they tell their kids theyre going somewhere fun, like, Oh, were going to Disneyland.
And you end up in Africa.
I wanted them to understand where I come from.
Even my chances of coming to America were so slim.
If one thing had changed, I wouldve been in Ethiopia right now.
If my moms husband didnt die in Ethiopia, we wouldve still been there.
She only came because they were trying to force her to marry another man, his brother.
You know what I mean?
Does that affect you and people close to you?We constantly get phone calls.
Its weird right now.
People cant afford anything.
Two people in the documentary have died since then.
Two people in your community or your family members?My family members.
Oh, Im so sorry.Yeah, no, its okay.
But the state of the country is so fucked up right now that you cant do anything.
Were all sending them money back every month.
Were hearing about financial issues and health issues.
We all had to literally just pay for a $7,000 surgery for my moms sister.
I venture to keep in contact with them because I have family in Lebanon, [too].
Some of my Sudanese family are in Lebanon.
The southern part is getting bombed; airstrikes are hitting it.
Its stressful, honestly.
All I can think about is somebody being hurt right now.
Youve said before that your mom hasnt heard your music.
Has she now?No.
Im ready for anything.
Ive worked on my vocals, Ive worked on my producing skills, Ive worked on my songwriting.
Im really confident now.
Before, I was really, really, really insecure about a lot of things.
Im mentally prepared for it.
