On last week’s episode of “Real Housewives of Atlanta’s” Kandi Burruss famously declared Phaedra Parks’ baby shower “boughetto,” and we just knew we had a new catchphrase on our hands. “It’s when a person who got a little hood in them and they trying to be all extra,” Burruss recently explained to us during a visit to the ESSENCE office. But all jokes aside, Burruss maintains that she and Phaedra are actually friends, and that she wasn’t trying to start trouble, just state the obvious. It’s this type of honesty that “RHoA” devotees have grown to love about Kandi. And it’s the same honesty that she hopes to bring to her new album “Kandi Koated” (out Dec. 14). She spoke with ESSENCE.com about everything “RHoA” related, working on “Kandi Koated,” dating Willis MacGahee and her thoughts on Tiny and T.I.’s current legal troubles. ESSENCE.com: You recently mentioned that you wanted Kim to come along for a few promotional stops for your new album. Is that still going to happen? KANDI BURRUSS: Yes, we already did it and you’ll see it on the show. It went well, but that’s where part of the drama happened. You see where I have to jump in between NeNe and Kim on our tour bus. That’s when the good drama happens. ESSENCE.com: Did you get paid for “Tardy for the Party?” BURRUSS: Not really. She did pay me a little bit. What happened was, I told Don Vito to have a discussion with her on the business because I didn’t want it to interfere with our friendship. We already did the split-sheet. I got 1/3, Vito got 1/3 and the guy who did the country version, I gave him a third, which he split with Kim’s daughter. That was for the publishing, but Vito already discussed with her that I wasn’t charging an up-front fee… so I said how about we split the royalties three ways and she was cool with it. The first check came in, she split it three ways. Then I saw her a couple days later and she was like “I was so upset the other day, I didn’t know what to do with myself. I checked with my attorney and he said I shouldn’t have to split the money three ways with y’all.” At the time it came off to me like I tried to take advantage of her with her not knowing the business. That’s the reason why I didn’t charge hella money upfront. Anyway, she asked for money back and I gave it back to her. ESSENCE.com: On last week’s episode you went to Phaedra’s baby shower and the word “boughetto” came up. Is that what you really thought of her shower? BURRUSS: I said what I thought! I thought it was boughetto! Don’t get me wrong, I like Phaedra. But when I got to the baby shower, I thought this was a bit much. You got ballerinas running around and she had classy society women in there. She had news anchors, opera singers… so it was very well to do women in the room. But we all know when you have the down home crowd and those that are known to be a little uppity, you look at them and think they trying to be bougie! They got ballerinas in here, they doing the waltz. That was the bougie part. The ghetto part was the roses in her hair, the rhinestones on her eyelashes… so it was boughetto. It’s when a person who got a little hood in them and they trying to be all extra. ESSENCE.com: Tell us about your upcoming album. BURRUSS: The album is awesome! I feel like I took a long time to come back out. So I tried to stack my deck. I want all spades coming out. I thought what was the point of coming back out if you weren’t going to give people an album full of hot records. That’s why we brought in people like Ne-Yo to do a record, Brian Michael Cox, Jazzy Pha, we came up with hot records together. I wanted an album that had way more than two hit singles. If my group, Xscape, was still together it would be something that we would do now. It’s real R&B, it still got the records with the 808 in it, you got those real strong ballads and you got some laid back records. And there those inspirational records like, “Superwoman” where Tiny is on the record with me. ESSENCE.com: Speaking of relationships, it’s been a year since AJ passed and on the first episode we saw you dating Willis McGahee. Is he still around? BURRUSS: We’re just friends. He’s a cool guy. He got a bad wrap on the internet, but honestly he’s a great person and he’s cute! ESSENCE.com: What do you think of Tiny and T.I.’s current situation? Have you talked to her about it? BURRUSS: Yes. I hate that it happened. I think they’re a fun couple and they really love each other. It’s always sad when two young African-American people are doing well for themselves and have something like that happen and it be all out in the public. But you have to deal with the consequences of your actions. And they’re going to stand up and handle it. They’re grown and they know what they gotta do. They’re going to stand by each other, let these couple months past and they’ll be okay. We’ll be live tweeting “Real Housewives of Atlanta” tonight at 9pm. Follow us on Twitter. 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'RHoA': Kandi Burruss on 'Boughetto' and Tiny and T.I.
On last week's episode of "Real Housewives of Atlanta's" Kandi Burruss famously declared Phaedra Parks' baby shower "boughetto," and we just knew we had a new catchphrase on our hands. "It's when a person who got a little hood in them and they trying to be all extra," Burruss recently explained to us during a visit to the ESSENCE office. But all jokes aside, Burruss maintains that she and Phaedra are actually friends, and that she wasn't trying to start trouble, just state the obvious. It's this type of honesty that "RHoA" devotees have grown to love about Kandi. And it's the same honesty that she hopes to bring to her new album "Kandi Koated" (out Dec. 14). She spoke with ESSENCE.com about everything "RHoA" related, working on "Kandi Koated," dating Willis MacGahee and her thoughts on Tiny and T.I.'s current legal troubles. Here's what you had to say: Velesha commented via Facebook: "I know many that are boughetto and think they're classy. That was a great word." Jennifer wrote via Facebook: "I actually use the term boughetto and thought it was funny to hear Kandi use it."