Many of you know Angela Yee as one-third of the famous hosts of nationally syndicated radio show The Breakfast Club. But if you know anything about this Brooklyn-born hustler, you’ll know this isn’t at all her only claim to fame. By night, Yee and her homegirls Stephanie Santiago, Gigi Miguire, and Lore’l join forces on the sex and relationship focused podcast Lip Service.
Yee and her cohosts seems to have the magic touch, getting celebrities like Cardi B, Rick Ross and Tami Roman to open up about a variety of erotic topics and spill the inner secrets of what goes down in their bedroom. What started out as a weekly experiment on a previous radio show has now blossomed into a long-running movement with thousands of subscribers and hoards of celebrity guests willing to put themselves in the hot seat. On March 28th, Lip Service will be headlining Caroline’s on Broadway with their live show.
We had the pleasure of speaking to Yee about how this passion project came to be and how’s she helping create a judgement-free zone for Black women to unleash their inner freak.
Where did the idea of Lip Service come from, and how did you go about selecting Gigi, Steph and Loreal as co-hosts?Yee: I started off on The Cipha Sounds Effect on Sirius. The whole station was just very male-dominated. I was a cohost on the morning show, and I used to do this segment every Wednesday called ‘Slutted Out.’ A lot of times, guys would look at women like we shouldn’t talk about sex or else we’re slutty. So I kinda was poking fun at that. It was really discussions that women have with each other, behind the scenes, when we go out to have some cocktails. It was such a popular segment, they actually approached me at Sirius and was like ‘listen, we would love to make this a weekly show.’ Then we changed the titled to Lip Service. I remember early on, we had Remy Ma come on. Floyd Mayweather would just randomly call in. One day we had a dominatrix came in and she brought one of her sex slaves with her. She was screaming at him, like ‘your dick is so little!’ while beating him with a stick. And he was loving it. Things like that are fascinating to me because that’s not something I would ever think about doing in real life, but people really do this. I think it’s interesting, and you learn a lot too.
It feels like double standards about sex hit Black women the hardest? Does that fuel your motivation for Lip Service?
I mean, we do welcome all women, but the show mainly features women of color on the air. That was a deliberate thing for me, just because I feel like we don’t have enough of those spaces where we can feel comfortable being ourselves. And people still judge you. It’s slowed down a little, but I remember when I first started it, guys would be like ‘oh, [look at this] bunch of hoes, bunch of thots, bunch of sluts.’ But guess what? There’s some girl you’re sleeping with. Is she a hoe? Is she a thot? Is your mom a thot? Is your sister a thot? I remember going to talk at this health event and they did an “Ask Yee” segment that involved [sex] questions. These are all grown adults in the room. I’m reading questions out loud, and one of the women there was so disgusted. When I got on the elevator, she was rolling her eyes, and she was really mad. You’re an adult embarrassed to talk about sex? Stop it.
In your journey as a woman, has there ever been a time where you did feel shame in talking about sex? And if so, how did you overcome it?
You know what has always been good for me? I’ve always had a lot of female friends. And guy friends too. And people have always come to me for advice about things. When I was in high school, if one of my friends got pregnant, I’d be the first person they’d come to. I never was judgmental. A lot of stuff, I kinda handled on my own. I remember like learning how to perform oral sex from reading an article, and then telling so many of my friends about it. And then everybody tried and it was like, “oh my God, that was amazing! It really worked!” But I have no problem talking about sex with my friends. And I think that’s been great for me, just because I can’t think of a time when I was ashamed of anything.
Do your parents listen to your podcast?
My mom doesn’t mind, but she told me my dad would be like, “oh my God, you won’t believe what Angie said on her podcast.” He’ll never bring up my podcast to me, and I’m cool with that.
So who is your dream guest for Lip Service?
Oh my God, I would love to get Rihanna on. I think Tiffany Haddish would be fun too, cause she talks so crazy also.
Oh yes, I love that. I’m putting it out in the universe! So what I love about Lip Service is that you ladies aren’t afraid to go there with topics like anal sex, squirting, threesomes, etc. Nothing is taboo. Do you think black women as a whole are a little bit more reluctant to open up about stuff like that?
Yeah, absolutely! Do you know how many women have hit me and been like, “I appreciate your podcast so much. I wish I had friends I could talk to about things like this.” I know so many women who don’t really have any female friends. So that’s hard if you don’t, because who are you talking to about these things? Some women are embarrassed and ashamed, for whatever reason. So it takes a lot for them to open up. There’s women who have had emailed me with their own problems who need advice with questions like, “I don’t like having sex with my man” or “I don’t like doing oral sex” or “I don’t enjoy sex.” There’s all kinds of issues that people have. So I think that there are so many people out there that are suffering from whatever problems they have. Hopefully, it can be helpful.
So going a bit deeper here – sometimes it can feel like whenever Black women and sex come up in the media, it’s always has to do with us being objectified in some way. Do you feel like it’s finally time to change the narrative? And do you feel ‘Lip Service” is a safe space where Black women can talk about sex from a place of enjoyment?
I think we are seeing more positive images on television. When you watch shows like Insecure and Being Mary Jane where women enjoy having sex and having their fun…I think we do see that more now. I know that with the #MeToo movement, it is basically decades, centuries, of being excluded. Everything is coming out now, and so I think that it’s important that we do control that narrative. What that means is showing what a healthy sexual relationship is like. There’s so many different definitions of that, and I feel like we are creating so many stories ourselves. You could watch Scandal and see [Olivia] making decisions to do what it is she wants to do, whether it’s right or wrong. I mean, look at Lori Harvey. People were cheering her on. And I think that goes to show you how far we have, in some ways, come. Even though we have a long way to go. And there’s always going to be people that try to tear you down. But people are really like, ‘yes girl! you are young, you are out here living life. Go through these guys like they go through these women!’ I don’t know what exactly she’s doing. She could be just hanging out. But people appreciate seeing a woman do those things that men we see, like Drake, do it all the time.
You recently interviewed your ex Vado on the podcast. Did that feel awkward at any point? Or was it kind of like any other interview for you?
It was fine. At the end of the day, I’ve known Vado for almost ten years now. So we went out a few times? That was like nine years ago. And it wasn’t a big deal. I don’t even look at it like that’s my ex-boyfriend, or anything like that. We’ve never had an issue. It just never materialized into anything. We’ve always been cool. I think he’s a really nice guy, honestly. I was happy that he came. He told me that a lot of girls were mad at him afterward. They were like, ‘you were sweating her.’ He’s respectful. I don’t know what you want someone to do?
You mentioned to me that you are dating someone. Any chance he has name?
Yes, I have a boyfriend. He doesn’t want people to be all in the mix [knowing who he is], but as soon as we get engaged or something, you guys will be the first to know! What’s great about my boyfriend is that he’s really supportive of everything that I do and he’s so low key. which I really like because I’m the same way. I don’t want to be posted on the blogs. I have a lot of things going on that I want to make sure people know about, but I just try to do my job and mind my business. I like having a low key life. I still live in Brooklyn. I still walk around the neighborhood and support black-owned businesses. I go everywhere by myself. I like the fact that my life is like that.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BtyKzmxFODE/
One last thing…you’ve also been busy promoting your Juices For Life bar and your new cold pressed juice line Drink Fresh Juice. What juice ingredients do you recommend drinking in order to taste better before sex?
Anything with grapefruit, ginger and watermelon I love. Apples, lemons, all of that. Some vegetables like asparagus might not be good, but a kale, spinach, green apple, banana and ginger smoothie at the juice bar would be great. I’m telling you… when your man has those juices, he tastes sweet, and you do too. Trust me.
