are opening up about balancing motherhood with their careers in the spotlight.
During Billboard’s Like Minded conversation, both artists were asked what they wished mothers could be honest about without having their love for their children questioned.
For Kehlani, who is mom to 7-year-old daughter Adeya, the answer was simple: motherhood can be hard.
“Being able to admit that it’s hard … a nuanced hard in having to find the time and space to have your own identity, especially when you’re a young mom and like go out with your homegirls and wild out sometimes — and not make you question if you’re the kind of mom you should be,” said the singer.
“Obviously, we’re working moms so we already deal with that battle internally. We want to spend more time; want things to be ideal, but they just aren’t,” she added.
Monaleo could relate. The rapper, who shares son Stoney with Stunna 4 Vegas, said she has had to accept that she isn’t always going to get everything right.
“Everybody wants to feel like they’re the perfect mother,” she shared. “[But] it’s okay to admit that you’re going to drop the ball sometimes.”
“There’s a lot of pressure put on moms to be superwomen. I try to live up to that as much as I can, and I find myself really stretched.”
The conversation later turned to how having children has affected their work.
Before Adeya was born, Kehlani had moments when she was ready to walk away from music altogether.
“Before I had a kid, there were so many times I wanted to quit. Like I can just leave this b–ch right now and go get a farm.”
These days, her daughter is part of what keeps her going.
“Sometimes my only thought is I’ve got to keep going and find new inspiration: not just in taking care of her but so she can see that no outside forces should be able to stop her dreams.”
For Monaleo, having Stoney has made her more intentional about the music she makes.
“I try to sneak the medicine into the candy sometimes,” she explained. “Yes, it’s a bop, but from time to time you’re going to get a little education about Black history or whatever it is that I put in my music.”
She even looks at some of her earlier songs differently now.
“I don’t want [my son] to be influenced by bulls–t,” she admitted. “There’s a lot of bulls–t going on, and I’ve made some bulls–t songs. So I’m already like we’ve got to clean this up not only for my baby, but for the other babies here in the world.”
