UNAPOLOGETICALLY TATE: BABY TATE TALKS TATE TUESDAY VOL. 1
PHOTO COURTESY OF SPOTIFY
Baby Tate isn’t just a Tik-Tok baddie and musical sensation; she’s a beam of light, empowerment, and relatability. At 28, this singer, songwriter, rapper, and producer from Decatur, Georgia, has crafted a career that feels like an anthem for self-expression and joy. As the daughter of Grammy-nominated singer and former Arrested Development member Dionne Farris, Tate’s story is rich with authenticity, resilience, and determination. From singing Stevie Wonder at four years old on stacked toddler chairs forming a makeshift stage to attending performing arts schools through the twelfth grade, she’s always known the spotlight was hers for the taking. Now based in Los Angeles, California, Tate embodies the essence of growing boldly, taking your roots, watering them, and blossoming into something entirely her own.
Her sound? Vibrant, boundary-pushing, and impossible to box in. Viral hits like “I Am” featuring Flo Milli and “Hey, Mickey!” didn’t just top charts—they became cultural anthems on social media, showcasing Tate’s sharp-witted lyricism and fearless self-expression well before the release of Tate Tuesday Volume 1. Whether she’s writing new music, sharing GRWM videos on social media, or showing off her latest set of funky fresh new duck nails in her Instagram stories, Tate brings her full self to the table—unapologetically. Tracks like “I Am” set the bar high, but Tate more than delivers on her latest mixtape, continuing her legacy with a new, unapologetic energy. Tate Tuesday Volume 1 is a masterclass in doing things her way. Built entirely from YouTube-type beats—with a little help from her loyal fanbase, the “Tots,” during TikTok Lives—and recorded in her home studio, the mixtape is raw, experimental, and full of surprises. Tracks like Face The World exude confidence, opening with the bold declaration: “Body like my first initial, Yes, it’s T,” while Straight delivers a cheeky yet pointed jab at societal norms with lines like, “This ain’t no conversion camp.” and “You mean to tell me you ain’t a little queer?” The mixtape is loud and unapologetic, exploding with confidence as the tracks carry on—perfectly capturing Tate’s dynamic artistry and infectious energy.
Baby Tate isn’t just here to make hits; she’s here to start conversations and to leave nothing left unsaid. For her, music is a megaphone for the silenced, using her platform to amplify Black, Queer, and Femme voices. Her lyrics challenge stereotypes, particularly around hypersexuality, reclaiming them as sources of strength and inspiration. As she boldly states when speaking with myself, “Fuck it, y’all. I’m going to do what I want to do because somebody’s going to be mad anyway, and somebody’s going to love it.” That energy radiates through her music, infusing every beat with unapologetic self-assurance. It’s an energy that invites listeners to join in and feel like they, too, can Face The World!
And if you think she’s stopping with Volume 1, think again. Baby Tate is already gearing up for Tate Tuesday Volume 2, a project she promises will crank up the fun with club beats and dance-floor-ready tracks. She’s collaborating with producer Zach Witness, sharpening her innovative process, and diving headfirst into a new era of creative exploration. Beyond that, there’s her upcoming album, C U Next Tuesday (yes, that spells exactly what you think it does). We don’t know much yet, but we’re already on the edge of our seats to see what Tate has in store for us next.
Baby Tate’s life philosophy is just as captivating. “You don’t just stay [a] Squirtle forever; you grow into your Blastoise era!” she says with a laugh, comparing her own evolution to that of our favorite Pokémon starter. Therapy, emotional growth, and her mother’s hard-earned wisdom—“The game hasn’t changed, the players are just new”—have all shaped the artist Tate is today.
What’s most exciting is that Tate’s music isn’t just about her—it’s about us. It’s about growth, self-expression, and turning struggle into something beautiful. Tate doesn’t just make music; she makes movement. And we at Worldwide Magazine are beyond excited to see where this journey takes her next.
AndyOmo: Hi there! I’m Andy, nice to meet you. How are you?
Baby Tate: Hi, Andy. Nice to meet you too. I'm good, how are you?
I cannot complain. It's a beautiful day. I love the pink [you're wearing] today.
I love your pink!
I gotta rock it, you know. Well, we are, excited to have you! Are you in California right now, or where are you based currently?
Yeah, I'm in LA. I'm excited to be here, thank you.
Amazing! Let's start by telling us a little bit about yourself: your name, where you're from, how old you are, and how long you've been in your industry.
Okay. My name is Tate. I'm professionally known as Baby Tate. And I am from Decatur, Georgia. I currently live in Los Angeles. I am a singer, a rapper, producer a lover of music. And, um, you're never supposed to ask a lady her age, but I'm 28. [Laughs].
[Laughs] Period. Noted.
I'm 28. Which is actually weird to remember sometimes. Yeah, you know, as I get older, I'm like, "Oh my God, I was just 15 yesterday, this is weird!"
I feel that for real.
Yeah, I got my start by being introduced to music very early on by my mom. My mom makes music, her name is Dionne Ferris. And, in my household, we were very much so a "Music is life type-a household." So I was introduced to it very early on, with no expectation. I feel like my mom just wanted me to be exposed to music, but not really like, "Oh, I want you to do music just like me." She actually really wanted me to go to school and not pursue this, but this life chose me, so here I am.
You know, it's cool that she didn't put that pressure on you at a young age. You talked a little bit about growing up under your mom's influence, but, what are some of your own personal experiences from early on that made you aware that music was a passion of your own?
I think I've always really loved to sing and to entertain. There's this story my mom tells way better than me, but I was like four years old and it was her and my uncle at our house. And I think there was a Stevie Wonder song playing and I was performing it for them. Then I walked away and they were like, "Where are you going?" And I go and get these two little chairs, from my little toddler chair set. I put them together and I stood on them and I was like, "I gotta get higher," you know, like I have to be on stage. And so from a very early age, I loved to entertain and I love to perform. That's one of the places, on stage, where I feel the most comfortable in life, honestly. So,, I knew really, early on and I think because of the fact that I did have the talent and I could sing, my mom was like, you were either gonna be able to sing really well or you weren't going to at all. My dad also sings, so with both of those genetics, it's either going to be, wow, [ what a] beautiful singer, or, babe, go get yourself a day job. [Laughs]
Totally [Laughs]
Yeah, for me, I got, that natural inheritance. My mom put me into performing arts schools very early, from the third grade to my senior year, I was in performing arts school.
Amazing. I love that you were able to get in touch with your passion at such a young age. I know that that's definitely not super common. We don't always find our passions till later on in life when we can give those passions that kind of attention in a way that maybe we weren't always able to when we're younger. So it's super cool that you had a supportive community and family that saw those passions when you were quite young.
Growing up for you, with both your parents as musicians and then living under your mother, Dionne Farris', spotlight, what did success look like to you? Was the idea of their success carried onto you? Is this something that you've allowed yourself to explore? And how has your vision of success from growing up changed to what it is now?
I grew up with a single mother, my mom raised me alone. There were a lot of times when my mom had a lot of success in her career, but she chose to leave it to raise me. There were a lot of times when we were struggling. I would go to school, not having money for lunch very often until I finally told my mom, " You know, I can get free lunch, right? Just sign me up, please."
Right, literally. [Laughs]
"Like please mama, I'm hungry!" [Laughs]
So, I think my vision of success was kind of skewed because I don't think I really was very aware of my life at the times when my mom still was experiencing her success. I was really young and by the time I started to actually gain some type of sentience for real, it was more so of the struggle that I was seeing. I don't like to accept struggle in my life. That's not really a word that I like to use often, but I have to be real about it, at the time, that's just what it was.
One thing that I did really feel proud to see though, is how my mom was doing it independently. She was her own manager. She [would] literally email people [using] a different name, but it was her. So I was just watching those things and, seeing that it was possible for me, no matter on what level that was. I think success comes at different levels for different people. Someone can reach the highest pinnacle of success for them, and that might just be performing for a hundred people and they might feel like the most successful [person] in the world. Whereas there might be someone who has one hundred people pull up to the show and they feel like they have not done a damn thing.
So yeah, for me, because I was able to see a scale, of what success can be, I'm still defining what success looks like for me. I think I'm successful now, but, I think I would like to be more successful.
Of course. Bouncing off that would you define the success that you have found within your career and within your passions for music, as any different from your own personal successes. Any personal goals in your life that would define your success outside of your career?
I think my career is so intertwined with my real life that sometimes it just takes over. You know, when people say, "Ball is life"? Music is life for me. My personal success is my musical success. I also am very grateful that I was able through LVRN, who I'm managed by, to go to therapy and really talk through some of my childhood trauma. I think that's a part of my personal success. The way that I communicate with people and just being able to express myself. That is a lot of my personal success. That spiritual and emotional self-growth.
Right. That's a lot of the topics you talk about in your music. The self-growth, empowerment, and self-love, especially within this mixtape, that's like a big tone that I get. Diving into that a little bit more. There are so many young readers and people across the world, that struggle with embracing who they are, especially in a time like right now. Were there specific moments or experiences that made you feel empowered to be unapologetically yourself throughout this journey of being under a spotlight and maybe even under the highlight of your mom too?
Yeah. There is a line by Rihanna, one of my favorite artists, where she says, "People gon' talk whether you're doing bad or good." / continues singing Cheers Drink to That) by Rihanna/ " Yeah, I'm getting coyote ugly up in here...." Anyways, [Laughs]. I just kind of got to a point where I realized that people will love you or hate you regardless of what you do, regardless of who you are. There are just some people that are just not going to like you and they will never like you, regardless of if you show 100 % of your personality, or if you show 5 % of it, and there are also people who are going to absolutely adore you.
For me, when that really clicked in my head, that's when I was able to be my most authentic and confident self. Fuck it, you know, and, fuck y'all. I'm going to do what I want to do because somebody's going to be mad anyway and somebody's going to love it.
At the end of the day, I can't make myself any smaller or, make myself sad so that I can make somebody else happy. That just doesn't add up, it doesn't make any sense.
Totally!
Thankfully I also have a very supportive family. But if I didn't, I think I would be like, "Sorry, girly. I'm sorry, auntie. I'm sorry, grandma. I'm going to be my happiest self even if that makes you sad because I'm the only person that's living my life. You are living your life. You've done the things that you wanted to do. And if you didn't, you still have time to do them. But your opinion about the world should not and will not frame the way that I see myself."
That's something that I'm constantly reminding myself that people's perspectives of us are theirs, not ours.
Yeah, exactly!.
Especially with the fact that you do have the privilege of having a supportive family and that they do back you, that's an amazing thing. A lot of people don't necessarily have that, and so in that feeling of whether or not the people around us are giving us our flowers, it's [about] shaking off all opinions and then letting in the ones that come from a place of real love. Whether that be family or that be supporters, perspectives will always be there. We can't change that, we will always be perceived. So fuck it, do you, and that's a great message to always carry with you, even aside from your music, even just personally.
In a time where marginalized voices are very important, how do you hope your music empowers those who may feel unheard or overlooked right now in society?
Right now is such a unique time because we're in so much turmoil and fear, due to [the 2024 election]. I think that right now it's really important for anyone to use their voice. We oftentimes doubt ourselves or minimize ourselves and our platforms and our voices, but you really never know just how loud you are to someone or just how loud you can be. I've always spoken up for women black women, queer people, trans people, and you know, just real people. The people who are in touch with themselves, and I'm not going to ever stop doing that because why would I? Why would I stop speaking up for myself, if I'm going to speak up for myself, my mouth is loud enough to speak up for someone else too.
I continue to do that in my music because I feel like music is such a strong way to transfer energy and to transfer messages. I definitely see being a musician as a huge responsibility, especially in this day and age. I try to be very intentional with the words that I say and the power that I put into my music. Of course, before I dropped this mixtape, I really wasn't purposely thinking like, "Oh, let's do this because the elections coming up, wooh wooh, let's empower the girls!" That's just what I do anyway, but I do think that a lot of these songs definitely have been helping me to get through this hard time in history.
I think that's really important too, because one thing I learned from Mutha RiRi is that music is all about timing in our lives. And sometimes when we're making music, or we're listening to music, it's not necessarily for this time right in this second. Yeah, and that's what I love about Rihanna - as an artist, she's constantly making music for the future in a way, and then we catch up to her, and it just makes sense, everything just makes sense.
And so when you're talking about this, in a way, you've created music for you to be able to help get through this time or any time that is going to relate to one like we're in now. My keyword there is relatability, which is just constantly finding a time and place for music and using it as a healing tool and as a resource to be able to express yourself and maybe let out those feelings of aggression or confusion.
Within the mixtape, there's a lot of different emotions there. Whether it be confrontational, authentic lyricism, or even the curiosity to question those around you who you may not understand fully. I really do enjoy all the different themes throughout the mixtape. And with that comes the different sounds that you make in the music too. There are so many new sounds in this mix tape that I haven't heard from you before or don't hear from you very often. What inspired you to explore this different range of sounds on Tate Tuesday Vol. 1? And how did you decide on the progression of the sounds throughout the process?
Yeah, so throughout the year, since like April, I have been dropping, whether it be a remix or a freestyle or a verse to other people's beats and been doing that every Tuesday, pretty much the whole year. And towards the end of this year, my mom called me- [Laughs] - and before I say this no shade, but my mom called me and she was like, "Make sure you're also still dropping original stuff. You don't want to Jaquees yourself" and I was gagged. [Laughs]
Not Jacquees yourself! [Laughs]
But period, she ate that. I was like, you know what? You're right. I don't want to Jacquees myself. No shade to Jacquees, he's very talented. But I didn't want people to know me because I did a remix to something, you know?
Totally.
I think the initial goal for Tate Tuesday, was to allow myself to really sharpen my tools and to continue to be creative, especially at a time where I knew I was about to leave my label and I didn't know exactly when I was going to be able to put music out again. I didn't want to go completely radio silent in the time between these two moments, so I was like, " Let me just put something out. Let me give the people what they want, let me feed the Tots!"
Towards the end, after I had that conversation with my mom, I was like, "Okay, well I'll do original stuff, but how can I still do this in a way that has been successful [for me] in the past?" Because I feel like people love to hear me on Supermodel by RuPaul. You know, they love to hear me on, Boa by Megan Thee Stallion. [I wondered] how to do this in a way that still honors those people, yet it's still original. So one day I went on YouTube and I was actually on TikTok live, while I was looking up type beats. Each one of these songs is over a type beat and that's why they are such different sounds, I was getting suggestions from the people in the live, like, "Who should I look up next? What type of type beat should we get?", And they were giving me suggestions. On this project, we have a Sophie-type beat. We have a Slater and Ayesha Erotica-type beat. We have a Bri Runway, Azalea Banks, and Radiohead-type beat. There's a Lauryn Hill type beat, there's a Fugees type beat, and there's a J. I. D., Amine, and Brockhampton type beat, and a Pharrell type beat.
It makes so much sense though, because these people are some of my favorite artists, and listening to the mixtape, I hear the Azealia Banks, I hear Brockhampton, this makes sense. But with this kind of fun nineties hip hop plays on it too. And then your lyrics are so much fucking fun. I am obsessed right now with the song Straight, obsessed!!
Thank you!
Four tracks from the mixtape I have on repeat- Face The World, Super Sick, Sweetest Girl, Olipop, yeah, just obsessed. Talking about those lyrics a little bit what inspired you throughout the tape and how do you find that balance of delivering these witty lines, while also saying something and still not losing that message that you're trying to get across in each song?
Yeah, I think that's just me. That's just my natural balance. Maybe it's maybe it's because I'm a Taurus sun with an Aries moon so I feel like I have that balance. I'm also a Capricorn rising so I have that very grounded balance, but that Aries moon just be popping up and saying the most crazy shit in the world and then I go back and be like, " But I'm being serious."
Right, no, that's what I think is so relatable about it. It's that human mindset of feeling all these different emotions and wanting to say something, but not having the words to articulate yourself. So hearing it, there were several lines that really just got me. And it was just like, wait, wait a second.
Talking a little bit about the musical process for you, what does that look like? Are you inspired by little bits of lyrics that you may come up with in your head or do you hear a beat and then you start working on lyrics from there. What does that process look like for you?
Yeah, for this project specifically, everything started off with the beats.
Right, with the type beats.
So I was going through a lot of different beats actually. I think I ended up downloading maybe 25 beats from this search. Whatever just spoke to me and made me feel something I was like, let's do something to this. I'm not sure exactly what it's going to be, but let me just load it into logic and press play, and see what I feel. I think a lot of my music is based on feeling. So, yeah, that's just what the process was. This was also one of the first times in a very long time, that I recorded myself and engineered myself, for the whole project. So that was also a bit scary for me because I think people are used to hearing me in this certain type of sound and I'm like, "Oh, are people still gonna enjoy even though it's just me in my little studio room. I'm no engineer. I'm just a girl." Yeah, I just went off a feeling and how the beat spoke to me and I spoke back.
That's really cool. I love to get inside musicians' heads a little bit. I think a big part of when I'm listening to music too is being hooked by the sounds and then being kept by the lyrics. You know what I mean? It's like, how do you get me right away? And how do you keep me? And I think that this mixtape was a really great example of that because every single one gave you something a little different, so it kept your interest. Then it was like, "Wait, I have to hear these like witty fucking lyrics." And since the lyrics don't exist everywhere, I'm really fucking listening, trying to hear every single word." I think that that's really cool. There were a couple lines that spoke to me. I'm trying to pull them up real fast, I'll get back to that.
One thing I talk a lot about, within my interviews, is exploitation and people taking advantage of artists within the industry. Especially the music industry which has a history of sometimes taking advantage of emerging voices. How have you encountered moments where maybe you felt, taken advantage of or exploited within your art? How have you been able to overcome that?
Hmm. You know, I don't think I've necessarily dealt with that too much. Knock on wood. I feel like I've been very blessed to have a pretty smooth music career for the most part. I will thank the people that I have around me. I have really good management and people that care about me around me and I don't think that they would allow something crazy to happen. I wouldn't allow it. My mom, whoo, she wouldn't allow it. So yeah, I've been really, really blessed and I'm very grateful to not have any stories like that.
That's great. Cause I definitely know especially as some artists are coming up, and getting attention, a lot of people can come knocking on DMs, or a lot of people can come and try and take advantage of certain situations, whether it be profiting through clout or it be just trying to attach themselves some type of way.
I'm very grateful to have had a mother who already experienced the music industry before me. She often says the game hasn't changed, the players are just new. So I've learned a lot of the game from my mom.
I love to hear that, thank you for sharing. I'm pulling up some of these lyrics that I was talking about. I was obsessed right off the bat with Face The World being such a strong female anthem. I love that you signed it in that first verse with "Body like my first initial Yes, it's T." Period.
Period. [Laughs]
It was just a great, strong way to just drop the fucking mic on the first song on the tape. Love that. Another line I loved, "Call me Dick, like my first name is Richard", in Super Sick. Fucking love that.
Thank you!
I was obsessed with Straight. I wrote that it was truly an exposé on the innermost intrusive thoughts that come to life when faced with the reality of some people's lack of openness and ability to explore the beauties of what makes life worth living. That's what I wrote and what I meant by that was I think as a queer person and especially as a trans nonbinary person, I find that a lot of people are close-minded to the explorations of what makes us human. And I feel like Straight was a playful way of saying that.
Yeah.
Loved, "It ain't that deep, it's just weird. You mean to tell me you ain't a little queer?"
[Laughs]
Like, that's so fucking real. The hypersexuality of the lyrics, that's what I love. I love to hear artists playing with sexuality in a way that in the past would make people uncomfortable. The way that Slut Him Out does or even WAP by Megan and Cardi. Throughout history, hypersexuality has often been imposed on Black women as a stereotype—a way to diminish their humanity and reduce us to one-dimensional characters. In a way, songs like these, especially within Black female rap, have played with hypersexuality in ways that let us take it back as our own power—something we define for ourselves, rather than letting it be a stereotype that people try to paint onto us. It’s especially powerful for Black and brown, queer, and trans communities, turning something used to stereotype us into a bold expression of identity and freedom. I really love that.
Thank you!
What I also really loved was the line, "This ain't no conversion camp." I mean just historically within queer people we are talking about the erasure of queer people and that's so relevant right now too.
Mmm-hmm.
Just like being able again to play with your music and have so much fun with your music but also say something that really highlights and recognizes the truth in the reality of growing up queer is very fucking relatable and powerful, and I think that people really are going to feel that all over the world.
Thank you!
Absolutely. Coming back to our last couple of questions, one thing I like to do is a series of rapid-fire fun questions just to get to know you a little bit more personally. They're going to be like THIS or THAT, and you get to choose one of the two choices that are most correct for you. There are about eight questions and I'll go through them pretty fast.
OOOOOOH 2000's RnB
Alright. 90s hip hop or 2000s RnB since I know you use kind of both influences.
OOOOOOH!!!! 2000's RnB!!
Okay period. DIY production or in-studio? Because you do a lot of both.
I do. I'll say in the studio.
Jordans or Louboutins?
Louboutins all day. [Laughs]
[Laughs] Okay, Uggs or moon boots?
Ooh, moon boots.
Period. Freestyling or written lyrics?
Written.
You always on time or always late to everything?
Always late.
Period.
[Laughs]
Fashionably late, babe! Creative during the day or do you find creativity at night?
Hmm, I like both. I like to work with other people during the day, but I like to work alone at night.
Iced coffee or hot coffee?
Iced.
Purr, same [Laughs] Boxer shorts or lingerie? What's your vibe?
Mmmmmm, Lingerie.
I feel like boxer shorts have been so in recently, like that whole just casual trade kind of vibe. I'm definitely into both. And the last one I ask everyone, this is so stupid, but was the dress black and blue or was it white and gold?
It was black and blue!! [Laughs]
[Laughs] That's what I've been telling people and I'm here to prove the record straight! Anyway, last two questions before we wrap this up. Looking forward, how does Tate Tuesday Volume 1 set the stage for what's next in your career? Are there any new sounds or ideas you're excited to explore as you look ahead? And is this something that we will continue to see as a returning series of volumes with Tate Tuesdays?
Yes, I will definitely be doing more volumes of Tate Tuesday. I'm really excited to see, just what that looks like. I'm still creating it, it's, it's still a work in progress. I am currently working on volume two. It's going to be a lot of the sounds that were in the first half of volume one, so Face The World, Super Sick, Yeah Yeah- just exploring that sound more, because that's so fun for me. It's a lot of fun to perform and I really enjoy just that club dance, you know, we're just having fun. I love that. So, that's kind of what volume two is going to be sounding like. I'm really excited about it. I'm working on that. This is all going to be with one producer instead of like different producers. Each song on volume one is by a different producer, but on volume two, I'm going to be collabing with an amazing producer named Zach Witness. I'm super, super excited for that. Yeah, that's going to be on volume two. And then [I'm] also working on my album right now, which is called C U Next Tuesday and that'll be coming out next year as well.
C U Next Tuesday- you’re too funny. [Laughs] Okay Miss Thing, I see you!
[Laughs]
I love it. I love it. I love it. We at Worldwide are so excited to see what you come up with for the album and the continuation of Tate Tuesdays.
For the last question, this one's a bit back to serious- for young black and queer creatives looking to find their voice, what advice would you give in this day and age about staying true to themselves in the face of pressure, stereotypes, and the ever-changing industry?
I will say never stop believing in yourself and never stop working on yourself. A lot of times being an artist, so much of it, especially when you're in the public view, is ego. Thinking that like, "Oh, I know what I'm doing. I've got it all down." You should always be confident in yourself, but I think that sometimes we feel like we've come to a point where we don't need any more improvement. I think there's always room to work on yourself to evolve. So that would be my advice, know who you are and stay true to that, but know that there are still other iterations of what that looks like, you know, like, like a Pokemon, you know, you don't just stay squirtle forever you become- whatever the third version of Squirtle is. [Laughs]
[Laughs] Ooh, got me questioning all of a sudden. I know, uh, Gigantist? Nope. No, I'm not even gonna try.
I don't know. I don't know. But you get my point, you know?
Period.
It's still Squirtle down there. But, you know, you can grow.
Blastoise! Grow into your Blastoise Era! [Laughs]
[Laughs] Exactly, exactly.
I love to see it and I'm super excited for our readers just to be able to hear this and to be reminded to stay true to themselves. I think it's so easy to compare yourself to everybody that's doing all these different things in your industry and in your world especially if you're living in a big city.
Yes!
It's just a good reminder like keep doing you, keep your heads like focused and uh and just constantly play! With different sounds, different lyrics, and different images try different things, but stay true to yourself.
Yep.
I really love that. And I'm really appreciative that you took the time to really just talk with us here.
Thank you. I appreciate it so much.
Absolutely. Awesome. Enjoy the rest of your day and we'll be in touch! Thanks again!
Thank you too, Andy!
