Back in 2017, VH1 launched a new talent show entitled Signed. The series invited unsigned hip-hop and R&B talents to Atlanta to audition in front of three judges — Rick Ross, The-Dream, and Lenny S. — for the chance to get signed to one of their respective record labels. Signed was canceled after its first and only season, but a clip from it recently resurfaced on Twitter and it’s caused fans to pounce on Rick Ross.
https://twitter.com/MrHector27/status/1352691499901837312
Two contestants named Brittany and Kaiya were auditioning for the judges during an episode of the show. They both used an instrumental of Rick Ross’ “Aston Martin Music,” with Brittany singing her version of the song first. Once she completed her version, Lenny S. called the audition the “smartest move of her life,” while Ross and Dream applauded her. Brittany then pointed out that another contestant used had the same beat as her. That person would be Kaiya, who went up next to give her audition.
Despite impressing with her vocals, Ross cut Kaiya’s audition short and said her use of the “Ashton Martin Music” instrumental “wasn’t the best platform for your voice.” He added, “You have a unique voice and Brit did sound better than yours. Every time you present your music, you better be a superstar.” Kaiya thought otherwise and shared her thoughts with viewers after her audition. “My song is original. I wrote it myself. Brittany used the same exact melody and the same ad-libs. You didn’t change anything,” she said. “I think he was so blinded by the butt that he wasn’t paying attention like that.”
After the clip resurfaced on Twitter in a tweet that was captioned, “The music industry in a nutshell,” fans dragged Rick Ross for his comments and proclaimed that Kaiya clearly had the better audition.
You can read some of the tweets from fans below.
They heard this and said the other girl was better…. pic.twitter.com/XMcDi7gnAZ
— Pas_Dim_Sa 🇭🇹 (@JR_5384) January 22, 2021
The first woman sounded HORRIBLE. She was awful. I'm still annoyed about this because the industry nowadays is really like this. The second girl sounded BEAUTIFUL.
— 𝙱𝚎𝚌𝚌𝚊 ⚡️ (@MJFINESSELOVER) January 22, 2021
https://twitter.com/officialsadgyal/status/1352763228246441984?s=20
These men are sick, they are dark skin men who are openly colourist to dark skin woman.
That girl sounded way better than the first one wtf.
I really hate how black skin women suffer all the consequences of colourism, I hate it so much, they bear all the brunt, everything.
— Edewede (@__ofure) January 23, 2021
https://twitter.com/SIXF00T/status/1352762589307138048?s=20
What the fuck Ain’t no way in hell he just said that, I think I lost respect for Rick Ross after that…. pic.twitter.com/1QhmdYTOWJ
— A FAT FAIZON LIE (@thatsingingguy_) January 23, 2021
It makes me wonder how many dark skinned black women were stopped from accomplishing their dream because of kneegrows like this. https://t.co/gtEJGWp8Gf
— 💅🏾✨✨ (@Here_Vibing_) January 23, 2021
These niggas straight lied in her face lol. The 2nd girl killed it. https://t.co/K0loRNHLIm
— Sonny (@SonnyDigital) January 23, 2021
Wow. Just wow. The second girl’s song was obviously so much better but none of them were moved in the least bit because she’s dark skinned and didn’t have her tits out. The music industry isn’t about the music at all. https://t.co/3g34PddW6e
— HOMER WIMPSON (@YaBoyDannyBlaze) January 23, 2021
https://twitter.com/blaccmass/status/1352822335825444864?s=20
