People are mad at Teairra Mari. Or, more accurately, they’re mad about Teairra Mari. If they’re not appalled about the lyrical content of her new banger, “Sponsor,” an outlandish homage to the perks of finding that someone special to lace you with the finer things in life, then they’re irritated that certain channels have enacted a double-standard to excuse themselves, despite fan requests, from playing the song’s video. Either way, it doesn’t matter. With good-look guest spots from Gucci Mane and Soulja Boy, “Sponsor” has quickly moved into the Top 20 at Urban Radio, prepping Teairra for a scorching summer full of sought after concert performance dates and her appearance on the big screen.
August will find the sultry songstress in a substantial role in Warner Bros. Films’ The Lottery Ticket. Opening August 20, The Lottery Ticket features an all-star cast that includes Ice Cube, Bow Wow, Loretta Devine, Mike Epps, and Charlie Murphy. Teairra beat out a number of other high profile young actresses to land the role of sponsor-iffic Nikki Swasey. “I’m like the hot chick in the projects,” laughs Mari, “but something’s not right because I’m still in the projects!”
Teairra Mari is no stranger to rocky roads. Signed to Roc-A-Fella Records at just 16-years-old, the Detroit native burst onto the scene in 2005 with her debut album, Roc-A-Fella Presents: Teairra Mari. The album debuted at #2 and spawned a Top 10 single with “Make Her Feel Good,” and a crossover hit with “No Daddy.” But things went awry shortly thereafter prompting the “Princess of the Roc” to receive the phone call, as she was dressing for her senior prom, that she was getting dropped from the label.
After a brief dark period, Teairra pulled herself up by her bootstraps. “Name it and claim it!,” she recently told Academy Award winning actress and talk show host Mo’Nique. “No one’s going to pull you up but yourself. No one’s going to give you confidence but you.”
It was during that period that she connected with music industry veteran Cudda Love (Mase, Nelly), who quickly signed Teairra to his Fo’ Reel imprint. Cudda and Teairra spent the next two years reintroducing her to fans with buzz tracks “Hunt 4 U” featuring Pleasure P and “Cause a Scene” featuring Flo Rida.
“This world is a place where you have to show people. And you have to keep showing them,” says Teairra. “I know people counted me out. I want people to know this is in my heart and this is not something I decided to do just because someone decided to give me a track. This is something I wanted to do my whole life.”
So what does Teairra make of all the “Sponsor”-versy? “Personally, I prefer a corporate sponsor,” she told Mo’Nique. “So, right now, Warner Bros. is my sponsor. But no matter what you do – doctor, lawyer, board of education – wherever you get your coins from to pay your bills, that’s your sponsor. Work it!”
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