If there’s one thing that can be said about Khia, it’s that she is definitely independent. Since busting onto the hip-hop scene in 2002 with her ultra-racy single “My Neck, My Back”, Khia has pretty much made her own rules in this game.

She produces every one of her records on her own, rarely uses guest appearances, and writes all of her own lyrics.

Khia recently linked up with down South indie powerhouse Big Cat Records  via a joint venture and is working on her latest album titled Nasti Music.

In addition to a hot single with Gucci Mane in rotation, Khia will be appearing  on a reality show on VH1 soon and will , a tour of the Southeast, and her solo album, Nasti Music.

Sixshot.com caught up with Khia to get the deal on her move to Big Cat Records, her views on female rappers, and what really went down with Janet Jackson.

So you’re publicist says you have a new show coming out on VH1?

Yeah.

Cool, what’s it about?

Um, I can’t talk about that, you will have to watch the show. The name of the show is Female Rap Supreme so it’s a rapper show. [At press time, Sixshot.com learned Khia will be competing again st other female rappers on the show]

You recently signed to Big Cat Records, are you happy with the move?

It’s great; we did a joint venture so we’re joint independently. We’re making a lot of moves out here, I been knowing him for a while so it always shoulda been this way, like “Let’s get this money together”.

So you’re real cool with your label mates too, like Gucci Mane, right?

Yeah absolutely.

What have you been up to in terms of music?

Everything is going good, the album is coming out June 20th, Nasti Music. I guess that’s about it right now, I’m doing my promotional tour right now. I got the single with Gucci, “What They Do” is hot and my second single “Be A Lady” is even hotter. I’m real excited about it.

Who’s doing the production? Any guest features on there?

I produced the whole album. I worked with two other producers, Pusha Key out of Florida and a couple producers from Atlanta, it was real dope working with them. We really stuck with that Southern sound because I love my South sound so it was fun.

Why is it that you don’t go after the big names from the South like Cool and Dre or Streetrunner?

I don’t know, I just feel like everybody in the industry gets those producers and those writers. It ain’t really as hot, its like “can you make music from scratch, can you make music from the bottom?” I produce my own music so I have the melody and the theme so when I write the concept is already there. Composing the music is what I do so it’s kind of hard for me to use other producers. I like to bring my own sound to life but a lot of artists will go to these producers to make them hot or give them a hit or make them that next hit and I feel like all my music is something I created from the heart so it’s hard for me to work with different people.

I know a lot of artists find the process of making their album stressful, is it even more stressful for you because you’re producing, rapping, and writing?

No, it’s so fun, it’s definitely not hard because you can think of a hit tonight, write it, record it, and put it up on Myspace by tomorrow. For me it’s not hard at all to just bring stuff to life and to have people like it, it’s what keeps me doing it so it’s never hard. It comes easy.

You’ve had a lot of success, as a female in the game without a male co-sign, how were you able to accomplish that?

I don’t really make music for radio really, being underground, and having a lot of fans in the streets is what I do. When you have fans in the streets, you’re able to perform at your shows. For me, I just continually work and make music. I was able to network the streets really, the streets made me hot because I never really had a big radio push or a big radio push but I had the streets. You definitely gotta grind but hard work pays off. The streets really decide what’s hot. A lot of DJ’s try to dictate what’s hot in the shadows but the streets dictate that. You’re in people’s cars or in their house when they’re getting dressed so if you have a hit they’ll tell you or if you don’t they’ll tell you to go work a little bit harder but I’ve been able to survive out here because of the streets.

What was the whole situation with Janet Jackson about?

It was cool working with Janet. She’s definitely an outstanding artist but I feel like she hated on me. I didn’t appreciate that she called me to do a son and I did it, it was love but when it came time for the promotion she put me on the TV. A lot of the fans were wondering what was up with that. I feel like she hated, she didn’t put Nelly on the TV. She didn’t put Busta on the TV, so why the fuck you put me on the TV? Other than that it was cool working with her, she hated though, she’s a hater.

She’s just got money, you know how bitches is, they get intimidated. She’s a diva, she didn’t wanna share her time with me, and she didn’t wanna share her man with me so she put me on the TV. Everybody thought I was hating on Janet but it was the truth bitch. I didn’t like the fact that you put me on the TV; it’s nothing more than that.

When we shot the video, we shot a full video but they edited me out of the video. When Access Granted was shown they showed the real video but on the video they promoted they put me on the television so you could hear the verse and the hooks but you didn’t see me.

They edited me out; when I left the set it wasn’t like that. I feel like Janet sat down with the people and had me taken out. But if you call me to feature, bitch don’t put me on the TV. I mean I got paid so it’s all good but they edited me out and put me on the TV so my people was wondering why they did that.

How are you feeling about the females in hip-hop today?

I’m not really a fan of female hip-hop; I’m just a fan of Khia.

Was that always the case?

Yeah, that was always the case.

Really, not even back in the day like when you first got into hip-hop?

Never, all of them had ghostwriters. Charlie Baltimore and Kim had Biggie, Foxy had Jay-Z, and Trina had Trick. They all had writers and producers. Everybody had the Swizz’ and the Scott Storches’. As an artist, I feel disrespected even being compared to them because they don’t do what I do.

Aight, but what about going even further back to MC Lyte, Salt N Pepa, Queen Pen, Roxanne Shante?

I was born in 1978 so I didn’t really listen to that. Men motivate me; I never listened to the girls. I love Lauryn Hill, a lot of the R&B women like Mary J. Blige but as far as female rappers go, none of them inspired me to write anything. Andre 3000, Cee-Lo Green, Lil’ Wayne, Scarface, Goodie Mob, Outkast, that’s what I grew up listening to, not the girls.

So you’re real inspired by Southern hip-hop?

Yes, I feel they’re underrated. Southern artists have their own style and their own signature and you know it’s us because of that, we create different stuff. A lot of the other artists are rapping off a piece of paper and somebody is rapping it for them and when they go in the booth you’ll hear them in the background and they be trying to memorize something. You can tell that and those are the artists that don’t stand out. The writers are gone, in rehab, or they dropped off and you don’t see them no more. Real artists will always make music and a lot of the Southern artists are real artists so I respect that.

Aight Khia, so tell the fans out there what they can look out for.

Nasti Music, the album is hot and it drops June 20th. I’m on tour right now all through the Southeast region so look out for that. Check the Myspace at www.myspace.com/khia.