S. Samuel
With the popularity of VH1's "Love & Hip Hop" reality series continuing to grow, SOHH recently spoke to cast member Somaya Reece to find out how she balances acting with her aspiring music career.
Dedicated to mastering both worlds, Somaya said she envisions herself reaching Jennifer Lopez and Beyonce Knowles-Carter‘s level of brand success.
“I’ve always been acting. What people don’t know is I started out in commercials,” Reece told SOHH. “I started out doing commercials and then I moved onto doing films. I’m just like a lot of people who started out at the bottom. I was doing a lot of extra parts [in films/television] and then I moved onto one-lines, two-lines and now being offered roles. I feel so blessed. I’m never going to stop acting. I’ve been training and acting for ten years with Aaron Speiser [acting school] and I took courses over at UCLA. I’m never going to stop. I want to be a full brand like Beyonce or J. Lo. They’re actresses and they have music and they have branding of merchandise, clothing and things of that nature. So you can definitely expect that from me and I’m going to work harder to push a positive image because that’s really what I’m about. That’s what I’m about, giving back. This is my thing, I love to do it, I love to act.” (SOHH)
Reece previously talked to SOHH about moving from Los Angeles to the Big Apple in hopes of building a music career.
“The past year has been crazy because I’ve been working on my grind for a long time and nobody can ever stop that. I feel so blessed to have had the opportunities to continue my music and acting as well. To be able to even put my song on [the] Go For It! [movie] soundtrack and in the commercials, it’s been a blessing. I feel very blessed. I’ve always had a very positive brand. It’s kind of weird because when I got on the “Love & Hip-Hop” show, everything on there came across as so negative but that’s not at all what everybody knows me as, it’s just me standing up for myself. Coming out to New York was great. When I first came out here, it was a little bumpy at first because my producer and I were looking for a place to live and he helped me. I’m so blessed to have had him to sort of take me under his wing and produced all of my records. Now we could probably put out four albums from everything I have. So that was really exciting for me.” (SOHH Guest Star)
Recently, the Latina pop artist discussed her experience meeting Beyonce.
“I recently met Beyonce while we were shopping for shoes and she said “Congratulations Somaya on your career and what you’ve accomplished I’m proud.” Remember I told Olivia about Beyonce? Beyonce has everything she wants in life and did not have to even acknowledge my presence. Yet she was so humble and took the time to talk to me and tell me she knew me from the show and congratulated me. Now that shows class, and that is how all artists should be. If you know you a bad b***** then you don’t have to hate on another artist. I nearly fainted at her humility! She has inspired me to go harder.” (Mommys Dirty Little Secret)
In June, Reece opened up about her passion for making music.
“It just allows me to move people in some kind of a way. My songs bring me happiness and peace. It’s kind of a therapy sort of. But people haven’t heard any of my new stuff. They’ve only heard maybe 2 songs off of my mixtape, so I’m really happy that’s it’s going to come out. But music really allows me to make people feel something because everybody has become so robotic — people are afraid to feel anymore. Everybody wants to be so tough and so hard, and I’m like, “Let go of that for one day. Let’s have a good night. Let’s feel something.” So it allows me to help other people and feel something. And if you research my fan base, they all go so hard for me, and it’s because we all share a common story and I allow people to feel something that they didn’t know they could feel anymore. Some people are so destroyed in their lives. Sometimes music is their escape.” (The Urban Daily)
Check out a recent Somaya Reece interview below:
