Who Is Sasha Go Hard?

Chi-Town's drill princess talks about meeting Chief Keef, her love for Rick Ross, and the violence in her city.

Not Available Lead
Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

Not Available Lead

Chief Keef, King L, Lil Reese, and Lil Durk are widely recognized as the faces of Chicago’s new rap scene, but there’s something brewing within the city's young female MCs, too. Rappers like Katie Got Bandz, Chella H, and Shady offer versions of drill music from their own unqiue perspectives. These “lady hittas” bring hard-edged raps and a monstrous sound, crafting huge regional hits that have attracted major label attention, but there's still room to become the first national star from this crop.

A promising local talent to take that title is Sasha Go Hard. As of late, the 20-year-old from Chicago's Southside has been hustling her independent mixtapes and videos that juxtapose the city's gritty lifestyle with her irrestible charisma. Her street anthem “Why They Mad?” rings loud—both on the Internet, with over 60,000 YouTube views, and in the Chi—garnering props from the likes of recent MMG signee Rockie Fresh, and more. Her tough demeanor comes as a surprise for a pretty-faced girl, which is what she says separates herself from the pack.

This past July, Sasha Go Hard released her second mixtape, Do You Know Who I Am? The project is a significant improvement over her first tape, Glory Girl, and with even more hypnotic hooks and simple yet effective bars. That’s why we decided to find out, Who Is Sasha Go Hard? She opened up about growing up with her family in the Low End, how she didn’t like her voice at first, being affiliated with Chief Keef's GBE crew, and the violence in Chicago.

As told to Eric Diep (@E_Diep)

Growing Up on Chicago's Southside

Not Available Interstitial

Sasha Go Hard: “My momma, she wasn’t the type to let anybody go outside and do what we want to. I mean, she’ll let us go by my grandma’s house or stay home or go to work. You know, stuff like that. I would never just go hanging at blocks.

“She talks to me about sex and guys and what could happen if I stay outside all night. Or, she talks to me about street stuff.

“My dad was around but I stayed with my mother. They wasn’t together at the time, but he was there for me too. My mom was my better half. She love my personality. I’m real smart and mature. She likes how I think. I don’t just do what I want to do or do stupid stuff. So she love that.

“It was real nice living with two sisters. We had our little altercations but we stuck together. We real close. We always been like that. It was just my two sisters and my oldest brother. I have a younger brother that’s under me so he wasn’t around when we was growing up. He hasn’t been around for eight years now. I was around my sisters and my brother. I was the baby girl. [Laughs.]

“In our younger days as kids, we wasn’t going outside or nothing. We either had the choice of play the game or go to the porch or listen to music or watch TV. The main thing that we did was listen to music. Even though we was together, we always had our own different thing that we be doing. And mine was just rhyming and coming up with stuff. So I just did it on my own and focused on myself.


 

“My mom was my better half. She love my personality. I’m real smart and mature. She likes how I think. I don’t just do what I want to do or do stupid stuff. So she love that.

"We grew up, we didn’t have a mindset to do stuff to get us in trouble. We used to get in trouble, it would be something minor.  We ain’t really do nothing to get in trouble. For us, we had each other and we didn’t need to go out and do something to get in trouble.

"I remember a long time ago, I was about nine or ten. We used to have a water fight. [Laughs.] We had a water fight in the house and we got in trouble for that when my momma came home. But we had so much fun with that.  [Laughs.]"

Learning To Rap

Not Available Interstitial

Meeting Chief Keef

Not Available Interstitial

Sasha Go Hard: “After I saw everybody was rocking with [my raps], my friends were telling me, ‘Man, it's raw.’ I’m like, ‘I need to stop recording on my VoiceNotes and just go to somebody’s studio.’ I saw Chief Keef posting his stuff on Facebook. And I had hit him up like, ‘What studio he go to?’ And that’s when he introduced me to DJ Kenn. So after that I went to they studio and I recorded. And after I finished recordin’, they were just in there like, ‘You go hard.’ And just kept telling me that I go hard. And they started rocking with me after that. They wanted me to come back to the studio.

“When I saw everybody was loving the “What We Do” song that I recorded, I’m like, ‘Man I gotta get ...’ Everybody keep telling me that I am cold and I go hard. I’m finnakeep continuing to make songs and record. I felt the studio so there ain’t no reason to stop.


 

When I saw everybody was rocking with me, it was a connection that was made. I’m like, ‘They rocking with me. I’m finna just keep doing me.’


 

“When I first got in there, I was kinda happy because they was cool. I felt comfortable. I had recorded, SD, he was in the booth with me. He just move his head as I recorded lookin’ like, ‘Dang, this girl raw.’ When I was done, he kept telling me, ‘You go hard.’ Everybody was just rocking with me heavy so I felt good about it. I’m loving this feedback that they are giving me. When I saw everybody was rocking with me, it was a connection that was made. I’m like, ‘They rocking with me. I’m finna just keep doing me.’

“I never knew about ad-libs. They just told me like, ‘Ok, do your ad-libs.’ And I’m looking like, ‘What’s ad-libs?’ They told me, ‘Well, you just go say something over your words or something you already said.’ They taught [me] what was ad-libs. But I had already knew how to put what where just by listening to music period. Just knowing where, ‘Ok, I got to put this right here so it can sound right.’

“I’ve been with Keef way before the rap scene. I just knew him around from outside or something. That’s when I first met SD and Fredo [Santana] and everybody who was in the studio. That was my first time meeting DJ Kenn too.

“When Chief Keef first popped, I had saluted him a couple of times because not only for what he was doing for himself but him and King Louie put a lot of eyes on Chicago. Just to see the talent that we got. I salute them for that. They doing their thing."

Musical Influences

Not Available Interstitial

Sasha Go Hard: “I used to listen to Trina, Lil Kim and Nicki Minaj’s music. I listen to them. I like they music. They cold. I was listening to them, but to be honest, myself and my fans and my supporters inspire me. They show me like, ‘Man, you cold.’ They put in my face that I got what it takes to be a rapper.


 

Lauryn Hill, her songs, she kind of have that way of not only give people something to hear but giving listeners something to feel what she saying. I love that because my goal is to that in my songs too.


 

“Lauryn Hill, her songs, she kind of have that way of not only give people something to hear but giving listeners something to feel what she saying. I love that because my goal is to that in my songs too. So that’s why I try to do too. It's like, ‘Man, she be doing what I be wanting to do too.’ And she’s just real about her music. I really do like Lauryn Hill.

“I wasn’t really listening to all of her stuff, I’mma be honest. It’s just her songs just catch your eye and ear. That’s what happened. I fell in love with some of her songs, not all of them. It’s so crazy, I forgot the name of it, but I know the song. [Laughs.] It goes like [sings], “It could all be so simple.” [Laughs.]

“My mother, she was a dusty listener. My mother, my brother and my sisters, we would just listen to like old school music. Lil Kim, her old stuff. TLC. Whitney Houston. Faith Evans. Missy Elliott, when she used to do her thing with the music. The Isley Brothers.

“I’m an old school listener. I like a lot of people’s older music than their newer music. If you would to see my iPod now, you wouldn’t believe how much old R.Kelly [Laughs.] or old Beyonce or Destiny’s Child. TLC. I don’t know, it’s just how I am.”

Chicago’s "Drill" Scene

Not Available Interstitial

The Violence in Chicago

Not Available Interstitial

Her Nickname, "Glory Girl"

Not Available Interstitial

Sasha Go Hard: “When I first went to the studio, [Chief Keef and his crew] been had their name, Glory Boyz. They been had that. When I first went to the studio and recorded and, you know, they telling me that I went hard. One of them said like, ‘She the first lady, Glory Girl.’ That’s when I came up with ‘Glory Girl.’ As time passed and stuff, I dropped the Glory Girl mixtape.


 

“I haven’t been in a group since I was with Chief Keef and them. If you look at the “Bang” video, you will see me in there. I used to be with them. I was like the female of the Glory Boyz, but they labeled me as the ‘Glory Girl.’”


 

“When I dropped it, me and DJ Kenn got into it. We had pass a couple of words. I had stop going around them. I had stop going to the studio and all that. Because we were in the studio together everyday from morning to dark. After that happened with me and DJ Kenn, I stopped going to the studio.

“I just felt neglected. He just stopped working with me. I ain’t have nobody else. We all we had in the studio. Kenn was like our connect. We didn’t have him, we didn’t have nobody else to go to the studio or record or be around. At the time when that happened, Young Chop wasn’t around. He wasn’t around yet. Kenn, he kept out of trouble with each other like arguing and all that. All of us just went to the studio to be happy and do what we love. We made music in there.

“I haven’t been in a group since I was with Chief Keef and them. If you look at the “Bang” video, you will see me in there. I used to be with them. I was like the female of the Glory Boyz, but they labeled me as the ‘Glory Girl.’”

Her First Mixtape, Glory Girl

Not Available Interstitial

The Making of Do You Know Who I Am?

Not Available Interstitial

Meeting “Why They Mad?” Producer Absolut P

Not Available Interstitial

Her "Money Me" Line

Not Available Interstitial

Her Tattoos

Not Available Interstitial

Comparisons to Trina and Diamond

Not Available Interstitial

The Future

Not Available Interstitial

Finding Motivation in Successful Chicago Rappers

Not Available Interstitial

Her Love For Rick Ross

Not Available Interstitial

Latest in Music