Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta is back for another season, and these show veterans say it’s the most explosive and lit installment in the show’s history.
For Rasheeda Frost and Bambi Benson, who’ve been a part of the franchise for quite some time, this season is also about being locked in and keeping one’s eyes on the prize. They both recalled how they’ve managed to maintain their inner peace while being a part of a show that allows viewers a front-row seat to their lives.
“I felt like in the beginning, we all felt like we had to try to find spaces to defend ourselves,” Bambi told Blavity’s Shadow and Act. “And at this point, I’m just like, ‘You guys create your own narratives,’ like for the fans; they’re really into it, and so I just feel bad arguing with them in any capacity because I’m just like, ‘Go ahead, y’all can have that; you can create your own narratives.’ Obviously, we put some things out there. We can’t tell people our whole entire lives so they just have to fill in the blanks, and we have to be OK with that.”
Rasheeda added, “You just have to, a lot of times, have tough skin. You just got to be real with yourself. You’re gonna have people who just not gonna agree with the things you’re doing, who are gonna judge you. It just is what it is. But at the end of the day, that doesn’t decipher who you are. You’ve got to know that and just try to keep pushing and just stay focused on the goal at hand and whatever it is you’re trying to accomplish.”
As this season follows Bambi embarking on a new chapter following her split from fellow Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta veteran Scrappy, she says those watching will see her navigating their new relationship in real-time.
“It just looks like me trying to figure things out, me trying to balance being a mother,” she said regarding what this journey looks like. “I don’t want to necessarily use the term single mother because I do have a lot of support. My children see their dad regularly; he does what he’s supposed to do in that sense, but when they’re with me, they’re with me, and it’s just us. So just trying to figure that out, figure out our new normal in terms of scheduling, me working, spending that time with them and just being every place at one time and trying to put dating into that.”
Since the beginning, Rasheeda has been immersed in her creative side alongside her husband, Kirk Frost, and this season, that’s no different, except now she’s taking her love for fashion to the next level and continuing to soar higher with what she’s done with her brick-and-mortar store, Pressed.
“Fashion is just so amazing to me; it’s allowed me to just kind of be like this free person, and I love that about it,” she said. “I think that it’s also work, and it’s also something that you continuously have to evolve with. And as far as Pressed is concerned, it’s not as much for us about fast fashion as it is Pressed the brand. You know, just me putting out signature designs and different collections and stuff from Pressed that I’m designing or working with other young Black women to design together. I think finding that space, because honestly, the whole fast fashion space is crazy right now, especially when you’re dealing with the Amazons and the Sheins and all of the $3 dresses you can buy. I’m just being honest. You have to understand and know when to shift and redirect, and that’s kind of where we’re at with it. I’ve been online for 14 years and had a physical store for nine. I feel as though withstanding all those years, all we got to do is continue to stay focused and move forward and come up with the outfits and everything that people want and will continue to grow.”
The 12th season of Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta airs new episodes weekly each Tuesday on MTV.
