[Chanel West Coast](https://instagram.com/chanelwestcoast?igshid=2num9ic1i4ty) needs no introduction. A celebrity in her own right, the Los Angeles native is one of the most lovable, talented, down-to-earth humans to grace the planet. You’ve probably heard her undeniably contagious laugh on MTV’s hit series _Ridiculousness_ (a staple asset she’s carried since she was a little girl), but Chanel is a true jack of all trades. From singing to rapping to acting to modeling, the overall entertainer exudes nothing but positive energy in all her endeavors.
Getting her start writing poetry at the young age of 7, Chanel eventually began writing her own music, influenced directly by Tupac and Gwen Stefani. At the end of the day, music is her true passion and she’s been killing it independently since the Young Money days, when the legendary Lil Wayne gauged interest in signing her.
Most recently, Chanel released her highly-anticipated debut album aptly titled [_America’s Sweetheart_](https://open.spotify.com/album/58gAm9tIUtQSvWuQB9d715), a 19-track project that sees features from Dreezy, Salma Slims, Too $hort, Minus Gravity, and more! Additionally, she has her own merch line titled LOL Cartel, and might even have a podcast in the works with DJ Paul!
On the 12th episode, I sat with Chanel West Coast at Matrix Studios in Los Angeles to discuss Tupac being the reason she started rapping, the reason Young Money didn’t work out, opening for Lil Wayne, her workout regimen, her essentials on her rider, getting Covid before the pandemic, own march LOL Cartel, her ideal sugar daddy, getting 3 features at Too Short’s studio, her go-to food places, love for Key Glock, favorite sex position, and more!
**What hip-hop artists were you looking up to coming up?**
Really, Tupac is my main influence. That’s all I listened to in middle school and high school. It was really Tupac. As far as female artists, someone that’s not really a rapper, but Gwen Stefani. Style-wise, I loved everything she did. Her style was so different. As an artist, I wanted to combine the two. That’s my inspo: Tupac and Gwen Stefani.
**What’s your favorite Tupac song?**
My favorite Tupac song is “Shed So Many Tears,” which is a deeper one. I like those deep Tupac songs. I love “How Do You Want It,” that's what got me into rapping.
**Last time we spoke, you told me a hilarious story of how you snuck past security to meet Lil Wayne.**
That was a funny story. \[laughs\] I went up to security and said “listen, Wayne’s my homie.” I didn’t even know him yet. I said “I need to go back there.” I acted like I already knew him. The guy said “you know him? Okay cool.” Worst security ever, he walked me back to Wayne’s room. I think he knew who I was and assumed, it was really funny.
**Fondest memories from the Young Money days?**
Probably opening for Wayne in Arizona, that was definitely my biggest show. His fans are the best, that was a dope show.
**What era of Lil Wayne was it then?**
It’s hard for me to keep track of what time period. It makes me feel old whenever I try to remember certain things over the course of the past 10 years. Am I that old? Have I been doing this for that long? I can’t remember but that’s one of my favorite shows ever. One of my favorite people to open for.
**How nervous were you?**
You know, I’m not nervous at all performing. I get more nervous doing this type of stuff. \[laughs\] I get more nervous talking in front of people. I’m more nervous doing _Ridiculousness_ and talking in front of an audience than I am to perform on stage. Whenever you’re performing, it’s your music. You know it by heart, it’s in your memory. Whenever you have to do something like this (an interview), it’s like talking in front of the class. When you’re performing, you can’t focus on anything else. You’re in the music.
**What songs were you performing at the show?**
Definitely “Alcoholic,” I’ve been performing that the most over the course of a lot of years. I was performing my song with YG, “I Like New.” My song ‘We Gone,” which has a sample of Gone by NSYNC in It. I can’t remember, but I know around that time what I had dropped.
**I know the Young Money situation didn’t work out because it was in the middle of their feud.**
It didn’t work out more because certain people weren’t feeling me being a part of the clique. I’m really grateful that Wayne fucked with me, gave me a cosign and said “be part of my clique.” I can’t control what happened, so many different politics that people don’t know behind the scenes. I waited a year and a half for my Young Money deal to get done, that’s how much I wanted the deal. Other people said “you have to try for this label, go another route.” Dude, Lil Wayne fucks with me. My dog is named Weezy.
**What’s Chanel’s workout regime?**
Well I have a trainer. During the pandemic, I got really into working out on my own. Figuring out all of my own workouts. I have a mini Barbie looking gym in my garage, it’s really cute. The cuter the gym is, the cuter your workout clothes are, you get more “oh, I’m trying to look cute and do this.” I know a lot of good home workouts, I posted a couple of workout videos on my YouTube.
**How often do you workout?**
As much as I can. I film a lot so on average, I workout 3 days a week. That’s a good amount to stay in shape. \[laughs\] If I wanted to be a real fitness person and get really into it, I’d work out every single day. But I don’t have the time for that.
**Talk about your relationship with cannabis.**
I’m the biggest stoner ever. I’m down with talking about it on your show, other people’s shows, but I don’t really post or talk about it much. Because in the past, I’ve had things removed. It’s better. Even though my music fanbase is more mature, I’ve realized I’m on a TV show that kids watch too. Parents watch it with their kids!
**How does that make you feel?**
I don’t mind it but because of that, there’s little kids following me or looking at my page. I’m a party animal, I live my life, but also I have a bunch of young cousins. I’m always like “damn, are they watching my shit?” I’m scared to be a bad influence on everybody.
**How’s TikTok treating you?**
I’m mixing it up. \[laughs\] I’m doing the dance ones, I’ll do some funny voiceover ones. Follow me @chanelwestcoast. I’m building it up, slowly but surely. I’m gonna collab with a couple more TikTok people, try to build it up.
**Is there an “Eazy” dance?**
Well, it’s the dance from the video. For my other songs, “40 Yard Dash” and “No Plans,” we have an official TikTok dance. For “Eazy,” it’s the dance from the video.
**I saw you in the football gear for “40 Yard Dash,” how much work goes behind your content? I’d imagine your schedule is insane.**
Yeah, it is. It’s crazy. I’m an independent artist, so there’s a lot of work. People think because I’m on TV, maybe there’s a label or team behind me. There’s definitely a little bit of money behind myself because I’m on TV, but it’s my money. It’s not a label. All my videos are all me. I come with everything, all the concepts. Even that football outfit, I had it custom made. I told them I wanted something that looks like a football uniform, but a sexy blinged out version. I have these visions and find the right people to bring them to life.
**_America’s Sweetheart_ out now, how are you feeling?**
It feels good. It was a big project with a lot of songs on there. I’m still dropping singles from the album. The next video I’m dropping off the album is “Bonkers” featuring Dreezy. I’m going to get the video with her next, then I’m doing the one with [Too $hort](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRTW4UTx5_E). Short’s the best, he’s literally the sweetest. I love him. He supports all up-and-coming artists.
**You support artists too, you have Salma Slims and Anaya on “Eazy.” How’d that collab come about?**
It’s so funny, we all collabed at Too $hort’s studio. We were all talking about working with Too $hort. I knew Salma and I are friends, and I’m friends with both of them. I said “yo I have this song, you guys would be really good on it.” When I sent it to the girls, they said “we’re going to be in the studio with Short, you should come through.” I went to the studio with them. That’s the same day $hort got on my song, then they got on my song that same day too. I got really lucky, I got 3 collabs in one day. Shout out to all 3 of them. \[laughs\]
**Too $hort knocked out that feature, hella quick?**
Yeah, I love him. He writes like it’s nothing. He does shit so easily, effortlessly. He’s been doing it so long, he’s an OG.
**How was that video shoot?**
It really flowed so well. It was great chemistry between me, Anaya, and Salma. It’s always good when a video is easy, it went really easy. It was great to be on set with so many professional people. We all showed up on time, ready to do our scenes. We bust it out quick. That was the best part, having such an easy flow.
**What does Chanel have on her rider?**
First of all, AC. For my green room, I’m always like “please make sure that shit is cool. I’m not going in some hot ass green room.” I’m Russian by blood, so I have this weird thing where I think I’m meant to be in the snow. But my mom raised me in LA, I’m born and raised here. I like it cold. I run hot, so definitely my AC’s got to be at a certain temperature. Between 68 and 73 degrees, It’s a small window.
And water, I have to have my Perrier water. Sparkling or regular water for when you perform, you need water like a motherfucker. This is the funniest thing, I hadn’t performed for a year. I just started doing shows again, things are opening back up. My girl sends me my rider, she goes “everything’s still the same on here, good to go right?” I go “wait, where’s White Claw?” I wasn’t drinking White Claw a year ago? No way! So now my rider has a White Claw on it.
**Do you perform sober, or do you need a White Claw?**
After. We don’t start partying until after I’m done. Once I’m done, I’m partying. I will stay at my gig until the clubs close. They’re like “Chanel, you are literally the last person.” \[laughs\] I’m like “why am I still at my club gig?”
**How hard does Chanel party?**
I party hard because when I work hard, I work hard. I’m the type of person, I go hard at everything I do. When I work hard, I’m working hard.
**How’s it been partying during Covid?**
It’s been different, that’s for sure. I didn’t party at all for the first 5 months of the pandemic. I was making my album, in my house. The first 2 months, I was really scared. Extra paranoid, then I started to feel like “I’m being tricked.” I started being like “yo everybody, we need to chill out. It’s not that serious, take your vitamins.” I even got into arguments with some friends, they’re like “you’re already going back out and partying?!” Because I get tested too. I get tested so much for filming so I know I’m negative all the time.
**You never had it?**
I had It before the pandemic. I didn’t know what It was when I had It. When the pandemic hit it, I knew that’s what I had. I thought I was gonna die when I had it. It was really bad, the worst thing to ever go through.
**What got you through it?**
I’m really into all natural holistic stuff. I took so many vitamins, I was taking ginger root. Making fresh juices with my juicer, so that’s how I fought it off.
**What’s the first thing Chanel does when she wakes up in the morning?**
Shoot I hate to admit, probably check Instagram. It’s either that or go to the bathroom. \[laughs\] Or go pee, one of the 2.
**Your laugh is so iconic. Have you always had this laugh?**
Thank you, yes I have. There’s videos from when I was a kid. It’s the same laugh, but little. It’s a little version.
**A huge part of this show is mental health, how is your mental health as you’ve gained notoriety in the industry?**
I love that we’re talking about this. It’s something to do with the pandemic. At some point during the pandemic, I might've been going crazy. It was all the time I spent at home, people sending me conspiracy stuff. People made me feel like I was going insane. That type of stuff was driving me crazy, so I started to get into mediation. Meditation has changed my life honestly. So many people say “yo you’re real calm now, are you smoking different weed?” Meditation is key. Everyone needs to meditate, set aside time to mentally decompress.
**How long do you meditate for?**
I do these different ones. I download them on iTunes, you can look up ones on Spotify. Type in “morning meditation” or evening motivation” to go to bed. I look up different ones and do them.
**“Black Roses” is dedicated to your girl Nicole, who passed away. Was that due to drug overdose?**
It was a similar situation where she overdosed, it was devastating. Her mom had passed away when we’re 21 and she was never the same since then. She was the sweetest soul in the world, and you could tell it changed her. That’s when she started getting into doing pills. I felt really guilty when she passed away because I was really busy at that time, a busy ass year for me. I had separated myself from her because she had gotten a little bit crazy, went off the deep end a little. I said “I can’t be around this.”
It was really a hard situation to deal with. Her little sister is now my little sister. She’s always been my little sister, but now I have to be there for her more than ever. That’s why I put that song out at that time. As soon as I made it, I needed to get it out right away. I didn’t have any press release things, it was one of those songs I just put out. I didn’t do a video, we even made the cover in a day. I said “let me get these emotions out while it’s relevant in my life.” It helped a lot, that’s what got me into writing music. I’d write music to express myself. Whether I was sad about a crush on a boy or fighting with my crazy mom at the time, I’d let it out in music. I‘m happy people could relate to “Black Roses.”
**If I texted you about it, I can’t imagine the rest of the people.**
I got so many people hitting me up saying they could relate. “Thank you for this song, I can relate to this song. I had a close or family member pass away.” That’s another reason I wanted to get it out too, so many people are going through that: losing someone.
**Hip-hop lost a legend recently, DMX. How do you feel about so many artists in the music industry resorting to drugs to cope?**
There needs to be better teams around them. That artist needs to pay really close attention to who their friends are as they’re coming up. I don’t even have friends anymore because I’ve literally cut off so many people. I realize so many people are fake and hanging out with me to clout chase, or use me for whatever they can get off of me. I cut off so many people, that’s really important. You hear about these people overdosing, you know damn well they’re helping out their homies, putting them on. How do you have all of these people around you on your tour bus or at your house and they don’t say “maybe you should not take another pill.”
**What if they truly can’t stop?**
I get that. A lot of it are the people around you. If you have the right people around you, no real friends will let you go overboard. Especially artists, they have teams and all these people around them. It’s fucked up.
**Talk about your new merch, LOL CARTEL.**
Names come to me when I’m high. \[laughs\] My line is LOL CARTEL, it’s all about the good vibes. I’m all about the positive vibes. Especially as a rapper doing hip-hop, we love to talk shit in our music, but you don’t have to be a mean person or a bitch. There’s a balance in everything. It’s all about spreading positive vibes, but at the same time as talking your shit.
**If you could choose, who would be your sugar daddy?**
My sugar daddy Jeff Bezos, somebody like that who has a lot of money. I’m not going to have any more problems getting my Amazon packages on time, no more messed up damaged shit. “Aye Jeff, make sure they’re getting my shit right.” \[pretends to talk on phone\]
**Would you ever be a sugar mama?**
I have been to my past 2 boyfriends. I tend to go for guys for their personality and then my friends go “what the hell are you doing? You could do better.” I’m 2 years into it like “okay, I’ve been supporting this for two years.” \[laughs\] I’m too nice sometimes, that’s my problem.
**You gotta love them for who they are!**
It’s about balance. Love them for who they are, but make sure they can take you to eat once or twice.
**Where does Chanel like to eat In LA?**
I eat at the same 5 places. If you look at Postmates, it’s Cactus, Mexican food, 2 different sushi places, and Bossa Nova. My order is the Sunset Pasta with fettuccine noodles, money. I eat it so much. They have this one Andrea salad, bomb. Try both. Whatever I eat once at a restaurant, I eat the same thing at that restaurant forever. I’ll never order anything else. Once I try something that I love, why take a risk? I know I love that, let me stick with that.
**Is Sugarfish one?**
I hate how they don’t give extra sauce. I’m ready to boycott them over there. \[laughs\] What if someone gives weak taste buds?
**The Temple 10 (spitfire round):**
**Favorite emoji:**
The heart eyes one.
**Favorite snack:**
Ice cream, chocolate peanut butter flavor.
**Favorite song at the moment:**
I have too many. I’ve been listening to a lot of Key Glock. Key Glock “Dough.” When I heard his voice, I imagined a big guy. When I seen him, he’s kind of small. \[laughs\] The whole album with Young Dolph is fire.
**Favorite thing to do for self-care:**
Face mask.
**Hot or cold?**
Cold.
**What’s your idea of perfect happiness?**
Just being content as long as you have what you need. As long as you have a roof over your head…
**Celebrity crush?**
I need to switch it up, it’s been a long time. He ain’t even poppin’ anymore but I really used to like James Franco. _Pineapple Express_ is my favorite movie ever. He’s so funny in it and I like funny guys.
**Favorite sex position?**
From the back. \[laughs\]
**Who’s the true star of _Ridiculousness_?**
Chanel West Coast. I’m totally kidding, definitely Rob. It’s Rob’s show. He produced It and thought of it. He definitely thought of it before Tosh.0. He got _Ridiculousness_ pitched to MTV before _Fantasy Factory_, but it took a longer time to put together_._ He’s the mastermind behind It.
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