Photographed by @mpvinny300
Once you catch wind of [Snow Tha Product,](https://www.instagram.com/snowthaproduct/?hl=en) it’s hard not to fall in love. Real name Claudia Feliciano has established herself to be one of the hardest female bilingual recording artists to grace the music industry, spitting her truth in both English and Spanish to cater to both fanbases. As a proud Latina who continues to represent the Mexican community, Snow proudly straddles the middle ground between underground and mainstream, with a work ethic that does not go unnoticed.
The name Snow Tha Product came into fruition inspired by the Disney character Snow White, using her stage name as a division between her public and personal life. Beyond her undeniable talents as a rapper, arriving with a spitfire flow, hard-hitting bars and punchlines, and lyrics chronicling real-life experiences of being a musician, actress, mother, and lover, it’s Snow’s down-to-earth personality, humility, and beauty both inside and out that we appreciate the most.
As an independent artist, the work never stops for Snow Tha Product — but she wouldn’t have it any other way. Born in San Jose but raised in San Diego, Snow stands as a role model for females all around the world that if she can do it, they can too… and to go after your wildest dreams. Most recently, she released music videos for “Que Le Gusta El Flow” and “Que Oso,” the latter whose music hit over 3.3 million views on Youtube in just a few months.
On the 20th episode of [Shirley’s Temple,](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxiEPEQv1T0) I sat with Snow Tha Product at Matrix Studios in downtown Los Angeles to discuss her first show back after COVID, favorite songs to perform, mental health check-in, and making music for the youth, her pet owl Vicenzo, creating Spanish songs for her Mexican community, being signed to a major label to now being independent, the inspo behind “QUE OSO,” her favorite Eminem album, partying during the Hyphy movement, doing a song for _The Purge_, acting in _Queen in the South,_ being a role model, and more.
**I'm super excited! Snow tha Product in the building, how are you feeling?**
I’m good! Long time overdue. I've been good man, I've been busy in the Spanish world. It's been crazy, it's been good.
**You have to leave today to film a show?**
Yeah, I got a bunch of stuff. Right now, I gotta go do my podcast. I do a podcast with my girlfriend and my brother. We do it from my place, it’s been really cool. It was a really good pivot for me during COVID because I couldn't do shows anymore. It was really dope. Now, I had my first show on Saturday. It was lit! Did you see that?
**I saw that! I love when people crowd surf. How did that feel?**
I've done that for like 7 years so it's dope, but it was the first crowd surf after COVID. I was pretty drunk, because my agent told me, "Do not crowd surf." He said “the pandemic just ended, don't crowd surf. Don't do Meet & Greets, you gotta worry about your health.” Then I got lit and went "AHH!" Next thing I know, I'm signing 300 people’s stuff. I’m like "Ahh COVID, I don't know what's happening.” So we went and got tested, everything’s good. We’re good, we’re legit.
**Out of all my guests today (Blac Chyna & Emaza Dilan), people were so excited for you!**
Really? Dang!
**How does that make you feel?**
I love them! I deadass needed friends. In high school, you know how we all feel? No one’s real and everyone’s fake. Through my career, I chose to find my tribe. Find the people that fuck with me and I fuck with them. I value a fan that’s been supporting my career for years, more than I value a fake-ass friend who only pops up whenever there’s opportunities. To me, that’s it. I care about them, they care about me. We're here.
**You had $700 cash and 7 credit cards, and you still had them after the crowd surf.**
Yeah, I had everything in my pocket still! Dudes are always going to be rude and say, "Oh, I bet they grabbed everything.” Or “I bet you they grabbed your ass!” No, I won't do that at a festival where I know that's not my fans. Some people are, some people aren't. That right there that I had that, that's me headlining. That's my show, that's my fans. That's my family so they’re not going to do me like that.
**Where was the show at?**
It was in Fresno, it was lit. I had a good time. I had all my credit cards and everything in my pocket, I’m like great! Thank God. \[laughs\]
**What’s your favorite song to perform in a set?**
I have that song ["Gettin It”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49-DTMEI7EY) that everybody always expects me to crowd surf during. I have "I Don't Wanna Leave,” which is a song all my fans really connect to because I wrote it when I wanted to quit rap. I really said, “I don't wanna leave, I don't want to quit.” Then that song took off, it got me a whole new fanbase. It was dope.
**A huge part of this show is mental health, you’ve been vocal about depression. How are you feeling now?**
Mental health is very important to talk about, especially if you're not glamorizing it. A lot of people are very irresponsible in the way that they express themselves about mental health. It's not cool. I'm not condoning it but we've all tried to self-medicate or do whatever we can for that. I really have been on this tip of trying to help these kids. At the end of the day, I can make a song about popping mad Xans. Yes cool, whatever floats your boat, but there should be another option for kids.
Because otherwise we're lit. We get to keep on going, spending money or whatever. But that 15-year-old kid that's listening to that is trying to emulate that same shit, good luck to them. You’re like “figure it out.” To me, I try to let people know: work on it. Talk to people. Depression never leaves. Stop comparing your life to "Oh if I didn't have depression, I'd be so much better. Well, you do: try to work with it, live with it, cope with it. Try to figure out coping mechanisms, there's a lot of help out there. We have the internet now, thank God. Youtube, there’s a lot of videos on anxiety and all that.
**To be honest, Slim changed my life with my depression.**
Yeah, my girlfriend loves her dog Bash so much. She's like, "I gotta travel with him!"
That’s funny, they should meet. They should hang out and play poker. I have Benji, Brinx, and Bash. Now I have a pet owl, which is pretty amazing. The owl’s freakin’ chillin’. He just learned how to get in his house, so he’s chillin’ right now.
**Does he howl at night?**
Yeah he screeches, he’s pretty crazy. He’s a baby, he was born on the ranch. Because I have a ranch, there’s a little birdhouse. The mama owl has always lived there since I got there, she always screeches and does this weird shit. All of a sudden I start hearing weird noises, and she has a baby. The baby doesn’t shut up all night. She left him so he could learn how to fly the nest, then he was in front of my house. Yesterday I was worried about him all day because I couldn’t find him, what if he gets eaten by a coyote?! But now he’s back in his house.
**Were you anxious?**
Yeah, very! I brought him another birdhouse and put it on the floor. I was trying to enable him: “you don’t have to go all the way up there, you can be here!” He sat on top of it. Later on, at night, he flew up there. He was great, his name is Vincenzo.
**I was just talking to my first guest** [**Emaza Dilan about having a ranch,**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfralQ9ZA60&t=1573s) **that’s goals! Where’s your ranch?**
It's here, it’s 20 minutes away. It's pretty cool. I want to have a couple goats and some chickens. They weren't selling chickens for 9 months. There was a ban on selling chickens because they had their own version of COVID, it was weird.
**What does it mean to be able to go back to these Mexican communities? I'm sure to them, they’re hyped. Snow tha Product’s in town!**
It's pretty cool. For a long time, I only spoke English in my music. I’ve always dropped one Spanish song every time I dropped a project, but I've never made it a priority. The fact that I do speak Spanish, that's my first language and I know the culture, I was sleeping on myself. Dang, I really just started speaking what I already speak and all of a sudden, I'm blowing up. \[laughs\] Great, I could have done this shit a long time ago/
**Did it have anything to do with the label?**
No. The one thing that does happen sometimes when you're rapping in English, rapping in Spanish, singing, rapping aggressively, collabing with Tech N9ne, they don't know where to put you. Are you urban? Are you pop? Are you crossed? What are you? Me not being black, they automatically said "Well, where do you fit in rap?" I don't fucking know. All I know is that I rap, I don't really care. Unfortunately, though for those big corporations, they do care. You don't really matter unless you fit in a particular place and it wasn't for me. Independently, I've been doing great.
**Right! How’s the independent journey been?**
It's great, I think the internet is amazing. I hear a lot of people complain about the internet or the bad side of the internet. On the positive side, there's a lot of people that are deadass millionaires right now, myself included, that never would’ve ever made anything out of themselves. We didn't have nothing. We didn't have all those YouTube tutorials, all the social media stuff or the access to so many people, connecting with people. The internet’s fucking crazy. The fact I could put $10 into uploading a song then people like it, what?! Label where? I'm good.
**“Que Oso” out now, how are you feeling?**
“Que Oso” is dope, it’s in Spanish. It's the story of being first-generation Latino, your parents don't understand. Because in Mexico, they're very traditional Catholics so they don't understand our lives. However, some of our uncles are the priests. You know, there's a lot of controversy in those cultures. Why are y'all being hypocritical? I’m going through my own struggles. I love my family and I love being Mexican. I love all that, but I do think there's a lot of hypocrisy in certain religions in traditional cultures.
**First of all,** [**Slim**](https://www.instagram.com/therealslimshihtzu/) **is named after Eminem. What’s your favorite Eminem album?**
Honestly, _Marshall Mathers_ LP. Back then, I definitely paid a lot of attention to Eminem. Loved him, loved the vibe. That rebellious, I don't fuck with ya'll. Coming out the gate being like, "Yo, I don't fuck with the norm of what y'all think a pop star is.” And still becoming a pop star, that's pretty dope to me. Eminem’s dope.
**What was a young Snow tha Product like listening to Big Pun? I revisited that album recently, that shit is vulgar.**
I grew up listening more to East Coast music than West Coast music. What I liked about Pun or Biggie, or even Andre 3000 who’s obviously from the South, was the swag that they put behind certain things. That's where I get my aggression from, I was raised on pimp-type rap. We all know Too Short, E-40, Mitchy Slick, Mac Dre. We all know that style, but then you have that swaggy way people would rap. It's cool. Again, the internet. I wouldn't have had access to all that if it wasn't for Limewire and the internet.
**When did you go to San Diego from San Jose again?**
I was always back and forth. First-year of high school, I went to Modesto from San Diego, I was always San Jose to San Diego. Zacatecas by the way, I gotta shout out all my Zacatecas peoples because they love it when I do that.
**I grew up on Mac Dre, poppin' thizzles. What’re your fondest memories from the Hyphy movement days?**
Things I can't remember. \[laughs\] Things I can't remember because I was drinking mad Hennessy or popping mad pills, fucking my life up. Nowadays, people say “freestyle!” That part of my brain is gone, that’s not there no more.
**I did ecstasy in high school, so my brain cells might not all the way be there.**
Yeah, isn’t that fucked up? It’s fucked up. We think about it sometimes and if I try to access certain things, \[shrugs\]. Beats me. Damn, 2 fried pieces of chicken right here just gone! \[laughs\] No, I'm kidding. It's cool. It's one of those things where we lived it, it was crazy. Nowadays whenever people try to act like they're crazy: man, you don't even know. When we were in Rosarito listening to... it was crazy.
**What's your favorite Mexican food? Do you be cheffing it up?**
I don't, my girl does. I like everything! Enchiladas are obviously a staple because I call myself the enchilada. Cheese enchiladas, they’re bomb.
**You did a song for _The_ _Purge_ movie_._ How did that happen?**
Yes! Super cool. They reached out. If you haven't seen the _Purge_, go check that out. It's really dope. It had some immigration stuff in there, Mexican American stuff. I like that naturally, they're starting to call me when they think of Mexican-Americans. Lit! We're here, we’re on brand. _Queen of the South_ called me and they are in need of a Mexican-American. _The Purge_ called me so lit, keep calling me. \[laughs\]
**How was it acting?**
It was cool, I was super nervous though. My first call time was at 6 in the morning. The writer had given me a Hennessy bottle, he said "Congratulations!" They put it in my room, it was so nice. I said, "Yo I don't want to be that person, but I think I need a fucking shot." So I was lit for my first little acting moment.
**You're good to perform lit?**
Yeah, I start off sober. As we go, I start getting more political and more drunk as we continue. By the end, I'm fucking — revolutionary. Then I go home. \[laughs\]
**You're such a role model. How does that feel to come from where you came from, to now being able to inspire these females around the world?**
It's a responsibility. I take the good and maybe that's a little bit of imposter syndrome of feeling I can't have good without needing to have something, like a responsibility. I do always feel if I'm going to take the good from something, I also have to take responsibility of it. That's one of them. I grew up needing who I’m trying to be right now, I'm trying to be what I needed when I was growing up.
**Anything else you're working on?**
A bunch of Spanish music, a bunch of English music. I'm trying to collaborate a lot with people.
**Who do you want to collab with?**
Mad people. The thing is right now, I want to do some random ass things that people would say “I didn't expect that, but okay.” All kinds of stuff like that, business. I definitely want to go to Mexico and possibly get into some tequila. Everybody's going into Mexico and doing it, why not an actual Mexican? That’s where I’m at.
