LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - NOVEMBER 13: (L-R) Kandi Burruss, Tamika Scott, Tameka Cottle and LaTocha Scott of Xscape arrive to the 2022 Soul Train Music Awards at the Orleans Arena on November 13, 2022 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Aaron J. Thornton/FilmMagic)
Kandi Burruss is not jealous of LaTocha Scott. The Xscape singer addressed the long-standing narrative on her YouTube earlier this week.
Her 50-minute Speak On It show highlighted episode two of SWV & Xscape: The Queen of R&B–during which Scott suggested Kandi is and has been a hater.
“Here’s another thing that I didn’t like. Okay, so I have to address this on Speak On It because this has been said for years and it annoys me. I didn’t like that Tocha tried to allude that I had something to do with her damn solo project not coming out,” Kandi said. “That annoys me. I feel like Tocha blames me for everything that has gone wrong in her life and I do not understand why.”
Kandi admitted that they always have butted heads. Still, she insisted she doesn’t like being blamed for situations she’s not around for.
On the Bravo TV show, LaTocha claimed Kandi developed a resentment because she often sang lead throughout their group career. She conversed with her husband, Rocky Bivens, who said Scott and Kandi “have just never been on the same page.”
“She was a young woman, you know, trying to make her way, and there were times when I would sing a song and she would just have a fit: ‘Oh why is she singing all the lead? Are you trying to set her up for a solo project? and Jermaine would be like, ‘No’ and so I think that developed a resentment,” Scott said.
Burress addressed that claim on Speak On It by listing the songs she sang lead on from their first two albums.
“This has been said multiple times by her, and I guess other people… that I was so jealous, and I made it so hard for her. That the reason why she had to go solo and said that I was so jelaous of her singing lead,” Kandi stated before going through the song list.
This isn’t the first time the ‘jealous narrative’ has emerged between LaTocha and Burress. The pair of performers also discussed their beef on Xscape’s first reality show, XSCAPE: Still Kickin’ It. At the time, Burress told Scott her problem was that Scott allegedly used their third album to set up a solo deal. LaTocha denied this–admitting she was “caught between a rock and a hard place.”
But on The Queens of R&B, Scott further suggested that Kandi was not happy with Scott’s decision to do a solo project. She also claimed that Burress told her she wasn’t returning to the group.
“For some reason, my project got shelved and then within that same timeframe, Kandi got signed and her album came out. It was a little odd, the timing of it all, “Scott said on episode two.
As mentioned earlier, Kandi addressed that–saying it annoys her. Burress also accused LaTocha of only being invested in their group during downtime in her career. She also alleged that Scott makes the group a problem every time she does have a deal on the table.
“…But it really be because she has another opportunity where she feels like she don’t really need us anymore…when things are not going the way she wants them to go I guess personally with her personal music stuff then all of a sudden she got all the time in the world for Xscape but when she thinks she got a solo deal lined up or she got something else lined up. Now all of a sudden [LaTocha says] yeah I don’t know if I want to sing with y’all.”
Burress doubled down on her Speak On It comments under TSR’s repost of her listing her leads. She wrote in the comment section:
“We got a lot a drama y’all… I’m sorry but I’m tired of the narrative being pushed that I was jealous of her. So I had to say how I feel. She has a beautiful voice & I am not saying I sing better at all. What I am saying is that my voice is distinctive & I hold my own & I was not jealous of her. So stop it! We went into our third album knowing she was goin solo so yes I had a lot to say about it because our shit was falling apart. 30yrs later we still goin through the same shit. We’re a mess! That was a lot but f**k it.”
