The mom and daughter duo interviewed each other ahead of the season finale of 'Growing Up Hip Hop.'
The sixth season of Growing Up Hip Hop is quickly drawing to a close, and according to two of its biggest stars, fans are in for a treat! Hip Hop legend Sandra Denton, Pepa of Salt-n-Pepa, and her daughter, Egypt Criss, spoke with ET about all things season 6 before the finale. The dynamic duo shares why they decided to join the show, what lessons they learned over the years, the drama surrounding their family this season and what fans can expect for the finale.
Describing the season as "rocky" and "explosive," Egypt shares that she's excited for viewers to see her performance in the finale episode. "Showing people, the cast members, everybody what I'm really about... they don't get to often see that, so I'm really excited," she says.
She adds, "I've been dealing with vocal nodules for the last four years, which was a chronic illness that prevented me from being able to properly speak or sing at all. And that's been so hard on me. Now that I've had surgery and I'm completely healed, it just literally placed me right where I knew I wanted to be."
The singer has worked to establish a name for herself musically outside of her mother and father, Anthony Criss, better known as Treach of Naughty by Nature. Revealing that she agreed to join the show's cast because she wanted to be a role model for people, Egypt shares that she "always wanted to be that figure that let kids know the world doesn't have to be as hard as it's been, and there are ways to make it easier."
Egypt has certainly come into her own since her introduction in season 1. She has a single, "Fast Life," set to drop soon, and she's planning a wedding with her fiancé, Sam, that both mother and daughter are highly anticipating. The pair haven't decided on a wedding date after COVID-19 postponed their original plans. Egypt reveals that she's hoping for a winter wedding in the States rather than a destination wedding. And although Pepa resists, noting that winter is "right around the corner" and too soon to put together a wedding, she says she's eager to see the couple married and out of her house.
Joking that "Stella needs to get her own groove back," Pepa explains that she's ready to find her dream man or woman. Whoever arrives first! But she asserts that she doesn't want to get married again, with Egypt agreeing that it's "a lot."
Pepa also admits that she was nervous for her daughter to start the show, noting that she knows "reality can be tough."
"You [were] only 16 -- you [were] a baby when you got on the show. I knew that you could hold your own because I've seen you hold your own, so that part was good for me," she tells Egypt. "Plus, I'm on the show, so I knew that I would be having your back and I'm going to be riding or dying all the way through. I knew that was helpful because I'm there also to take care of it."
But the rapper admits that being on the show has given her daughter strength, adding that she's been able to see what the world has to offer. "It's rough," she says. "But at the end of the day, I think those things make you stronger. What don't kill you, make you stronger."
Growing Up Hip Hop airs Thursdays on WE tv. Hear more in the video below.
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