Successful rapper Latto has established her own direction in hip hop for years, since her 2020 debut album, Queen of da Souf. She scored a pop radio hit with “Big Energy” from her 2022 sophomore album, 777. Now, with her new album, Sugar Honey Iced Tea, Ratt shows she has nothing left to prove and is a fully-grown artist.
Latto first gave us a taste of the album last year with “Put It On da Floor” and its hit remix with Cardi B. She released the single “Sunday Service” earlier this year, then featured Megan Thee Stallion and Flo Milli on the remix. She released “Big Mama” in two parts earlier this summer and performed the song at this year’s BET Awards.
With Sugar Honey Iced Tea, Latto returns to her roots in a way. In a recent interview with Billboard, she explained that she was inspired by all the Southern rap music she created in the studio and named the album after a common Southern saying. But she doesn’t just stick to one sound throughout the project. She jumps from classic and modern R&B like “Squeeze” with Megan Thee Stallion and “Eye Candy” with Coco Jones to stately songs like “Blick Sum” and “Brokey.”
“I love the music that I’m making right now,” she told Billboard of her output at this point in her career. “I’m not chasing achievements. I’m just doing me. This is the happiest I’ve been to the point where I even told the label [to] fall back. I’m in the studio — I don’t want y’all sending me no beats, no songs, nothing. I’m doing what I want to do. I really haven’t been this confident for a project yet.”
Fans who want to hear the album live can catch the Latto on tour later this year.