Parkchester’s Rece Steele, a former pediatric nurse at the Morris Heights Health Center, who has also called Belmont her home, won Ego Trip’s Miss Rap Supreme reality competition and a booty of $100,000.
“This is what I’ve looked forward to, to let them hear my voice and know that women are here,” said the elated rapper in a June 10 interview with The Bronx Times Reporter. “This is what I’ve waited for, for 13 years of my life.”
While the 25-year-old, who wowed judges with an inspired battle rap and well-received rap song in the final showdown against Brooklyn’s Byata, is thrilled to have received the prize money, there’s no talk of going to Disneyworld – Steele is all business.
“I’m going to use the money to promote myself and my singles,” the rapper said. “I’m just trying to work to get the next check.”
With such stiff competition, Steele says she feels blessed to have done so well.
“I respected everyone else and I didn’t know I was going to win,” she said. “But, I wanted it so bad.”
Of all the other competitors on the show, she felt closest to the southern em cee Ms. Cherry, saying, “She’s very lyrical.” She saw fellow contestants Cherry, Byata and Nicky2States the night of her victory at the Miss Rap Supreme wrap party.
Coming as no surprise to fans of the show, Steele’s least favorite competitor was Chiba, who she calls having about nine arguments with.
“We didn’t get along, and I’m not generally an angry person, but I just couldn’t take it anymore,” she recalled. “I still respect her, but she’s not my cup of tea.”
Daughter of LA Star, a female rapper from the 1980s, the Bronxite felt she had a lot to prove, to make it big.
“My mom was a rapper, so I have something to prove, you know?” she said. “The Steele’s are winners!”
She credits her tight knit circle of family and friends as the support that has carried her through the competition and the pursuit of her dream.
“They’re very proud, I have a lot of support around me,” she said of how her boyfriend Big Sean and 6-year-old son Little Sean are feel about the news of her victory.
On the industry response to her win, Steele slyly commented, “We have a couple of labels hollering right now.”
Plans in the near future for the big winner include an independent video shoot and work on the Miss Rap Supreme Volume 1 mix tape, as well as promoting, promoting, promoting.
“The next 2 months, either I’m in or I’m out,” Steele explains, seeing a need to capitalize quickly on the buzz surrounding the show. “With hard work and dedication, I think I’m going to make it.”
