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AllHipHop caught up with Jilly, moments after she wrapped her rehearsals for her MTV virtual performance. Read below as we discuss her roots in Texas, being independent, her new EP, Like That hitting a million views, studio essentials, love for cooking, goals, and more!

Jilly pretty much came out of the womb singing, dancing, and entertaining the masses since she can remember. Hailing from Houston, Texas, a city shes extremely proud to be from, Jilly is the definition of a multihyphenate and Boss Babe, also the name of her own company shes built from the ground up. While music may be her first true love, Jilly is a proud entrepreneur with her own cookbook and perfume line out. Speaking on her roots, Jilly states, The best thing is always reppin your city. I rep my city hard, not just because, but its really who I am. Its where Im from. Honestly, its the epitome of Jilly. Its where it all started. For me, H-town will always be home. Ill always rep it. Having released single after single throughout her career, the actress, recording artist, and entrepreneur is excited as ever to have finally unveiled her highly-anticipated debut project titled COPY & Paste. The title speaks for itself: Jilly being the blueprint for a lot of these upcoming artists who fail to give her her credit while showcasing her true passion and talents for her craft. AllHipHop: Youre originally from Texas, right? Jilly: Absolutely, Houston to be specific. You gotta say Houston, theres a difference. H-town! AllHipHop: Houston is lit lit. Jilly: Yes, absolutely. Houston is the city of Texas, yes. Call me bias, but thats what it is. AllHipHop: People say their records really take off because of the Houston nightlife scene. Jilly: Yeah, the best thing is always reppin your city. I rep my city hard, not just because, but its really who I am. Its where Im from. Honestly, its the epitome of Jilly. Its where it all started. For me, H-town will always be home. Ill always rep it, definitely. AllHipHop: Did you grow up on the chopped and screwed movement? Jilly: Yes, absolutely. Shout out to all the Houston legends. Slim Thug, Lil Keke, we got Z-Ro, everybody. Paul Wall, let me see ya grill! I could go on for days. AllHipHop: I know Destinys Child was big for you Jilly: Oh come on now, I was the #1 Destinys Child fan. Im from Houston so I grew on them before they were mainstream. I literally went to every Destinys Child concert growing up, every Beyonce concert. Im a huge, huge Beyonce fan. AllHipHop: Favorite Destinys Child song? Jilly: Soldier. I need a soldier! AllHipHop: When did you start doing music? Jilly: Actually, early on. The stage was always my second home. I started doing competitive dance the second I could walk. I was two years old, my mom and dad put me in dance. Thats when I fell in love with the stage. Shortly after in middle school, I started taking vocal lessons and started doing cover videos. I started covering Drake songs, Rihanna songs, Beyonce, Destinys Child songs. Really early on around 16 is when I started doing original music. After that, I said No, I really can do this. This is really what I do. Its so funny because people think now that Instagram is mainstream and I blew up on there, theyre like, Oh wait, now you do music? No, Ive been doing music. Im actually now coming back to my roots. AllHipHop: Did you take a break? Jilly: Yeah I did, not gonna lie. I took a two-year hiatus off of music and really focused on acting and entrepreneurship. I built my business which is Boss Babe by Jilly, which Im grateful for. I have a cookbook thats out, a perfume line. But nothing makes me as happy as making music and my art. AllHipHop: Have you been independent this whole time? Jilly: I have. You know, its been amazing. Im so grateful that Ive gotten to as far as I can get and Im expanding my team as we speak. Right now, its all about timing. Perfect place, perfect time. Finding those people who can believe in you just as much as you believe in yourself. Now, skys the limit. AllHipHop: You just released your first project COPY & Paste, how are you feeling? Jilly: Amazing! Im so excited about it. I love it. This is my first body of work. All this time, all these years, Ive put out singles. Ive only put out singles. This is my first time putting out a body of work. Its starting to really showcase more of Jilly as the artist. Thats what Im most excited about, is people really finally hearing more of Jilly AllHipHop: What inspired the title? Jilly: COPY & Paste, no joke! I see a lot of me being the inspo to a lot of people and not getting credit. I dont look for the credit, but you know how when you know? Okay, I definitely did that first. Im setting these trends so you know what? Ima subtly do it. Its COPY & Paste because everything I do, it gets copy and pasted. So let me keep making more COPY & Paste. No pun intended, but very pun intended. AllHipHop: I know you work with some dope producers on the project. Jilly: Yes! Shout out to Lil Rich, shout out to Lab Ox. Ive been so blessed to work with such great creative people. Im blessed to have them on my side because at the end of the day, that relationship becomes family. It really becomes family. All that time spent in the studio, Read more