#SLAYAGE! Monica Rocks The Cover Of UPTOWN Magazine!

#MAGFAB #MAGFAB Monica Rocks The Cover Of UPTOWN Magazine

Monica rocks a black and white cover shoot for the latest issue of UPTOWN magazine. Styled by Shun Melson, the “Code Red” singer looks amazing in a lace mini dress on the cover, captioned: “Monica Playing By Her Own Rules.”

During her sit-down with the magazine, Monica opens when it was suggested that she is guarded: “People wouldn’t really be able to imagine the things I’ve seen and been through,” she says. “My talent has always been there, along with the spiritual foundation my mother laid, but there was always another side, a side that belonged to the streets. When my parents divorced, I became two different people.”

The interviewer recalls meeting Monica in 1991: We were both students at North Clayton Middle School. And the two sides of her persona were evident then. She was an older soul, “grown-acting” as we say in the South.

Mo details how she didn’t mind calling the shots with her producer Dallas Austin, and how the title track of her 1995 debut album, Miss Thang, declared how she wanted to be recognized.

“Dallas would bring producers in the studio to play records for me and I’d be quick to say ‘No’ if I didn’t feel it. I knew who I was and what I wanted to say.” She pauses and smiles. “That’s where ‘Miss Thang’ came from. He’d say, ‘Miss Thang don’t like it!’” She laughs, but only for a second, as she instinctively reverts back to her signature steeliness.

When the subject of her being deemed an underdog is brought forth: “I know people have called me the underdog,” says Monica. “I was even told the kiss of death would be the four years I took off after the birth of my boys,” she begins. “I’ve executed my career exactly how I’ve wanted to and that’s the most important thing. And if I am an underdog because I’ve chosen to put my family first, to be guided by my spirituality or allow true love to be my solace, then so be it.”

Monica’s 8th studio album, Code Red, saw its release in December. She treated fans to her Code Red Experience tour as she promoted the LP.

Read more, including advice Monica shares she received from Whitney Houston, and see additional pics at UPTOWN.