Alyssa Michelle Stephens, known professionally as Mulatto, is an American rapper. She is known for being the inaugural winner of the Lifetimereality seriesThe Rap Game.
Early life
Alyssa Michelle Stephens was born in Columbus, Ohio on December 22, 1998 to Misti Pitts and Shayne Stephens. She was born in Ohio but moved to Georgia at the age of 2. She was raised in Clayton County, on the south side of Atlanta, where she attended Lovejoy High School. She discontinued her education to focus on her music career. Prior to doing music, she participated in drag racing. Stephens started rapping and writing her own raps at the age of ten. Identifying as biracial because of her black father and white mother, she adopted the stage name Miss Mulatto.
Career
In 2016, she became a contestant on the Lifetime reality series The Rap Game, produced by Jermaine Dupri and Queen Latifah. The boot camp-style series followed young aspiring rappers in a competition against one another over a span of eight weeks. Mulatto was the overall winner of the competition. She was offered a recording contract from Dupri with So So Def Records but ultimately turned down the deal claiming it wasn't enough money, opting to be an independent artist. Stephens released her first single, "No More Talking," in February 2016. She collaborated with Lil Niqo, a fellow competitor from The Rap Game, on the 2016 single "Tough on the Internet." She also won the Youth Hip Hop/R&B Award at the 2016 Georgia Music Awards. She released her first mixtape, "Latto Let Em Know," in April 2017. The tape featured artists like Molly Brazy, Lil Key, Crucial, and Silentó. The single "Response Diss" is a diss song directed toward Young Lyric, a fellow competitor from The Rap Game. The ongoing feud between the two resulted in diss tracks from both parties with insults about drug use, homosexuality, and past experiences from the show. She's also worked with 2 Chainz, Future, Janelle Monáe, and Jacob Latimore. Stephens closed out 2017 with an EP, Time and Pressure. In 2018, Stephens changed her stage name to the mononym, Mulatto. She received praise for her single "B***h From Da Souf," released in January 2019. In May 2019, she was invited to perform at Rolling Loud, an annual rap festival in Miami, Florida. In June 2019, she released her EP entitled Big Latto. On December 12, 2019, Mulatto released her third EP, Hit the Latto. In March 2020, it was officially announced that Mulatto signed with RCA Records. On April 23, 2020, Mulatto released her single, "No Hook". On May 21, 2020, Mulatto released her second single, "He Say She Say". In July 2020, Mulatto recreated some of rapper Gucci Mane's album covers, starting with the The State vs. Radric Davis. Gucci reacted positively. Mulatto then revealed the release of a Gucci Mane-featuring single called "Muwop", released on July 30.
Personal life
In 2017 she opened her own store, Pittstop Clothing, in Jonesboro, Georgia. In May 2019, Stephens was arrested for theft. She released a track, "F**ck Rice Street," expressing her innocence and anger toward the police.
