Hip-Hop Royalty Shares Haute Cuisine In ‘Downright Delicious With Yo-Yo’

Content advisory: This interview was conducted prior to the SAG-AFTRA strike.

Musical genre Hip Hop celebrates its 50th Anniversary, and many legacy acts have performed at concerts during August to commemorate this significant milestone. Grammy-nominated hip hop entertainer, actress, educator, and philanthropist Yo-Yo, real name Yolanda Whitaker, is considered one of the many pioneers of the early 90s who brought balance to a lyrical style not initially known to revere women by rapping about women empowerment coupled with uplifting themes against the backdrop of the hardships experienced by those from her hometown of Compton, California.

During her 30-year career, she released four studio albums, acted in movies and television, earned a college degree, and founded the Intelligent Black Women’s Coalition and Yo-Yo’s School of Hip Hop, encouraging education and offering college scholarships. Yo-Yo has remained relevant by being versatile, although she admitted the Huffington Post that to her journey was arduous.

“The only way you get to the end of the rainbow is through trials and tribulations,” she said to the news outlet. “Fifty years of hip-hop, the voices of hip-hop, to me is everything. You know why? Because I stand, still I rise. Nothing has beat me up so bad, I’m not bitter, I’m not mad, and I still have opportunities. That’s a testament of who hip-hop is.”

Yo-Yo’s talent and resilience have opened many doors, and her latest venture is her culinary series on AspireTV called Downright Delicious with Yo-Yo.

Yolanda Baruch: What made you decide to do a cooking show?

Yolanda “Yo-Yo” Whitaker: The cooking show was a blessing and a gift given by God. Cooking is my happy place. I’ve been cooking for a long time; I love to cook. I’ve just been exploring new dishes and making [them a habit. Of course, I’ve transitioned from being a major baby to a full-grown woman, having kids, and now the grandson. My house is the party house. People want the Instagram hook-up; they want a cocktail and a good dish, and that’s how I show my love. I don’t have to buy you gifts. I don’t have to take you to some fancy restaurant, [we can] talk and see in my home, and Powerhouse Productions and Aspire TV have captured it all.

Baruch: A home-cooked meal beats out any restaurant food any day.

Yo-Yo: What’s the difference between this steak and that steak? It’s the love of the person who’s making it. It’s that seasoning, that cocktail; it’s that conversation.

Baruch: How did you develop your culinary skills?

Yo-Yo: I’ve said this in my interviews before; this journey feels like the first time. It’s like me rapping in high school and in doing talent shows to now I have a cooking show. So, it’s a journey that I’m looking forward to building on it’s just something I love; I come up with my recipes because I love foodies, I love blushes, soy sauce, I love talking to the chef, I love you know, I love finding out the inside information, and it expanded my recipes, my menus, I make it my own, I like sweet, savory and spicy. I add certain things to my plate when I go to a restaurant. I try those kinds of dishes. When I take food out, I say you know what this needs [or] this will be good if it had that. I go home, and I experiment. Finding recipes has been a beauty for me because it’s taken me on this journey. Food has saved my life. Going down these [grocery] aisles takes my mind away from everything. I haven’t mastered it yet. I have a long way to go before I completely master it, but this beginning has been very fun.

Baruch: Can you elaborate on how cooking saved your life?

Yo-Yo: Being a child star, growing up 17, with a big hit with one of the biggest artists from the West Coast Ice Cube, and then me transitioning in life, making a commitment to God to try to bring my kids home and bring them in, [and] build this foundation. My career felt like it was always on quicksand; we didn’t know if [hip hop] was going to last forever, and people were like, how long can you do it? I went through this same phase of just trusting God, and that took a lot of sacrifices. I had to be still and trust that God is removing people from [me] during that process. He wants you to stand on him, doing that stand alone, making my home my charity, and pouring it into my family because I was on the road half of my life. So it saved my life because I was able to trust that process at the same time, trusting the process of me, praying to God, asking for him to build not just success in financial areas but build my soul, my spirit, my heart, give me understanding and forgiveness. So cooking did that for me. I felt like I wasn’t alone, not just food to eat, but food for the soul and my family. The house is happy; the music is going, so it saved me because I didn’t feel like I was left out of anything.

Baruch: Cooking is very therapeutic. What are some of your favorite dishes you enjoy creating?

Yo-Yo: It depends on who’s coming over if I’m trying to show out, honey (laughs). I’ll broil salmon, poultry, or fish. I’ll make some salmon. I’ll make sea bass. I have this jerk salmon bowl called the Yo-Yo’s Super Bowl. I love making my catfish etouffee. Of course, my oyster steak ribeye steak is a smash. That’s something that people don’t normally do; put oyster sauce or sesame seed oil, a little water, and glaze it on a steak with some steak seasoning; nobody’s heard of that, and it’s a winner in their home; they feel like it’s $160 steak.

Baruch: Do you plan to expand this brand to a food truck or restaurant?

Yo-Yo: Listen, I told one of my partners, the producer of a Powerhouse Production, Rochelle, we’re doing Rock the Bells this summer; we should get a food truck because I want people to taste my food.

Baruch: What makes your cooking show different from the others?

Yo-Yo: What makes it different is people don’t get a chance to know me. No one has ever had a chance to come inside my world as a mother; this is more personable. I talk about my truth [and] my life. I love to inspire women and young children through my Yo-Yo School of Hip Hop and my Intelligent Black Women’s Coalition. So it gives those who grew up with me can now grow with me in the kitchen. I don’t act like I know it all. I’m happy to learn I love foodies [and] restaurants; I want to grow with them. I want this to be something we grow together in our adult lives.

Baruch: It is the 50th year of hip-hop. What are you going to do to celebrate?

Yo-Yo: My jacket from my 1991 You Can’t Play With My Yo Yo video was in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I’m showing up, and I’m representing. I’m doing everything; I am doing a lot of concerts; I [performed] at Rock the Bells, Essence Festival, Atlantic City, all over, they’re having these celebrations, and I’m a part of them.

Watch Downright Delicious with Yo-Yo on Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on AspireTV and recipes on Aspire.tv