How Kandi Burruss became a Von Tae fan..

So, the question everyone's been asking me..

"How did you end up performing for Kandi Burruss on Instagram live?"

So if you don't know who Kandi Burruss is, you may have been living under a rock for the last 30 years or you're probably not black. All black people should know who she is or at least heard her voice before.

Kandi Burruss may be more recently known for being one of the cast members on Bravo TV's "The Real Housewives of Atlanta" alongside NeNe Leakes..

Shereé Whitfield..

Lisa Wu..

and Kim Zolciak-Biermann..

Aside from RHOA (Real Housewives of Atlanta), if you're a 90's R&B fan like myself, you know Kandi Burruss from the girl group Xscape that she formed with Tameka "Tiny" Cottle, LaTocha Scott, Tamera Coggins-Wynn, and Tamika Scott.

But this, is Kandi Burruss..

Gorgeous right?

Alright, so now that you know who Kandi is, back to the story..

So on September 8th, 2021..

I was chilling at home watching TV and decided to hop on Instagram. The first person I see was Kandi who was live at the time talking about the new season of The Real Housewives of Atlanta and her friend Eva Marcille's new show "All The Queen's Men."

For a few minutes she invited guests on to chat while waiting for Eva to show up and discuss the show.

If you all don't know, I've been a very big fan of Kandi for a while now because of her business mindset and just how amazing she is as a person. On RHOA she played a very big role in writing "Tardy For The Party", and "Google Me" for her cast-mate Kim.

Those songs ended up becoming somewhat of a hit with watchers. Kandi's talent, hustle and nurturing spirit made me even more of a fan.

As I noticed that time was going by and Eva wasn't showing up any time soon, Kandi was still accepting live requests. I thought to myself "get your ass up and sing for the people.."

So I constantly commented, "I want to sing for you.." a million times in the chat. I was sure Kandi would see it and completely ignore me spamming the shit out of her live.

Still. I proceeded to comment shit like..

"I love you Kandi, I would love to sing for you!"

"Kandi, please accept my live request.."

"I want to sing for you.."

"Kandi please!!!!!! I want to sing for you.."

At this point, I gave up and didn't expect her to accept my request. I just casually watched and waiting for Eva to show up to hear more about her new show that was produced by Tyler Perry.

Kandi was still bringing folks on, talking with them and even talking with their babies..

Meanwhile I'm sitting there like..

But between God and Kandi finally seeing me spammy ass comments, my moment was finally about to happen! She was looking down at the comments and I heard her say, "uh oh somebody wanna sing for us ya'll.. lets see.."

I FUCKING PANICKED!

I honestly didn't expect her to accept my request so I was not prepared to go face to face with THEE Kandi Burruss.

I was sitting in the dark, my hair was a damn mess, I wasn't wearing a shirt and meanwhile, this was late at night so I didn't want to wake the entire house up singing loud either. I saw her request pop up on my phone and it immediately felt like I shit myself within that very second.

I immediately jumped off the sofa and then heard her say, "where you at?" as I'm running to the bathroom for light and to slap a du-rag on my head.

I was a complete wreck ya'll. Why? Well because one I didn't expect her to accept my live and two, like I said.. it's Kandi Burruss!

Alright, so I accepted the live (still somewhat in the dark) but making my way to the bathroom to meet her face to face. I show up and she greets me first saying, "hello.." as my phone is now going IN and OUT of connection because my cousin is trying to call me at the same damn time.

I was fucking pissed. I'm constantly trying to decline his call to continue my face to face with Kandi and this nigga calls me back again. I finally got him off the line and said "hello, whats up?" and she greeted me with the same.

Boom! I finally made it on the live with her. Meanwhile, my heart is pounding out of my chest and I'm trying to catch my breath enough to seem "normal."

So she reminds me the purpose of her going live and proceeds to say, "alright, so you said you wanna sing something.. let me hear you sing something." Her face was definitely saying "this nigga cannot sing but I'm gon give him a chance because he's been blowing up the damn comments.."

So, at this moment I didn't know what the fuck to sing. Honestly I didn't so I asked her what she wanted me to sing & she gave me a "nigga hurry up.." response saying, "whatever you sing best!"

Meanwhile, I'm still trying to figure out what to sing. After thinking "well what can you sing without fucking up the lyrics?" Like I said, it was late, everyone's in the house sleep and I still couldn't think of what to sing that would impress Kandi Burruss.

So I'm still trying to by time, doing everything but singing.. saying shit like, "well let me put the phone down.."

At this point Kandi was annoyed, I'm sure. I was wasting her damn time and I could only image what the people in the comments were saying about me. Kandi was giving me the "I'm waiting nigga hurry up face.."

"You can't go wrong with Usher my nigga.." I thought to myself. Everybody knows Usher. Right?

So I started singing the first few lyrics and her face said it all..

Kandi instantly became a fan.

I was up there singing "Lovers and Friends" while Kandi was dancing, swaying her hands back and forth and singing with me. I was in complete shock! She even gave me a round of applause once I was done.

Considering all of the little shit that I thought would block this opportunity and my nervousness of being face to face with her, I was super proud of myself. That moment will forever live on and be apart of my success story.

We ended up chatting even more once I was done and she said I was "cute" too. Damn, could the night get any better at that point? To hear the rest of our conversation and to see all of this happen, check it out here: Von Tae singing for Kandi Burruss

I learned something that night as well.. keep chasing your dreams. Just when you think nobody is watching or nobody cares about that "little" special thing that you do, God will put people along your journey to let you know how amazing you are.

Also I've learned to be more prepared for moments like that too. So now I have a list of songs that I can sing off the top of my head instead of frantically trying to guess what to sing. My aunt Faye is a huge Kandi fan and actually told me to "call Kandi Burruss" in 2020 but I guess I never really understood what she meant until I did it almost a year later.

God definitely has a way of doing things.

Singing for famous people actually happened a few other times as well. I sung for legendary singer Luenell in July 2020..

(click the photo to watch)

And I also sung for the Earl Johnson who's the Senior A&R at Roc Nation and Success who's an A&R from Atlantic Record..

And also a few other celebrities have showed me love as well..

And the list goes on..

Like I said.. keep chasing your dreams and I'm telling you, God will make a way for you. Never give up on yourself and don't let a few failures discourage you from claiming what's destined for your life.

Thank ya'll for supporting and reading this blog. Until next time..

Take care of yourself,

Von Tae