Issa Rae shares her “first” everything with Teen Vogue!
Who was her first celebrity crush?
Was she a thirsty pre-schooler who lust after a boy named Clifton?
How did she first discover she was allergic to cats?
What happened on her first red carpet at Essence’s Black Women in Hollywood?
What powerhouse celebrity director first made her realize she was famous?
- No, I've said too much.What do I use names, you'regonna bleep the names out.[laughter][upbeat music]Hi TeenVogue, I'm Issa Rae.And today I'm sharing someof my firsts with you.Well my first crush was in preschool.I was really thirsty back thenand there was a boy named Clifton.And I looked him up.And he grew up to be fine,so I have great taste.But he didn't have interest in me thenand he doesn't haveinterest in me now [pop].My first celebrity crush wasdark skinned Michael Jackson.The first time I wasever really embarrassed?There's just too many of those.I think my mom, I was trying to show offin front of everybody, and this,I deserved it but I didn't.It's still cruel, it still stings.She was like, "You needto get out of this room."and then she was like, "Uh, sometimes"I just want to get rid ofyou," and it just, wooo.I was embarrassed, and Iwas hurt at the same time.And you know I made herfeel guilty for a minute.My first word.I don't know, does anybody know that?I would probably saymy first word was dada,like all babies.Oh my first CD is one that I stole.You pay a cent and you get 12 CDs.But they really send you six firstand you're supposed to pay the rest.So my first one was probablyMase, "Harlem World"'cause I couldn't listento parental advisoryand I still have a black markon my credit because of that.Worth it.My first job was when I was 10 years oldand it was to babysitcats for my neighbor.And it's also how I discoveredI was allergic to cats.My first car was a Saturn, a gray Saturn.It was a hand-me-down and I destroyed itby running into one ofthose yellow parking poles.Why the fuck was it there?Whose fault was it really?My first best friend, I feel likeI want to go back to preschoolbut those are fake friendships.My first hard-core best friendis one that I'm still friends with20 something years later, Devon Walker.That's my girl, same birthday.First vacation?I mean it was probably to Senegal.You know my dad's from there and so my momwas really big on having us go backand see where our roots were.It was great minus themosquitoes, the heat,and people, my cousins, people, strangers,stealing my toys and shit.But otherwise it was a pleasure.The first song I memorizedall the words to,I think it was Whitney Houston,"I Wanna Dance with Somebody"at a very young age.The first time I, this is embarrassing.The first time I was really starstruck,hear me out, okay?It was the 90s, I was in middle school,high school-ish, "Can'tHardly Wait" had come out,and so I saw JenniferLove Hewitt at the zoo.I was a big "Party of Five" fanso seeing Jennifer Love Hewitt at the zooand she was kicking itwith Wilmer Valderrama,is that how you say his name?Don't want to give the T,but they were kicking it.I was starstruck, I didn't say anything.And I loved her so much,I just was satisfiedwith seeing her out.The first time I knew Iwanted to work in filmswas being on the set of "Moesha"just as an audience memberand seeing that play out.So it's really like Iwanted to break into TVafter seeing that andseeing how dope it was.So thank you Brandy.The first audition I ever went onit was an open call auditionfor this show called,was it, "Boston Legal", "Boston Public"?It was some teacher shitand all you had to dowas say a line to the teacher.And I stood in line for six hoursoutside in the heat I think at USCand was prepared to saymy one line and kill it.And soon as I got up there my stupid asslooked in the cameraand delivered my linesand they were just like, "Thanks so much."And I wasn't on that show.But it got canceled so, [laughs].Sorry, you don't deserve that.My first red carpet was EssenceBlack Women in Hollywood.It was the most intimidating thing ever'cause all my heroes were there.So intimidating that I tried to skip it.And I skipped it andthen someone caught meand they were like,"You better go out there"and get your red carpetmoment, you belong here."And it was the best ever.Well not the pictures, thepictures turned out terrible,but the experience was great.The first scene I ever wrotefor "Awkward Black Girl"was the driving scene.I experienced it multipletimes of being on the road,seeing someone I know, beingexcited initially like, oh hey,and then realizing oh, we'reat the same light again,here we go, do we keepacknowledging each other every time?And so that was the first scenethat I actually wrote for the series.The first time I everrealized I was famous was,and this was light, but Ifelt like I was a big deal,was going to Ava DuVernay'sfirst movie screening.It was "I Will Follow" andshe was greeting everybodywho was coming into thelobby and I was like, "Hey".And she was like, "I know you."I was like, "You know me?"She was like, "Yeah,I saw your web series,"it's really funny, keep it up."and I was only two three months intodoing "Awkward Black Girl".So shout out to Ava for makingme feel special and famous.The first time I everquestioned my career pathwas probably in 2009, 2010.I mean I still question my career path,what am I talking about,but the first time was,it was just really hard to break inand I just kept on hearing no.And I kept on being discouragedfrom one particular projectthat I tried to keep pushingand was like let me finally just dowhat my dad wants me to doand go to business school.But I didn't.If I earned $1 billionthe first thing I would dois hide that shit.I'm not telling anybody,nobody would know.My first pet was a hamster named Noseywho died of constipation.Well we were literallypulling the shit out of him.[laughs] We were, he was suffering,he was sitting therewheezing and we were likewhat's happening and then literallykept on trying to pull it andthen the little shit pellets,this is true y'all.I think he died from the pain of it.Wow, all of you guys are going to hell.Oh, the first movie thatI ever remember seeingis probably "Splash".I love Tom Hanks so muchand I think live action,loving a movie was "Splash".The first role model I ever hadI'm gonna have to just say my mom.Like who else do you have to look to?It wasn't gonna be my olderbrothers 'cause they were trash.So yeah, she was thebest role model to me.She taught me how to be myself.The first makeup that I ever bought was,it was a L'Oreal foundation, in collegeand I just was, I was a college freshmanand I was not equipped and I put that shiton my face like lotion.It was just shining all night.None of my friends told me,they weren't my friends.My first on-screen kiss was actually,I don't want y'all togo back and look at it.So I don't really want to tell youbut it was in my webseries and it wasn't great.We'd been building up to it,I think I was psyching myself out.It was a very awkwardkiss but appropriately so.My first real kiss, ooooh bitch.My first real kiss was in the sixth gradeand it is still a triumphant,trashy moment for me.It was during a summercamps and the first daywe got to that camp I waslike, ooh that boy is fine.Was not checking for me at alland everybody else was checking for him.And he ended up getting with this girlwho was also in the camp who was liketwo years older than me,she was 14, I was 12.So I was like, oh fuck, lost that.We have a dance the last day,I don't know where she was at, slipping,because whatever he asked me,he asked to dance withme and then he was like,"Do you wanna go outside?"and I was like, "Yeah,I wannna go outside."and we went outside and he kissed me.But then a couple months later,I thought I was big and bad, went tothe Magic Johnsontheaters to watch a movie,who do I see walk in?Jordan and his girlfriend and he pretendedlike he didn't know meand she sized me up.I thought she was gonnapunch me right there,like she knew everything.But she didn't want to step to me.Well I hope you learned enough about me.Thank you so much for watching.Go ahead and talk shitabout me everywhere.