We Talked To The Girl Behind The "Coke Boy, Baby" Drop

French Montana kicked off 2014 right with the release of Coke Boys 4. It was the perfect way to start the new year, not that 2013 was unkind to French. He got his first real taste of the mainstream with his Bad Boy debut Excuse My French. Well, that and the huge fucking hit "Pop That." The album was an amalgamation of every hallmark of 2013 hip-hop: trap producers including Young Chop, Jahlil Beats and The Beat Bully offered the rigid soundscape that catered to the streets, while producers like Rico Love, Lee on the Beats brought forth the radio hits. And let us not forget, the Bronx rapper has a ton of friends in the game; DJ Khaled, Rick Ross, Lil Wayne, Drake, all made guest appearances on the project. But the most anticipated guest appearance was, of course, the "Coke Boy BABY" drop. The sultry voice behind the now infamous drop appeared on five tracks according to the liner notes, her name is "Baby Blue." Listen to her right here, over and over again:

We searched high and low for "Baby Blue," who managed to keep a low profile as French's career—and the Coke Boys mixtapes—blew up. “It’s pretty dope having album credits alongside executive producers Diddy, Rick Ross and Harve Pierre, and of course the slew of awesome artists,” Blue says. “From a teenager onwards, I was always encouraged to do voice work.”

During what we're calling the #PolarVortex, I met Blue at HeadQcourterz Studio in Midtown, operated by DJ Premier, and also home to her management company, Bond N Blue with Phat Gary. The Australian-born industry veteran talked about how her voice has become synonymous with the Coke Boys brand, moving to New York City, linking up with Bad Boy’s president and her future in the industry.

Noisey: When I first met you, people were like, “That’s the girl that does the Coke Boys drop.” What's your reaction when people recognize you from it?
Blue: Obviously, it’s fun. It doesn’t happen that often, to be honest. My friends who read the credits--people in the industry, will be like, “Oh! Blue!” And then they’ll say, “Of course, that accent.” It doesn’t really come up that much. And that was an exception when I met you. I cannot remember who told you that. I have a couple of friends who always say it and it drives me crazy, because really when I am out in those kinds of situations where I am out doing business—Gary and I are doing business—I’m not the Coke Boys girl. I am Blue of Bond N Blue. But of course, you know it's always great.

When did you leave Australia and decide to come to the States?
I came here in 2011. I have been working in music and I have actually been touring with some big artists out there who all said you need to move to New York. [Laughs] And do your thing out here. I haven’t been to New York. I just packed up and haven’t looked back.

How did you initially link up with French Montana?
That all came about because a good friend of mine is Harve Pierre, who is the president of Bad Boy. Harve reached out to me and said he wanted me to come through and try to record a couple of drops. Because he really liked my Australian accent and he just wanted to give that a go.

I met Harve, funnily enough, through another good friend of mine who was working at Shady Records. Her name is Korrine and she is really [an] amazing girl. Harve has just been a mentor to me. I met him very early. I think in the first kind of month or so I was here. He’s just really looked out and he’s just a very solid person. He’s very bright and obviously he knows the industry inside out. I met him through another friend of his, another industry peer of his. And that’s how it went. He really liked my accent and he thought it would work well. He wanted me to really own that accent in the drop. So it was quite distinctive.

When did you record the Coke Boys drop?
It was probably about a year ago. I went into the studio. I recorded a couple of drops. It actually happened pretty quickly. Harve was really happy within the first couple of takes. French was there, he loved it. And I kind of kept it pushing. And then, Harve came back to me quite a while later and said “we want to use you for the official Coke Boys drop.” I almost had forgotten that I had done it. I said, “Ok.” We negotiated all of that. As Harve does, he really looked out and made sure I was all good.

Let's talk about the studio session.
It was very fun. It was really organic. It was very lowkey. No fuss. I’ve been in quite a lot of studio sessions by now, so it was really cool. It wasn’t really trying to be [sexy]. It wasn’t that at all. It was do what you feel and I did that. And it worked. That’s how it went. It was really cool. Harve is very business. We didn’t hang out and chill. I came in. I did that. I said “Hey. What up.” I did a few takes that they were happy with and I didn’t know what was going to happen to it. It was for fun.

Obviously we have to ask if you're a fan of the Coke Boys?
Absolutely! You got your Coke Boys chain yet?
That one is in the mail. [Laughs] Especially with the release of Coke Boys 4, they're on the rise and your voice is on all the records.
It’s great. I think they’ve done it very well. But I think it is a great drop that we are very familiar with. There are a few drops that we are very, very familiar with and that’s a buzz. That’s something that sticks in people’s minds. I wouldn’t take any branding credit. [Laughs] That’s all them.

The Coke Boys drop is one of the most recognizable, you've impacted the culture now.
It’s special. Especially considering that I am from the other side of the world. I’m just a little white girl from Syndey.

Could you ever find yourself doing this as a future side hustle?
Yeah, I’ve just done one actually for someone out in Canada. I’ve done a few of them. I’ve been doing a few for producers.

What are some of your future plans at the moment?
We have a diverse set of skills here at Bond N Blue. So definitely. I’ve done a few different things. I jumped on something [with] Naughty By Nature who are friends of mine from Australia. They were in the studio. They asked me to come in and do not drops, but a couple of ad-lib-ly things and stuff like that. I’ve done a bunch of random, miscellaneous things you wouldn’t actually recognize.

Last but not least, how did you get your nickname, Blue?
My eyes. Blue actually started in Australia with people I was touring with from the States who used to call me Blue Eyes or Baby Blue. Hence my Twitter handle, which is ABabyBlueEyes. It just stuck.

Eric Diep is an associate editor at XXL, who once got styled by the Migos crew on camera. He's on Twitter - @E_Diep