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When a man loves a woman, ain’t no mountain high enough or gossip too scandalous to keep him from her. No one understands that better than Soullow, the fiancé of “Neffetaria “Neffe” Pugh, Keyshia Cole’s sister. Despite the drama that often plagues Neffe’s family, Soullow remains optimistic and is a loving support system for his future wife. ESSENCE.com caught up with the rapper turned chef to set the record straight about his relationship with Neffe, their upcoming wedding and what he really thinks about his future mother-in-law Frankie
ESSENCE.COM: Congrats to you and Neffe on your nuptials. So tell us how did it feel to propose to her in front of thousands of people and when are you saying “I do”?
SOULLOW: I proposed at her birthday party and I was nervous as crap nobody knows that (laughs). I don’t know what was in me, but it all went so smooth. I planned it for eight months prior and her show had just wrapped, but BET just happened to be there on that particular night. When I saw all those cameras I was super nervous because there were already like 5000 people at her party. It’s on me to set the official wedding date and we’re trying to get married on a ranch so I’m thinking early fall just before it gets too cold. Jamie Foster Brown offered us to get married on her ranch so we might just take her up on her offer.
ESSENCE.COM: We’re sure it will be a beautiful ceremony. You’ve been thrown into the limelight because of Neffe and have been publicly accused of being a freeloader by your future mother-in-law. How does that make you feel?
SOULLOW: I don’t really get into all of that and I never have been that type of person. Just to set the record straight regarding the comments that were made by Neffe’s mom that was just Frankie being Frankie. She and Neffe go through their little stuff and I just don’t get into it because that’s their personal family stuff. I love Frankie that’s the first time I ever heard that, but I wasn’t paying attention to it because it was a bunch of lies. Of course, I thought, What’s purpose? but I have no ill-will toward Frankie because none of it is true. People react to something that is said about them when it’s true. It went in one ear and out the other. Me and Neffe stay home and mind our business yet folks want to report that we’re having problems. We don’t even argue, so again, I don’t pay that stuff any mind.
ESSENCE.COM: Have you confronted Frankie about her remarks?
SOULLOW: Nah, for what? There was no reason it was a lie so I didn’t’ really ask her a reason you confront people and that brings more drama. I try to live a drama-free life, I’m not going to see her and mention it. I say hello and keep it simple. I’m a grown man and I don’t feed into that. People have nothing better to do. People claim it’s freedom of speech but these blogs are just another way for folks to talk about people without showing their faces. If they want to exercise that freedom in a devilish or godly manner then that’s up to them, but I won’t participate in it.
ESSENCE.COM: Ignoring the negative folk into oblivion is always best. Folks have been whispering trying to figure out who is this Soullow guy. How did you two meet?
SOULLOW: I had a tragedy and was robbed and shot 10 times when I was 22-years-old a week before I was supposed to sign with Relativity Records. I couldn’t walk for two years, but went through rehabilitation. I’m not going to say what I was doing, but I’ll admit that I was out in the streets. When Neffe and I met four years ago she didn’t have a reality show or no stylist. I met her in a living room sitting at somebody’s sitting on the couch with a head scarf on (laughs) and it wasn’t nothing like that we connected as friends. When she first joined the show I watched the show be recorded because I was around but had no interest in doing anything with entertainment for a while after what I had gone through. They convinced me to go on camera since Neffe and I had been together for two years.
ESSENCE.COM: Neffe admitted that she is now a different woman than the one America saw on “The Way It Is.” Do you see the change?
SULLOW: I don’t know that woman who screams and throws tantrums. I’d never seen the show until I was in Miami last year and they ran the marathon. I don’t even watch BET and Neffe didn’t want me to see it either. What people don’t know is before this reality show I was taking care of Neffe . She lived with me a couple of times even right after the first season of the show. So it’s a lot of this story that they don’t know that people are going to find out real soon on her reality show. I don’t have to be on camera to prove that I’m a man and taking care of my family because my future wife and my kids know that I’m a man. I do all the cooking in the house and she cleans because that’s what I want to do for her.
ESSENCE.COM: Is there anything you’d like to say in parting about your relationship?
SOULLOW: Again, as the man of the house my wife deserves me because I deserve her. We have similar stories and our story will unfold and reveal it all on the first season of her reality show. So until then, people who don’t know me can just call me a God-fearing man. I’m trying to encourage Black men to do what we used to do back in the sixties before all this stuff corrupted our neighborhood and go back to the script and learn to keep your feet on the ground and take care of your woman. Some might say,”Oh he’s a sucker doing all that cooking and cleaning,” but I don’t care because I’m a support system for Neffe just like she’s a support system for me and no one can corrupt that. God heard me when I asked him for a second chance so I’m going to continuously be humble and let go and let God.
Soullow’s upcoming album “Life Is A Movie” is coming soon.