In the wake of comments from Cam’ron, Mase, and Treasure Wilson regarding video vixens on their “It Is What It Is” podcast, 1990s-2000s pioneer Gloria Velez says how would the public react if the women from that era launched podcasts to expose the behavior of men at the time, using private conversations and the things they saw and experienced and calling it content.
During the segment, the question came up of what happened to most of the women from those videos. The answer on the show was that they “just go back to the general population,” with the co-hosts agreeing that was “a good way to put it.”
After Cam’ron later chimed in online suggesting peopel had forgotten about Gloria Velez and teasing that he had a “file” on her.
Velez, who has been minding her own business and doing her own things for years, didn’t find the conversation funny. She posted a video basically threatening to expose things that rappers did then that would have them run through the social media wringer and damage their careers if revealed now.
“Imagine this, if women in this industry started podcasts and live streams where all we did was dissect men, not their music, not their businesses, not their talent, their lives,” she said.
“Imagine if we sat around microphones every week telling stories about who was broke before fame, who was pretending to have money, who was cheating, who was using drugs. Who mistreated women and who allegedly put hands on women, who did questionable things behind closed doors. And every private thing we witnessed while being around this industry,” Velez posited.
Velez attacked the double standard that exists, where men are able to capitalize on past stories and exploits with women, but the story of those women is often never told. Or respected. Women have that same power to humiliate and often choose grace and silence instead.
“Just imagine if women made millions laughing and gossipping and humiliating men with information they trusted us enough to let us see. Would everybody call it entertainment?
“Because somehow when certain male podcasters and streamers spend hours discussing women, our bodies, our relationships, our past, who, what we allegedly did 20 years ago, it becomes content,” she continued.
Velez went on to point out the vital contributions of women in pushing hip-hop cultrue forward and making it attractive to the mainstream.
“And yet here’s the irony, women have always been a part of what made this industry profitable,” Velez said. “Women promoted the music. Women were in the videos. Women helped sell the cars, the clothes, the lifestyle, the clubs. And now women are being used for thumbnails, clips, livestreams and viral conversations. Our presence helped generate attention. And then disrespecting us generates another click right?”
That’s the part nobody wants to talk about. A lot of women from my generation know way more about these men than we’ve said publicly…We saw things, we heard things, we knew things, and we stayed quiet,” she concluded.
“It Is What It Is” built its brand on unfiltered barbershop talk from two old heads from NYC. The entire presentation is 1990s flavor packaged in the way content is shared today. Mase and Cam are unapologetically themselves, sticking to their Harlem roots with fierce, sometimes offensive content. As legends of sorts in hip-hop, their meal ticket is going back in time to another era of hip-hop culture and bringing perspective or personal insight to some unfriendly secrets buried deep in the rumor mill.
After landing a purported eight-figure deal with Underdog Fantasy in 2023, after launching the podcast as an independent venture, Cam and Mase have become voices that “the culture” tunes in to hear them give their perspective on everything from sports to entertainment.
Fans Comment On Gloria Velez
Some fans showed support for Velez, while others discounted her demand for more respect as it pertains to her role in the culture. Most fans just wanted Velez to start the podcast already and spill the tea. It’s 2026, not 1996.
“@GloriaVelez do it do it do it do it. lol I bet all of a sudden them dudes that know you got secrets on them would shut up mad quick,” one fan begged on X.
“@JoeBudden you need to find some stars and create this podcast lol,” another interested user commented.
“the video vixens would make a killing doing podcasts today!,” a third fan suggested.
“She has a point, and also a great idea for a podcast LOL
She’s not wrong. If dudes are going to talk about them, then they have a right to tell what they know,” one woman insisted. And we have a right to listen to these salacious tales on podcasts.”
The idea of women who are seen as sex symbols dishing the dirt on past actions of athletes and celebrity men is nothing new.
“What is she talking about? Women do that already,” one user commented.
Gloria Velez Writes Memoir Exposing Ills Of Rap Industry
Velez also made clear that nothing anyone digs up can hurt her reputation because she beat everybody to the punch by writing a memoir, “When Silence Screamed: The Girl Who Knew Too Much.”
“You can’t weaponize my past against me when I already had the courage to put it on paper,” she wrote. “I told my own story before anybody could twist it into theirs.”
“I’m not hiding from my past. I healed from it, learned from it, wrote about it and turned it into purpose,” she added. “You can’t ‘expose’ a woman who already exposed the truth herself.” In the same post, she said her video had surpassed 277,000 views.
Who Is Gloria Velez?
After moving from a tumultuous household in Long Island to Florida, she entered the music touring circuit at just 14 years old, and last year in an interview with DJ Vlad, Velez exposed the predatory behavior and hardships young women faced in the industry at the time.
Velez became a street icon famous for starring in legendary hip-hop and R&B music videos. Notable appearances include roles in Ja Rule’s “Holla Holla”, DMX’s “What These B*tches Want”*, and Sisqó’s “Thong Song (Remix) featuring Foxy Brown.”
Most known for her iconic cowboy hat (Stetson) she wore in Jay-Z’s “Big Pimpin'” video, her dyed blond hair also became a legendary part of her distinct look. During rap’s golden era of the late-90s into the early 2000s, distinguished herself as one of the few high-profile Afro-Latina/Puerto Rican video models displaying bright blond hairstyles that are common today.
From rap, Velez became the first video vixen to transition into music. She was the IG model before the IG model existed. Velez has two teenage children: her oldest son, Aaron Hall IV (with singer Aaron Hall), and a younger son named Brayden that she shares with former NFL player David Bowens.
Velez wants the same respect that rappers get for helping to push the culture forward and set the table for women to have a permanent place in how the culture is marketed and sold.