Lizzo is all smiles thanks to hip-hop. The rapper-turned-pop star returns to her hip-hop roots with the new mixtape My Face Hurts From Smiling. Featuring guest appearances from Doja Cat and SZA, the tape finds Lizzo rapping and having fun doing so. Just in time for the summer.

Last Wednesday (June 25), during the week of the project’s release, Lizzo sat down with XXL to talk about what got her back in her rap bag, where the title came from and being inspired by Kendrick Lamar.

“It was just a moment that happened in the studio,” Lizzo says of how she came up with the name. “I was going to call this project, Valid Crash Out. I was talking to my friends and they were like, ‘This is the first time we’ve heard you crash out. And it’s valid, bi**h.’ I was like, woah. Valid Crash Out.

Lizzo says the mixtape was created in a week in early June. However, the vibes in the studio took her in a different direction during the recording process.

“Then, like knee-deep through the process…I flew my best friend in from Houston,” Lizzo recalls. “We are doing all these vocals. We are having so much fun. And I’m just like, ‘My face hurts from smiling.’ My cheeks were literally cramping up. That just encapsulated the whole thing.”

Lizzo also drew inspiration from Kendrick Lamar‘s recent run for the project.

“He always creates,” she expresses. “Seeing him creating while on a stadium tour was really inspiring. “I said, ‘You know what, Melissa? Get your a*s up and get to work. He’s on a stadium tour and he’s still hungry. That is just, like, super inspiring to me.”

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Check out Lizzo’s new interview with XXL below.

Watch Lizzo Talk About Returning to Rap, Creative Freedom, Drawing Inspiration From Kendrick Lamar and More

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