Did Issa Rae Fool Us All?!

Issa Rae is this month’s Cosmopolitan cover girl and rightly so! The mag is touting this moment in entertainment as a “Black renaissance” of sorts, and has crowned Issa as its leader.

The multi-hyphenate 35-year-old definitely holds her people down. Her content, such as the insanely popular “Insecure”, is made for Black people, featuring Black people, while celebrating the Black experience. In the interview with Cosmo she even states, “I want to be a pop culture staple—a black pop culture staple. I want to have an impact on my community. Everything I’ve done has been for—and in thinking of—black people, and I don’t take this moment lightly. I want to do right by us, at the end of the day.”

And that she has done! But, you know Black folks, they always want more. Like the fact that Rae is constantly hounded by fans who want her to drop the whole season of “Insecure” all at once. “Someone asked me if I felt pressure about this season coming on, and up until now, I hadn’t,” Issa shares. “This f*cking virus changed everything. Most of my mentions have been like, ‘Drop it, girl, stop playing, drop all the episodes at once’—like I’m HBO. And I’m like, What the f*ck? We’re literally still mixing and editing.”

But, even with all of her success, Issa still feels she has something to prove. “The blessing is like, Okay, I can for sure make my own opportunities, and that’s fun,” she explains. “But I also want to be able to … I want to deserve to be here, and that’s part of what keeps me up at night.” “The Lovebirds” actress even jokes that she tricked folks into believing her Black girl magic. “It almost just feels like I fooled people. Ha, ha, you put me on a magazine cover.”

Nope, we’re not fooled … we can see your magic from miles away!

Check out Issa in the latest issue of Cosmopolitan and check out the video below where she gets tested on her bougie status.