Kandi Burruss is a superwoman. Sure, her credits read like the R&B section of your favorite record store, but she's also a single mom raising a beautiful 7-year-old daughter, Riley. Growing up in the East Point section of Atlanta, Burruss has not allowed her fame and fortune to make her lose touch with her grass roots. ESSENCE.com sits down with Burruss to talk about what she really thinks about Kim's vocal skills, the real reason for  Xscape's split, and why she believes NeNe is faux real.

ESSENCE.COM: So we all know your music skills are top notch, and now you're lending your Midas Touch to Kim Kolziack's career. Do you think she has what it takes?
KANDI BURRUSS: She's not necessarily a strong singer, but if you want a career in music bad enough and have the right people on your team, it doesn't matter. There are so many people who have hits all the time that can't really sing, so that means nothing to me. I had to get her in the studio and figure out whether she had something I could work with. You will hear the finished product soon.

ESSENCE.COM: Who are you working with now, and what don't we know about your stellar career?
BURRUSS: I am currently working with Fantasia, Sophia Fresh and Gucci Mane. I'm the first woman ever to win the ASCAP Rhythm and Soul Award for Songwriter of the Year in 2000. Beyoncé won a couple a years after me for the ASCAP Pop Award for Songwriter of the Year. I also still go to clubs to keep up on what's hot—and not just the uppity clubs but the ones in the hood too.

ESSENCE.COM: Wow, leaving Xscape might have been the best thing. Do you miss the group?
BURRUSS: Tiny and I are real cool. The other girls, we haven't talked in a minute. I just want to make it clear that the group didn't break up because I decided to leave. I even tried to continue doing the group without Tasha Scott, who wanted to pursue her solo career and then at the last minute [her sister] Tameka pulled out when we had a meeting with Jermaine [Dupri]. When I was in the group Tasha and I had issues for whatever reason. Going into the third album is when she decided she wanted to go solo, which messed up negotiations. We were barely getting paid as is—no recoup and we weren't writing any of our songs. It was extra tense and a lot of drama. After that I started writing a lot of solo records, and then Tasha's deal didn't happen for whatever reason and they wanted me to come back and record an album. But I wasn't ready because I was working on my solo stuff and Tasha should have understood that. Instead I was given an ultimatum: "If you're not ready, sign over your rights to the group," and I did. No one understands how I truly felt about my group breaking up. It was devastating.

ESSENCE.COM: Any chance for reconciliation?
BURRUSS: I thought Tameka and I were cool because we ran into each other and she was like, I miss you, and we talked and then the next thing I know she and her sister are on the radio dogging me and making up lies about me and I'm thinking, "You must really hate me."

ESSENCE.COM: Speaking of folks coming at you on the radio, what happened between you and NeNe last week on an Atlanta radio station?
BURRUSS: When I was on air the host asked me about the statement NeNe made to ESSENCE that she felt I prejudged her based on things Kim had told me about her, which is not true, because I met NeNe before I had even met Kim and only since we've wrapped taping have Kim and I been talking more often because we're working together. She also said that I was a weak woman. My response was that I believe that NeNe is the weakest and fakest one out of the bunch. She really was my favorite until I joined the show. She makes a lot of comments like, "I'm the star of this show," which is arrogant. Then she'll say things behind people's backs and do things, but when you ask her about it she tries to downplay it. NeNe and I had been cordial and getting along when we do interviews together and then I hear she's making comments that I'm weak.

ESSENCE.COM: It's difficult to watch sisters tearing each other down. So where do you two go from here?
BURRUSS: I didn't come on the show to be all crazy and loud. We just don't need to talk to each other because we both are strongly opinionated and go from two to ten. I think she's used to people backing down and I'm not going to let her talk to me crazy. If she wants to have a conversation, I can disagree with you all day, but when you start threatening like she was on the radio show, talking about "don't let me come up there!" I'm really not a person who argues, but once you get me there forget about it. I don't know why she's been taking all these jabs at me. I think she is simply made for TV and creates drama for the cameras. NeNe and I are like oil and water. We simply don't mix.

Tune in to watch more of Kandi Burruss on "The Real Housewives of Atlanta" (Bravo) on Thursdays,  10 P.M. ET.

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