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00:00Look at that, honey.
00:02She thought she was glamorous, honey.
00:04She's always been a glamour queen.
00:06That's why I chose the name Latrice Royale,
00:08because I wanted her to be glamorous, always be a lady.
00:11Even though she's a stripper at heart,
00:13you know, you can have whole tendencies
00:15and still be a lady out in these streets
00:17and a hole in the sheets.
00:21Hey, everybody, it's Latrice Royale,
00:23and welcome to Scroll Patrol.
00:25We're gonna be going down memory lane,
00:27walking through my old photos
00:29and seeing some things that might be a little sus.
00:35Well, are y'all ready for the origin story of Latrice Royale?
00:38Because we're gonna get into how it started, girl,
00:41because it wasn't in my plan.
00:43I promise you that.
00:47The year was 1992,
00:51and I moved to Florida for Color Guard,
00:54but I was gonna be aging out,
00:55and you know, I was always lip syncing
00:57to Whitney Houston, I'm Every Woman.
00:59And they thought it would be a great idea
01:01for me to start doing drag.
01:02I was like, uh-uh.
01:03I was like, I'm too big,
01:05and ain't no way you're gonna catch me in a dress.
01:07But Halloween, they convinced me to do it,
01:10so I decided to do Wanda from In Living Color.
01:12If y'all know In Living Color,
01:14y'all know that Jamie Foxx was the OG drag queen, honey.
01:19I kinda got on a Wanda wig right now.
01:21Elevate it.
01:23And I thought that was gonna be the end of it,
01:25but then they convinced me to do the amateur drag show
01:29at the Copa because it was audience applause,
01:31so you get all your friends to come and cheer for you,
01:33you gonna win, right?
01:35And we needed rent money and drink money.
01:36And so they're like, we'll come in here,
01:40you win, you win.
01:41And I went out there for my first drag show, baby.
01:44Now, mind you, there was no Amazon Prime.
01:47You couldn't just order some size 16 pumps,
01:50some wigs, some makeup, an outfit, a look.
01:53No.
01:54It got creative.
01:55Went into the color guard closet
01:56and got me some liquid lame gold skirts and fabric,
02:00and we draped it around me, honey.
02:02I made a turban.
02:02I went out there barefoot,
02:04did a lyrical dance at the drag show,
02:06and they said, oh, no, not tonight.
02:09So I wound up getting drink tickets
02:11and a fashion citation from my now-drag mother,
02:14Tiffany Ariagas.
02:15She was like, baby, don't ever wear that again, so.
02:18And you're welcome to see the ladies and gentlemen,
02:21it's Tiffany Ariagas and Ariagas.
02:26Tiffany Ariagas is a legend and icon,
02:30and she would twirl that club into a frenzy.
02:33It would be packed.
02:35Everyone's sitting around the floor.
02:36We call that the crotch watcher section.
02:38And so I would do her amateur show every week,
02:42and sometimes I would win, sometimes I would lose.
02:44And it was just the first time that I realized
02:48that I had something special and that someone believed in me
02:52and believed in my talent as well.
02:54Tiffany was the first one to see that in me,
02:57and then I just, of course, was enamored with her and her career
03:00and everything that she did, and she set the standard for me.
03:03Like, that was an epitome of drag, and not just drag, but like,
03:07being a lady and professional and everything.
03:11No one had a bad thing to say about Tiffany,
03:13except that she was expensive.
03:15But you get what you pay for, honey.
03:17She knew her worth.
03:18If you're liking this video, hit the like and subscribe button,
03:21baby.
03:22You get more content and more of me.
03:24I'm just saying.
03:25So Copa was the beginning of my drag career,
03:28but like, back then, you had to come up through the ranks.
03:30You had to have some kind of credentials and accolades
03:33to back up your .
03:35You can't just come from your bedroom like you can now
03:37and get on.
03:38Never mind.
03:41All to y'all shade.
03:43There's no I in T.
03:45No big I in no little you.
03:47And the car is very true.
03:51This is National Entertaining of the Year 2001.
03:56Oh, my God!
03:57This is taking me back.
03:59So EOY is all about creativity.
04:01So it's a creative gown.
04:02And so Elektra, who was my promoter at the time,
04:06made this dress.
04:07And she wanted me to be like a sun goddess
04:09and thought I would be like a cloud and a cloud
04:11and then the sun opened.
04:12So it was conceptual.
04:14You know, nothing I would do nowadays.
04:18This is my first national pageant.
04:20I had no clue what I was doing.
04:22No clue what I was doing.
04:23But I will say,
04:26the only standing ovation of the entire weekend,
04:30even though I didn't make final night,
04:32was my talent on preliminary night.
04:34So, yeah.
04:36Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah.
04:39Look at me twirl, honey.
04:41So now, mind you, these are just dancers that I taught how to twirl flag.
04:46And we twirled the house down and the children lived and leaped to their feet.
04:51Yeah, it was amazing.
04:53And they were singing my song the whole weekend.
04:55You know, every time they saw me walking through, they'd be like,
04:58let's get soaking wet.
05:01Oh, this is at Miss Florida 2004.
05:06I showed up and did my thing.
05:08And of course, I'm entertaining and bring the crowd to its feet.
05:12Look at me.
05:12That's me in a swimsuit and Miss Florida.
05:14Honey, look at her.
05:17This is Florida Continental Plus.
05:20I made my gown myself.
05:21I did my hair myself.
05:23I did everything myself.
05:25This is wild because this was my first package that I had put together myself.
05:30And, you know, the pageant was rigged, of course,
05:32and I got first runner up and they let their little friend win.
05:34And she didn't make finals at nationals, but I would've.
05:39So this picture right here is my last pageant that I did right before I got the call for
05:45RuPaul's Drag Race.
05:46I didn't even win this prelim, but I got first runner up.
05:51I qualified for nationals.
05:53I was going to go to nationals and thank everybody like I do.
05:55But I got this call from World of Wonder for the show called RuPaul's Drag Race.
06:00And I had to call Bob and was like, I'm not going to be going to nationals.
06:06I had something come up that's more pressing.
06:10And I don't feel like I have any unfinished business because I adjust the pageant now.
06:16So it just really goes back to like I'm seeing a little drag thing that was just trying to make
06:27the best of what she had.
06:29Like I had nothing.
06:31So literally I would go to the dollar fabric store to get, you know, stretch fabric to make dance costumes.
06:37And we was trying to elevate it by putting plastic stones on it.
06:41You know, whatever you can afford to do.
06:44But again, back then it was about being self-sufficient and making it do what it do.
06:49It was drag.
06:49So there were really no rules other than you kind of need to look polished and you need to turn
06:54the party.
06:55Like people will forgive your look if they're entertained.
06:58You know what I mean?
06:59Like it was a different time and we didn't have the resources that we have now.
07:03So you younglings out there who are just started doing drag 10 minutes ago, you're welcome.
07:15Baby, we're going to keep this rolling until the wheels fall off, baby.
07:18Let me tell you this.
07:1933 and counting.
07:21Here's to maybe 20 more.
07:22Because, baby, these knees can't.
07:26These knees ain't got too many more years in them.
07:27But we cheersin' to longevity, darlings.