Teyana Taylor Poses Nude for 'Paper' Magazine, Talks 'Fade' Video Fame: 'It Was a Do-or-Die Moment'

By
Paper Magazine

Teyana Taylor gave everything she had to Kanye West's "Fade" video.

The 25-year-old artist, whose "Flashdance"-inspired routine at the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards floored the internet, strips down for an NSFW photo shoot with Paper magazine, where she shares that, to her, the video's success was about more than sex appeal.

WATCH: Teyana Taylor -- 4 Things to Know About the Stunning Star of Kanye West's 'Fade' Video

Paper Magazine

"I honestly don't feel like 'Fade' would have had the same effect had I just been 21, hot body, single," Taylor says, noting her NBA star husband, Iman Shumpert, and their 10-month-old daughter, Iman Tayla Shumpert Jr. (aka Baby Junie!). "It was more than just dancing in a sports bra and a thong ... You can be superwoman. You can have it all, that balance in your relationship, your family and your career. It's the opposite of the cliché that says kids will slow you or your career down."

"It was a do-or-die moment where I was like, 'I'm going to dance my f**king heart out,'" Taylor remembers thinking before performing in the video.

PHOTO: Teyana Taylor Shows Off Insanely Flat Abs 6 Days After Giving Birth

As for seeing the whole family in "Fade" together, Taylor credits West with that idea.

"He was like, 'It's so dope because y'all so young and y'all fresh, but then y'all got the baby and the championship,'" she says, referring to Shumpert's spot on the 2016 NBA Champion Cleveland Cavaliers roster. "I think that gave him the idea of wanting to see us all in the video together."

MORE: Teyana Taylor Reveals She's Already Married to Iman Shumpert!

Taylor also discusses her high-profile collaborators, such as West, and Pharrell Williams, admitting that at times it's raised the stakes of her professional career.

"I never had the time to fail, to fall and get back up and try again," she says. "People would get up on me, like, 'You've been doing it for seven years now, you might as well give up.'"

WATCH: Kanye West's Muse, Teyana Taylor, Shows Off Her Amazing Abs in Yeezy Season 4 Fashion Show

For now, Taylor isn't resting on the "Fade" video success.

"All you can do is keep shining. You can't say something and think my legs are going to stop, my voice is going to stop, my hunger is going to stop," she explains with regard to how she deals with social media haters. "I'll be hurt for five minutes, but I'm going to keep going hard."

WATCH: Kanye West's 'Fade' Star Teyana Taylor Insists She Doesn't Work Out and Never Eats Vegetables

Watch the video below for everything you need to know about Taylor.

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