Queer rapper Mykki Blanco opens up about the journey to her debut studio album, Mykki, and her private battle with severe depression last year in a new interview with MTV News.

In it, Mykki discusses her recent decision to come out as HIV-positive, how it shaped the sound of her new album, and how she reconciles her cisgender gay male identity with the trans-identified themes that surface in her art.

"I didn’t realize that me being honest about something really personal would resonate with so many people," Mykki said, recalling how she was surprised to learn her HIV disclosure was not a career-ender, but the exact opposite.

She added: "I’ve had some people say to me, ‘Did you do that as a publicity stunt?' Who does that as a publicity stunt? This is my real fucking life. My reaaaalll life. Now, when I meet a guy, he knows. We can still have a conversation about it, but it’s a completely different atmosphere than being ashamed and hiding."

Mykki said she experienced "so much personal darkness and depression" last year and even considered transitioning, though a personal revelation had convinced her not to.

"I realized, wait a minute, just because I change my gender, that’s not going to get rid of my problems," she said.

"That’s not going to change the psychological and personal problems that I have. I realized this was more of a psychological and sexual exploration that changed my life for the better. I don’t regret it at all, because it allowed me to see a whole entire other world through this feminine identity that I experienced."

On how she delivers that explanation to a community of people who may take offense to it, Mykki said:

"I’ve had some people in the genderqueer community say to me, ‘You’re a cis gay male, stop trying to tell a trans woman’s story.' And I’ve had to say, ‘Honey, anybody who’s known me since 2010, 2011, anybody who knew me in New York City knew that I was cross-dressing, that I was feminine trans-identified, living my life escorting out in these streets. I wasn’t in a college classroom learning about genderqueer.’"

"I understand now where that misunderstanding comes from, but I always have to tell people Mykki Blanco did not start as a drag character. Mykki Blanco started as a video-art project when I was already trans-identified. I was already going by ‘she.’”

You can read MTV's full interview with Mykki Blanco at MTV.com.