The Long Island, New York, native — who contemplated giving up singing while waiting almost two years for her album to drop — talked to Curtis Waller about her search for Superman, why she's not stressing becoming the black Cyndi Lauper and why she does fear becoming the queen of collaborations.

MTV: You've worked with a lot of people over the last few years.

Lil' Mo: I started out in '98, and a week after I got signed, I met up with Missy Elliott. So from Missy, I worked with Timbaland, with Blackstreet, with Jermaine Dupri, Jay-Z, Ja Rule, ODB, Keith Sweat, Lil' Bow Wow, Snoop Dogg. And I've written for a slew of people — Koffee Brown, [Hootie and the Blowfish's] Darius Rucker, everybody. I've written for Tyrese. I heard they didn't keep the song for his album, but we still recorded it. You never know, it might be on a soundtrack one day or something.

MTV: How is it to be so successful at doing something that you enjoy doing?

Mo: I still haven't fathomed everything yet. I'm just like, "I did do that, I am kind of dope, I am hot." If you got nothing to show for yourself, then people are like, "Well, why should we deal with her?" But then, you see all the things that I've done and they're like, "Yo, I didn't know that was her." A lot of people didn't know I wrote this or that, you know. So when they find out, it's like I get a whole other level of respect. [RealAudio]

MTV: Why did you title the album Based on a True Story?

Mo: I just want to show how my life relates to people everywhere. Before I do anything, I come up with a title, then I build off that. I don't just write songs and say, "I'm going to call this one 'Love,' " or something. I have to come up with a title first.