According to Madame Noire, the duo dropped their debut country album, Blood Harmony, on Aug. 11.

While talking about the project with BET, Washington said the project was “a long time coming.”

“I think we’ve been a duo for 23 years. We include when Prana was in the womb and all that stuff,” she told BET. “I feel like this has actually been a long time coming, and although we’ve only been working on the project and been here in Nashville for seven years, the last two years of us kind of connecting with our partners, the distribution we wanted and needed for the project and finding our sound and honing that in made this timing perfect for us to release now. We took our time creating the album, and once the body of work was tightened up and ready to go, we were like, ‘Let’s give it to the world.’ It was just a matter of time, and it had to be done.”

Washington made a name for herself as a in-house singer for the collective in the late 1990s. Her vocals are featured in many Wu-Tang songs, and even earned a solo track, “Second Coming,” on the group’s sophomore album, Wu-Tang Forever.

Diggs said their sound is deeply inspired by their upbringing and perspective, and she commented on Blood Harmony’s eclectic sound.

“I think every time we come into a co-write, our goal is just to expand or bend what country music can sound like,” she told BET.

“For us, it’s really important to stay authentic to the influences that we’ve had growing up and bringing that into country. We never wanted to come into the country space and just put on a mask and pretend. It feels inauthentic, and people can tell that. … Some of our songs on the album are a little bit more Americana and a little bit more rootsy than some of our other tracks, but that all exists to us within our definition of what O.N.E. The Duo is a country artist.”

Country isn’t known for being a diverse genre, and artists of color are often discluded from charts and accolades. Thankfully, that norm is starting to shift, and Washington and Diggs, who are the only Black mother-daughter duo in country music, are happy to see it.

“It’s fantastic,” Diggs said. “I get so excited whenever we see Chapel Hart or whenever we run into Mickey Guyton around town or industry events. The first time we met either of them, it was like we had already met them before. Knowing someone is out there going through the same experiences as you and to be amongst the first to do something is so comforting. It doesn’t make the frontline feel so daunting because at the end of the day, even if country has changed and is changing, we’re still the first Black mother-daughter duo.”

In January, O.N.E The Duo were included in Country Music Television’s 2023 Next Women of Country Class. And while this brought their music to new fans, they were also hit with criticism.

“For all the love we’re getting, there are still a percentage of people who are aggravated by the fact that we’re here doing ‘their’ music,” Washington said. “So as Prana said, to look across the room to get that hug and love and vote of confidence from other Black women in the genre does change the game.”