Big Love and thank you to VenusZine for the opportunity!

So I was featured in this month VenusZine June 2008 along with 9 other amazing women. We are in the 10 artists to watch out for article. These are the original questions that were sent to me and I wanted to post my answers in full. I think this is important and challenge you to answer some of these questions on your own. Start dialogue. Inspire eachother. One Love

1. How did you get into emceeing?  I have had an on /off relationship with Hip Hop since I was 12 years old. At about 13 years old I turned to my best friend and told her I wanted to be a rapper. I had always written poetry and short stories since I could read and write. I grew up on Maui Hawaii so the music we got on the radio was out dated. I wasn't really introduce to underground Hip Hop till about '96 when I met an islander, grown up in Cali came back to Maui, with boxes of mix tapes all underground rap. I was 16 at the time and instantly fell in love with what I was hearing. I started hanging out with a local group called Streams of Consciousness which consisted of about 3 emcees, producer, graff writer. I spit them some of my spoken word material and they would encourage me to free style. I still wasn't completely ready for the emcee title. I wrote and performed spoken word accapella and with music for about 4 years. Leaving the island of Maui and hitchhiking/ traveling the U.S. for a few summers doing spoken word open mics and engaging in street cyphers wherever I went. I eventually landed in Oakland, CA in 2001 where I met my rhyming partner Persia. She saw me at an open mic doing spoken word/ rap over Trip Hop beats and approached me after my set. After that we started a tag team dynamic duo called Mamaz. Persia and I would write together and she broke down the mathematics of Hip Hop writing to me, therefore fully intergrating me into an emcee.
 
2. Why are there so few female emcees?  I don't know if I would go as far as saying there are few female emcees. I personally know alot of talented women who rap. I would say there are few female emcees on the radio and television for sure. I think that it may have to do with what role women have been assigned and also taken up on their own in the Hip Hop/ Rap industry. When your sex is used to sell and promote everything from albums to rappers it can be hard to break a stereotype. Some female rappers have embraced the sex sells attitude while others have chose to challenge it. If you have self awareness and respect it can be very intimidating for men in the industry. Although a few women have broken through, you don't hear many women out there in mainstream media who are well rounded in their intelligence, sexuality, politics, and values.
 
3. Do you feel comfortable being called a female emcee?  I do feel comfortable with that title. It is just one of the many titles that come and go for me. Maybe it makes it easier for people to be open to my message by using 'female emcee' I am not attached either way just as long as my voice is heard.
 
4. What is the biggest obstacle you have overcome during your career?
 The biggest obstacle for me to overcome has been creating a finished product. I have had no problem booking shows and doing collaborations with other musicians, but getting my own album out has been a challenge. This year 2008 will be my first release. I am releasing the Mamaz debut album " The Birth " But it has been a long road to get there. From recording with producers who don't finish the song or answer calls when the studio session is over, having computers crash with the only copy of my material, to having guys in the industry making empty promises, it has been one thing after another. Also trying to put something out with little to no budget doesn't help either. I am breaking through the old story and paradigm to create a new one where my music is out in the world and is touching and uplifting my community worldwide.
 
5. Who inspires you?
I am inspired by so many! Just to name a few inspirations off the top of my head:
mamaz, persia, dj j boogie, dj divinity, invincible, goddess alchemy project, crown city rockers, brass mafia, chela simone, shania d. yarah bravo, dj vadim, dubtronic science, raashan amad, lynxx, GSP, missy elliot, bahamadia, m.i.a., macromantics, dj lp, dj zita, abstract rude, aceyalone, nirvana, amel larrieux,  amp fiddler, ms. dynamite,al green, anti-pop consortium, arrested development, ani di franco, swv, roots manuva, beat street, billy holiday, basquiat, blondie, blonde redhead, blues, bob marley, busdriver, brotha lynch, carole king, chris cornell, cibo matto, cody chestnut, cold play, cyndi lauper, tracy chapman, hip hop congress,  dwele,  depeche mode,  duran duran,  dj shadow,  dj krush, dj jazzy jeff, ella fitzgerald, etta james, emanon, eminem, erykah badu, freida khalo, freestyle fellowship, feline science, gangstarr, gil scott heron, gravytrain, goapele, huey lewis and the news, incubus, head, husky rescue, iggy pop,  janis joplin, jazz, jazzanova, jazzyjeff,  jill scott, j live, jimmy hendrix,  john coltrane, john hendricks, johnny cash, john legend, johnny depp, joni mitchell, kanye, la jam, lambert hendricks and ross, latyrx, lisa lisa...and the cult jam, madlib, Madonna, mf doom, Medusa, muse,  miles davis, meshell n'degeocello, myka9, modest mouse, mommas and papas, morcheeba, mosdef, mc lyte, mista doc, nirvana, nomadicmindtravelers,nwa,  peter tosh, pharaoh monch,edgar allen poe, portishead, prince, rage against the machine, reggae, radiohead, sarah vaughn, slum village...with baatin and dilla, sonic youth, talib kwelli!, the beatles, the cure, the misfits, thievery corporation, tupac,thelonius monk, tears for fears, tribe called quest, violent femmes, vivian green.

6. What are your goals as an emcee? Do you want to become mainstream?  My goals as an emcee is to make music that inspires and motivates people worldwide. I want to travel the world with music as my ticket. I want to use emceeing as a bridge between communities of all different races, genders, age, sexual orientation, class, and anything else that we use to separate ourselves. I want to use emceeing to teach youth self respect, math, reading, writing, confidence, research, and music. I want to use emceeing to communicate my story, my life, and create an idea of a better world.
I would love to be mainstream. I would love to bring my message to every radio, tv, broadband, Itunes, and whatever other form of communication that reach the people. I want little girls singing my songs and little boy learning how to respect women.

7. How do you feel about the representation of women in hip-hop?  I feel first and foremost that women should play an active role in representing themselves and create new archetypes in the Hip Hop community. The way I feel about how we have been represented to date is confused.
On one hand you have booties, beauties, honeys, and money being used to promote, distribute, and dominate every aspect of Hip Hop. The more sexy girls in a music video playing a service role (i.e. serving the man from drinks to skins) the more credit it gives the main rapper/character as alpha top dog. The naked female body has the power to attract and sell just from being on the cover of your cd. But how are women perceived and talked about amongst the male rappers for whom they support? They are talked, sang, rapped about in a way that if someone talked like that to your daughter, sister, mother, or wife you would be throwing down in the street. The thing is, I am not opposed to a woman using everything she has to benefiting herself. I am personally effected and upset by the disrespect, ignorance, hostility and violence toward women those songs perpetuate. I am fed up with the cooperate marketing, music labels, and male dominated industry that funds artists who have a message where woman are basically second class citizens.
Now on the other hand you have the greats who break through stereotypes, misogyny, and the status quo. The Jill Scotts, the India Ires, the Missy Elliots who balance all aspects of the amazing complex creation that is Woman. You can have mass sex appeal and be smart. You can have strong ideas on your life, relationships, community, country, world that involve more than some scenario where you were a victim of circumstance. There are many incredible women who drop one or two albums that embody some if not all these qualities but what happens after that? Where do they go? Definitely off the radio, I mean I don't know how many times I been like " Where did homegirl go who had that song about loving herself......." you get the picture.
Are we so misrepresented that people with the money and power to change the way women are perceived and identified wont invest in a real woman with talent first? Here is where I am completely confounded! Women in the industry have proven that real women with real life experience can sell and yet we are so invested in the sell out factor.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. I encourage you to check out the article @ https://www.venuszine.com/articles/music/features/3494/10_hip_hop_artists_to_watch

Do research on the women featured and support one another.

Holla Back

Aima