Andrea Lewis is a talented singer/songwriter/actress (but not necessarily in that order) out of Toronto who is definitely on the rise. You may have seen her on Degrassi: The Next Generation (yes, with Drake) but she has also appeared in Down in the Delta,The Natalie Cole Story and more.
These days, Andrea has been working more on her music. She currently has an album out entitled, 5 4 3 2 1, that is funky, soulful and fresh. She has been touring the world and basically just having fun while living out her dreams. She also has a sketch comedy website entitled Those Girls Are Wild, where she shows that pretty girls don’t have to be prissy, prim, proper and uptight all the time, and that it’s ok to be down to Earth and have fun (life is better that way).
Speaking of fun and being down to Earth, she took some time out of her busy schedule on a trip to New York (back in February) to meet up with me in Brooklyn! We met up at a cool Mediterranean spot called Miriam. I kicked it with Andrea and some of her friends from T-Dot and let me just say, we had a ball. But anyway, watch the video after the jump and get to know her for yourself.
If the name Vikter Duplaix doesn’t ring a bell, you’ve probably still heard his music. The DJ, singer, songwriter, producer and instrumentalist and has worked with Jill Scott,Erykah Badu, The Roots, Faith Evans, Teddy Pendergrass and more.
The Philadelphia native also found time to release his own albums. His third studio LP, Love Machine drops in January but in the meantime, you can catch him on Centric’s DJ competition, Smirnoff Presents: Master of the Mix, where he competes with other professional DJs to showcase his crown pleasing skills through a series of various challenges.
GangStarrGirl.com caught up with him to chat about his new project, doing reality TV and the elements that make a good dj.
This is the last installment of my chat with Jessica Estevez of iHeartDilla.com. Here we talk about so-called tastemakers taking payola to promote artists, women in hip-hop and how Jessica got into J Dilla. Make sure you check her out at www.BlackWeblogAwards.com and vote for her for “Best Music Blog.” Tomorrow is the last day to cast your votes!
Admittedly, I’ve never been a Trina fan. I was always indifferent because I just never clicked with her music enough (with the exception of a song or two). However, she has been the most consistent femcee with a major deal in the last decade as far as putting out consecutive music. I’ve discovered throughout my journey as a writer that people’s personalities help tremendously. I got the chance to interview her for nearly an hour last week because she guest edited VIBE.com on Friday. We talked about her fitness plan, she gave us a girl power playlist, she revealed how she dealt with the embarrassment of her stolen phone pics getting leaked and she also talked about her use of the word “bitch” and broke down her new single, “My Bitches.” If you’ve heard the song (or any of her music) then you know she uses the word as a positive. What stood out to me the most about her was how unapologetic, friendly and confident she was. She has a beautiful aura and I hope to interview her again. I secretly (but not so secretly, anymore) want to write someone’s autobiography (I’m trying to be like Aliya S. King). Maybe she’ll be the one, but I digress. In the meantime, I’ll dig up some of her old music and give her the chance I never did.
The million dollar question seems to be where are the women in hip-hop, but they’re hiding in plain site. Get to know Bless Roxwell, an MC and entrepreneur, and Cynical Smith a filmmaker, Duck Down affiliate and an entrepreneur. These women created their own lanes when the typical paths wouldn’t open. They talk about why women aren’t getting mainstream love and how we can start getting respect in hip-hop again.
Hip-hop is a culture. There’s so much more out there to see and discover than what people confine themselves to and that’s why I asked them to do this video. I appreciate them for submitting this and simply being dope creative beings.
Women like them inspire me. And I will continue to recognize not just them, but anyone who is passionate about their art. Rock on ladies!
I’m proud of him. Contrary to what some “tastemakers” on the web may believe, I did one of his first interviews back in 2008. But I’m off that Kanye ish (had to have a moment lol). Anywho, he recently signed to Warner Bros records and just dropped his album first album with them entitled, The Futher EP. Go cop that.
Nikki D was the first female rapper to get a record deal with Def Jam. Most of you may remember her from popular singles like “Daddy’s Little Girl,” and “Letting off Steam.” I caught up with her a couple of months ago to ask her the million dollar question which has become quite the cliche in hip-hop. Check it out:
She recently did an interview with XXLamg.com discussing how she felt about being snubbed by Hip-Hop Honors, based on a video blog she posted on FaceBook where people got the impression that she had beef with Foxy Brown. That’s not the case so stop instigating.
She told XXL:
“I felt like I should have been there as well. I felt like [West Coast rapper] Boss should have been there… Boss is the second female rapper signed to Def Jam. Foxy’s like the fourth. You got other women that were on that brand before. And I felt like that was a disrespect to everybody. I couldn’t vent for Boss and I couldn’t vent for BWP so I vented for myself. I [don’t] want people to think I was bitter. I wasn’t bitter at anything. I’m not mad that I’m not on the label. I’m not mad that other female rappers came out after me. I embrace the whole roster thereafter. I embraced every person that came including Foxy Brown, who turned out to be a really nasty bitch in the end. I was never a hater. I just wanted to make sure people knew my place ’cause I really worked hard to find that place. That was my mission after high school—to become the first female rapper on Def Jam. I was so passionate about it and everybody around me knew that so when I didn’t even get an invitation it just really pissed me off.”
The interviewer went on to ask her about what she thought of female emcees in the game now and she added:
“There aren’t any out! Who’s out? You mean, Nicki Minaj? That’s not a rapper. That’s a girl with her ass on the screen. Nice hairdo and she’s saying some things but she’s not a rapper. She’s not an MC. She’s an artist. She’s an entertainer. There’s a difference. She can go out there and open her mouth and say whatever but people ain’t listening to her. They looking at her. And rapping is about the skill. It ain’t about your fat ass. It ain’t about your set of titties. It ain’t about that long-ass weave.”
I’m not mad at Nikki. Making a female rapper successful is one of hip-hop’s biggest conundrums (and everybody has a different opinion) but what she’s saying makes sense. Nikki D is from a different era when rappers–male and female–were all about respect on the mic, and when it came to femcees, they were counterparts to the men as opposed to objects (hence Gucci Mane’s “5 Star Chick” and countless other songs).
In case you’re wondering what she’s up to, she’s doing well as a business woman. Once she parted ways with Def Jam she began a career as a marketing consultant. If you’re a woman trying to get into the rap game, you should reach out to her. It’s going to take the support of other women for the ladies to get respect again.
Pearl Bailey, Dorothy Dandridge, Lena Horne and Diahann Carroll were pioneering women in entertainment history who turned every creative project they touched into silver. They were beautiful, elegant and known for being triple threats—singing, dancing and acting with all their hearts and souls. Their ambition, charisma and charm gained followers worldwide, and created legacies that will never be forgotten. But in today’s entertainment world, divas are known for being mired in controversy, meaning, they tend to become famous for being party girls who clutter tabloid pages with drunken and drugged debauchery. However, 19-year-old starlet Katerina Graham is a beacon of light amidst the gloomy backdrop.
“I’m trying to have old fashion values about the way I approach my career,” muses Graham. “I hope I can be a good role model because there’s not that many positive young female stars out there.”
Born in Geneva, Switzerland to a Liberian father and a Jewish-Russian mother Graham relocated to Hollywood with her mom when her parents split by age six. From there, she started appearing in commercials thus, her passion for entertaining was born, and she is now on the road to taking over the entertainment world one craft at a time.
In hip-hop, the most fascinating thing next to beef is usually the “First Lady” of the crew. But few lady starlets have been as elusive as Starr, the leading lady of Skull Gang. Every now and then she would pop up on a Juelz Santana hook or on a hood mixtape and pique everyone’s interest, but then she’d disappear again. In December the 22-year-old Harlem native appeared on Juelz Santana’s “Jingle Bellz,” and she also sang in Jim Jones’ Hip-Hop Monologues, leaving people wondering when she was going to do her own thing. The time has come. Her new single, “RockStarr” ft. Juelz Santana and Lil Wayne is buzzing online and on New York City’s top urban radio stations, but we still don’t know who she is. That’s why GangStarrGirl.com decided to get to know the woman behind the voice. Introducing Starr, the First Lady of Skull Gang.
