| Tuesday, 04 December 2007 | |
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FIFTEEN MINUTES WITH AMANDA DIVA
ANGEL: You’re touring, you’re recording and
doing many big things. How do you manage to do them all so well?
Amanda
Diva: I was
always kind of like just doing 9,000 things… like my mom always had me in a
bunch of different classes when I was growing up. I was never just taking
ballet; I’ve got to take ballet, tap, jazz, ice-skating… you know, go to school
and all that. So it’s just kind of like something I’m just really used to and I
was trained form an early age to learn how to multi-task. Because when you’re
an overachiever, but you’ve got 9,000 things going, you have to find a way to
make them things work. So, it’s just kind of crossed over into my adult life.
It comes in very handy.
ANGEL: You’re releasing a trio of EP’s
called The Experience
Trilogy, beginning with Life.
Is that correct?
Amanda: Yes.
ANGEL: That’s a very interesting and unique
idea. Could you explain why you chose to release your music this way and what
the concept behind The
Experience Trilogy is?
Amanda: Well, thanks for saying that it was
a unique idea, ‘cause I don’t like doing boring shit. I didn’t feel like I was
completely ready to bring people an album, just because I want to have more
experience, more money (laughs)…
more marketing and all that stuff for when I do that. But I also felt like I
didn’t want to do a mixtape ‘cause it’s such a disposable medium. And I was
like, “Well, damn… what’s in the middle of that?” You know, what’s in the
middle of that, but something that’s unique? And I thought of EP’s. And EP’s
used to be fairly common, you know? But folks don’t really do them no more so I
was like, “I think I can bring that back” and make it a legitimate form.
Especially since mixtapes right now have really fallen off in terms of their
ability to really make a wave.
Now, we have
a digital medium with the computer it’s like, you can do something like an EP
and still get the movement that you would want out of it, were it an album or a
mixtape. So I was like, “Yeah, I’mma do an EP”. And I felt like I needed to do
a trilogy because it’s not a full album. I wanted to do something that would
make folks want to be part of a growth process and be part of something that’s
coming together and watching it. So then it’s like, what can I do? ‘Cause I
didn’t just want to do something that each EP was separate, it needed to come
all under one umbrella and be cohesive. And I look at these EPs as steps in my
process to becoming completely full-fledged, immersed in the music.
This is
literally my introduction to people in terms of my first official product being
put in the marketplace, because I don’t really count mixtapes as like, official
product in the marketplace. It’s the introduction to me as a full-fledged
artist, and I think for some people they’ve known me as a poet, they’ve known
me as a radio personality, they know me as a TV host, but they don’t know me as
that. What better way to show them than through my own personal experiences?
Hence, The Experience
Trilogy.
So they get
my “Life Experience”; the first one is mainly songs that are coming from my
observations of what’s going on around me and how I’m looking at them. Then the
second is going to be called “Love Experience” and that kind of speaks for
itself. But, it’s not going to as basic as songs about loving somebody… I’m not
that corny (laughs).
The third one is going to be called “Live Experience”… it’s going to be all
live recordings.
ANGEL: That’s whassup. Musically and
artistically, what do you feel that “Life Experience” is going to contribute to
the hip-hop game, or the music game, in general?
Amanda: Well, I think that one thing that a
lot of people complain about is that the music nowadays is lacking a certain
level of depth. And it’s definitely going to bring that to it because there’s
nothing shallow about my life (laughs).
I’mma talk about it, it’s definitely going to have depth. I think there’s also
a certain level of artistic creativity that’s been lacking, especially in the
hip-hop world, and I’m definitely bringing that to the table. I’m not just on
beats rapping. My songs are arranged, I’m giving you vocal arrangements along
with the rhymes. It’s not just a regular sixteen bar verse, eight bar hook
format. There’s some uniqueness there to it… the beats are different.
At the same
time, I’d say the music is different but it’s not foreign. You can still get
it, you still rock with it. I always like to talk about stuff but I don’t want
to hit people in the head. So it brings topics to the table but in a manner
where it’s like, everybody can get it. You don’t just got to watch CNN; you
don’t have to be somebody who reads the Times every morning to get it. And as
just a woman in general, there really ain’t no female emcees out here these
days. That’s been a common complaint and observation that’s been made and I
really want to help bring that back to the fold and do that in a classy way.
ANGEL: So how did the Aphilliates
connection come about? When did you get down with them?
Amanda: Me and the boys… damn… that was ’05
which feels like nine years ago. I had known Drama because I met him when I
first interviewed (Lil’) Scrappy, and he was deejaying for Scrap before T.I.,
‘cause T.I. was in the bing at that time. So me and Dram got cool ‘cause I
would see them all the time, him and Scrap. Cannon and Sense came up to New
York and I met them and everybody just clicked.
This one
random time that they came to New York they just threw it out there… would I
want to be down with the team. And I was like, “Ya’all are just fuckin’ around
with me… whatever” (laughs).
And then Dram called me and he was like, “I’m serious, do you want to be part
of the squad?” and I said, “Hell yeah, let’s go”. And at that time I was
deejaying. I don’t deejay anymore, but I can if I need to. I was doing the
radio show. And that’s how I got with the team. I mean, those are my boys…
Cannon actually has a beat on the album.
ANGEL: Being down with The Aphilliates and
putting out mixtapes of your own, how do you feel about what happened to DJ
Drama and DJ Cannon earlier this year… with that whole piracy fiasco?
Amanda: You know it’s just really
frustrating to see the ridiculousness that goes on with our government and with
always trying to keep “urban”… I hate that term, but that’s how they coin it…
trying to keep urban mediums of creativity under manners, per se. I really feel
like that was a blatant attempt at the recording industry and the government
coming together to say, “You guys are making too much money without us getting
a piece”. It’s like… isn’t this America? Is this the American dream? The level
of hypocrisy involved with that type of movement is disgusting. But, those are
my boys and they were doing nothing wrong so they’re going to be completely
absolved of all their counts.
ANGEL: People always compare rap to poetry.
Some emcees even refer to themselves as “street poets”. In your opinion, is rap
and poetry really the same thing?
Amanda: It’s weird because I don’t consider
them the same thing… I consider them to come from the same mother. They’re like
brothers from another mother, it’s like fraternal twins. They’re from the same
egg but they look different and that’s how I look at rap and poetry. I mean, at
the base, you’re writing in the medium of rhymes and cadence and meter. So in
that realm, yes, they’re similar and of course they come from the state of mind
of… you know, the community of the disenfranchised and of the folks who have
been filched of their identity and use their words to speak for their
communities. So in those realms they’re the same, but then there’s certain
technicalities that are different.
In poetry
you define your rhythm. Whereas in rapping, you have to do that within the four
bar parameter and if you don’t, you can’t rap (laughs). I learned that. I had to find my
way to rapping, ‘cause I couldn’t always rhyme on-beat. I was just so used to
creating my own beat. Also, poetry doesn’t have the artistic confines that
rapping does, because it’s a musical medium. If you really are trying to do
music these days, there’s a certain level of business savvy that has to be a
part of your creativity whether you like it or not. Whereas within poetry that
doesn’t really exist, you say what the fuck you want to say.
ANGEL: You’ve really got rhyme skills. With
all the things you’re involved in, where do you find time to write such
intricate poetry and rhymes? Or are you like Jay-Z and Biggie and keep it all
in your head?
Amanda: I keep it in my two-way (laughs). I’m someone
where, when I get in writing mode I’m like Pac. I don’t stop and I’m a
workaholic. When I was working on the album, once I lock into that zone I’m
just writing, writing, writing. Whenever I go visit my mom in Florida and I
have that downtime where I can just be in one place and just chill I’m able to
just come home with thirteen different verses. Then those verses end up being
parts of songs and I shift and shape them to fit. I come up with hooks really,
really easily… so I’m very blessed with that ability to just, no matter where
I’m at, come up with something.
I feel just
like from being an artist and always having to multi-task as well I just found
myself always keeping my mind open to doing creative things, so wherever I’m
at, there isn’t a time and place where I have to be creative. If I’m I the
aquarium and something hits me I’m writing it down. There’s no time when it’s
not time to be creative.
ANGEL: How’d the gig with Floetry come
about?
Amanda: It was really random. Their
management and I have a mutual friend and the management expressed to the
friend that they wanted to find a replacement for Natalie (Stewart, of
Floetry). My friend, she suggested me and they reached out and within a month
we had tour dates and we were just on the road.
ANGEL: How’d the tour go?
Amanda: (Sinister
laugh) It was wild because the fans weren’t told before that
Natalie had left. So I was basically walking into a shitstorm every night.
Which was very unfair and I was really trying to avoid that but they didn’t
want to do press. It was tough at first because there were just a lot of folks
really just acting like I came booted Natalie myself. It’s like, no… she left.
When you’re on stage and people are like, “Get off the stage! We want Natalie”,
it’s tough. Especially when you know you have the ability. It’s not like you
suck. So, it was really very disconcerting at first to have to be faced with
that every night. And Marsha (Ambrosius, of Floetry) wasn’t fully convinced
either. I think it was really her management who really wanted to make it go
down so at the beginning it was like… I’m just lonely Amanda on that stage
trying to make it happen.
As an artist
that’s a tough place to be, ‘cause like Erykah (Badu), I’m sensitive about my
shit. But I would win them over every night, that’s the thing. I would win them
over, but that battle to win them over… whew… for the first week it was a
bitch. And then Wendy Williams was talking about it on the radio and that
really helped because it made people more abreast so that they’re coming to the
show now, like “let’s see what she’s about” as opposed to “what the hell?” It’s
a lot easier to win people over when they’re coming to check you out as opposed
to when they have no idea that you’re even there. So it was a very humbling
experience; also a big learning experience. It just taught me a lot about my
strengths, physically… just being able to sing every night. We did twenty-one
dates in twenty-six days. That’s not normal (laughs).
ANGEL: You were on the grind.
Amanda:
Definitely. And
I really didn’t know if my voice would be able to hold up, or my body for that
matter, and it did. But it was one of those confirmations where you’re like,
“I’m really supposed to be doing this” (laughs).
ANGEL:
And you and
Marsha, did ya’all get things together? Did you finally win her over, to a
degree?
Amanda: I don’t know if it was a matter of
winning her over, per se. I mean, I think that she really just was interested
in doing her solo thing… then this kind of popped up. I think for the duration
of the tour, after Atlanta, we came to a middle ground. And on stage you can’t
say shit because on-stage we just make it happen; we’re both very talented
women. You can’t take that away… like, I’m going to make a good show. It’s not
going to be about egos, it’s not going to be about anything but making a good
show. So in that respect, we were definitely able to make it make sense and
make it work. But I was always a solo artist and I’m very happy to be able to
working on my stuff and getting it out there for folks.
ANGEL: You’ve said in the past that hip-hop
is embarrassing. What made you say that?
Amanda: Hmmm… I may have been having a bad
day (laughs).
Hip-hop to me is embarrassing when the music is not living up to its potential.
And the way someone like me… who’s just so invested in the culture and its part
of the definition of yourself… you don’t want to see bullshit, ‘cause it feels
like it’s a reflection of you. And then you’re going to have to explain that to
people. When there’s a lack of certain artistic integrity and responsibility
it’s just embarrassing ‘cause it’s like… yo, give a damn about what you do.
‘Cause it’s not just affecting you it’s affecting a whole mass of people that believe
in this shit.
ANGEL: With that said, is there anything
you’d like to see change in hip-hop, whether it’s the actual music or the
industry?
Amanda: I would just like to see diversity
come back. There was once upon a time when you could hear Public Enemy, NWA and
A Tribe Called Quest on the same hour and it didn’t sound like this cacophony
of noise… it made sense. I would love to bring that back, not it’s kind of
like, you either hear strictly R&B or strictly down south. And I’m from the
south, but I still want to hear some variety. And it’s nice to hear folks like
Lupe and Kanye coming back to the fold and putting stuff out ‘cause it
definitely brings some variety and some uniqueness to the scope. It’s like,
“Wow! A beat without hi-hats and 808’s… look at that”. Like I said, I’m from
the South and I get down with some hi-hats and 808’s, but I also would like to
hear some different basslines, man (laughs).
Can I get a sample, please? So, that would be the number one thing. I don’t
ever want to take away from what’s going on, I just really want to add the good
stuff in it.
ANGEL: One last thing. I’mma just keep it
gully with you… you’re a straight-up dime; a real pretty lady.
Amanda: Wow! (laughs)
ANGEL: …Thing is, though, you’re not just a
pretty face. You have loads of talent. Since you’ve been in the industry, has
anyone ever tried to sell you on the idea of bypassing your talent and using
your looks, or your body, strictly to get ahead?
Amanda: Well, first off, thank you. Um… Hell
yeah. Hell yeah. I’ll never forget… I did a shoot for Smooth (magazine), right?
And though I’m a very big believer in like, “okay, you don’t have to sell your
whole body”… you can be classy and sexy at the same time… I will do a King
shoot, I don’t have a problem with that; I just won’t be showing my ass. So
when I did the Smooth shoot, I’ll never forget this… the night before I was at
Lotus. And the editor was like, “Yo, if you show your ass… if you wear a thong
I’ll give you the cover.” And I was like, “Nah, bro” and he was like, “Aw, come
on, don’t you want to get ahead? Don’t you want to do it for your career?” And
I was like, “How the hell is that going to help my career?” He was like,
“Because that’s how you get your face out there”. I said, “No, that’s how I get
my ass out there”. And I’m not really interested in folks knowing me for that.
I mean, I’m no slouch, but I’m not really trying to sell that. You know… If you
notice it, that’s on you.
ANGEL: Well, I can’t front like I’m not a
little disappointed about that cover, but I respect it (laughs).
Amanda: (Laughs)
That’s fair, that’s fair.
Amanda
Diva’s Life Experience
will be available online on 12.18.07. The album features Q-Tip along with
production by Clark Kent, Don Canon of the Aphilliates, Omen & Dub Z.
Visit www.myspace.com/amandadiva
for more music, videos and info on Amanda. |
