[ Artist site ] [ CDBaby site ] |
First, tell us about where you're coming from. What kind of life you live? Yejide: I'm coming straight from Brooklyn NYC. Born and raised here with a stint in Hollis & Laurelton, Queens. My lifestyle is quite unorthodox. I'm Muslim by nature with Rastafari tendencies, but I respect all methods of spirituality and denounce the 'business of religion'. I'm a single parent of two very intelligent and respectful youths and I concentrate most of my energy on raising them correctly. They know about Cannabis and know I smoke from time to time. My life is easy on the brain because I refuse to get stressed about money, clothes, relationships and other people's opinions of me. I'm not into advertising European designers. My style is a basically 'African-Native Indian Grunge'. Money will never make me do something morally wrong to attain it, even when I need it really bad. " I stay broke still I maintain my roots..." I'm enjoying me & my new found inr-chi, right now and when that right MAN comes through, he'll holla. Other people - they can love me or leave me alone. I see most love me and I love them right back. I've been through many hard times in my life and now, I am completing my cipher on a better note. |
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What inspires you artisitically? Yejide: My children inspire me to write the way I do (the lack of profanity, at least) and my parents inspire me to teach elders how we (the younger generation) do. Nature and Africa inspire me to be the 'artistic' me and find out who I am according to the universe and the studies of certain sciences. Major inspiration comes from the so-called artists who speak on things they know nothing about, the so-called righteous cats who want to pigeonhole positive artists and the youth who are conditioned to think knowledge, wisdom and understanding are irrelevant compared to material gain, money and sex...they inspire me to teach and show both 'real' sides of life, not the sensationalized life of a rapper, nor the constantly righteous 'underground' Hip Hop lyricist. Having been educated in criminal justice, what do you think are the most urgent problems within the U.S. justice system? Yejide: The US Justice system's first fault is thinking that the US has preference by God to do what they want when they want. This war is an example - diversion to get the oil from the Middle East, while controlling another country with a puppet government. The second problem is the racial composition of the criminal justice system as well as the rate of recidivism for repeat offenders. I see major problems with the fact that prisons don't rehabilitate but warehouse criminals, giving them no way to function upon their release. Many want to do the right thing by being law-abiding citizens, but if they don't learn a skill or vocation in prison, they have no choice but to survive doing what they know, which is illegal. And eventhough the world makes it's plea to release political prisoners, the US government thinks it has the right to ignore THE WORLD and do what they want. If the government is for us, then it should listen to us and act accordingly. How do you feel about the criminal-minded themes in hip-hop today? Why do you think those themes are so popular with the fans? Yejide: They don't bother me and I actually appreciate the balance. Everything is not happy go lucky. But when that's all I can get on the radio, on the video shows, everyday, every hour and the youth know every word and try to emulate these rappers, (men & women) it almost enfuriates me. The criminal minded way of life is so prevalent in our music that our youth feel they have to live up to the bad guy, drug dealer, womanizer or ho stereotype, which becomes motivation to live fast and be a good looking corpse. The themes are popular because in the predominantly brown inner cities where most of these stories happen, that's how it goes down, for real. Not everyone does it but most kids know who the local dealer, crackhead, thief, bootlegger, etc. is and they see what each one looks like and how much they got at the end of the day. Radio stations take pride in taking the money under the table to promote this music but you can't find Apani, myself, INI MLD, Duo Live, Stahhr the Femcee or C Rayz Walz on the radio. Parents don't monitor what their children listen to nor do they have control over their children like our elders had with us. The respect factor is GONE and it's evident in the videos and the lyrics. Some parents don't set examples for their children, especially when the adults are groovin to the music and not explaining that this is entertainment. Links: [ Artist site ] [ CDBaby site ] |
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