AMANDA DIVA: Hip-Hop’s Renaissance Woman
Posted by bigced on February 11, 2008
Written by Rahiem Shabazz
Monday, 11 February 2008
It is not often I get a call to interview someone who intrigues and provokes thought when it comes to hip-hop music. So I was elated when asked to interview the gifted rapper, anointed on-air personality and scholar Amanda Diva. Whether it’s an interview on Allhiphop.com, a commentator gig on VH1, an appearance on Def Poetry Jam or a performance on stage, Amanda Diva continuously wins the hearts and minds of the hip-hop culture.The gifted female rapper has been receiving nothing but glowing remarks from music critics. “Amanda is a fresh breeze…not only is her pen as sharp as OJ’s knife, but her storytelling game is up there with the best of them,” stated Scratch Magazine when examining the multi-talented rapper’s latest offering, “Life Experience.”
Amanda’s alluring female presence and congenial attitude makes everything she does seem effortless. But hard work and grinding are just two attributes of her success. On tour to promote the first in an EP trilogy, Amanda sat down with me to talk about hip-hop’s recession, her album and the embodiment of a Supawoman.
Briefly, describe the evolution of Amanda Diva in terms of your rap career.I grew up around my god-sister who was always a fan [of hip-hop], so that was like my first initial introduction. But I did not really become a B-Girl… Although, I think I was always a B-Girl. I just did not know until I went to SUNY-Purchase in 1999. In Orlando where I grew up, hip-hop at the time was just music and not a culture I was exposed to. When I got to SUNY-Purchase, hip-hop just spoke to me and from there it became poetry, writing and all the things that have lead me to being further emerged into the hip-hop culture.Out of all the elements of hip-hop — whether it’s hip-hop journalism, poetry, performing or just being an artist — which one do you hope to excel in more?I would have to say being an artist because I fought it for so long. I did not want that burden. When you are an artist, it’s like a beast of a burden. It’s a gift and a curse. Yeah, it’s great being on stage and having people moved by your words. But, if you are trying to be successful, the ratio is like 15%.Tell me about your planned EP trilogy? We just released ‘Life Experience,’ with the ‘Love Experience’ and ‘Live Experience’ sets to follow. This is the first of its kind.The current recession in the hip-hop economy is widespread in terms of records sales. What do you think artists can do to counteract the financially unstable market?Artists need to reassess how they make money. We have been slaves for awhile now. This is a time where we are being forced by necessity to take back ownership of our music. When there is more of a co-op between the fans and the artist, there is a stronger link there. The stronger your link is with the fans and the audience, you cannot go wrong.Is Life Experience, a peek into your life as you would like the world to see it?
I think any emcee worth their salt rhymes from that point of view. This album is not generally about my life, as much as it is about how I look at things because of certain experiences. ‘Brown Girl,’ for example, is a song that will empower brown girls to like who they are. It is not necessarily me telling the story of not liking who I was. It’s from the perspective of my life experience what us brown girls go through, so I wrote it for all the brown girls coming up.Switching gears a bit, you had a show on Sirius Satellite Radio for five years called “Breakfast at Diva’s” which ended in October. What do you think was the reason for Sirius letting you go?
I think in a nutshell people are more concerned with you working for them as opposed to you working with them. I think people feel threatened if you have your own ideas. It was a territorial situation; the typical crabs in the barrel syndrome. When I left there, I was getting hits from folks missing my commentary so I began DivaSpeakTV on YouTube to get people familiar and acclimated to who I am as a person. New episodes are uploaded every Tuesday at 6:00 PM so check us out.
When Natalie Stewart left Floetry you joined the lineup and went on a 20-date tour with Marsha Ambrosius. Initially, the crowd was not receptive but you won them over. Tell me about that experience and outcome.Wendy Williams talked about it for a week and the gay rumors began because of Floetry’s extremely large lesbian fan base. It was very controversial because no one knew Natalie left the group. So they would show up at shows like, ‘Where is Natalie?’ They’re looking at me and I don’t look a damn thing like Natalie. So they are looking like not only is Natalie gone, but we don’t know how this chick fits in the picture. How did that make you feel?At first I was a little bit miffed, but then I had to figure if Wendy is talking about me then that’s a good thing. I must be doing something right. The Floetry thing ended up not working out. Marsha led me to believe she wanted to do this and just decided to back out. Not giving me any word as to why. Without warning, she stops talking to me.Do you think the rumor mill got to her?I do not think there is any excuse for that type of action. We were on a bus for a month. When you are on a bus, it’s totally different from living with someone. When you live with somebody, you get to leave. On the bus, we had 3 to 4 hours to ourselves a day. You are in the hotel, you are at sound check, then you are at the venue, then you’re back on the bus. So there was some type of camaraderie between us.You have a song called ‘Supawoman’ that speaks about the alluring presence of a strong woman. A lot of people look to you as a ‘Supawoman’ and rightfully so. What advice can you offer to those who look up to you?
There are a couple of things. I think you have to really be grounded in who you are. I think that is something a lot of people do not get a chance to figure out or get the time to do. I was lucky enough to have a really good childhood. I got a chance to figure out who Amanda is. As an adult, I’m not dealing with any demons or past shit, which keeps a lot of people from getting settled into who they are. You got to work through it and figure out who you are or else people will always be able to take you down. If you are not grounded, someone will be able to pull the carpet from out up under you. You also got to know your strength and capitalize off of it.
