Speaker 1: Hey, b La Talk fifteen eighty. That's the Poetus on
the mic. I know, you know, but not only on
the mic. She's in the studio. She started on radio
at age five on KDAAM that was the sole station
back in the Bay and her dad was a DJ there,
popular DJ Johnny Morris. He's a well known engineer. She
followed in his footsteps, went to La got on the
air at Bailey broadcasting hip Hop Countdown Report, but also
obviously one of the early early West Coast MC's. I mean,
the bio is long, so we're gonna do it live
on the mic. Poet is good Morning.
Speaker 2: She's also the more Studios and also an old co
worker of Dominiques. Yes, indeed the old radio station we
were at together and a lot of people thought we
were the same person.
Speaker 1: Yeah they did. They used to mix us up. It
still happens, actually happened to me.
Speaker 2: I always get the Tupot credit and always oh man,
you were on Tupot. Nah, that was my girl Dominie.
Speaker 1: Interesting. Yeah, well, I don't know what they credit me for.
They always just they think I'm you. I had a
guy introduce me as you on the mic about six
months ago had a poetry slam. It's wild, right, and
it's like and with us tonight, ladies and gentlemen, the
poet is And I'm like, I love the poet.
Speaker 2: Is, but I'm not the poet.
Speaker 1: Okay, I'm not even a poetist.
Speaker 2: But you are.
Speaker 1: And you started you started doing poetry when you were
a little kid. Yeah.
Speaker 2: I wrote poetry at a very well, I guess about
eight or nine I started.
Speaker 1: And then you kept it going onto and you know,
an actual record deal.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I turned it into turned my poetry into lyrics,
got with Def Jeff, and the rest is kind of
history as far as my rap career. But I soon
got into radio again after that.
Speaker 1: So yeah, but I mean you made I think the
first time we met was me interviewing you for my
television in the Bay Area. Yes, as you know, when
you were on your wrap front. Yeah, how do you
feel when you hear that song? Now?
Speaker 2: I still think it's beautiful. It's my tribute to black men,
and I just love that song. It's like one of
my favorite songs on the album. The album is out there.
I did release it digitally a couple of years ago,
and you guys were speaking about Ai earlier. I said, hmm,
I can take the music out now and redo put
some new music up under their old album. But no,
I think the original album is great. A lot of
good producers that were starting out then that are doing
bigger things now.
Speaker 1: So yeah, you know, I when I listened back to myself,
you know, but way way back, I used to wrap,
I think, oh man, that sounds corny. But Alonzo Williams
was telling.
Speaker 2: Me that's the baby theory.
Speaker 1: You have to embrace it in the context of the
times that that was it. I can't expect it to
sound like you.
Speaker 2: Know, and there weren't a lot of I don't think
Bay Area female rappers at that time, so you were
kind of like at the forefront of that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but I never had a deal I did. I
shouldn't even say this. There is an EP out there
somewhar with me on it, but you actually signed to
a label and you know, toured and did the whole,
the whole thing.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was one of the first female rappers on Innerscope.
I was on a boutique label under Interscope just before
Death Row got there.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and that was people. It's you know again, it's
hard to put it in a context because it was
so different back then than it is now. First of all,
we didn't have so many artists at all period like
now you have hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of artists.
Speaker 2: Yeah. And the difference I think back then too, is
you had a variety to choose from. You had your
fun rap, you had your political rap, you had your
dirty rap. But now it all seems like kind of
the same.
Speaker 1: Do you think You don't think we still have all
those kinds of raps. They're just not getting played on
the radio.
Speaker 2: That could be.
Speaker 1: But I I mean, you know better than I do. You,
I mean, much better job of keeping out of what's
going on.
Speaker 2: I really don't, to be honest with you, with the
new music. I'm still stuck in the in the nineties
and eighties at early two thousands.
Speaker 1: Say that, But you got Anderson Puck and yeah, those
guys are great, Yeah, of course.
Speaker 2: But I mean in terms of the variety, I don't
see a lot of it now.
Speaker 1: Well, I you know, I always hope there is variety.
I see it. I don't track as much as I
used to at all, either, but I see it when
I go out, you know, to clubs or whatever, or
when I see when i'm when people send me stuff
sometimes online, when it comes to the radio or what's
you know, making the big playlists on Spotify. Yeah, there's
a lot of uniformity, and it's clear that the labels
are in control. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Well, I kind of feel like the artists now they
have more I think leverage when it comes to their
music now. Really, all the label is doing now is
just kind of giving you that extra push in terms
of marketing and uh and promotion.
Speaker 1: Maybe I should have said streamers, yeah, because they're really
the gatekeepers now right.
Speaker 2: Really, you can get your music out. It's the thing
now is marketing. You know, before you need it, the
producer you needed, the A and R person, you needed
this and that. But now it seems like those things
are obsolete and that it's it's all about the marketing now.
And a lot of times the labels, I feel, are
looking for people who already pretty much have a following.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I mean we just see that in the in
the entertainment business. You know, agents signing actors based on
their followers rather than their skills.
Speaker 2: That's the same thing with the same thing with hip hop, I.
Speaker 1: Believe that to be true. But I mean with the
fact that the streamers can manipulate who has sales and
who doesn't. That's the reason I say that I think
they are playing a gate care.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a good point.
Speaker 1: I mean you I think what you're saying is you
can still break through if you've got that you know,
if your little nas X and you got that following
and you know how to get attention in this digital world.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think so.
Speaker 1: So I want to you know, lately, even more than usual.
And this is really because when Bone Thugs and Harmony
got their star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, it
really made me start to think. And I was having
some conversations with some women that I know that were
around back then about the way that women's roles are
minimized in hip hop. I mean, I you know, Bone
Thucks and Harmony is a great group. They would have
been a great group no matter what. But you know
because you were there that you know, me and Mari
Alma were the ones that brought Eric too into the
beat because management wasn't trying to talk to him.
Speaker 2: And then from I remember when he first played bone
for me.
Speaker 1: Yeah, same, and I.
Speaker 2: Remember when he first brought them to the radio station.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, right, and that happened because me and Mari
Alma put him in touch with management. Then he got
the Ruthless radio show. Then he started playing whatever he wanted.
The point is that at that particular function, the people
that were there weren't even on the radio back then,
and those of us sitting at this table.
Speaker 2: It's always been kind of that way just through not
just in radio, but it's just pretty.
Speaker 1: Much no, not just radio. I'm not right about radio. Yeah,
talking about the entertainment industry, hip hop specifically. You should
have been there. I should have been there. The person
that was on the mic is a great radio host,
but he was working as a security guard at the
time that came out. The other person that they're giving
credit to wasn't even on the radio. The other station
wasn't even on the air. So you know, I'm not
a bitter person, but I feel like that is an
example of the way that women, particularly Black women, are erased,
and I don't want to sit here and let that happen.
While I have a microphone. I want to amplify the
roles that we played.
Speaker 2: Yes, I again, I think I also supported a lot
of artists. The good thing about me when I was
working at the Beat, the programming department really gave me
freedom to play what I wanted to play, and that
was rare. None of the other DJ's really had that luxury.
So I was able to break some records and play
what I thought the LA audience would like.
Speaker 1: So I feel, I mean ericat Easy had that luxury.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, no, the mix shows and the DJs the.
Speaker 1: Had that luxury, and a lot of times they still do, right.
Speaker 2: Not as much now everybody's got to play by a
playlist and it's corporate now, and then the mixed shows,
even the mix shows are controlled. Interesting.
Speaker 1: But anyway, to your point, you did have a lot
of freedom, and not just freedom, you had knowledge right
of knowing who to give a shot to, of knowing
who to call. And that's why I call you a
hip hop historian. I don't know if you call yourself that,
but I know you keep the receipts, you keep the interviews,
you keep all of the video. I don't a lot
of that stuff. I don't have it anymore.
Speaker 2: So I know I have an archive of interviews that
I've done over the last on to say, almost forty
years now since I started. I was just saying, how
wherever you saw me, you saw me with my recorder,
my camera or something. So I was able to document
a lot of the especially the West Coast hip hop
in general, but primarily the West Coast history. So I
had the opportunity to interview a lot of the legends
before they pass, like Mixed Master Spade and Roger Clayton
of Uncle Jam's Army. So and I will say, I
am so blessed to have been around during that time.
There's no way I would have wanted to be born
in the two thousand. The poet is is here.
Speaker 1: We got a lot to talk about. I got questions
she's got to answer. We're talking with the poet is
aka Felicia Moore. She's also the owner of Morris Media Studios.
She helps people learn how to do podcasts and she
produces podcasts.
Speaker 2: Actually, I think I should.
Speaker 1: Be mad at you because everybody's got a dog on podcasts,
and who knew that everybody wanted our job? I mean
even Barack Obama got a dog on podcast. Can y'all
go get another job and let us radio people have
the mic?
Speaker 2: Please? Right? Right?
Speaker 1: But you know.
Speaker 2: I think it's awesome also a good thing because people
can express themselves. A lot of people have stories to tell.
I really enjoy being in the podcast producer space.
Speaker 1: Do you ever get anybody that's just like, no, no, dude,
you do not have it Because some people really don't
need to have a podcast. I'm sorry, call me a broadcast.
Speaker 2: No. Yeah, I think those people don't get it. They
don't get it. It's like, you really have to know
who you're speaking to. You really have to have a
reason and a purpose for doing a podcast. Some people
do it because it's the end thing to do now,
and some people just like to hear themselves talk. But
it's really a good tool if you is.
Speaker 1: It right, Morrismedia Studios dot com.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so yeah, if.
Speaker 1: You're not boring, or you are boring and you're really
rich and you want to have a podcast, Morris Media Studio.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we'll get you in the right lane. We'll get
you not boring, right, We'll get you to where your
passion is and what you want to share with people,
because at the end of the day, when someone is
listening to your podcast, they're gonna want to know what's
in it for me. Am I being entertained? Am I
being inspired? Am I being educated about something? So it's
really a production just like your show, Just like any
radio show. It's a production that you have to spend
time and you know, commit to.
Speaker 1: Funny forensic accounting two five nine says, as much as
I love him, Kevin Hunter worked the hell out of
the industry on Wendy Williams career, Dominique, who's your Kevin?
You belong to the Radio Hall of Fame just as
much as she, Yes, you do, thank you. But I've
never had a manager, I've never had an advocate, and
you know, Easy helped me when we first got here
a little bit, just as a friend. But you know,
I've been in these radio entertainment streets out here by myself,
and I'm very very grateful that I've been able to
work continuously and do what I love to do every
day on the mic. You know, would I like to
have more money, Yes, Would I like to have a
national platform, absolutely.
Speaker 2: And all those things are still possible, Dominique. What you
had that others don't as longevity you have you have?
You know, your name is known everywhere nowadays. People last
five minutes. You don't know even And that goes for
the music too. I was listening to Shout Out to
DJ Battlecat. He was spending the other night somewhere and
just the music he was playing was just so bomb.
And I say, you know what, there's no really no
music today. I'm not going to say all music, but
some after they may last a week or two, would
never beyond a year. You know, well, but there is
there is hope for R and B music.
Speaker 1: I'm not going to co sign that because I feel
like there are talented m c's. But I understand what
you're saying, not not, I mean.
Speaker 2: We're not making classics. I would say less classics. Name
a new artist that you can still remember their song
from last year, a year before last. I mean J Cole, Well,
he's an except I love by the way, yes, and
I'm already I'm like on his older album.
Speaker 1: I mean, yeah, there's somebody I'm not arguing. I'm not
gonna argue rap with the poems because she knows way more.
No you do to you, I do, I do.
Speaker 2: It's an opinion.
Speaker 1: So but you know, I was asking you how you
feel hearing your music. Now I'm glad you still love it.
You were definitely one of the first on the West
Coast to record and tour and be signed, right.
Speaker 2: Can you do you think that? Is this just me?
Speaker 1: Do you think that women get the credit for the
roles that we played in the industry back then, whether
it's as artists as you know, in front of the
mic or behind the mic, because you've worked in both capacities.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't think women get as much credit because
we are behind the scenes. Well, a lot of us
that are making power moves are behind the scenes. And
it just it's just it's just when I was first
starting out young and didn't know nothing, I was like,
what is sexism? I ain't experience sexism while I'm doing
what I do, and I was doing what I do.
But as it got older and more knowledgeable, I go, oh, okay,
had I been mail, this would have been this way
or that way things would have been. Even now, dealing
with clients and people that I associate with, it's just
the whole different thing when they're dealing with a woman
versus a man. And I'm a tough cookie, I don't play.
I do things for the most part my way. But
I don't think women get the credit that they deserve
for all the things. Just imagine pulling women out of
let's say just the entertainment business or music business. Would
there be a Jackson five? You know, you got to
think of Susan d Pasz. You got to think about
women that were behind the scenes, that were making stuff happen.
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, you know. And it's not just credit. Some
of it is opportunity. I mean, you're you're braver than
I am because you to hang out more, you know,
and you know, create more friendships with other with artists
and stuff in the industry. And I I always felt,
you know, alike at a disadvantage because if you did that,
you got to be a tough cookie like you. And
I'm you know, I don't know if I am a
tough cookie.
Speaker 2: You are.
Speaker 1: I can be, Yeah, don't mistake my kindness for weakness,
for sure are. But as far as you know you
hang out, it's like, well, why are you here? Are
you an artist? Are you somebody's girlfriend? Are you a groupie?
And whereas if you're a man hanging out there, you're
just one of the fellas, And a lot of industry
opportunities come out that way, right, You're hanging out there,
kicking it, they're smoking a blunt, they're doing this, they're
doing that, and they're building and somebody gets a job
and somebody gets an opportunity, and a lot of times
we're not in those spaces because I'm not trying to
be labeled as a groupie or a hoe or somebody's
girlfriend or you know, and I'm not an artist, so
I don't have that is really down to let me
I'm a writer.
Speaker 2: It's really how you carry yourself to like if you
walk in a room and you have like this, you
you know, command respect about yourself, that you're carrying yourself
and that you're not like chasing these guys or whatever.
It's really how you carry yourself. Because I've been in
spaces where I was warned before I got there. Like
when I worked temporarily for MTV, they sent me out
to interview Lil Wayne, but they gave me this warning like, oh,
he's this, he's that, be careful whatever, whatever, and so
but when I got there, he was like one of
the most respectful artists that I've ever interviewed. So it's
really how you carry yourself. You know, when you walk
into a room.
Speaker 1: Okay, we can do a whole show on that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's how I feel like. And then you command
your respect. It's like they can think what they want
to think. But if you're there to do a job,
you're there to do a job.
Speaker 1: Yeah, if you're there to do a job, you're there
to do a job. But if you're there hanging out,
you might get a job and you were just hanging out,
that's my point.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, if you're just hanging out, that doesn't got
your limits.
Speaker 1: But what I'm saying is that's part of the glass ceiling,
because you're less likely to be hanging out. You know,
you might get invited for other reasons, or you might
not get invited. I'm not I guess I am complaining,
but I'm not bitter. I just see that as a
reality of the industry. And as someone who has been
as you well know, you know, a survivor of a
sexual assault in the context of the industry, perhaps that
made me give me a little shell shock about putting
you know, whether I command it or not, putting myself in.
Speaker 2: Well, I'm sorry that happened to you, Domini. I really
am sorry.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but that's it, and I don't like to make
it seem like the reason I bring it up is
not because oh woe is me. But if you're getting
into this business and you think it happens, it's not
all good. It's not all good.
Speaker 2: I love my job. I love the business.
Speaker 1: But yeah, understand that that you know.
Speaker 2: Happens, and you gotta be careful and you got to
be aware of what people's motives are. Yeah, you know,
no doubt, no doubt.
Speaker 1: Potus is here. I want to talk about some of
the titans, some of the movers and shakers in the
hip hop industry, especially women, but all of us on
the West Coast k BLA Talk fifteen eighty. The Poetus
is here. We are talking hip hop, and we're talking
about your career and women in hip hop. These are
all things that I just I feel like while I'm
on the mic, I gotta keep saying this stuff because
no one else will, at least not anybody that was
there to witness it like you were and I was.
So do you think are you on team hip hop
has a birthday? Like? Do you celebrate August elect Because
I don't. I think hip hop. I think every day
is hip hop's birthday.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I also feel it that's New York's birthday with
my last birthday, you know, because really a lot of
people don't know when New York was giving these basement
and backyard and park parties. So was the West Coast
thank you, you know.
Speaker 1: Thank you because I was at those, you know what
I mean with the linoleum and the card yes, and
the you know, little drinks and bags.
Speaker 2: Yes. I just think that I don't know if we
can actually pinpoint a day where someone named it.
Speaker 1: I'm not trying to hate on cool Herk. I just
feel like hip hop was like mushroom spontaneously popping out
of the ground all over US. I do believe it's
the US black phenomenon. I know that there were Latinos
and Asians there from day one contributing. I'm not hating
on that. I saw it with my own eyes. But
I just I don't know this idea that on this
day and this one project, well, they.
Speaker 2: Probably have to do that really for marketing, for you know,
capitalism whatever.
Speaker 1: Miles likes it because it's his birthday, you know, August eleventh,
So I.
Speaker 2: Get that, but I'm mad at that.
Speaker 1: But like, to me, what is your hip hop origin?
Story is the better question.
Speaker 2: My hip hop origin story began when I moved to
LA in nineteen eighty five. I met this female rapper
named Lisa Love. She was the backup singer for the
LA Dream Team, but they didn't allow her to like
really do her skills. I mean, she was Puerto Rican
sister from New York, but she rapped like no other.
I was just like blown away when I heard her rap.
And so I was writing poetry at that time, and
so her and I we're gonna get together and write together.
And unfortunately she passed away before we had the opportunity
to do that, and so I just kept on, you know,
writing and you know, rapping. Of course I was horrible
back then, but Jeff helped me home my s no ugly.
Speaker 1: Babies, No ugly babies. I love that. I got that
from Alonza Williams. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, because it was
what it was.
Speaker 2: Yeah. So my origins began in mid eighties sort of,
you know, where I really started getting interested in the scene.
And then by that time, when I moved out here
from the Bay Area, you had people like Egyptian Lover,
LA dream Team and Uncle Jam's Army and world class
record crew, they Toddy T mixed Master Space. They were
all doing their thing when I got out here, And
when I came here from the Bay Area, I really
literally just jumped in the mix because my dad was
already on the air out here on KGFJ and I
got into the mix earlier. And I just feel like
I'm glad I got into hip hop at the time
that I got into hip hop. And so my origins
begins when I met a sister named Lisa Love, and
she inspired me to want to become a rapper. Yes,
and she was so dynamic. And then I teamed up
with Deaf Jeff and he kind of was my mentor
and helping me. Yep, I still talk to Joff. Shout
out Deaf Jeff. Shout out to Deaf Jeff.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Okay, So we were talking. We've been talking about
the industry and a little bit how women get I
would say, erased in ways that we should not. And
you mentioned, you know, Lisa Love and how she helped
you and you helped her. But we were also talking
off the mic about how sometimes it can be tough
the way women are pitted against each other or the
way they pit themselves against each other.
Speaker 2: Or they'll say we already have a female rapper in
our group, or that was kind of like how the
labels were too back then. They'll sign one female rapper
and right, that's it.
Speaker 1: We have our black women, thank you very much, and
we only need one.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, So and then we kind of were talking
about how, you know, sexism also exists between each other,
like there's times where females don't support each other like
they should.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and that's not just in hip hop, but it's true,
that's an entertainment business and business.
Speaker 2: But there are some supporters. I mean, I have some
great female mental so I don't want to say, you know,
there's not that either. Right.
Speaker 1: My take on it is that the sisterhood is real.
You know, you and I have supported each other over
the years, and there's many other women that have open
doors for each other. But I think we're groomed to
not do that. Right. It's the reality TV of it all.
It's the Real Housewives of hip hop. It's the you
know the spectacle of women fighting and cat fighting, and
so I like to talk about it from that perspective
of we don't have to buy into that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, we don't. We do not. I've maybe had
a few female haters that I can think of off top,
but for the most part, I've had a great sisterhood.
I've had some great female mentor shout out to Legie
a lot who gave me my first intern gig at
RCA Jive Records, and also to Kathy Hughes. A lot
of people, you know, have things to say about her,
but I have nothing but respect and a good friendship
with her. Oh I'm so glad to hear that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, next topic, Okay, you know I did work with
for miss Hughes when I was on Steve Harvey Moore.
And that's the thing, is like that she is a
radio pioneer.
Speaker 2: Yes, And I'll say this, she probably had to do
and I'm gonna I'm not just saying her she had
to fight and do what she had to do to
get where she is now. And I'm sure she fought
because she started I think maybe in the early eighties
she started a company.
Speaker 1: If I'm not mistaken, it might have been before that. Yeah,
but yeah, No, she was in radio because she was
at Howard and all.
Speaker 2: I just think she she had to go through to
get where she is now. In a male dominated situation.
Speaker 1: I agreed, And you know what, I admire her for that.
I think that the important thing for me is that
we yeah nineteen eighty you're right, Radio one started Urban
one now October third, nineteen eighty boom. Yeah. She was
an historian. Yeah, and I get that. I just refuse
to you know what, I'm not going to say that.
I'm going to I'm going to keep it classy. Yeah, well,
you keep it classy.
Speaker 2: The other thing, too, is like you can't let being
a woman being an excuse for not succeeding. Like we
can say easily that we were hated on or discriminated,
but we have to find a way to get passed.
Speaker 1: No, I don't think it should be an excuse either.
But what I'm trying to do is shine light on
those who did the work, who are doing the work,
because to me, that's the remedy. You know, whether you
made it or you didn't make it, that's subjective. The
question is if you did the work, are you getting
the credit right?
Speaker 2: And so that's so that's what I'm talking about.
Speaker 1: I'm not talking about being embittered or going oh I
would have been you know, Charlemagne the Goddess. If it
wasn't for these sexists, well, if that's not what God
had that, if that wasn't my assignment, I do believe
my blessings have my name on them. But I do
like to shine the light we were talking about. Jacqueline
Anderson says, miss my bro general Jeff when it comes
to hips.
Speaker 2: Yes, indeed, and he raised me not only just a
hip hop pioneer, he was actually a very outspoken homeless advocate.
So I love me some General Jeff. Yeah, rest in
peace too soon.
Speaker 1: So on that note, we were talking.
Speaker 2: In general Jeff. By the way, for y'all they don't know,
was part of rotteno in Joe Cooley.
Speaker 1: Right right right right right before he turned before he
turned into a dedicated homeless activist and sort of stepped
away from the hip hop world. Poetus is here when
we come forward, I want to shine a light on
some women that we think deserve more respect. I mean
Kathy Hughes's legendary. People do know her. She has created
a radio empire in as you say, a man's world,
so we give her respect for that. But I think
most people know about miss Hughes a radio one, But
there are some folks, and we won't get to all
of them, but I want to shine the spotlight on
at least a few that should get more love. We're
doing that all morning because Poetus is here.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, yeah, you're.
Speaker 1: Listening to Klap fifteen to eighty. Felicia the poetis Morris
is here. You can find her at Morrismedia Studios, Morris.
Speaker 2: Media, morrismediastudios dot com. You can find me at og
poetis on Instagram and on Morris Media Studios, also on Instagram.
If you are looking to even if you're just thinking
about a podcast, hit me up on an email. I
do do free discovery calls where we can just hash
out your idea. Email me at contact at morrismediastudios dot com.
Even if you've just been thinking about it and trying
to decide if it's the thing you want to do,
let's talk about it.
Speaker 1: Okay, all right, all right, stop looking at me.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 1: Before we do some shout outs here to women that
deserve it, I have to ask you the question that
I've been pondering, which comes first, the hip hop or
the politics? Does the politics influence the rappers? In other words,
the activists on the streets and or those lawmakers, or
is it the artists and the hip hop movement and
the music that's influencing the politics.
Speaker 2: I definitely think it's the politics influencing the rappers, because
I remember, like back in the late eighties early nineties,
we had a lot of political rap. I even considered
n WA to be a political group, even though some
people think otherwise. But we pretty much reported what was
going on in politics, especially like with Public Enemy, they
always talked about Bush and things of war and things
of that nature. So I think hip hop was sort
of a reflection of what was going on politically at
that time.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, in many ways still is whether you
like what's going on or not as much.
Speaker 2: Though I don't hear very many artists talking about Trump to.
Speaker 1: The good to the bad. I mean, I'm talking about
like Nicki Minaj going all up in under his coat
tails and people seeking pardons and such. So we might
not think of it, you know, necessarily always on the
positive side, but it's still embedded in the in the
political world.
Speaker 2: Yeah. And I just was mentioning to you because we
were talking about women women's roles, and I want to
shout out to all the black women fighting in Washington
every day that are just you know, standing tall and
strong and just forced to be reckoned. With a shout
out to all the black women officials and politicians.
Speaker 1: Summer Lease, the Maxine Waters is, the Ayanna Presley's Yes
we see.
Speaker 2: You, Jasmine Crockett, AOC, all of them that are just
standing up to the man, not the man, the man
poet is.
Speaker 1: Okay, let's let's do some you know, we don't really
do shout outs, but let's do some shout out. I mean,
one one such I would say is Sheena Lester, who
happens to be one of your best friends. Yes, but
she's one who's been in hip hop for many years
and I think probably doesn't get the shine she should get.
Speaker 2: No. Sheena was the editor in chief of Rap Pages
back in the early mid nineties, and she really was
one of the most ethical people that I met and know,
because I know at that time people were paying for
magazine covers and that kind of sort of thing with
other hip hop magics.
Speaker 1: Right back when, back when the record labels used to
have a lot of money, they used to throw it
around right people.
Speaker 2: They used to be having pies. They would send me
out to interview people out in different states. I loved it,
but Sheena didn't play that. She You had to earn
the cover, you had to earn the story. I remember
she did a review and she didn't personally. She hired
writers to do a review, and someone gave an unfavorable
review to Tupac and he called our house. We were
roommates by that time, and he called and left a
threatening message on our voicemail. I think we still might
have that that little mini cassette somewhere with that message
on it. But yeah, he called and threatened Sheena because
he got an unfavorable review.
Speaker 1: And of course she's still writing and doing her thing.
Speaker 2: Yeah, she's editing. She's still one of the top editors
in the business. She's worked went on from Rap Pages
to work with Hip Hop three sixty when Russell's Women's
put that out. She also worked a Vibe and and
The Grio and a bunch of other publications. So I
would say editing is her passion. But she's also passionate
about black brewers, so she's kind of moving into that
that lane of supporting black brewers. What a name.
Speaker 1: A couple other women that you think are underrated and
or don't get the shine. They shouldn't dominy. Yay, Okay,
thank you girlfriend.
Speaker 2: Think about that one.
Speaker 1: I think about a Cassandra Ware that was her name
from Ruthless Records. She did a lot of work there
building a label, worked with Easy Yes, but she don't.
I didn't see her at the Hollywood Walker firm Harborer.
Speaker 2: I just haven't seen her in a while.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm not sure what she's up to, but she
she was a vice president at Ruthless.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, I will say this, live your passion, do
your passion, and don't worry about getting the credit. I mean,
it's what is credit at the end of the day.
Is that gonna? I mean, I'm not saying everybody wants
their credit and they're just due, but a lot of
us get caught up on I can get my props,
you don't.
Speaker 1: No one wants to be a bitter old pioneer. I'm
not saying that, right, but we have the mic, so
let's show.
Speaker 2: But yeah, I I'm trying to think, like, really, I
know that Sheena was one that was instrumental in writers.
Speaker 1: You know, Danielle Smith. I guess she gets a lot
of love.
Speaker 2: She could get more.
Speaker 1: You know, she's from the baby no getting no comment.
Speaker 2: She hated on my girl, so yeah, t T.
Speaker 1: But she's an other writer, y so someone who was
there in the early days and that she was indeed.
Speaker 2: Her just do props to so but yeah, m hmm.
Speaker 1: Okay, Well we only have a minute and a half here,
but I since we're not gonna do a shout out
list what.
Speaker 2: I wasn't prepared and sometimes I'm not that great off
the top of the head, but I do want to
shout out all the women that have encouraged me. Shout
out to my mom and and the women that gave
me opportunity. And maybe I'm out of like a block
now because we were and always have kind of been
in a male dominated field. So any like major moves
or promotions for me were done by men. Unfortunate.
Speaker 1: All right, I'm not mad at that, but but you
still unprevailed. Okay, So I we only have thirty seconds,
so I can't I was going to ask you how
you were feeling about this Tupac trial happening now, but
we don't really have enough time. You can give me
just one sentence for reaction. If I just think it's
it's a circus at this point. I mean, I think
all of this information was known back when he first
passed away, So why are we dragging this out?
Speaker 2: What is it thirty years? Forty years now?
Speaker 1: Yeah, so the question is what are we doing? It's
thirty I think. Okay, yeah, so what are we doing?
Speaker 2: Yeah? Yeah, okay, good, Remember to hit me up at
og poet Is and Morris Media Studios if you're thinking
about doing a podcast. That's what we do all day,
every day.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, I mean, actually we did pretty good. We
still got another minute if you want to say something else. No,
but that was kind of my reaction. And Miles Stt
was talking about why now, you know, just in turn
time for you know, the thirtieth anniversary and all this
marketing type stuff, and my thing was I felt kind
of so I'm hoping that I'm just not jaded, but
I think hearing you say that, maybe that's it's like, yeah,
if you have been doing for the past.
Speaker 2: Three decades, well known knowledge over the decades, it's like
this is not new, you know. And so and again
I feel bad because I didn't run down my list,
but well, there's a lot of women have to come back,
a lot of women out there. You got work, you
got instruments. So thank you for your work and all
the crap you had to put up with. All right, but.
Speaker 1: Here we are still standing, still thriving, still working in
the business. God bless yes, God bless America.
Speaker 2: And thank you always being support of Love you, sis I,
love you more.
Speaker 1: All right, News, traffic and sports, and then we're going
to talk about a mystery that was not thirty years
in the making, the strange and curious case of Black Maga.
That's next on KBLA Talk fifteen eighty