Bio Magazine's Article On DC's Own: Emperess

EMPERESS: ONE OF THE FEW FEMALE RULERS OF HIP HOP


By: Gwen "Melodics" Benavides

There are many female emcees I respect in the music industry, many of which I honestly don’t care for but I do consider their hustle. For instance, Nicki Minaj might not be one of my favorite female rappers, but I do appreciate certain tactics of hers. I have to give it to her; I mean she is doing her thing in the hip-hop world right now, but how long before more empowering female emcees make it to the top? I don’t know Nicki. Like I said, I respect you and all but you have to watch for these ladies climbing their way up. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting so many talented female emcees in the underground scene, from the tri-state down to DC, and it makes me almost never want to go back to listening to the radio.

I have a few favorites right now, but one in particular. This magnificent artist goes by the name of Emperess (yes, it’s with an “E”). She’s from DC but occasionally makes her way up to NY/NJ for shows every few weeks. I heard of her through many friends since they tweeted her mixtape links daily. I started following her, took a look at her blogs and checked out her bandcamp page. Shortly after, her EP was released around July, and I can honestly say it’s one of those albums you throw on constant repeat. Still, I haven’t met her but I was linking her mixtapes to everyone I knew. Yeah, I know, kind of bizarre, but I appreciate good music and shit like that needs to be re-distributed correctly. A few weeks later, I was able to meet her and not only does she make crazy music but she’s super awesome! I was automatically feeling her vibe and her energy is incredibly dope.

She has three albums/mixtapes out right now. The first one is called “Outside The Box” released June 2009, “A Verse A Day Keeps The Posers Away” released June 2010 and her EP “Fairy Tale World (FTW)” release July 2010. Her flow is just so natural, it seems like she just hops on the mic and words come out. Her creativity is phenomenal. She mixes hip-hop with alternative, she’s open to many genres and different types of music, and for that I appreciate her style. She has a song called “…Like This…” on her Fairy Tale World (FTW) EP and it’s the best 1 minute and 34 seconds you could experience in your life, well I’m speaking for myself at least. There are certain songs that take you back to a time or perhaps presently describe what you are feeling towards someone, and this is definitely the track for that. “Fly” feat. Myk Dyaleks of Brokn.Englsh, is one of those “yeah, I’m confident AND what?” type of songs. Both of them deliver extreme confidence in lyrics, vocals, and energy throughout the song, not to mention the beat takes you back to the 90’s. “Outside the Box” and “Fast Life” are those joints that make you wanna jump out your seat and pop, break, or randomly pull off a crazy dance. To mellow it down, “Passin’ Me By” (sampled from the Pharcyde) is definitely the track to do just that. I can honestly go on and write a separate write up for every single one of these songs, but I prefer you go on to her band camp page and experience the tracks for yourself.

In case you don’t know me I like to be quite random about things so I asked Emperess to answer three random questions:

Q: If you had to replay the same 3 songs forever what would they be?

A: 3 songs to replay forever...hmm...Searching - Roy Ayers, Watching Me - Jill Scott, and Sucka Nigga - ATCQ.

Q: First 3 things that come to your mind…anything, quick!

A: First 3 thoughts...this awesome brownie I just ate, my camera, and this EXTREMELY long road trip I'm taking as we speak.

Q: Name 3 things you can’t live without…

A: 3 things I can't live without...sour punch, my iPod, and Dennis (my camera).

So there you have it…Now you know a little bit about Emperess. I just want to tell the readers, sometimes it’s OK to step away from Hot 97 and Power 105.1, trust me I have plenty of music for you to hear that isn’t being played out over and over again. First is first, log on to http://emperess.bandcamp.com and download all three of her albums on there. If you want, you can listen to them first online and then download or share them. Then, hit up http://Dont4getTheE.blogspot.com and keep up with all her events and music. Oh and how can I forget, keep up with her photography! Yes, my girl is talented all around. I hope I have enlightened you enough to go out and support one of the many underground/indie female hip-hop artists that are putting excellence on the map.

Peace, Mad Love & Melodies

Melodics

Shout out to Bio Magazine & Gwen "Melodics" Benavides for putting together a great article. For more info on Bio Magazine, check here: http://www.biomagazinenyc.com


**HOLLYWOOD**