Mala Reignz

Wednesday, August 06, 2008


B-GIRL MEMOIRS: ROCK STEADY CREW’S 31ST ANNIVERSARY BY KATHY IANDOLI
Current mood: focused


By Kathy Iandoli

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I was born a few years after the birth of the Rock Steady Crew. That makes me too young to remember the "good ol' days," but old enough to remember some fine moments. As I grew older and Hip-Hop started to suck, I gravitated toward the purer aspects of the culture [i.e. Rock Steady Crew] and became an avid attendee at the annual anniversary.
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Then a few years back something happened. I remember it was Nas' remix for "Where Are They Now?" that began the downward spiral for me. I remember listening to both of those two hour remixes and asking myself, "Das Efx? What are you doing now?" I thought a more appropriate remix would've included verses from these retired emcees on what they really are doing now. Do they have healthcare? How about 401K?



What does a retired MC do if they only had one hit during an era of being quietly pimped by record labels and artist management? I started to view the Rock Steady Crew Anniversary as a haven for these artists to beat their chests about how different Hip-Hop is these days and how many people think "Hip-Hop is Dead" but they're wrong, because it lives in annual festivals where one song from the '80s gets you a spot on stage. That was my frame of mind for the past three years. I still showed up every year to roll my eyes though, and would announce "this was my last year attending."



So the Rock Steady Crew turned 31 this year. I figured, okay why not show up. That and I had to cover it (laugh out loud). I headed into Brick City, NJ with an open mind. The air was humid, the clouds were teasing us, and the sun was playing peek-a-boo. Crazy Legs – the legendary face and President of the Rock Steady Crew – makes his way through the crowd to speak to everyone he can.



These pint-sized Japanese girls called the G3 Crew got on stage. They were clad in neon camouflage with t-shirts sporting their G3 name. Imagine being the best dancer you could ever be. Add in Ciara's matrix, whatever it is that Chris Brown does, and then the best of b-boys and b-girls. These girls still danced better than that. When they came off the stage, one of them was in tears she was so happy. Their manager was crying. It was really emotional. Even grown ass men about to rap were teary eyed. The next generation had just hopped off the stage.



Then the rain came. Oh good. It wasn't rain rain; it was hurricane rain. Rappers still performed, dancers still danced. Even fans played around in the mud. It was like Woodstock. Then the rain stopped. Go figure. The A.O.K. [All Out Kings] collective came on, led by Fresh Daily, who was run over by a car earlier this year and has a leg full of metal. "I'm walking at least," he tells me, "but I'm in pain because of the rain." He was animated on stage like the bionic man. I began to question my devotion to Hip-Hop. Had that been me, I would've been knee-deep in A Different World marathon on my couch. Back to the lecture at hand.

There was some hustle and bustle in the backstage area. Who walks in? Ice-T and Coco. I sit down and chat with Ice-T for a minute. He tells me he heard "Crazy Legs was having a show in Jersey," so he had to come support. After a few minutes, I am asked to stand to the side because a few Newark cops want their picture taken with Ice-T. Oh the irony. A bunch of the Rock Steady Crew stood around Ice-T for a photo. Then one of the members said "Freeze needs to be in this shot," and removes his jacket bearing an airbrushed picture of the late crew member Frosty Freeze who died earlier this year, and holds up the jacket for the shot. It was a sentimental moment.



A piece of the show was dedicated to a female MC cipher spun by DJ Chela.


Sara Kana, Mala Reignz – who won a past Beat Melee on here for her song "BX Til I Die" – Miss Nana, Patty Dukes, and Miss Rap Supreme winner Rece Steele all took shots on the mic.


Bahamadia showed up later on to perform, which was like whoa!



Let me just acknowledge that Skyzoo, The Arsonists, and Akrobatik sounded like they really did their thing, as did the Rock Steady Crew with Tony Touch, but I didn't get to see them since I was approaching heat exhaustion and had to sit in a tent with a fan.

I'm getting old, what do you want me to do? I'm sorry!

I got my second wind right around the time KRS-One walked in. Wow. He's tall. Maybe he's actually very short in reality, but it was KRS-One, so he looked 8'4. I think he is legitimately tall though. The Supreme Teacher looks like he's been working out more than just his mind lately. He was suffering from an ear infection, but listened very intently to every word I said and looked me dead in the eyes throughout our whole conversation.

It was intimidating, but fascinating nonetheless. Just as we are getting into a good convo, in walks Fat Joe. "I had to come see my idol perform!" he shouts and runs to KRS-One and gives him a man-hug. He asks KRS-One for permission to "warm up the mic" before he gets on. Permission granted.

KRS is like sure! Ever so giddy, Joe proceeds to map out his short set list while KRS continues our convo. I hear Fat Joe in the background saying, "Let's take 'New York' out…this is Jersey." Say what you want about Fat Joe, but that man is a bigger rap fan than most, as I've learned from this experience. Keep in mind none of the performers were paid either.

New Jersey native El Da Sensei comes out and performs some tracks from the now defunct Artifacts. As he's about to finish, Tame-One [the other half of the duo] comes out to perform. The EOW [End of the Weak] hosts make El Da Sensei come back and they say something about how there is no beef at Rock Steady Crew. Tame-One did NOT look happy, especially since he had zero solo time and now he was forced into a peace treaty with his estranged rapping partner. It was about as peaceful as it could be for two MCs standing on opposite sides of the stage. S.O.U.L. Purpose performed with frontman Mazzi. I heart him.

So surprise guest Fat Joe gets on stage much to the audience's surprise. He delivers a number of songs including the infamous "Lean Back" before going through a series of Big Pun tracks and dedication to other rappers we've lost along the way.

A side note – Buckshot was supposed to come and perform. Instead, the whole Bootcamp Clik shows up without him. That was weird.

It was time for KRS-One. From BDP to his solo work, KRS-One was golden on that stage. Fat Joe stood in the background completely in awe. It was a monumental moment for everyone, young and old. In speaking with KRS earlier, I asked if the young heads have respect for the Hip-Hop of days past. He said they didn't have to…it was a whole different Hip-Hop that they were listening to. But at that moment, everyone was listening to the same song…and it was a beautiful one.

Since Buckshot was missing in action and there was time to fill, KRS-One started a cipher. A pass the mic session starring the likes of himself, Fat Joe, Funky Child from Lords of the Underground, Craig G, Hakim from Channel Live [yup they did "Mad Izm"], Steele from Smif-n-Wessun, Black Ice, the Artifacts, and DJ Premier and Marley Marl posted up on stage with the Rockteady Crew. I felt a lump in my throat. I realized what a dummy I had been for comparing the Hip-Hop of the present to that of the past. We can "Crank Dat" 364 days of the year [well I never "Crank Dat" but still], but there is at least one day a year where we can return to where it all started, and that day was today.

Rock Steady Crew, I'll see you next year.






..tr>..table> - Allhiphop.com

Super Woman

By “O” Chrice

If you’ve kept your ear to the street you might have already heard of a young promising femcee by the name of Mala Reignz. Being a young mother has not stopped the Bronx native from being one of the hardest working rappers on the come up. Whether it be getting her self funded indepenent video on Music Choice, or knocking out one of the most conceptual mixtapes heard in years, Mala Reignz has been a perfect example that in today’s age you don’t need to have millions of dollars behind you to get people’s attention. In part 1 of our interview, Mala discusses her “Miss Rap Supreme” mixtape, the current climate of the music industry, the pros and cons of being an independent artist, and why she started making music.

Super Woman Part 1


So why don’t you give us an update on everything you got going on right now?
The first thing is that I just shot the mixtape, its called Ms. Rap Supreme. VH1 had the reality show called Miss Rap Supreme where they had a bunch of female rappers who competed for 100,000 dollars. I knew about this female rap movement from years ago because I handed out a mixtape with a bunch of female rappers, one of whom was Byatta, who was on the vh1 show. So when I saw the show it just reaffirmed what I knew. That there’s this new female movement so the time is now for female MC’s. They had approached me on myspace. I don’t know if it was a generic message but they were reaching out to female rappers. I didn’t want to be a part of it because, what I’ve noticed is that when people join these reality shows they try to make an ass out of you first of all. Afterwards a lot of these people don’t become what they want to become. They only become reality show stars and that’s it, and that’s not what I want for myself. But in watching the show I knew it was going to be a big thing amongst females maybe the dudes wasn’t going to get into it but I knew the females would and that’s what my target audience is. That’s why I decided to call it Miss Rap Supreme. I knew that a lot of female rappers would probably have the same idea as me and call there mixtape Ms. Rap Supreme so I took it a step further and I actually did the challenges from the show and put it on the mixtape. So every week when they had a different challenge on the show I would do that same challenge on the mixtape

What are some of the challenges from the show that you did on you on the mixtape?
They had one challenge where it was a video challenge. They had to make a song and make a video for it, so I did a video for “BX Till I Die” which was not only just a video for my mixtape but also got to music choice and was nation wide, that’s my first video. Another one of the challenges the girls on the show had to do was to make a song about a topic that MC Serch would give them. One of them was to talk to about there father. Another one of them was to make a hit pop record, so I made a pop record called “Whole Club Rockin” which is the next single off the Miss Rap Supreme mixtape. I already got confirmation that its going to get played internationally Egypt, Africa, Spain mad places and also nationally but mostly west coast and down south. So basically the mixtape is doing well. I’m also working on a new video for another single I got coming out for my next mixtape. Its called “Here We Come” featuring Opera Steve. Opera Steve is this dope ass singer whose classically trained to sing opera but also blends it with hip hop. He’s on Big Pun’s second album on the song “Off With His Head” at the end where he sings the bridge, and he’s also on one of Fat Joe’s most recent songs “300 Brolic” where he sings the hook. Everyone think that’s a sample but that’s really Opera Steve, that’s my boy. We’re going to be doing that video with Spek Studios within the month. Spek Studios does a lot of special effects work on movies, videos. They do animation, motion graphics. They’re crazy talented and I know the video is going to be dope. That’s pretty much everything that I been doing right now. Besides doing interviews on print magazines and digital magazines.

How were you able to come up with the video for “BX Till I Die,” the first single off the Miss Rap Supreme Mixtape?
Well basically the song itself is kind of gritty because I’m from the Bronx so I wanted to reflect that. So we knew that we wanted something that was going to reflect the music itself, it’s a lot of action. There’s a lot of movement in the video ,there’s never a boring part. There’s never a part where people are just standing around rapping, it transitions a lot. The video is in black and white and we did it because it looks classic and it looks old school and real street. Well its not really black and white its called sepia its more of a brown tint. I thought that was a good first impression because I didn’t want to go to cutesy. I didn’t want to go for the queen, or the throne you know all these females do that, where they have men carry them around while they rap. Look I’m from the hood. I kept it hood. That’s basically what people think about when they see it because I came from a different angle and that’s what I always try to go for.

As an independent artist, how were you able to get Music Choice to play your video?
Basically I had already submitted my music. They have audio channels and now they have the video channels where they play the video. “BX Till I Die” was already poppin and it was on the rap audio channel and then I came with “Here We Come” so they were familiar with me by the time I had submitted the video. So they had to like the video, and really they had to like it a lot because they don’t put a lot independent artists. I saw my video in between Madonna and Nee-yo you know, two huge artists and that was like a really big deal for me because that shit don’t happen very often.

So you’ve lived in the Bronx your entire life?
Born and raised in the BX my whole life. I’m living here in Pelham Parkway now but I’m originally from Kingsbridge. I basically moved around a lot. I also lived in the Village for two years with my son’s father.

Do your surroundings have a big influence on your music?
Totally influenced me. A rapper is pretty much a vocal recording of everything they grew up around. I’m kind of like a reporter, about everything going on in my life. If I came from the suburbs I’d be rapping about something totally different, but I’m not I’m from the Bronx. They say that Bronx rappers tend to rap real aggressively and you can kind of hear that in my music.


How did you make the transition from being a hip hop fan, to wanting to become a rapper?
For me it came late in the game. Some people were in high school beating on the lunch table freestyling, that wasn’t me. In high school I was busy raising a family and having a son. I never thought I’d be doing this. It wasn’t until I got to college where I had just gotten out of a long term relationship from when I was young, so it was like being reborn for me. So after being with someone for five years and having that come to an end, I started doing things that I had never done before. Going to slam poetry events just venting about what I had been going through. So I would write poems late at night after putting my son to sleep and write these poems and I never noticed that I was actually writing to the beat. Then when I’d perform these poems it sounded like I was flowing to a beat and people began asking if I rapped and I said no but I’d try it. Then I started chilling with my peoples and they all rapped and that’s how I got into it.

Why do you think there’s been such a drought with Bronx rappers in the last few years? Aside from Fat Joe there hasn’t been to many rappers out of the Bronx that have really reached the mainstream in a long time and that’s strange considering the Bronx is considered the birthplace of hip hop.
I have no idea, to be honest, I wish I knew the answer. I know a lot of Brooklyn rappers tend to get put on. Maybe there’s a lot more solidarity in Brooklyn right now than in the Bronx. Maybe they help each other more. I don’t know for sure. I know in general, New York rappers don’t help each other enough. And that’s why the South’s on top right now because they help each other a lot.

Are you afraid of that though? Are you afraid that your getting into the rap game at a time where you region isn’t making the most noise?
Not really, I think if your talented and have that spark about you and have the business sense behind it, it doesn’t matter where you come from. Basically I’m in the place where everything goes down. All the labels are here. I have a better chance of running into someone here than I would if I was living in Tennessee. I’m not worried about it. Timing and your first impression is what makes or breaks an artist. I’m just trying to be consistent work hard and make sure that my first impression is strong. That’s why I didn’t do the reality show. I wanted my first impression to be a respectable one.

How content are you being an independent artist, or do you want to go to a major?
Well being an independent artist is hard because you need to have money to promote yourself. There are other ways you can cut corners like the internet, but your going to have to have a lot of available hours to sit on a computer all day and really push yourself. Unless you have a staff to do it for you, where of course you need to have more money. What I do like about being an independent artist is that you have freedom to be creative. You can work with whoever you want. They can’t say “hey you can’t work with that artist because its not good for your career.” What a major will do is get you the things that you can’t get as an independent artist. So its like choosing the lesser of two evils. I think right now I would prefer to get a deal with a major label but at least a deal that meets me half way. One that allows me to get the money available to start my own label, or to at least go completely independent and push myself. Right now I have to struggle on my own and make that money and I would like a little financial backing to promote myself.

We’re living in an era of the music industry where file sharing is extremely prevalent and record sales are at an all time low. Does it concern you as an emerging artist, that you’re getting into the music industry at such a troubling time?
This game is so fucked up right now. People are still trying to figure out what to do. Everybody is confused. Everyone is trying to come up with an answer and there is no right or wrong answer. Things are changing and we’re going to have to adapt. CD’s are going to be irrelevant soon, I try to focus a lot on the internet. When you get to the worldwide web, that’s what it is its world wide, there are no limitations that’s why there is so much room now for everyone. Just think outside the box. Think about all the people that you can target that can hear your shit not just in your borough, city, but worldwide. They don’t have to see you, you just have to go to these places for them to know who you are you just have to market yourself. It’s a little scary because its new there was a tradition about how to market an artist in the industry but now there’s no rules. So you just have to go into it. Make your plan even if its not what everyone else is doing and stick with it.

SUPERWOMAN PT. 2 COMING WEDNESDAY! - Talkyaish.com

WARNING: THIS IS HEAT! DONT GET IT TWISTED!!

OK people! DONT GET THIS FEMALE TWISTED!! When I hear heat, I don't see color lines nor gender lines. MALA REIGNZ is that woman who will lyrically fuck your ears up! I just let DJ Triple R of the Turntable Assassins ( YAO CRE 8 WHAA GWAAAN MI YUTE & RIP DJ THREAT aka JASON CAMPBELL) and he flat out said "SHE SOUNDS LIKE JADA!" WTF! THATS A HUGE PULL UP! Fellaz, yes she is a fine MC, but dont test her you dig! THIS IS BX OVER HERE!! Will she take Remy's Queen of BX Crown?!?...lets see. Mala has been reviewed in URB Magazine in Top 100 Artist of 2007 issue and on THE MUSIC CHOICE (check your local cable listings). This strong arm MC from Bronx NY is gonna be one of those artist that will leave you with some "OH SHIT " faces and reactions when she drops more projects! GO GET THEM MALA!! AND DONT CONFUSE HER FOR MALA RODRIQUEZ!! 2 TOTALLY DIFFERENT WOMEN!

- Dj Fatfingaz Blogspot