QUEEN YONASDA

You’re Gonna Love Me!: Queen Yonasda
Posted: 1/28/2008 4:40:48 AM by Souleo


Female. Hip-Hop. In the dry musical wasteland that is currently the landscape for female rappers; the two aforementioned labels don’t even belong in the same sentence, let alone the same breath. However, if you do decide to dig deep you will find an oasis in the talents of hip-hop artist, Queen Yonasda. Rhymes that flow effortlessly like the Nile; beats with more bounce than riding a camel’s back; and insight that illuminates the mind like a burst of sunshine; makes this one queen that the world will soon find themselves genuflecting to.

Her debut album, God, Love, and Music features Cappadonna, Dr. Ben Chavis Muhammad, Keith Murray, M-Eighty and others with production by Cookin’ Soul, New York West, CR Productions, K-Boog and others.

Queen Yonasda recently granted Sixshot a seat next to her on the throne as we talked the state of femcees, life with her grandfather and Nation of Islam leader Minister Louis Farrakhan, she addresses the state of Minister Farrakhan’s health, why she believes women don’t have enough male support, her Native-American heritage, being compared to Lauryn Hill, and more.

What inspired you to get involved in hip-hop?

I was about 6 or 7 in Venice Beach, California and I saw the west coast chapter of the Rock Steady Crew. I heard the music and it was so liberating. Even though I was young in age I was always a revolutionary freedom of speech type of person. At that young age I felt that hip-hop was the beginning outlet for young people to be able to express themselves. So I’ve been involved in it ever since and I love it.

The scene for female MC’s is pretty empty these days and some consider it dead. What are you hoping to inject back into this scene?

I feel like now everything needs a balance. I feel that hip-hop has been so male dominated for the past 20 years and they haven’t had a great voice like we used to with Queen Latifah and MC Lyte from the early ‘80’s to middle ‘80’s. Not every young girl or woman is going through gold-digging, street lifestyles or any of the things that some of my female counterparts are talking about. I want to be the voice for queens, for those that are working 9-5, and those that are single mothers even if they are married. I want them to be able to say, “Oh while, I can relate to her because finally someone is speaking what I am going through.” I feel that as women we are a nation. Elijah Muhammad said that “No nation can rise higher than its women.” So as it relates to hip-hop it’s very true. They said that hip-hop is dead but I just feel that right now it just needs a balance and I feel that the woman is that balance.

How do you aim to balance your political and social commentary—which is something that’s not heavily promoted in the mainstream—with the pressures of achieving mainstream success?

2008 is going to be a very political year. This is the first time that we have a black man, a woman, and a Latino presidential candidate. So right now the nation is yearning for some type of consciousness. Kanye [West] beat out 50 Cent. So the people really want to be educated in some way shape or form. God has been working with me for years now. I’ve been listening to him and I believe that my timing is good.

I read that you kept the songs very short on the album. Why did you make that decision?

Every song on my album is less than 2 minutes and 30 seconds because of the attention span. I don’t want to be too preachy. If you look at the presidential candidates they have been doing things on MySpace, MTV, and keeping it really short and to the point, but you can still be able to bring the nation to the next level of consciousness. .

Your mother was Native-American and your dad is African-American. How did those different cultures influence your development as an artist and individual?

I love the fact that every snowflake is different. I love to be different from everyone else. My mother raised me and my brother and she strived her best to teach me both cultures. We celebrated Kwanza and Christmas. Everything kind of squared away when it came to learning about cultures and being proud of who I am. Even though I may look African-American I can’t deny my mother or where I came from so in my music it’s both.

You were adopted by Minister Louis Farrakhan and call him a grandfather. How was that experience growing up in the Farrakhan family?

It was wonderful! It was not difficult because the man that I grew up with and know is not the man that they portray negatively on television—you know the anti-Semitic. So that was my first realization of what the media could do to discredit you. I had it made when my mother used to work for Muhammad Ali. I was very wealthy. My mother went to prison on behalf of the Nation of Islam—they were trying to get information on Farrakhan and my mother said that, “I don’t have any information.” So they gave her four to six years in prison and that’s when me and my brother were adopted. I learned a lot about the Islamic faith. I learned to always tell the truth and that’s the one thing I learned from the minister—no matter what you always tell the truth.

Are you legally adopted by Minister Farrakhan?

Yes, his daughter Maria and her husband, Alif, legally adopted me and my brother. He is the nephew of the honorable Elijah Muhammad.

What would be the one thing we’d be surprised to learn about Minister Farrakhan?

Music, he taught me how to play the violin. When I was in 4th grade he would always tune my violin. I don’t know if you heard him but he’s on the new Wyclef [Jean] album playing the violin. He’s a great violin player. I could go to him for anything. He’s a father figure in my life. So I can talk to him when I have guy trouble. [Laughs] Then on top of that I work for him for the Millions More Movement with Indigenous National Alliance.

Earlier this year Minister Farrakhan was released from the hospital after having major abdominal surgery. How is his health now?

He is doing wonderful. He received prayer from people all over the country and God has placed his hands up on him.

Do you identify as a Muslim?

I identify as a person that believes in God and one God. My grandfather the minister says that, “Every good Christian is a good Muslim and every good Muslim is s good Christian.” We use labels to separate ourselves.

I go to the Mosque, I go to church, and I practice Native-American spirituality as well; as long as it’s submitting to one God and not worshipping other Gods.

Minister Farrakhan is known for having very strong views. Has there even been an issue where you two haven’t seen eye-to-eye?

No, not at all.

Really?

I believe in everything that he has taught me.

Many political/socially oriented women in the industry sometimes feel abandoned by the men. Some of them feel that women are the main ones carrying the burden and leading the struggle for change. What are your views? Do women have enough support from their male counterparts?

I agree with that. I can look at it both ways. I’m just looking at the male and female relationship. You really have to be a praying woman and you really have to be a woman of strength to be able to deal with abandonment from men in all things. I have people that are on my team that are men that respect me as a strong woman willing to get my music out there.

I was on the road with Wu-Tang Clan, Kurupt of Tha Dogg Pound, and they looked at me with great honor. I just feel that it depends on how you carry yourself and how you demand that respect. It also depends on the man. I don’t want any young boys around me. I want some real men that are willing to understand the role of what a woman has to do in her career and not look at it as a competition. I think that’s a major thing. A lot of the young boys in the industry look at women as competition.

I heard talk of you signing to a major label sometime soon. How is that looking?

I received a couple of offers. I’m trying to create a major independent buzz. I don’t want to take the first thing I get offered. I want to make sure that the numbers are right. As a female rap artist you do need a major machine behind you, especially to be heard by the masses and that’s what I’m waiting on. Those that have heard my album have said that if Lauryn Hill was recording or had released an album it would be my album. I thought that was the best compliment because I love Lauryn. With that being said I know that I don’t just want to go into anyone’s hands. I want to make sure that this gets out properly.

What does the future hold for you?

Basically, I am dropping my single, "Pow Wow" with a single release party in my hometown Phoenix, Arizona. In the spring I’m going on a tour, Hip-Hop Lives. As far as I know I’m the only female artist on this tour with Wu Tang Clan, Keith Murray, Eight Ball & MJG—it’s a whole line-up of male hip-hop artists.

In the summer I’m gonna drop my album and continue to keep God first. I’m excited about 2008. I think this is a great year, especially for women to be able to really show and prove ourselves, and not in a slutty whorish way. I also really want to help out my tribe which is the Lakota tribe. They are the poorest community in the United States and 89% of them are unemployed. I would like to help assist them in any way that I can.

You’re gonna love me because….

I am a woman of God.

For more information on Queen Yonasda please visit:
www.myspace.com/queenyonasda
or
www.femmixx.com

- www.sixshot.com by Souleo

Getting to Know a Hip Hop Queen-Meet Yonasda

Getting To Know A Queen:
An Interview With Queen Yonasda

by Kirk Anthony

Kirk Anthony: What made you want to become a MC and who were your influences & inspirations?

Queen Yonasda: Since I was a young girl I always wanted to be the voice of those that don't have a voice. When I heard Public Enemy and Big Daddy Kane, I knew I wanted to be an emcee. And it was I believe 1988 or '87 when Queen Latifah came to Saviours' Day which is an annual Nation of Islam convention in Chicago. I was amazed of the way she took control of the stage and she was educating, but at the same time entertaining, with dancers the whole nine. I knew I wanted to make the same impact on Hip Hop as her. Big Daddy Kane, his flow and swag was crazy! I heard he has asthma, but the way he would rhyme you wouldn't even know he had breathing problems. Salt' N 'Pepa, LL Cool J, man I can go on and on, on my influences - my room was filled with posters from Yo!, Fresh!, Word Up!, and latter The Source (smile).

KA: What is your take on the status of female MC's (femcees) in hip-hop and how do you feel your presence can improve this status?

QY: The Hon. Elijah Muhammad said, "that no nation can rise no higher than its woman," meaning to me in regards to hip hop, that hip hop now is such a male dominated industry, but look at its state. Look at the woman it's producing. I respect Lil Kim, Foxy, Remy, Shawnna, they are talking about where they came from - the struggles they have been in. It comes to a point, where we must use our struggles and pain to uplift and tell the next person don't go down that road - I've been there, you don't wanna go there. I see these young girls, prostituting, having babies, calling each other b*** like its all empowerment. Its not empowering to call each other a b*** no matter how you say it, it is what it is. These young girls are looking up to the females that are in Hip Hop right now! They think it's cool to be calling your friends a b***, they think its cool to be a gold digger, they think its cool to be a hard gangsta chick, but it's not! We as women have a bigger and greater responsibility. We are the mothers of civilization. We are Queens and by the Grace of God, I will be able to bring that back into a generation that has lost that very essence of it.

KA: What do you think femcees with positive & constructive
messages, such as yourself, have to do to get their music heard and, most importantly, appreciated by the hip-hop fanbase?

QY: I believe that we cannot be too preachy! If 85% of the population wanted to hear sermons they would go to church or the mosque. When I was recording my album, I wanted to create songs that every age, race, gender can feel my music. I used to work marketing/promotions for Polygram Records in the late 90's, and even though we may not like a song, depending on how you market it, we would make the masses like it! Just imagine if you had the same beat, the same rapper, the same flow, but changed the lyrics to "Superman dat hoe" into lyrics more positive, how everyone would still like it. I believe it's nothing wrong with the music that is out now - it's the lyrics that are killing our generation. That's all that needs to be changed is the negative lyrics. As emcees, no matter if you think so or not we have a great responsibility we are the newscasters of our environment.

KA: Given your Native-American/African-American parentage & Nation Of Islam (NOI) – influenced upbringing, what messages, topics, and issues are you covering in your music?

QY: 85% of African Americans have Native American in their lineage, because my mother was full blooded Native American and I was raised by her and the Farrakhan family, I speak about that in my music. I went through the revolutionary struggle. I was born during the Longest Walk which was a protest during the Civil Rights Movement. Native Americans and others walked from San Francisco to Washington DC. My mother did several years in prison because she wouldn't talk against the Nation of Islam and Saudi Arabia's President Quadifi - both of my parents were in imprisoned, when I was 7 years of age til I was 12 yrs. My father was in and out all my life. My music is my testimony. I may have not gotten shot 9 times, but I sure have a story to tell. It's about God, Love and Music.

KA: How do you feel you are embracing the level of responsibility your "grandfather," Louis Farrakhan, feels rappers have when he said," one of a rapper's songs is equivalent to five of my speeches" and do you feel rappers, especially femcees, should embrace this level of responsibility?

QY: When my mother was imprisoned, Min. Farrakhan and his daughter Maria and her husband Alif adopted my brother and I. When we moved to Chicago, we learned the discipline of God. Not only rappers but anyone that is in entertainment has a great responsibility especially for this future generation. The influence of media is so popular. Children are now being raised by music videos, cartoons are now rapping, Elmo is now an emcee. Hip Hop has employed so many people. So yes, when my grandfather stated that one rapper's song is equivalent to five of his speeches is very true. That's how powerful hip hop is. Chamionaire said that when he went to Europe and heard white boys sayin' "nigga." He knew he needed to stop saying it in his music. He didn't know how powerful his lyrics were until he went overseas. The same with female rappers, if you go to any school in the US and look and hear 6, 7, 8 year old girls talk, you will see how much of an influence women in hip hop have. They wanna dress and be like their favorite video vixen. Many feel that their outer image is going to grab men, get that job, but not nurturing their inner image.

KA: How do your current positions as the national director of the Indigenous Nations Alliance and contributing columnist to the Final Call newspaper affect your work as a hip-hop artist?

QY: At first I thought it will conflict, but I believe it enhances it. Especially in Native American communities, the youth love Hip Hop, but they don't have a lot of Native people in mainstream hip hop to tell the world that they exist. It's crazy how when I was living on the east coast and I went to the grand opening of the Smithsonian Indian Museum and their were hundreds of Native people from all over the country that came to D.C. and as I was walking around I heard someone say, I thought Indians were extinct. I was shocked and appalled of his statement. But to some extent it was true. We don't see Native Americans in music, on TV, only when they are doing an old story from early 1800's or 1700's. I was doing music before Min. Farrakhan asked me to assist him on the Millions More Movement and it has helped me become a greater voice for the unheard voices.

KA: In many hip-hop records now, hustling is glorified to the point of overkill. What are your views on hustling given that it led to your parents' imprisonment and do you mention these views in your work?

QY: Well, it led to my father's imprisonment, not my mothers. It saddens me because the love my father had for money drove him away from us. He wasn't no corner hustler, he despised drugs. He would hustle casinos, and banks. It's crazy how he did it, but I remember us having Rolls Royces, farms, mansions, all my clothes were designer made, I had a limo take me anywhere I wanted to go and I was only 5, but then all of sudden, Daddy was gone, and me and my mother were living from home to home, driving from state to state with nothing. Growing up with very little stability and seeing money come and go - I learned that money isn't everything. I learned that money wasn't worth me not having my father around. When my mother was working when she got out of prison and she was working 2-3 jobs to make sure me and my brother had everything I would be so upset and tell her that it's more important to have her around than the things she would provide for us. Even today, I take my son with me when I travel, if I have to speak here or perform there because, family is more important than money and I wish more people would see it that way, and yes, that's in my music.

KA: How would you describe your musical & rhyming style?

QY: Mmmm, it's crazy everyone that has heard my music says it's different, but they love it! I have people that don't even like rap music, telling me they love my music and they wanna support me. I try to break the norm with my style. I have rock songs - r&b, street, revolutionary music, I want to put soul back into hip hop. See hip hop is a combination of everything. It was started by people that didn't have anything and used what they had to create a culture called Hip Hop. My album, "God.Love and Music," I didn't have a budget, everyone on my album I didn't pay for one beat, one collab, or anything. Everyone that said they wanted to assist me on this project just believes in me. So, my style is working with what I have to develop something new. Every song on my project sounds different. I'm rhyming, but some songs sound like I'm singing. It's crazy! That's why I am having a tough time picking my single out. I just can't wait for everyone to hear it. I don't believe anyone will be disappointed.

KA: Which femcees, past and/or present, do your respect?

QY: Salt N Pepa, they were able to be sexy, entertaining and educating at the same time. Queen Latifah was able to maintain that title by being real. Lauryn Hill, I mean who doesn't respect Lauryn. I would love to work with her. Her album "Unplugged" still helps me today. MC Lyte, Missy, Shawnna are ill, when I met her I told her I wanna hear her story in her music, because it's so inspiring, because I know she will be able to really change a lot of young girls lives if she told her story more. My girl April Love from Baltimore is so ill. She will be at some of my shows and she is on my album. I call her the "Female Pac." That is just a few, there are more, and I respect all of them as long as they understand how we are the voice of a nation, and its our duty to mother this nation.

KA: Do you have any future projects lined up?

QY: Oh yes! I am dropping my single in January-February. I am scheduled to go on tour in the Spring called "Hip Hop Lives" with Wu Tang, Def Squad, Eightball MJG, Busta and others. So far I am the only female artist on the tour. So I am really excited about that. I finished my video to a song I have called, "Pow Wow." We shot it in Phoenix and on the Navajo Nation because my name Yo'Nas Da is a Navajo name and it means "Precious Jewel" or the "Squash Blossom," which is a necklace the Navajo people show pride in. So I felt it will be symbolic to shoot it there. I am not signed, yet! I will be dropping my album in the summer, once I get off of tour then I'm going on a promotional tour when it drops. So, I am very excited about everything God has set for me. I am just sitting back and getting spiritually ready for the ride. I just want to thank you for this great opportunity. Davey D is a great voice in Hip Hop and the community and it's a great blessing to be apart of his movement and anytime or anything you need I am here for you. For updates or to hear my music go to www.myspace.com/queenyonasda or for booking for performances/speaking engagements you can contact me at yonasda@gmail.com or media inquiries you can contact my publicist at tachelle@femmixx.com

- www.daveyd.com

By Deepa Shah
She is Queen and she's ready to roar. The days of female empowerment within Hip-Hop may have died off with Latifah, but now there's a new Queen entering the game and she's ready to make a change. Queen Yonasda tackles the image of women in Hip-Hop, vows for a balance of power, and in this election year, uses her politics and God to give us a breath of change. And she's no joke, a daughter of a revolutionary and raised by the notorious Minister Louis Farrakhan, Queen Yonasda's socially conscious music is everything Hip-Hop has been missing.


AllHipHop.com: How are you, as a female emcee, trying to change the image of women in Hip-Hop right now?

Queen Yonasda: A lot of people feel Hip-Hop is dead, and I feel that Hip-Hop needs a balance. It needs a balance of the portrayal of the woman. A lot of the women that are, especially within our generation, they are either single mothers or they've been raised in a single family home. A lot of my female counterparts are coming from New York; I'm from Arizona, so I can't relate to what Lil Kim and Foxy are talking about because I didn't grow up in Brooklyn; I didn't go through that whole drug thing and all that stuff. My position is that I want to bring "Queen" back into our vocabulary, bring "Queen" back into the way that we look at each other. I think that the word "B" is not a word of empowerment to me; it is what it is, a female dog. If you start calling yourself a "Queen" you start looking at yourself as a queen instead of a rough, rugged B. If you look at Queen Latifah, MC Lyte, and Salt-N-Pepa, the females back then were calling each other Queens. We have such a powerful influence as female MCs, and we have such a major influence amongst this generation because we are the mothers of the nation. We have such a major influence on these younger girls and these boys that are coming up that we raising within our music, and also in the community.

AllHipHop.com: So how do you define "Queen"?

Queen Yonasda: Strength, wisdom, virtuous—that's what it is, a virtuous woman. And virtuous is defined in the Bible in regards to how she is able to take care of her community. How she is able to take care of her husband, take care of her children, and also take care of her community. And the way that she is able to even at times when she doesn't have anything—make everything of what she has.

AllHipHop.com: So why Hip-Hop, why did you get involved with Hip-Hop specifically?

Queen Yonasda: Well, my mother she was on the run from the feds and because of the fact that she was a revolutionary – she was in the American Indian movement at the time and also she just stopped working for Muhammad Ali – she was really getting into helping her people out, which is Native American. I'm half Native American and half black. So we were in California and she took me over to Venice Beach and I saw the Rock Steady Crew. And it was like the early 80s when Hip-Hop was at its height. I was in awe of seeing that these kids were using Hip-Hop as an expression of letting go of all the stress and the anger. To me it just seemed like a revolution was beginning. I saw the way that they were fusing that strength into a musical form into B-Boying, and MCing, and DJing, it was really crazy at Venice Beach during that time.

AllHipHop.com: And you're mother also worked for the Nation of Islam with Minister Farrakhan…

Queen Yonasda: Yes, during the time she was working for Muhammad Ali she was introduced to Minister Farrakhan and she was also introduced into the Nation of Islam. She was working for Minister Farrakhan and assisting him in developing the construction of the Phoenix Palace here in Phoenix, Arizona.

AllHipHop.com: When you were raised by Minister Farrakhan, how did that shape your views and the way you express yourself through your music?

Queen Yonasda: Without the Farrakhan family I really wouldn't be here. The day when the feds came to the house, I was about 7 or 8 years old. They came to the home to grab my mother, my aunt came to stay with us, and they received a call that the state was on their way to come get us and separate me and my brother. That's when Minister Farrakhan and his daughter Maria and her husband Olive stepped in and said, "We're going to go ahead and take them because they shouldn't get lost in the system." It's shaped me [through] discipline. I tell everyone in my music that when you are going through certain things, God is always there. When I moved to Chicago, I learned a lot about Islam, it was not a wake up call, but a culture shock for me. I learned a lot about respect of women, and in Native American church law it's there, too, but growing up in an Islamic home I've learned a lot especially with discipline because you have to pray five times a day and don't eat this -- the five pillars of Islam.

AllHipHop.com: So with 2008 being an election year, how do you think your political views and socially conscious music is going to be received?

Queen Yonasda: My timing is so perfect because we are in a year of change – spiritually speaking, we are in a year of completion. And with Hillary and Obama, I think that everyone is just yearning for change, they are yearning for something different, they are yearning for the truth. And they're yearning for justice to finally be done, I think the nation wants our troops to come home. Even if you think of God very little, they are putting a lot of faith into the candidates to please make this change. And music is that change. Because I went through so much in my life from being, I was abused, I was homeless, both my parents were locked up, I lost my mother in 2003, so many things I've went through in my life. I haven't been shot nine times, but I sure do have a story to tell. I'm still here and I'm still happy. And God has lifted me up and God has really been blessing me with the people around me and opportunities. I'm strapping onto this ride -- a change to lift a nation. So, if I could be able to do it through my music, then so be it. I would love to and it would develop into my work.

AllHipHop.com: So, tell me about your album – what are you bringing to Hip-Hop that we haven't seen before?

Queen Yonasda: You know so many female rappers have children and they don't even acknowledge them and it's like "Why!? You have children, you know, talk about that in your music." I do talk about that in my music. My album is called God, Love and Music and it's about that. It's about at the end of the day whatever you believe in whatever you are going through those are the three necessities – the God within you the God we don't see, Love the love for yourself and the love for Him, and also, Music, because even if you don't listen to music, it's the heartbeat of your heart – it has a sound it's a music and it's what keeps you alive. So that's the reason why I call my album God, Love and Music and my album...oh man, I have Cappadonna from Wu-Tang Clan, I've known him since November 2004.

AllHipHop.com: How was it to work with Cappadonna?

Queen Yonasda: It was a lot of fun; I learned a lot from Cappadonna. He's been in the game for 15, 20 years; he just really taught me a lot to the point where some people have asked me, "Does he writes your verses?" I'm like "No, he doesn't." We write all the time together and we recorded. As a matter of fact, we have a full album we have done together, it's not released yet. We don't know what we're gonna do with it, it's called Kings and Queens. I have him on the album, he's on my first single "You Don't Want No Problems." I have Remedy he's a Wu-Tang affiliate; he's a Jewish rapper, and he has a song with me it's a rock version we re-did Queen's "I Want It All." Dr. Ben Chavez from the Hip-Hop Summit laid some of his poetic verses on there; Minister Farrakhan introduces me on the album. April Love, she's a female rap artist from Baltimore, and a lot of people feel female rappers can't get along. She is vicious on the mic, [we] did a woman's empowerment anthem called "Come Too Far." The album is really R&B, rock, conscious Hip-Hop, club, I have salsa on the album, I have reggae. Music has no boundaries; music is such a universal language. You'd be very surprised a lot of people in the Hip-Hop community that really want to make the change, but the labels and things like that are restraining them from making that change.

[Queen Yonasda f/ Cappadonna "You Don't Want No Problems"]



AllHipHop.com: Talking about labels, what would you like to see change politically within the music industry?

Queen Yonasda: If you make one hit single you get a single deal or they sign you, I cannot stand that right now because you are playing with people's livelihood and not everybody is talented. Labels used to really believe in that artist, they used to believe that they're going push out 10 albums not 10 singles. These labels aren't looking at the artist anymore they are looking at the dollars. On top of it, too, there are so many artists that are uneducated about the business. These labels are not taking the time to educate them. I wish we had a label like Motown, like what [Berry Gordy] did with his artists going through the whole artists development. I took music business at NYU and also I did an internship through Island Black Music; I learned a lot on the business end; I know the basics of the music business. Any label that wants to pick me up; they're going to know that they aren't dealing with no dumb woman.

AllHipHop.com: So my last question, what does 2008 mean for Queen Yonasda?

Queen Yonasda: Right now I'm still negotiating a tour, I want to give people hope that we're not neglecting you and use my popularity to help. 2008 is going to be a great year, my album drops this summer and I'm still looking for distribution, but even if I don't get any I'm still going to drop the album. In May, I'm going on tour with the Hip Hop Lives tour – I'm the only female artist on that tour – with Wu-Tang, Paul Wall, Busta Rhymes, Ice Water. My first single "Pow Wow" will be released soon, so yeah, 2008 is going to be a great year.
- ALLHIPHOP.COM