He Said, She Said Shalonda

Remember this?

In late 2009 we introduced you to our newest AUTHENTIC chick Shalonda & her mixtape Just Go. We had the privilege to chat with her last month about the radio, the random, & the real. Portion control is key. And we don't want to discourage your sexy. So push that cheese danish to the curb & nibble on the first helping of our three part conversation. It's filling. It's fat free. It's for you. Bon appetite.

Mikey: Thank you so much for agreeing to chat with us. What's one change you wish to see or hear on the radio & on music television?

Shalonda: I'd like to hear REAL music. And when I say "real" I don't mean that in a music snob kind of way. I mean that in a you can actually feel the music kind of way. Not just the beat. Intentional words, Intentional sounds. Honesty. Lyrics that call up memories. That make you think. Make you happy. Make you wanna break up or fall in love...it's just honest...based on what's played on the radio today, when people look back on this generation of popular music, they'll think we were in perpetual party mode. Almost everything on pop radio is about getting wasted and/or shaking your ass...and I don't think that's a REAL representation of what people are doing. EVERYBODY can't be at the club. C'mon son!

Mikey: What was your inspiration for the mixtape? Why'd you choose the songs that you chose?

Shalonda: I was actually working out when i got the idea. I was running the stairs in my apartment building when the instrumental for dj khaled's "i'm so hood" came on. For some reason, I started singing " 'round midnight." Then I started laughing, kept working out and brushed it off. Later that night I told my friend what popped in my head and he was like "You should try it." So I did.

There's a quote by Arthur Ashe that I always refer to when i feel my back is against a wall. He said "Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can." I can't even begin to tell you how those simple words affected me. I realized that the only thing i could do was use what I had at that very moment. And at the moment, all I had was some instrumentals, a mic and some software.

The craziest part of the whole process was that I had no idea what I was doing AT ALL. I had no idea how to even use recording software, how to set it all up, knew nothing about mics, preamps, nothing about levels, nothing about recording, nothing about nothing. I just went in and felt my way around in the dark and I actually got a mixtape out of the process. And learned a lot.

As far as the songs go, I wrote down all the jazz standards that I've come to love over the years. Then I started going through instrumentals to see what made me dance, made me sad, made me SOMETHING. I just picked things i could FEEL. Everything else happened pretty organically. Certain songs just made sense to me. I thought it would be dope to re-imagine these songs that I'd loved all my life over contemporary tracks.

Mikey: So what is your greatest fear?

Shalonda: I’m afraid of giving up.

TO BE CONTINUED...

'til then...stay AUTHENTIC. Check in next Wednesday for part two of the Shalonda interview.

Sneak peak:

Mikey: When did you know you had a gift to share or a story worth hearing?

Shalonda: I believe everyone is born with the same story to share, and that's LOVE...who knows---in ten years, I could be a glass-blowing trapeze artist. But the message is always the same.

Thankin' YOU on THURSDAY!: Liz Turner

Okkkk ... so I knowwww ... it's been a while since we've let you ladies know about OUR favorite ladies! .... but surpriiiiiiise surpriiiiise we're back! (like for real for real ... not like cuttin in and out between cities!)

I think it's time to GIVE THANKS and showcase one of our newest members of AUTHENTIC but one of my dearest, oldest friends (don't tell her i said that).

Lizzy Turner

aka

The Lizzy Turner

ookkkk ... okkkk ... i'm actually featuring this awesome short she made ... but you know how WE do ... I'll give her a lil' plug too! lol

Want more of Lizzy?

Interested in knowing ALL about Lizzy?  I know you are! ... make sure you ladies visit www.thelizturner.com ... FREQUENTLY ... and check out the blog as well.

and OF COURSE ... you can catch her HERE ....

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Wherever, However you get your Liz Turner fix ... do it AUTHENTICALLY.  Get Real. Stay Real. 

BE  AUTHENTIC.

AUTHENTIC WOMEN: Corinne Stevie

Corinne Stevie is a lover, a cynic, an intellectual, a fighter, an extremist, and an optimist. But above all she is the epitome of the word "artist." From her studio apartment in the heart of the Midtown area of Atlanta, surrounded by unfinished canvases and paint brushes dipped in cloudy cups of water the emcee/painter jokingly explains, "Corinne Stevie is none of the things you've seen at the same time."

Clearing her throat she asserts herself and says, "Corinne Stevie is the oddity."

An oddity she is indeed. From the epicene beauty of Grace Jones to the sheer lyrical genius of Lauryn Hill, Corinne Stevie is exactly what fans of Hip-Hop have waited patiently for while Foxy and Kim flirt with jail time, Queen Latifah and Eve flirt with Hollywood and Missy Elliot and Ms. Hill herself flirt with obscurity. Corinne Stevie is the difference between rap and Hip-Hop. But, don't think you'll catch her dissing the current music scene. Corinne is more than content reveling in it, whether true to form or not.

"Hip-Hop right now is just in a different place," Corinne explains. "I'm bringing back a memory of a feeling of a time in Hip-Hop."


Striking a conversation with the Miami native will reveal at least one thing, she's always eager to speak about her love for art and music. In fact, it's this strong devotion that drives her whether she's creating visual art or a song. As different as these mediums of self expression may seem, for Corinne they become intertwined one constantly fueling and pushing the other. So much that when she's not painting or studying illustration at the Atlanta campus of Savannah College of Art & Design she's using her Mac mini to record music in her home studio.

"When I can't write a song, I'm drawing," Corinne explains. "My art is very intertwined with my music and if I didn't draw I don't think my music would be as creative and if I didn't write [songs] I don't think my art would be as creative."

It's these creative songs—each essentially pieces of artwork—that find a home nestled together on Corinne's debut album, The Oddity. Synthesizer heavy dance tracks juxtaposed with nostalgic Hip-Hop odes create a unique sound that permeates through the 11 track project. From dance music ("Time Travela" "Set Me Free"), to old school Hip-Hop ("I Can Go Across The Globe" "Mornin' Sunrise"), and new school hipster rap ("Hackerz" "Club_Kidz") Corinne does it all with a lyrical skill of a polished emcee not afraid to transcend genres.

"I want to do something else, I want to create my own genre," Corinne says of the sound ofThe Oddity.

The Oddity, will be released online using the Radiohead "pay what you want format" October 23rd by Nouveau Music the music label division of Art Nouveau Magazine via her website www.corinnesart.com. She plans to release a mixtape entiled "The Other Sister," immediately after and will also continue selling prints of her artwork.

Finding a purpose or a mission is something every artist tussles with at some point. Bouncing her head to her theme song--Santogold's "L.E.S. Artistes"--Corinne's mission is simple. She looks to the future and hopes for two things: money and that her work will inspire others to be themselves.

"I want my work to be inspiration," Corinne says. "I want to encourage people and say you can just be everything, just express yourself and be who you are and not be afraid to see your different sides."

Well, mission two accomplished.

myspace.com/seestevie
www.corinnesart.com

But ... you can ALWAYS catch her at AUTHENTIC


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