How I met HER… staHHr (Interview)

January 27, 2013

“How I met HER…” is the interview series powered by Lady on the MIC

1. Introduce yourself. Who are you, where are you from and what do you do in life.
Peace, love and balance everyone, everywhere, I AM staHHr, the 2 H’s are for hip hop, Mother Nature with a Molotov blowing up spots and it don’t stop. I am an artist, mc, lyricist, mother, student, teacher, healer, alchemist, designer residing in West Amexem, where I create and share potent sound vibrations with the masses over banging hip hop tracks. Some of you may be familiar with me from my features on Doom’s “Born like This”, MMFOOD (Anjelika) and King Ghedorah’s “Take Me to Your Leader”.

2. How you met H.E.R.? How did you find Hip-Hop, or how did Hip-Hop find you? Share some memories about that? When and why did you decide to make music yourself?
Hip hop was always in me, it was just in a dormant state until the “on” switch was flipped. I grew up in the 80’s and 90’s, so it’s been a part of my life since I touched the planet. We’ve grown together. It was on the radio, tv, at school, but it didn’t possess me and take over until ’88 or ’89. I remember hearing Slick Rick‘s first album and just being blown away by his lyrics, delivery and storytelling/narrative ability. Salt n’ Pepa and MC Lyte, when I first saw and heard them, I was blown away. They were so confident, so powerful and the hair.. they rocked the mic oh so fashionably and hard simultaneously. I had the asymmetrical Salt n Pepa cut and MC Lyte’s cut from the “Paper Thin” video. I grew up in the suburbs, and there weren’t many people around me, that were really deep into hip hop (other than the music) like that. Being one that marched to their own beat any way, I was very much drawn to the culture and the elements (djing, bboy/bgirling, graf, mcing). It was unique, fun, innovative, expressive and free. Everything I wanted to say and couldn’t find the words for, there was a hip hop song about it. When Native Tongues emerged, that’s when I knew I had to be part of this culture.They reminded me of me and how I grew up. Brand Nubian, BDP, Intelligent Hoodlum, Queen Latifah and X-Clan, they opened my eyes to knowledge of self which completely changed the direction of my life outside of just rhyming. That’s the greatest thing about hip hop to me, it re-activated my Goddess gene. Redman is the mc, that made me get in my first cypher and let people know, that I rocked and I was an mc. He embodied everything I loved about hip hop. I have so many great memories. I always loved writing, reading, drama.. and English was one of my favorite subjects, and hip hop is comprised of all of those elements as well. I’d already been writing stories and poems, since I was seven, so being an mc/lyricist was really a natural progression for me.

3. What do you want to say with your music? What is your message? Can you live from your music already? What are your future goals?
My main objective is to bring balance, love, light, healing, awareness and SKILL. I want people to think, ask questions, heal, feel energized, challenge, what they have been taught or told after they listen to my music. I address everything from comics to the cosmos, in a fashion, that is everything we love about the Golden Era, updated for the now so that the roots and elements will remain in the future (Golden Era Future). Be true to self first and foremost. Know thyself, love thyself, heal thyself, honor thyself. Have fun, drop jewels, raise the vibration and keep your currency high at all times. Everyone has a story to tell, so be original and authentic and you will attract everything and everyone you are supposed to. Unfortunately, I am not yet at the level, where i can quit the 9 to 5 and pay the bills with music. Even when I do reach that level, I will still have other business endeavors going on. It’s all about diversifying revenue streams. To have my music touch every corner of the universe and trigger those God/dess genes. To have a consistent stream of currency coming from touring and releasing music abroad. I’d love to get into music production, video direction and holistic health consulting, which is one of my greatest passions.

4. In your opinion, what is the key to success?
Focus, applying knowledge, work, affirming, planning, persistence. These things are necessary to be successful in anything, and it ALL starts with positive thinking. A strong team of like minded beings willing to put in equal amounts of work is also helpful.

5. Your shoutout to the other Ladies living Music.

Megawatts of love and respect to all the feminine principles out there that respect, live and move the culture forward. Keep making beautiful music. Much success in all you do! Massive, mega respect and love to Lady on the MIC for keeping the culture alive.