SW: Who is SheReal? SR: SheReal is a female that loves music and uses it to connect with others. I live to be on stage, it’s something that I had to actually realize. It’s my favorite thing to do out of anything else in the world. If I could be on stage on all the time, and sheesh I hope I know what I’m asking for...if I could be on stage every single day I would. SW: What was it like growing up for you? What was music like for you as a child? SR: My father plays the keyboard, the acoustic guitar, and the bass. He was a songwriter. HipHop wasn’t in my household. It wasn’t even allowed. I was told that a lot of the messages that were conveyed in the music that was popular was inappropriate for my age level. So what was played at my house was what they loved. We listened to BabyFace, that was my favorite songwriter in the world when I was little. I wanted to work with Teddy Riley, that was the first producer I ever wanted to work with. My father and I used to dance, when I was like 2 years old, to Bobby Brown Don’t Be Cruel. My stepmother came along, she’s a big Earth, Wind and Fire fan. All we listened to [was] Prince, Stevie Wonder; going to their friend’s house, it was Chaka Khan, Marvin Gaye, Luther Vandross, Anita Baker, Roberta Flack. This is what I grew up around and then I started hearing Hip-Hop from my peers. That wasn’t really my foundation. SW: What was your first introduction to Hip-Hop? Who was that? Do you remember? SR: No, not really. I know it was like third grade. I know it was Kris Kross, I used to walk around my house with my stuff backwards. I still do!. At the same time I was listening to Kris Kross, I was also listening to Natalie Cole. So ‘Unforgettable’ [Unforgettable...With Love] is one of my favorite albums, so it’s like I could hear Biggie at school, I could hear Pac around my cousin’s house and stuff like that. My mother’s side of the family is from Cali, so when I’d go out there, it’s Snoop and Dre, that’s what my older cousins were listening to. I was always running around with the boys.
SW: After that introduction, what does HipHop and music mean to you now? SR: I didn’t start rapping because it was some type of trend. I didn’t start rapping because I saw everybody else doing it. I started rapping because it was the best way for me to get my thoughts out. Out of my head, out of my heart. It brought me peace in a way that nothing else did. When I started sharing shit that I was writing, shit that I was spitting, ‘cause before this I wrote poetry, but when I really got into writing rhymes and I was sharing it with people I knew, they was looking at me crazy! The response that I was getting was so great that I felt it made sense to start performing. It made sense to start putting projects together because of the way the people responded. If people didn’t respond to me the way they do when I make music, I probably wouldn’t do it as much. It’s not just for me, I don’t write songs just for me. I could just have some type of diary or some shit. SW: Top five rappers? SR: Jay-Z was my first favorite rapper. Then came Eminem, Kanye West, Missy Elliot. I was actually in love with Missy Elliot as an artist before Jay, but Jay kind of surpassed her in my heart...and Andre 3000.
“I rap, guys rap, we all rap, we all Hip-Hop artists. And it’s ok and it should be embraced. ‘Cause there are kings for a reason like there are queens for a reason. And queens don’t rule the same way kings rule. And queens don’t tell the same story. But I feel like it shouldn’t be looked down upon just because I’m a female. Shit, on a chessboard the Queen has one of the most lethal plays on that board. Do not sleep on us.” 23