Many performers can capture the attention of an audience – only a few can actually mesmerize a crowd. Meet Liza Lakes. A Flint, Michigan native, whose love affair with words not only charms her audience, but also brings many (including this hard-shelled journalist) to tears.

I caught up with Liza to find out about her unique blend of words, emotion and cadence, and to discuss how she is using her ownership of the spoken word to raise hip-hop’s next generation.

Describe yourself in five words.
The power of the word is immeasurable. I have to be extremely careful in everything I speak and write. Words carry energy and this can be interpreted in so many different ways. The high esteem of oneself can be dangerous, but with all that considered I will give you these words: thankful, focused, free, delicate, strong and vessel.

Interesting choice. What makes you feel free?
What I have been gifted to do is share my story and with that comes responsibility of being honorable in all my actions. So I am free in the sense that when I perform I try to never get in the way of the message. It is in some ways similar to being possessed. The higher being is using me as a vessel.

When did you first realize you had a way with words?
Everyone has a way with words. Everyone manifests his or her reality. I was blessed to awaken at an early age and realize the importance of making my speech excellent. I was always fond of letters and sounds and the power they held. I use to fill pad after pad with the cursive writing of a four-year-old. Loops and loops and loops.

You are the mother of two young boys, Ezra and Eli. Has either of them discovered the same fondness of letters and sounds that you cherish?
My oldest, who is now six, could count the number of syllables in words before he knew the names of the letters. The youngest just turned 4 and has favorite songs that he asks to hear. They are intrigued by the same combination of rhythm and words that we all find fascinating. They do their freestyle and have me make beats on the table, chairs or floor. It has been a blessing to have them involved. They attend most of my events. They love hip-hop. I try to expose them to all the elements.

Speaking of the elements, when we first met, you said you thought spoken word was hip-hop. Can you explain what you meant?
Hip-hop is self-validating, so it has a wide and broad definition. The oral tradition of the spoken word is what emceeing is, so I don’t necessarily consider there to be any boundaries. It is all related. I am hip-hop, my kids are hip-hop and we don’t need a checklist to be this.

Finish this sentence: Liza Lakes is a self-confessed…
Slave. I am only a vessel. I am a slave to the creator and the purpose he has given me with these gifts. Within this knowledge and understanding, there is immeasurable beauty. I am in no way oppressed. The more I accept this the more beautiful it becomes.

Liza Lakes is available for speaking engagements covering feminism, hip-hop and activism. You can purchase her first book, You Never Knew Until I Spoke, online at www.lizalakes.com.

What’s up with Digable Planets?
We’re doing some dates in the United Kingdom and Australia. We’ll be doing our Digable songs and also our solo stuff. It’s a reunion tour and it’s the beginning of this album. It’s the beginning of reconnecting. We’re going to start working on our new album on the road.

What does the album title, Trip The Light Fantastic, mean? When is it coming out?
The album will be out early April. The album is my light…just get on this trip with me…a fantastic trip, a fantastic light.

Find out what Ladybug has been in up to in the last few years in the March issue of VERBALISMS.

Hawaii.

The perfect spot for an ideal vacation. Nice beaches, great weather, and an even better nightlife. There are many different spots where you can hear some of Hawaii’s dopest DJs spinning. One of these DJs is Prynces Leya other wise known as Charel or “Rel” to her friends. She is the only female DJ in Nocturnal Sound Krew (NSK). So check her out and remember her name, because you will definitely be hearing more about her in the future.

For the record, tell everyone your stage name & crew.
My stage name is Prynces Leya the 1st Lady of Nocturnal Sound Krew.

How old are you & where in Hawaii do you reside?
I’m 22 years old and majority of my life I was raised in Ewa Beach but right now I’m living in Moanalua Valley.

What do you do for a day time job, or do you even have one?
I’m currently employed at the Hickam Fitness Center as an affiliate of the fitness staff.

How long have you been spinning?
Ever since the end of 96.

What inspired you to begin spinning?
Music inspired me to spin…it’s all about music.

What is it like to be the only female in your crew?
It’s alright but I would love to have at least one more girl in the group.

Where & when do you normally spin?
I usually spin at home but if I’m free from school and work, and someone offers me to spin at their party, I’d be down.

So name some of your favorite DJ`s.
I have favorite DJ’s under different categories. For example, with trick mixing there’s J-Rocc and Melo-D. In beat juggling, my favorites are Babu and Craze; skratching – D-Styles, Shortkut, and of course Q-Bert.

How did you get in NSK?
Basically Nocturnal is just a bunch of friends that hang out together with the same interest.

What is Sisters in Sound?
Sisters in Sound (SIS) are a female DJ group.

What is your affiliation with Sisters in Sound, who are they and what is that all about?
They’re friends of Nocturnal, they gave me a special opportunity to spin at one of the functions they hold the last Saturday of every month at Auntie Pastos. These girls are dope DJs that love the music and basically represent for all female DJs. They’re all about positivity and bringing people together through different types of music vibes.

Tell me about your first gig. How did you get it, what was it like, and how were you feeling?
Dang my first gig was way back when I first started learning at the end of ’96. I helped my friend out with his mobile DJ system. It was the best learning experience. It made me say, “I wanna do this the rest of my life.”

What’s the competition for female DJs like in Hawaii? Or do you even feel like there is competition?
Competition here in Hawaii, as far as female DJs is not that big. I really don’t think there is competition, there are a lot of girl DJs entering the scene but I don’t see them as competing with each other, rather they’re more supportive of one another.

So what are you spinning at the moment? Name some artists.
Simply Red, Mary J. Blige, A Tribe Called Quest, Adriana Evans, Bilal, Digable Planets, Common, Erykah Badu, Zhane, Groove Theory, Total, to name a few.

Tell me about your first set of turntables.
My first set of turntables is the equipment I have at the moment, two 1200 MKII and a Vestax 06. I’m hoping to get a 07 soon.

What is going on in the future for NSK?
We’ve got projects in plan mode at the moment. Just keep your eye out for us. Another thing I have going is my own project, but it’s still in process, hopefully it’ll happen though. Just keep an eye out for that too!

Are you planning to enter any DJ contests anytime soon?
I’ve been thinking about competing, but I’m really not too sure yet, just keep your eyes out for me. You never know.

www.nocturnal-sound.com

“I’ve never been alive and there wasn’t hip-hop. That is why I feel like I’m fortunate to have this in my life. I’m blessed.”

The relationship between an individual MC and hiphop is one that can be observed through the artist’s musical execution. Some emcees have a relationship with hip-hop that is strictly based upon money. Not to knock, though, because it obviously works for them but for an MC like Brick City’s Flo Brown, her relationship with hip-hop is based upon a different dependency. Her reliance is unyielding and allows her to continually look towards hip-hop for personal survival whether in sickness or in health. Just by listening to her, you know that her love for hip-hop is not a gimmick, but a life’s promise with a reciprocated love demonstrated in her own existence. Through an unconditional trust in where the music will lead, Flo has found a defined purpose that maintains her livelihood. F*ck what you heard or have become accustomed to believing. The healing and growing power of hip-hop is deep and is as real to Flo as the air she breathes between bars. “Whatever is going to happen with my music” Flo contests, “I am going to leave with it.”

Her dedication isn’t in vain. Flo’s lyrics have the precision to tear through your psyche faster than you can comprehend. Her poetic beginnings give rise to rhymes laced with complex patterns intermingled with incisive imagery. As a self-directed student of some of hip-hop’s greatest teachers—Queen Latifah, Rakim and Big Daddy Kane—her delivery is as deft as the words that surge out of her spirit, packaged not in a fluffy decorative covering, but in a raw and resilient core. From Philly, to D.C. to New York, her stage performance leaves you dumbfounded, not sure if you heard right, prompting you to question, “Did she really just rip it like that?” You feel her whether you want to or not and a level of respect forms naturally because she offers no uncertainties about herself, her music, or her calling. Armed with a firm faith in her art, she is inevitable.

How did you get into rapping? I know that you started out as a poet.
I wrote poetry since I was real little. I would re-write lyrics and I was real into hiphop when I was five, six, seven, so I would know everything about the lyrics. When I got a little older, like in the eighth grade, I would write my own lyrics in the form of poems. When I got to high school is when I started to write raps, but I still didn’t take it seriously. When I was a freshman, my history teacher would let me say a poem at the end of class, it was kind of funny. I remember this one rap I wrote for my English class, it was so whack, it had references to red, black, and green and February being the shortest month of the year. But even back then I looked at the MC as like oh my god. Like Queen Latifah, Rakim, they were like the ultimate to me. I always had this respect for the game, but it wasn’t until I got to Howard that everything opened up for me. I guess it was because of the fact that I never dealt with my father’s death or his life and I was in DC by myself so I just started writing poems crazily. I associated writing with therapy. I was writing real powerful stuff at the time and after I wrote them I wanted to hear them. So for the first time I attended a poetry reading at one of the boys’ dorms and read my poetry there. After that it was like a growth spurt and I started writing rhymes along with my poetry.

Did the delivery come natural to you?
Yep, it was the flow. I was always called Flo, since I was little. That’s how I know I am supposed to be doing this, it’s so natural.

How did you get hooked up with Lyricist Lounge?
I did this show in Newark that Mos Def hosted. Because anytime there was a show or something, somebody in Jersey or DC would call me and I would go through. So after I performed that day, Danny from Lyricist Lounge came up to me and told me about one of their upcoming shows. So I auditioned for him and he liked it, so I opened for Common at Flamingo. That was one of my first real shows where I rapped because I hadn’t really rapped on stage, people really just knew me for my poetry at that time.

What would you say are your main obstacles?
Probably just a lot of ego. Because everyone is fighting for their agenda, you know, whatever they are about. In hip-hop I look at it as tribal. Like there’s this tribe that talks about guns, and this tribe that talks about sex and woman, and this tribe talking about the art of rhyming. Everybody got their own agenda, everybody is trying to bring their own noise. You ain’t going to get an opportunity to represent that if you ain’t thorough and not just on the mike but if your mind ain’t right as far as what you are trying to bring. I went through a lot. I don’t like to talk about it too much because I don’t like to give energy to it. I am very thankful to be where I am right now to be still writing and recording and popping up on projects because I have been through a lot. Never really having a manager, never really having a team, never really, really having people believe in me not even 75 percent of what I believed in myself. But that’s why I don’t like to talk about the bad stuff, how could I? I’m still here.

So what was your relationship with the Roots?
Yeah, I was down with them. They took me on tour. I signed a contract for what they told me was a development contract, a demo deal or whatever because MCA had interest in me. So the way it was said to me was it was a done deal, they were interested, but this was just a preliminary step to get material on me and that was the procedure. So I was contractually into that and they took me on tour with them. Yeah I was kind of down with them for a minute.

Do you have any labels interested now?
Labels, I mean I have people interested that want to do some things. But I’ve been through the whole label-interested thing back in ’99, ’00, and ’01. Oh this label interested, that label interested, and a lot of times when you out there like that things always come back to you. I’ve been in with a couple of major labels and the shit didn’t pan out so I’m just going to keep doing what I do, trying to bring what I’m about. That’s all I can do. Labels should be interested if they know what’s best for them especially the way hip-hop is going right now. The way they have tried to manufacture the future of it, you can’t do that. It is going to grow and evolve to what it is naturally supposed to be.

What do you think about females who use sexuality to sell records?
Let me say this first. I was discovering this shit when people where discovering it in me. When you eighteen, it is big and powerful and spiritual and you growing with it. But that’s always been in the forefront, oh as a female MC, as a female MC, like they don’t really want to know who you are or what you are about, it’s like you are always defined as a female MC. Emceeing isn’t really about being a male or a female. Now when you talk about the politics behind it, gender does play a role. The way I look at it, it is all animalistic. Like I’m a person out here who happens to be a female but in the jungle, nobody gives a fuck if you are a female form, you can get fucked up too. If you fall prey, you fall prey. If you get caught out there, you get caught out there. I don’t think it’s necessarily about being a female or not when it comes down to lyrics. A lot of people from the gate want to know, as a female rapper what do you think of Lil’ Kim and Foxy and I feel like that is just part of the element. There are all types of beings out here. As far as I am concerned, I come from all the same evolutionary processes as any other male MC that wanted to bring it. As a far as being a female, where politics really plays a part is that a lot of people feel as though they can tell you what to talk about, they could tell you what to say, or they can write your rhymes. They feel like it really matters how you look and they get intimidated if you rhyme better than them. That’s where the female thing comes in. But the thing people fail to realize that this is about wit and intelligence, and men and women equally possess that. If you speak to the reason why you in this, and you know who you are and what you want to say and you have patience and faith that your day is going to come, you’ll get it.

What can people expect from a Flo performance?
When I perform, I just zone out. I’m up there in my stance, but I can’t really explain it, I just like black out and become one with the words. You just got to see it.

How often do you feel like you are tested to stay true to yourself?
It is not that hard for me to stay true to myself because I feel like it is my truth to rhyme about the things that I rhyme about. I’ve always approached it as this is how I feel so this is what I’m going to rhyme about. It was never a show-and-tell thing or a let me try to appease you sort of thing, it was always just this is how I feel. It is natural, it’s second nature, and habitual for me to say sh*t my way. You write my rhymes, for what? If you can write the rhymes, then you be the MC, you say it. I’ve had pressures as far as the structuring of what I say. I’ve had people tell me that people don’t like aggressive women and people don’t like angry women. I’ve been told America isn’t ready for an angry black woman, I’ve been told all types of sh*t like that. But I am like you don’t even know who I am, I’m not an angry black woman. I’m not angry. I’m a person who has something to say with conviction and passion to say it. Everybody’s just scared. I thought that when Lauryn Hill came out, that her success would help the vibe gravitate towards that. Usually when they get a rapper that raps a certain way that sold so many records, they will try to find another one like that. But they didn’t try to find four more L-boogies. Why didn’t they jump on that? They jumped on so many other styles. It’s crazy.

How was it working with Jazzy Jeff on The Magnificent?
He’s cool as hell. I did the song for his album and cut about four songs out of his studio that I absolutely love.

So what are your goals now? What do you want to accomplish?
I’m just trying to bring what I’m on. I’m trying to speak my experience and my story no matter what. And find voices within myself that haven’t been tapped into. That is what the hip-hop thing has brought me through, just all my experiences. I want to make my record that speaks to the people and the youth. Put out a record and tour with it.

Anything else you want to discuss about what your music means to you?
It means several things to me. There’s the flow though that’s so important because a lot gets expressed in it. That’s what I’m bringing to this–the flow. That’s my name. I mean everybody knows what flow is but what is it really? And that’s the question I’m coming to answer.

BYATA is a creative soul, a native New Yorker, a master of flow. A true product of her environment, she was born in Brooklyn and raised by Russian immigrant parents. At a young age BYATA began writing poetry and songs to escape a tough home life and the lure of the street life that was always knocking at her door, promising easy money for the price of a young soul.

Willing to sacrifice anything for her music, she worked from the ground up, taking her talent from the streets of Brooklyn to the stages of the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, The Time Cafe, and numerous ciphers and competitions, winning battles, gaining confidence and expanding her audience.

BYATA received praise and well deserved exposure from the hip-hop community after appearing on the TV show 106 & Park, where she was the first white female to ever be seen on the show. Always ambitious and open, she is on a continuous quest to perfect her craft and ultimately make her mark.

VERBALISMS caught up with BYATA to talk about her views on being female, the hip-hop game, and individual style.

Tell me a bit about your background.
Backgound, let me see. My parents came over here when they were 16, from Odessa (Russia), met each other, had me at age 18, and we lived on Brighton Beach, in Brooklyn, a Russian community. There was a lot of fighting that would go on between the two of them so I would lock myself in my room and write, little poems, rhymes from a very young age to escape. My father had a serious drug problem, which messed with my head. The entire time this went on I kept writing constantly. They got divorced and my mother remarried a guitar player. I got introduced to music through my new stepfather, Marvin Gaye, the Beatles, and just developed this love for music. When I got into middle school writing was my thing. I won awards, English awards, storytelling awards, and poetry contests. My best friend was a black girl, she taught me how to write raps and from then on that was what I wanted to do.

How has your experience been with hip-hop?
I have found that it is very hard to get respect as a female emcee because the majority of female rappers don’t write their own rhymes. They usually have a guy writing for them. There is always this feeling that you have to prove yourself a lot more than male emcees, especially being a white female emcee. People sometimes react like “whoa”, since there are not many in the game right now.

So do you feel color is still an issue that can make or break someone in the game? And gender?
No, I just want people to not judge based on appearance. I want people to hear me and say “she’s dope” and then find out what color I am. Again, as a female emcee it is difficult to get people to look beyond the fact that I’m female, and believe I write my own raps and perform them.

Have you ever had a bad experience on stage?
I’ve been received very well, although one time I got booed, but they were just haters. I hadn’t even started rapping yet, it was at a dance club and they stopped the regular club music so I could perform. The people were like “What the?” and started booing, and wouldn’t listen to me. I guess I can attribute that to the fact that their dancing was interrupted, but whatever. Some people have no respect. Other than that I have had amazing experience in NYC, a great, great reception.

I’ve done shows where when I was done peoples’ mouths were wide open, coming up to me to praise my skill.

I know that you have met many, many people and gained respect of many, including notables that have offered to contribute to your art. Who have you worked with?
I worked with Marley Marl, which was amazing, and a lot of up and coming producers like Ollie D, who did some beats for me. I did a show with all the old school rappers like Dougie Fresh, which was great. I met and worked with many, such as Run DMC, Wyclef and family, Remedy, and others.

I notice that you have a great fashion sense and an eclectic taste in terms of your personal style. In your opinion, what is the mark of true style – what makes you say “Damn, he/she looks hot.”
If you respect and love yourself, if you can put something together and wear it with attitude, if you can have this air of confidence and carry off a great look, to me that’s style, that’s what it’s about the attitude and how you carry yourself, the posture. I don’t like to dress like everyone else. I think everyone should be unique, stand out, and be different. It adds color to life.

Do you have any influences, literary or musically?
Rappers are poets to me. Tupac, Lauryn Hill, they’re really poets to me. Lauryn Hill is the first emcee I really respected. I grew up listening to her, I respect her the most and like her best, her style of writing.

Are you interested in other creative arts?
Acting. I took a class to help me out on stage and discovered that I had a real interest in acting. I did a couple of independent flicks, I did a Spike Lee movie, “He’s Got Game”.

How do you feel about your Russian background? How has that influenced you and your artistic development?
I’m starting to develop a style, and realize what I want to talk about. When you get older you tend to perfect your style and sense of identity. In the beginning it was corny, I’d write rhymes about dissing people, but now I’m finding who I am, my element, what I want to talk about. Basically I’m Russian and I like to compare Russian culture to African-American culture, there are many similarities I see – the way we hustle, the way we dress, speak, show off – it’s a very similar thing, we love parties, money, clothes, I’d love to put my country on the map and let people know who I am.

Any inspirational words for our readers?
Keep trying if it’s in your heart keep doing it, all you have to do is believe in yourself.