© The Wu-Tang Corp.
- 2004-03-17
Tekitha is a sista I ran into at a fashion show at San Francisco State, where she was singing. We talked a little before the interview backstage, but this is basically me meeting her knowing nothing about her. I liked how she carried herself and how she was very assertive about who she was, and that�s why I decided to interview her. If you don�t know her name, I�m sure if you listen to Hip Hop you know some of her work. So check out this up and coming locally cultivated bi-coastal artist, because she is definitely on her way up �
JR: Where have the people heard your voice?
Tekitha: Earlier on, I would have to say Ghostface Killah was the first record that I did with Wu-Tang, which was �All That I Got Is You.� I re-did the vocals that Mary did on the album. We put it out as a single and video. I moved on from there and did some movie soundtrack stuff like �Slam� and �Soul in the Hole.� I went on to do �Wu-Tang Forever� which is a double cd. I did �Impossible� and second coming off of that album.
After that I did �Ghost Dog,� Shyheim�s album, Killah Priest�s album, Cappadona�s album, Meth�s album, U-God�s album. I�ve been all over everybody�s shit, but that�s family and that�s how you do. If somebody calls you and says that they�re going to the studio, you need to be there, and handle yo� business.
I guess that would be the most familiar work that people would know me from is Wu-Tang. But I do have a solo career, and Rza produced 90 percent of the album, and I co-produced some tracks on the album. I have a live band, so it�s a whole new level of the game. I done moved, not on, but just up. It�s still family. It�s still locked down.
JR: So are you one of the few that are California affiliates of the Wu?
Tekitha: Well, I don�t consider myself California Wu-Tang period, because as far as the claiming of Wu-Tang and all of that goes, Wu-Tang is a clique of nine men, with the addition of Cappadona, which makes 10. There is no women involved in that. If I�m a featured female artist of the clique, than that�s my family, and that�s how it is.
But I let them claim that, and they do. They run around the world talking about �Tekitha, Wu dida dida da,� but you won�t never catch me doing that. I�m from California for all of my life. I�m from Sacramento, that�s where I was born and raised. I lived in Oakland for the last two years.
I claim what I really know, what I�m born and bred of, and that�s the West. That�s really what I know truly. I know New York from living there in and out from �95 even til today, but you can only know a thing so much. When you�re of a thing, that�s totally different, and I�m not really of that.
JR: I see you repping the Red, Black and Green. What does that mean?
Tekitha: Oh my god, the blood, the earth, the land, the body. Come on now.
JR: I�m knowing, but if you wearing it, you got to represent it.
Tekitha: You know what�s crazy though is this outfit was made for me. I didn�t even choose these colors. It was made for me by Mamasan, of course. I didn�t choose the colors. (Drea, the fashion designer) chose them, fitted me up for it, and when I came out, my Mama was like, �Oh Red, Black and Green � you doing it. I�m loving that.� I was like, �Ok, I�m loving it too.� You know what I�m saying?
JR: You said that you have a solo career. When can we hear something? Tell us the title. What�s the feel of it? Is it Hip Hop? Are you singing on it? Tell us the whole 9 �
Tekitha: Well, a lot of people don�t know that I�ve been an MC before I was a vocalist, before I was just a singer. So the album is just a mixture of rhymes and vocals, rhymes and songs. It�s called �Wisdom Body the LP� - that�s the name of the album. It will be dropping in the spring. We will drop a single in the spring and drop the album somewhere near the third quarter. I want to say spring-summerish. Hopefully we�ll get the album out not too long after the single drops.
It�s authentic with that Wu sound, that Rza sound. Rza did the beats, but I have a lot of live stuff in there too that is kind of reminiscent of a lot of classic soul, you know what I�m saying, but not that neo-soul, because I�m heavy on the ground a little bit. So I�m not really floating around in the air. I kind of got that bass knocking a little bit. It�s that trunk-funk, you know what I mean? So it�s a little of that. I haven�t heard a bad review yet.
JR: What are you talking about on it?
Tekitha: No bullshit, I�ll say that. It�s all real talk. It�s my life experiences, really, some emotional things, but my perspective of it, not just the actual situation, but my perspective of it, then a lot of social issues. So it�s either one of those. Either my direct experience with something or something that I�ve been observing socially that�s been happening to the youth or the elders or lack of respect for the ancestors. But it�s all kind of funneled around what I know. I can�t talk about what I don�t know.
So if you are looking for guns blasting and coke-running, you got the wrong album. It�s not going to happen here; club-hopping and pussy-popping, it�s not going to happen because I don�t know nothing about it. If I knew something about it, I might could talk some shit, but I don�t know anything about it.
So that�s pretty much the base-line of the album. It�s smooth but it�s raw, at the same time. I�m not out there trying to be a man, because I�m not a man, but I�m raw on that microphone though. That mic is my heart and soul, you know, aside from my daughter.
JR: Tell us how you got from Cali to New York back to Cali?
Tekitha: And back and back and back. Shit, I�ve been doing that for years.
JR: Is traveling important?
Tekitha: Traveling is important because in this game, for me, the way I�ve assessed it, you got to hit the street to get people to know about you. It�s one thing to have a label fund you and they put you up and they send you around or whatever, but I�ve gotten all of the rep that I�ve gotten from getting on the street and battle muthaphuckaz on corners, in little clubs, doing little gigs.
Like there is no gig that your girl will turn down. Like I�ll get 10 people - if somebody wants to get on the stage and act tough, then we could do it. That�s really my rep; that�s how I went from city to city to city. So that�s pretty much how I got to New York in a round about way. There is a more detailed story, but just doing my thing.
I don�t even have like a format. I�m just following, I�m just going along with it. �Oh, we�re going to do this today,� if it feels right, if there is good people involved. I�ve gotten caught in some bad situations, but that�s apart of growth too, and it got me sharper where I can feel the presence of good people, you know what I�m saying?
So I try to keep myself involved or revolved around them, you know? So it kind of moves me around. I try to plot a course sometimes, but sometimes it just happens the way it happens.
Written by JR for
sfbayview.com.
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