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Interview With Yo Majesty’s Shunda K

Jwl B (left) and Shunda K of Yo Majesty

It’s no wonder that Tampa-based hip-hop sensation Yo Majesty is known as a bit of a party band. Song titles such as “Get Down on the Floor,” “Grindin’ and Shakin'” and “Party Hardy” – not to mention band member Jwl B’s penchant for going shirtless at live shows – certainly further that idea. As do lyrics such as “Bootylicious, very yummy, in my dictionary, honey” (from “Booty Clap”).

But that doesn’t mean people don’t take Yo Majesty’s music seriously. The group won early acclaim with their 2006 debut EP, featuring tracks such as “Kryptonite P—-” and “Club Action,” even if unenlightened DJs commented that the group was “too gay.” The band also garnered a cult following.

Yo Majesty’s new record, Futuristically Speaking … Never Be Afraid, will be released in the U.K. later this month and worldwide in September. The band just performed at the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival on Aug. 8, and in the fall these frequent globetrotters head to Brazil.

Shunda K, who turned 28 at the beginning of August, is perhaps the more serious of the band’s members. She’s hoping to resume graduate study (in business with an emphasis on e-commerce) as soon as her busy schedule of performing, recording and producing/managing other acts lets up. And at the beginning of next year, she’s moving one state over to Georgia, where she said she’s “looking forward to taking over the ATL, ’cause that’s the hip-hop capital.”

In the meantime, she spoke with AfterEllen.com about her band, her music, her fiancée and God.

Photo credit: Karl Walter/Getty Images

AfterEllen.com: Maybe you can clear up some confusion for me: I’ve seen you listed as a duo and as a trio.

Shunda K: We were a trio, but Shon B is no longer with the band. It’s just me and Jwl since last August. It’s been about a year, but they just be getting the stories mixed up all the time and slipping our lives around. They write about us with one name but with somebody else’s story. It’s crazy.

AE: Is there anything you want to set the record straight on?

SK: Yeah. The song that I did with Peaches is not called “Raspberry Cocaine.” Raspberry Cocaine is another artist that I’m working with on a project. But I did a song with Peaches called “Buck You Like a Billionaire,” so I want to clear that up. That’s pretty much it for right now. There’s some other stuff, but it’s not even worth going all the way back.

AE: It seems like you guys play at a lot of music festivals.

SK: Yeah, we do play a lot of them. I like it. It’s the opportunity to appeal to the masses. And the more people we can appeal to at one time, the better.

AE: Do you find new audiences that way?

SK: Yeah, we do. Being able to just go all over the world – this is a global vision. It’s not just meant for Tampa or the United States; this is for the whole wide world, this message.

Photo credit: Karl Walter/Getty Images

AE: I know you guys will be at the Michigan [Womyn’s Music] Festival. Have you been there before?

SK: No, I’ve never been to Michigan before, so I’m looking forward to, you know, scoutin’ out the land. [laughs] We’re hoping to gain some new fans and just deliver the message – penetrate the hearts of the people with the truth and what’s real. I’m trying to be more proactive now. The world is f—ed up, and everybody’s just sitting on their ass, waiting on somebody else to do something. It’s time to take responsibility, man – even if it ain’t your responsibility. But it is if you live here on this earth. We should all want a better place to live.

AE: Does music give you an opportunity to further that?

SK: Hell yeah. I’m working on a song right now where I’m talking about how there’s nothing wrong with a black president, and I’m just getting deep. Like telling the radio stations how you know damn well ain’t three and a half minutes enough time for anybody to tell a message. By the time I’m done with it, it’s gonna be five minutes long and I need some air play on it.

AE: Have people had issues with “Kryptonite P—-” or other songs?

SK: When they released the EP online, they sent it to all the DJs, and some of the comments were that it was too gay. … But it’s not the typical gay track, if that’s what you want to label it. When I listen to the EP or album, it don’t sound like a gay EP or a gay album to me.

I just want people to be open-minded to it. You might as well get on the bandwagon, because you’re gonna be one of the ones that now you don’t like it but just because everyone else do, now all the sudden you like it. I don’t want to deal with your fake ass. Keep it real, you know? We’ve had shows where we get there and the people treat us like s—, and then after we kill it on stage, man, they’re kissin’ our ass. After we show and prove, it’s like: Oh, how may I serve Yo Majesty? [laughs]

AE: Your live shows sound like they get pretty crazy.

SK: Well, they have. Honestly, on the last tour I had the opportunity to finish the tour on my own, which meant that I was able to get more into my Shunda K mode. Just be myself and not feel any pressure. I did that and people responded well. I even invited a few other artists that I know, and I know to hold it down live, to come and finish the tour with me.

My whole set every night – I’d just tell the promoter I need two hours to do my thing. Josh Bloom opened up the show, and he’s an indie rock artist in Manhattan. After him I had Supahero GoGo Star go up, and they’re two gay guys, six feet tall, black, dark and handsome, both of them. They’re into some electronic, techno, Sylvester-type – that’s one of their role models. He was this gay singer back in the days when being openly gay was like: Oh hell no, are you for real? He was open with his s— and had a lot of respect for the people.

From there, Rosetta Stoned would come up. I don’t even know what kind of style you would call that. It’s some other kind of hip-hop. And then I would close the show out with some Yo Majesty tracks. Then I got a chance to do some solo stuff. It went real good. It really moved the people, that variety of music. They were full when they left the place.

AE: What did you mean when you said you felt “less pressure”?

SK: Well, keeping it real, there’s some tension between the Majesties. So, sometimes I have to cut myself short because of just trying to keep the peace. I’m dealing with a situation where – I don’t know how deep I should get because your ass is probably going to write up everything I tell you. [laughs] Just know that there’s tension. And all the team is trying to do what they can to save Yo Majesty as we all know it. And I hope that happens.

What I am looking for is Domino renegotiating this contract that Yo Majesty signed and releasing me as solo artist to do what the hell I want to do. And then, not only that, but giving me an imprint so that I can release albums next year. I’m more than just an artist. I’m more than just a black chick from the ‘hood. I have an education. The most important thing is I’m on a mission and I have a heart. And what I’m trying to do is the best for the whole wide land.

AE: So, if you had your way, would you see yourself in the near future just doing solo work, or would you like it to be some solo work, working with new artists, and also working with Yo Majesty?

SK: Yeah, I’m going to be doing all of that, everything you just mentioned. I’m already doing it. I’m already working with my own artists, getting their albums recorded, featuring on their albums, and doing all kinds of collaborations all over the world. … When I’m home, I’m working. When I’m on the road, I’m working. All around the clock, never stop.

I’m doing it all. I’ve got a production company and a management company. The way my attorney explained it to me, a production company is the same as a record company, just without the distribution. So I’m just seeking physical distribution, because I can release the albums worldwide digitally. I just need physical distribution and a booking agent and I will be unstoppable. For real, for real. [laughs]

But I feel good. I just had to get proactive on their ass. I did this song with Rosetta Stoned called “Stand” and I say: “I had to get proactive on their ass. Now they’re glad to do anything I ask. Me letting the motherf—ers try me is in the past. And last not least, I wanna encourage everybody in the streets to stand. Rosetta Stoned, Shunda K got you, man.”

Straight up. Don’t let the bully beat you up no more. Take a stand for what you know is right, what you deserve. I’m gonna get everything I deserve and I’m having to take it by force. I’m just taking what’s rightfully mine.

AE: Do you do most of the songwriting or do you guys collaborate?

SK: We go back and forth. We have a song called “Blame It on the Change” and we both wrote the hook for that. And Jwl wrote the hook on “Kryptonite” and “Monkey.” I’m not trying to say she’s not serious, but I concentrate on more serious stuff, like “Never Be Afraid” and “Break Bread.”

AE: Are you pretty political?

SK: Oh, hell yeah. But all the way around; I can party too. But everyone can do that. That’s what Yo Majesty do. … But I want to use my solo career as a platform to speak out on behalf of people.

And then I have another artist name that I go by, DAT GIRL. It’s an acronym for “divinely attributed to God in real life.” With that, it’s just me and God, whatever He put in my spirit to say.

Right now I’m engaged, and I just revamped a song that I did a few years ago that’s called “First Encounter.” So, this is the first time that Dat Girl is gonna get off on love stuff. It’s dealing with love and my relationship, and even talking about the problems, but just in a different way. I guess, in a way of what would Jesus do?

AE: Do you feel any kind of conflict between being gay and being religious?

SK: I’m not religious. No, I don’t feel a conflict with being gay and loving the Lord. What fueled that is I was doing a celibacy thing, and I prayed and asked God to bless me with my wife. And I was so nervous and couldn’t believe I was talking to God. … And I had some different requests as far as what I wanted this woman to possess, and by January she was in my life and we’ve been together ever since. God answered my prayer. …

I don’t have time to worry about what I’ve been taught – all the scary stuff, that you’re gonna burn and all that. I don’t want to burn! That’s why I got married [to a man, from 2003 to 2005], ’cause I didn’t want to go to hell. And that didn’t even work. I tried to do what I was supposed to do according to tradition and religion, and it still didn’t work. So don’t stress me out about that s—! [laughs]

For more on Shunda K, visit her MySpace page or Yo Majesty’s MySpace page.

 

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