first of all - i could blather about kinnie starr for forever and a day. she happens to be one of the most interesting artists i've seen in recent years, blessed with an incredible spirit of creativity and a flat out funny brain. listen to some of her spoken word some times at the shows and you'll realize just how funny the lady is.
i first saw her at the indigenUs people's festival in toronto in 2004 playing at the brigatine tent (for those that's been there it's this funky open tent bar type thing that they have late shows) and having caught the first set of the lucie idlout show i meandered down to see this artist listed as a first nation hip-hop artist.
i found that the listing was as accurate as it was understated. kinnie was noodling about with a guitar at first and i remember thinking "what in the world" and then she proceeded to have finished tuning it up and wipe the floor with my brains. never in my life have i seen an artist with the vibe of 'anything can happen while i'm onstage' as ms. starr has. one minute she's playing a song off 'tidy' and the next she's doing spoken word about her first horse riding lesson.
forever embedded in my brain was this show and i proceeded to make sure that she was first on my lips when i was talking to people about new artists they probably haven't heard of.
about 18 months later i saw her again at the imaginative film festival and this time, while other acts were performing she made her way through the crowd dancing and talking to friends and fans. no diva this woman. at least not on a perfomance night.
one of the first gifts my fiance ever gave me actually, was a copy of 'sun again' when we were first going out - a ways before things got serious with rings and the like. :D
not long ago i was talking to mi amorcita about the blog and she mentioned that since i had (e)nterviewed shad k, and baba brinkman - why not ask kinnie starr if she would be interested. i pushed the idea away because it seemed a bit far fetched i suppose but after a while i thought i would ask. well, i happen to know now that kinnie starr is about as real with it as you can expect and remains top flight in my experiences relating to musicians. within 48 hours of asking the question she has the answers and i present them to you now.
thanks kinnie starr and this (e)nterview is dedicated to mi amor because she started it all.
1. there has been a lot of lawsuits going around relating to mp3 downloads and especially now youtube videos. i notice that you have links to your videos via youtube and that you often have offered mp3 downloads on myspace in contrast - is this due to a philosophical or practical consideration?
i put up free shit on my site becasue people dowload and jack it anyways .....
there is a philosophical reason behind this as well, which is that i firmly believe ideas and art are public domain. for instance if ideas about medicine were shared freely instead of cures and knowledge being patented as intellectual property, there would be a whole hellofa lot more healthy people/babies/communities.
2. in a recent aesop rock blog posting, he mentions the hassles of the self promotional aspect of being an artist and baba brinkman has a funny song about that called 'stand buy me' - how do you balance this necessary element of getting your name out there vs. staying in the lab creating new work?
i just try to get good paying gigs and stay focused when i write. they are not the same thing. you can play shitty music at a great paying gig but you ultimately have to produce material from the heart to be able to sleep at night.
3. is there an instrument you feel most comfortable composing with? i notice you seem as at easy with an electric axe as you do with a sampler.
yes, my ensonic sampler is my friend, and i love electric and acoustic guitar. i have also been known to rock a fairly mean drum kit.
4. in 'super clever' you reference a record deal which seems to relate to the whole island/def jam experience. has this experience made you wary about large labels?
no. all labels are the same, large and small. it's the people who work there that distinguish the end result. there are assholes in both small and established companies.
5. what appeals to you the most about blogging? you seem to get a great deal of enjoyment and have a deft hand at touching controversial topics.
thanks. i discovered blogging when i discovered myspace, about a year or so ago. APTN had asked me to blog for them before but i didn't know it was so easy.
for years i tried to set my web site up interactively, so blogging is just plain common sense to me... it's like grafitti in a sense but it allows people to draw back. i love it.
6. is there anywhere that someone is selling the 'learning 2 cook' demo? or is that safely locked away in the starr vaults?
locked away. thank god.
7. your talent leads you to break down artificial boundaries such as those between hip-hop and spoken word and between hip-hop and electronica - is this intentional/philosophical or more of an intuitive process?
intuitive. i love sound and melody and it takes many shapes and form, including visual form at times. sometimes a song LOOKS like an image and i have to draw it first.....
8. do you have (or will you have) showings of your visual art?
hey!! that's funny that i just touched on that on the last question ...
ummm... yes i have wanted to do a show of my photos for a long time ... paintings and drawings too... some day ,.,,,
9. as a first nation hip-hop artist, what would you say the current state of the scene is and do you have hopes for where it might go?
i think natives are making the best hip-hop here in canada for sure. manik, 0512, mils, suga-d, eekwol, war party... the list goes on.
as to hip-hop itself ... i think we need some major fuel as far as creativity ... like nas says, hiphop is dead.
10. this is your question. if there's a question you always wanted asked - you can ask it of yourself and answer.
thanks a lot.
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