Category Archives: musicology

“When people aren’t used to something, they’re afraid of it—and naturally you hate something before you love it,” muses Kalenna Harper on the intro to her first solo mixtape released last month, Chamber of Diaries. That’s exactly the reception her major-label, electro-infused debut, Last Train To Paris, by hip-hop/R&B trio Diddy-Dirty Money, got when it was finally released after name-changes and numerous pushbacks at the end of 2010.

“I was never signed to Bad Boy [Records],” the singer (who goes by simply Kalenna) explains. “My contract was [solely] to work with Diddy-Dirty Money. Since then, I’ve just been in the studio writing and working on my next moves.” If her Diaries hint at what’s to come from the Altanta native, the next steps are bold ones. The 17-track free download released online, much like her efforts with Diddy-Dirty Money—and later with DDM bandmate and former Danity Kane member, Dawn Richard—is genre-defying yet tightly produced with elements of chromatic hip-hop, sleek, refined R&B, and infectious electro-pop. Unlike the catchy confections of current American chart-topping pop stars led by hitmakers Dr. Luke, RedOne and David Guetta (Rihanna, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry and Nicki Minaj), Kalenna’s music is darker. She worked with Timbaland-collaborator Ryan Tedder, Rodney Jerkins, D’Mile, Firstborne and Shakespeare. The result is much less Jersey Shore fist-pump and more ambient house.

The heavily introspective record provides Kalenna with the perfect platform to let those weary of Diddy-Dirty Money’s futuristic eclecticism come correct and learn exactly who the singer is. “The concept is raw, truthful emotion…I tell the truth in my music. I don’t sugarcoat anything documenting my life.” Just hear fervent Danjahandz-like stunners, “Poison” or “Pain & Alcohol”, and you’ll witness this raw, reflective R&B paired with scratching, at times, violent techno backdrops for yourself. Chamber of Diaries also gives space to explore Kalenna’s clever songwriting. On one of the mixtape’s few, fully rapped tracks, “6,000 Sistas,” she even coins her own term for cash. “’Sistas,’ in simple terms, is money. The phrase came from an inside joke with my friends and I. If you look at the Presidents on money, they’re all dressed in wigs and makeup, so, we just started calling them ‘sistas,” she dishes.

“Grace Jones is a big influence for me,” Kalenna says of her visual aesthetic. “Her style is very intriguing and speaks to who I am in many ways.”

Sonically, she has been compared to Brandy and Grace Jones herself (with whom she worked with on a Diddy-Dirty Money track). By refusing to be pigeonholed by genre, she explores territory many artists only begin to face in their late careers. “If I need to sing to get my point across or if I need to rap to do it, I will,” she asserts, holding true to the sound she’s developed over her still young career. And that’s what makes her independently-released mix such a hit. But Kalenna is no indie artist, which is perhaps why she’s relatively unknown to many ears. While Pitchfork readers are busy debating the latest Diplo leak, Kalenna’s putting out wildly appealing music that many times ends up only being heard by late-night hip-hop blog sifters. The mixtape’s stalled at only 6,200 downloads on DatPiff.com—a true crime, since her music could, much like Missy Elliott’s before her, find a home between the ears of a much broader, more discerning audience.

Download the free mix HERE.

View more photos of the singer
by Shikeith Cathey on V here.

In today’s #Occupy landscape, independent Huntsville, Alabama rap duo G-Side might make the most relevant hip-hop music out there. Have a listen to iSLAND, their latest LP released on Bandcamp last Friday (via Slow Motion Soundz), and you’ll find they’re the ultimate rags-to-not-quite-riches MCs. They’re realists in the truest sense of the word: while other rappers rate chicks up to ten (or rather, a dime), G-Side only gives her a 7 (referencing how good she looks in her Seven jeans). ST 2 Lettaz and Yung Clova adeptly play with phrases like these atop cinematic, lushly sample-driven backdrops courtesy of longtime producers, Block Beattaz, all the while modestly stacking chips via PayPal. Nowadays, who needs a bank account anyway?

While Clova still cuts hair for cash on the side (while listening to himself on NPR, naturally), he admits, he’d still like to go “major” someday. And that day may come sooner than later, if iSLAND is any indication. Hit up Interview Magazine to read my full chat with the working half of underground hip-hop’s best-kept secret…