|
Germaican Observer: The last I saw
you, the last time before the last time, you had dreadlocks
and know you don't, what's happening with that?
Tanya Stephens: I changed my hairstyle.
G.O.: Did you just get up one morning
and decide…
T.S.: I didn't become a rastafarian, I was just wearing
dreadlocks and so I changed my hairstyle… yuh nuh some
people do that like once a week they go to hairdresser and
they get a new style and dem cut the back inna flip. I had
dreadlocks and then I didn't.
G.O.: When you went back to Jamaica
after being away for so long, what was the response to your
dreadlocks and to you like?
T.S.: Well, I was overwhelmed by the response because
people were just being so happy to see me, I had no idea that
I was this loved. The general feedback was like there is no
women and the women don't do anything and when they do anything
it's not much worth mentioning so "happy to have you
back and you're socking it to the men and you're standing
up with the best of them, welcome back."
G.O.: Was the Dancehall scene different
after being away for more than 2 years?
T.S.: Well surprisingly it should have been more different
than it was, but it didn't even seem like I had left for a
day… it was like I had been in a timewarp, same old,
same old.
G.O.: So when you say that it should
have been different, what changes were you expecting?
T.S.: I would have expected us to progress somewhat
but we didn't, we didn't at all… it was the same, sloppy,
I get a riddim and I take 5 minutes and I 'fling' something
on it and it's the same old corny lyrics, the same old bun
batty man and the same old bun bow cat… the same old
things just being recycled time and time again, so it just
felt like I had never left, I just fit back into the swing
of things.
G.O.: After seeing all of that when
you went back and seeing what's been happening to Sean
Paul and Wayne Wonder on the international scene
how does that make you feel?
T.S.: Funny thing is I wouldn't use Sean Paul's
or Wayne Wonder's success as a mark as to what Dancehall
on a whole can do… because Dancehall never really embrace
Sean Paul, especially in the Jamaican Dancehall they
never embraced him, now everybody is saying "Sean Paul,
Sean Paul" but he never had any support before, so that
was somebody making it against all odds. So that is not significant
of what Jamaica can do, because Jamaica didn't do that, that
was the rest of the world embracing one of our own. Everybody
else loved him first and the typical Jamaican industry people
thought he was too uptown and he's not a real deejay.
G.O.: Speaking of that, when Beenie
Man won his Grammy award Bounty Killer was on his
case and now that Sean Paul is on top Bounty
is doing the same and he also did the same thing with Shaggy…
T.S.: Well that is typically Jamaican artists, I think
what is happening with Sean Paul overall and Wayne
Wonder is extremely amusing… amusing because a lot
of people who didn't think that they were worth the time of
day is now beginning to get on dem 'dicks,' me find it just
simply amusing. The biggest problem with Jamaica is that 'we
keep flogging dead horses' people who time and time again
we keep biggin dem up as the biggest, the greatest, the most
talented prove to be not and we keep on a push dem up front…
at the end of the day it no matter what me think of dem, when
dem go out to the people is wah di people dem want and most
times di people dem want something that's good.
Our industry have 2 kind a people, one set weh people want
to love and another set weh work and earn di people dem love
and what di industry want is not usually somebody weh talented…
so I think the best thing they ever did for Sean Paul
was never to rate him up and is a good youth and him still
humble and him a show dem that him can sell millions without
being hype and without having to be all of what they are..
and he's one main thing that they are not, and that is talented
and that is the only thing that count.
G.O.: You and Ce'cile were
good friends and that friendship is now over, what happened?
S.: Not everybody has the capacity to move from poverty
to regular flow of meals and be able to deal with it, not
everybody has the capacity to deal with that. Some peoples
best personality come out when they are hungry, as soon as
they are fed they get all stupid… I can't think of anything
that Tanya Stephens is doing different now than she
was doing years ago, but I'm gonna always be somebody who
supports upcoming people who I see need help, I'm gonna always
write lyrics for people who are less fortunate and don't write
so good because I'm blessed and I can … and that is not
to be cocky, it's just a fact, I do that and I don't see no
reason why that shoulda change.
|
|
G.O.: What happened to the album that
should have been released with Warner Sweden?
T.S.: We released it in Sweden and then we fell apart
creatively, maybe a year ago I would have been knocking dem
silly but it was a learning experience for me and I did benefit
somewhat from it… maybe not financially because mi no
earn nothing through dem which I wasn't earning through Dancehall
already, which they probably will never understand.
I have learned to be closer to mastering my profession, in
terms of the people that I work with technically, the hands
on people who actually do the work, not the record company
people who feel like dem more than they really are… but
the actual musicians and producers, I gained a wealth of knowledge
from them.
I don't think I ever was a hyped person but I learned a lot
more humility from them, because they are actually people
who are good at what they do.. unlike some of us in Jamaica
who from wi learn fi play the one C note and A minor wi never
ever learn fi do nothing different, but I was actually working
with people who do know music inside out and who are good
at it and who are creative and it was such a comfortable atmosphere
working with them.
Looking back now if I could do anything different I don't
think I would.
G.O.: You are probably out of Jamaica
the most recorded Dancehall Artist here in Germany who did
you enjoy with?
T.S.: Oh God, I don't really have to think hard to
tell you that I enjoyed working with everybody, unlike the
Jamaican attitude, of course you know the Germans have a more
gentle disposition so we don't have much clashes of personality…
because then it's about work and not about anybody trying
to be the star of the session. I really only had pleasant
working experiences and I don't have to be hypocritical to
say that, it was all good.
G.O.: When you write songs like "Goggle"
and "It's a Pity" are these things that you experienced
or do you write about things that you see happen around you
and tell me the truth now?
T.S.: Hear what, mek mi tell you the truth some of
them I have lived, some of them other people around me have
lived and I won't specify which is which. I don't talk bout
nothing that I don't know about, but I will not say which
of them is my personal experience.
|
|
G.O.: "It's a Pity", the
song produced by Pionear on Seeed's rhythm has
been getting only good responses, no. 1 in Trinidad and in
Atlanta and now being played in New York, what's the response
been in Jamaica and how do you feel about the song?
T.S.: In the Caribbean (outside of Jamaica) the people
are much more objective, not because a Tanya Stephens
song becomes a quicker hit there but because I realise that
they actually do listen to the lyrics and the composition…
as opposed to Jamaica who will work with 'name artists' even
though these artists can't sell more than 5 copies.
The response on that song I'm really feeling very greatful
for not because mi get one more hit song but because of the
content of it and the time that was put into the concept and
recording of it… it's really nice to do something good
and see it being appreciated, as opposed to just 'fling' on
something pan a riddim and everybody say "yeah, a big
tune dat."
It's just starting to take off in Jamaica now and this is
something that I have given to countless people in Jamaica
and for some reason or another, maybe because dem neva recognise
the label name and the riddim… yuh know down here is
so political, it's not even musical anymore and yuh know the
people on the street is a whole different 'kettle of fish'
because when dem hear a hit song dem can judge it fi a good
song, but dem neva get a chance fi hear the song… but
now that they are getting a chance to hear the feedback on
the street is like everybody who heard it remember the song
and I'm happy for the feedback because everybody who heard
it tell me she dem love it… and the outcome of a song
varies from producer to producer and he (Pionear) stressed
me out to do that one thing 40 times, God bless his heart.
G.O.: "It's a Pity" is one
of the songs on the "Reggae Gold" compilation from
VP Records, is this the first time that you are featured
on the compilation?
T.S.: To be honest with you, I don't think I know "Reggae
Gold" different from any other of VP's collections,
to me that's all they do, put out collections… I've been
on so many of their collections and don't even know weh dem
name, it's all the same no statement comes back to me.
G.O.: Is it true that you are signed
to VP Records and is an album in the making?
T.S.: I'm not signed to VP, I would never do
that at all… I would license an album to them which I
haven't done yet, they are not a record company, they are
a distribution company so I would license an album to them
for distribution.
Mi have an album coming out soon because I'm in the mixing
stages of the one that I'm working on now… I know it
may sound incredible because sometimes artists say this when
nothing naw gwaan fi dem but right now is not a time when
people can say that nothing naw gwaan fi Tanya Stephens so
mi think mi can say this with some credibility that I'm really
not urgently trying to find a
deal… I just come out of one too recent that go sour
and fi me is like a marriage ending and I don't want get married
back too quick, if somebody come up with all the right ingredients
that I think will suggest that we will have a different experience
then yes.
G.O.: So the album that's gonna come
out soon is an independent album?
T.S.: I in collaboration with my partner Andrew Henton,
I'm producing it and it's still 'up for grabs' and I don't
feel like I'm under pressure to come out with an album at
any particular time… right now I feel like what I'm doing
with singles is proving my worth and proving my capability
and because of what I'm now proving I feel like I don't need
to rush and do anything at all and I'm not even nearly out
of songs… I'm writing everyday and what is surprising
people now is something that I do effortlessly, so I don't
think that I need to get up now and start bargaining and try
fi scrape a dollar fi buy a new 'deportee' car from Japan,
mi nice still.
G.O.: Talking about that, how do you
earn your money because here in Germany the artists earn their
money mostly from record sales and I know that isn't so in
Jamaica.
T.S.: Shows and some people earn dem money from dubplates
and mi caan bother wid that because to me it cheapens me,
cause I won't be 'bleaching' out at no dub studio… I
can't say that I am depending on shows, cause (I'm not doing
many, but)I don't have no big lifestyle so I can live offa
my likkle stash still. Mi do shows and I do recordings and
because of the lack of accountability in terms of sales yuh
have fi definitely charge an advance fi voice fi dem because
that might be the last time yuh ever see them.
G.O.: Has the attitude towards female
artists changed?
T.S.: Most of the complaints that women have I don't
have, I no longer even place myself in the category of women
I'm just an artist… I find that the women tend to complain
and they have so much self pity so instead of earning respect
from dem peers all dem get is just pity… instead of investing
dem time in songs and new material, dem invest dem time inna
complaining how bad dem have
it, if you really have talent your work will speak for itself.
I refuse to be categorised as female in this time when female
is such a damn stigmatised word and the women make it so because
dem beg so much damn sympathy.
Germaican Observer: Well, thank you
Tanya and hoping to see you perform soon in Germany.
Tanya Stephens: You're welcome and I just might be.
Nadine Reid/ G.O. Leipzig
www.tanyastephens4real.com
|
