by Alex Shtaerman
When it comes to female MCs in Hip-Hop the truth is that we’ve had far too few, especially when it comes to lyricists. Many female rappers who reach the mainstream have often preferred to sell sex and style over dope lyrics and substance. But they should know better. As Buffalo, New York native and female MC The Lady Rezult puts it: “individuals who have to go about it that way really don’t have the talent lyrically to carry the weight”. In the end, when it comes down to it, dope rhymes will always prevail over everything else. If you still don’t think so just ask Queen Latifah on the set of her next film.
With streetwise rhymes and a focus on lyrics above all else, The Lady Rezult puts it down for the true artform showcasing her skills as well as a deep intellect on her introspective debut LP Life’s Consequences. With influences ranging from MC Lyte to Public Enemy, Rezult has the tools to take it to all MCs, male or female, and that’s the way it should be.
RIOTSOUND.COM: What were your musical influences growing up?
THE LADY REZULT: Primarily Hip-Hop and R&B. I was actually raised on R&B music and to this day I would say I am more so of an R&B head than a Hip-Hop head. In terms of Hip-Hop I was influenced by MC Lyte, obviously I reflect Run DMC, Public Enemy all the way up to Nas and Jay-Z and definitely Tupac.
RIOTSOUND.COM: You have just re-released your Life’s Consequences album, how did that LP first come together?
THE LADY REZULT: The way the album came together was – a friend of mine was a producer and did the majority of the production on that album – a producer by the name of Lamec. He worked with a lot of different people and he was looking for somebody that could really showcase his tracks. The album was kinda one of those things where we had a huge amount of people locally that were putting out independent albums so I said let me go ahead and record one and put one out too. When it initially started out and as people started to hear it, [the album] got a little bit of a buzz and showed some promise; but then with my dad passing away, the promotion of the album and everything – before it even really got started everything came to a halt.
Recently a lot of people have been asking me – the Hip-Hop scene has died down both nationally and locally in terms of females in particular; but just overall people have been asking me when I was going to do another album and still kind of praising the Life’s Consequences album. So I decided to go ahead and re-release Life’s Consequences but this time do it on a national scale and get the music out there where the people could listen to it. Right now I am starting to work on the second project to do a quick follow-up on the Life’s Consequences album.
RIOTSOUND.COM: A lot of female MCs these days are pushed into selling sex over substance; has anyone ever asked you to go about your career that way?
THE LADY REZULT: I haven’t come under the pressure to sell sex; individuals who have to go about it that way really don’t have the talent lyrically to carry the weight. I believe that I have the talent as a writer and as an MC to carry the weight; as far as anything that comes across – like with the website I have people email me and say that I’m attractive and different things like that; to me that’s secondary. That will come across but the first thing that gets the people’s interest is the music and I think it should be all about the music.
RIOTSOUND.COM: Do you plan on staying independent?
THE LADY REZULT: Ideally I would like to stay independent. The only connection I would do with a major would be possibly distribution. Ideally though I would like to stay independent just because I’ve been able to make the decisions and I feel like no one really knows the process I want to take better than me. What interviews I decide to do or with who – this interview with RiotSound – the interviews that I do I am able to pick and choose which ones I want to do. If there are certain media outlets who I’ve seen in the past not necessarily portray an artist in a good light – those interviews I would want to stay away from. Whereas with a major label they kind of go for the big magazines and you automatically have to do interviews with those people.
So I like the independent side of things, I like it a lot more because of being able to control the decision making. I’m able to control the content on my website, what makes my albums and what doesn’t make my albums, I’m able to control my image and how I’m presented as an artist to the public. I enjoy the independent side of things because I also enjoy the business aspect of everything as well.
RIOTSOUND.COM: Today it seems that there are so many more opportunities for independents, would you agree with that?
THE LADY REZULT: I definitely think there is more opportunity. The Internet has definitely opened up things, especially for independent artists. With the Internet there are online radio stations and online magazines. Independent artists can progress to a certain level from what I’ve seen – but to break into that commercial success – that I think is still closed down a little bit. I think that you have to have a certain amount of commercial backing or be connected with a very small group of people; it seems like everyone who’s doing very well or successful commercially, they seem to all be connected in one way or another through certain individuals. So I think especially in Hip-Hop, there are some barriers that need to be broken down and we need some new individuals, in terms of business leaders, to come through and break those doors down.
RIOTSOUND.COM: Where does your name The Lady Rezult come from?
THE LADY REZULT: Like a lot of MCs you go through a series of different names as you come up and as your writing progresses. The Lady Rezult is actually a name that popped into my head one day. That was a time that people looked at me as a rapper but not really as a female, so I put the Lady on my name just to stress that point; when a person sees the name they automatically know that I am a female artist, a female MC. Rezult basically comes from my music which is the result of me listening to R&B all these years, listening to Hip-Hop all these years, being a part of the Hip-Hop culture. So myself as an artist – I am just a result of all of those things.
RIOTSOUND.COM: If you could work with any five producers on your next album, who would they be?
THE LADY REZULT: One of them I am actually working with and that’s Eddie Reys; him and his group Raw Intel just did five tracks on the ESPN NFL 2K5 videogame. So one I am working with one right now; another one would be the 9th Wonder. Honestly there aren’t a lot of producers that I’m feeling because the majority of the producers now have fallen into a line where everything they are doing is sounding the same. I like producers who kinda keep a variety where you have to read the credits to know that they produced it. So those two right now are producers that I’m definitely feeling.
RIOTSOUND.COM: What can fans expect from The Lady Rezult in 2005?
THE LADY REZULT: For 2005 you’re mainly going to see me flooding every possible media outlet, radio and magazines, whatever I can do to get The Lady Rezult out there, to get the album Life’s Consequences out there. You’re going to see shows; I’m working on a tour schedule for late spring and early summer right now. You’re going to see more of The Lady Rezult and more of Life’s Consequences. The next full length album will probably be out by the end of the year; depending on how Life’s Consequences goes.
RIOTSOUND.COM: What’s the Hip-Hop scene like in Buffalo, you’re right by Toronto so is that kind of a hot spot? Do people tend to be more into New York artists or Midwest artists?
THE LADY REZULT: In this particular area definitely more New York artists. In terms of the Hip-Hop scene in Buffalo, there is no Hip-Hop scene from the standpoint of shows. There aren’t a lot of venues here that are willing to service Hip-Hop. We have a couple and that is more so because of the stigma that’s attached to Hip-Hop – they think if they book a Hip-Hop show that show is going to be followed by violence. Right now I’m trying to work with a couple of venue owners to do a show here in Buffalo and bring in a major artist and possibly a major DJ just to show the different business owners and club owners that Hip-Hop does not equal violence.
The Toronto Hip-Hop scene is definitely on and poppin’. I’ve talked with individuals from Canada and especially when the weather is warm I tend to frequent Canada a lot and go up to the clubs and everything up there. If we can take a little bit of what’s going on in Toronto and bring it to Buffalo that would be a definite plus in terms of our Hip-Hop scene.
For all info and updates on The Lady Rezult stay tuned to www.LadyRezult.com
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