Salina: I love that even all the way out going to school on the East Coast you're always repping the Northwest, what was it like for you growing up out here?
Samiha: i had a really good childhood experience in Portland, but i think I've come to appreciate it even more now that I've moved. i think the best part about Portland is just the mentality of the people. it's very laid back, very friendly, and yeah, somewhat hippy. it's awesome because people are very creative and have a very DIY mentality. there are a lot of awesome initiatives, like "keep Portland weird." living in Portland has been very awesome for encouraging me to be myself and be unique. it's funny because my dad took his job in Portland as soon as he finished his graduate work, and he was actually offered a better paying position in Chicago. he said he didn't want to raise his family there, and when i first heard about that when i was in my early teens, i was really angry because Chicago seemed like such a cool place. now, i can't imagine not living in Portland.
Salina: What role did the Portland scene play in what you were drawn to and exposed to musically early on?
Samiha: quite honestly, the local scene in Portland isn't what got me so deeply into music and live shows. i didn't go to my first concert until a few days before my junior year, and only because i had to beg and beg and BEG my brother to take me, and then my mom had to force him to take me. and even after that, my parents were somewhat strict in that they wouldn't let me go alone, and i would have to be back by midnight. for reasons like that, it really wasn't worth the "fight" to go to shows as often, so I'd only try to go for artists i REALLY REALLY dug. it sucks, but yeah, it limited my access to local artists to some extent. and it's funny because Portland is so known for its indie rock scene, and i initially wasn't very into that. my brother was big on all those bands. he used to always see the decemberists back before they were big. that was the stage in my life where what my brother did wasn't cool, so by immature logic, i wasn't into his music. towards the end of high school, i began to appreciate a lot of Portland artists more, like elliot smith and blitzen trapper. I'm still not completely into the indie scene.
Samiha: AND PS CAN I PLEASE SHOUT OUT JOSH MARTINEZ WHO LIVES IN PORTLAND NOW?!?!!?!?!!
Salina: Georgia and I already shouted out Josh. Its all love.
Samiha: haha yeah i saw that!! and buck up princess is AWESOME!!!!! (even though people already know haha)
Samiha: and oh yeah, hip hop-wise, I've heard more sub par Portland emcees than genuinely enjoyable ones. i really do dig braille though.
Salina: If you weren't into all that how did you get into new artists then?
Samiha: haha i'm a gigantic loser. i would see that my brother posted on IGN (Internet Gaming Network) message boards. i secretly made an account, because i obviously couldn't admit to brother bear that i was in any way trying to emulate him. they had a hip hop forum, and seriously that is how i got into a lot of the artists i now listen to. that was my first experience with real, in-depth, passionate discussion of music, and i actually met some interesting people there. those boards didn't just introduce me to indie artists, but schooled me on hip hop in general as well. that's how i learned about wu-tang (which EVERYONE was obsessed with), a tribe called quest, people like kool keith.
Salina: Were those the artists you kind of cut your teeth on? Who else?
Samiha: I'd have to say nas, tupac, wu-tang clan, and a tribe called quest were the main ones. oh common too. oh and blackstar and mos def and kweli separately too. because when all of those artists came out, i was mad young. blackstar was probably the most "recent" out of all of them, and I'd guess that their album came out in 97 or 98. that means i was 7 or 8 haha
Salina: I was going to say you were a baby when a lot of those things came out/were big.
Salina: You're kind of large into the street team thing these days. How did you get into that?
Samiha: well, i love love love love love LOVE brother ali to death, and atmosphere is pretty freaking incredible too. and also for a lot of other rhymesayers artists, I'm supportive of them as musicians but also as human beings. both of those things make me want to spread their work to as many people as possible. because RSE doesn't have a message board, i used to check the news section of rhymesayers.com EVERY FREAKING DAY! multiple times a day. the day i saw the posting for street team members, i seriously freaked out like crazy. haha this just shows what a big nerd i am, but i actually had boatloads of homework due the next day, but i decided to put that aside and fill out the application. and not just put in thoughtless, easy answers either. i sat there for ages, trying to craft the perfect answers which would convey the right amount of passion and responsibility and whatnot. i thought it was going to be a mad intense application process. but yeah, a couple weeks later i got a last.fm message from Jake (who is seriously wayyyyyy tooooooo cool) from RSE, thanking me for supporting RSE. i was really confused, but then a few days later i got an email from kevin saying that i made the team. it clicked because i remembered that i linked my last.fm page to my application in my attempt to show how "down" i was with rse haha. but yeah it's been awesome ever since. it made me realize how easy it can be to physically promote artists. i reached out to the booking agent at a venue in Portland when cunninlynguists were coming, and he said that he'd make the show all ages if i helped promote. just stuff like that, and the fact that i helped bring people out to shows or got people exposed to music, that blows my mind.
Samiha: and oh yeah! I'm on the spork kills street team now too! everyone really needs to check them out! Louis logic is not only a genius but also such a lovely human being!! and amazing live!!!
Salina: Back to Ali. You're like superfan when it comes to that man. What is it about him and his music that has you so passionate? (I threw on Shadows On The Sun just for this interview fyi)
Samiha: hahaha good work, good work! okay but seriously, about ali, have you HEARD the man? have you heard his passion? have you heard how heartfelt his lyrics are? have you heard how real he is? i feel like his music is incredibly infectious, and the way i feel about it is simply reciprocating all that he has put into it. I'm really drawn to artists who are storytellers. most of my favorite songs are those that tell incredible tales. a good majority of ali's tracks fall under that vein. i really don't think there is another artist in the game right now who is as emotional or raw on the mic as ali. it doesn't hurt that every last bit of that passion translates into his live show. let's see, i've seen him... in august 06 with atmosphere in Portland, may 07 in Portland (first headlining tour!!), aug 07 at paid dues in eugene, nov 07 with ghostface and rakim in portland, nov 08 in philly, and jan 09 in nyc. yeah so six times. and i'm planning on three more times in may. but yeah, anyway, every single time has been incredible. if he is that amazing in studio and live, then he just wins in life. or in my book, at least. and oh yeah one last thing about ali, i'm Muslim, and so is he, and i know that a lot of people make the assumption that i only heard of him because of that connection, or that that is why i love him so much. actually when i went to paid dues in eugene, murs asked me who i was there to see, and even though i was most excited about felt and brother ali, i didn't want to sound too eager about felt so i said ali. his response was, "yeah, i knew it" and that almost makes me sad. ali isn't a great emcee JUST because he's muslim. i mean i have SO much pride that he's repping my faith so hard, and that he's breaking stereotypes, and just being awesome, but i consider that an added bonus.
Salina: Really quick before we move on, top five Ali songs?
Salina: oh crap... picket fence, chain link, faheem, rain water, um, dorian, damn no. i want to add pedigree and his verse off the wale song. this is too hard
Salina: Haha alright so that is seven.
Samiha: and that's leaving off so many other favorites
Salina: So its your freshman year over there in NYC. What kind of adjustment has all that been for you?
Samiha: MANAGING MY TIME. i'm working, and i have leadership positions in some organizations, and my closest friends live a few feet away from me, and i try to go to as many shows as possible. combine all that, and i'll find that some days i leave my room at 8:30 in the morning and don't return until 1:30 in the morning. and when do i do work? beats me. at the same time though, i think going to shows has made me manage my time to some extent. i saw murs the day before a midterm, so i sat outside the venue until the first artist came onto stage, reading over my study guide haha
Salina: Hah. I've brought flash cards with me and quizzed myself in line etc. before too.
Samiha: haha yeah, you'd be surprised at how efficient it is! especially because everything runs on hiphop time
Salina: Two hours late you mean?
Samiha: hahaha yes!
Salina: So we've got Georgia at Greenpeace, what kind of organizations are you involved in?
Samiha: well right now, i'm involved with two on-campus organizations. i'm the event coordinator for WBAR, which is one of our radio stations, and i'm a program committee member for the Muslim Students Association. i know that the "audience" of both those organizations are incredibly different, but to me religion and music are such big parts of who i am that it's a very natural thing. i also worked with habitat for humanity this past summer, and that got me REALLY into non-profit work and social justice, so i'm hoping to integrate that component into my life to a greater extent too. through MSA, i'm in charge of community service events. and i'm actually hoping that i can help bring this awesome chicago-based non-profit that combines islam, arts, and social justice to NYC. those three things are my favorite and most important things in my life, so i want to and am trying to focus my time on them.
Salina: What are some of the biggest stereotypes you look to break about your religion?
Samiha: hmmm, probably that we are all extremists. i mean i wear hijab, which is the head scarf traditionally worn by muslim women, but i am also very american. my religion is not at all a barrier for me, and in no way does it oppress me. i really do view it as a way of life. it's something that inspires, encourages, educates, and motivates me. if people can see that i'm very proud of my religion, and that i very openly practice it, but that i am also very "normal," then they'll realize that muslim women aren't subdued and submissive. it's actually very interesting that i've gone to a lot of rap shows where artists will say "assalamualikum" to me, which is the greeting of peace that muslims say to one another. when i saw ghostface, he actually saw me in the crowd, pointed at me, and said that into the mic. people looked around to see what he was doing. i thought that was a very cool and teachable moment. it just showed that you can be very religious and still have other interests.
Salina: You've mentioned the internet quite a bit. How do you see the web changing music and the hip hop community?
Samiha: the internet is both awesome and terrible for the hiphop community. it's awesome in the sense that it really allows people to transcend geographical boundaries and become exposed to all sorts of artists. there are QN5 fans in australia, and QN5 has never toured there. there are BCR fans in holland, and BCR has never toured there. and neither of the artist from those labels have the type of marketing or publicity that would otherwise make them accessible in countries like that, had it not been for the internet. at the same time though, and this is going to sound way trite because this is a gripe every freaking human being with any experience with the internet has, but it gives everyone an opportunity to be heard. everyone can make a myspace and start promoting their stuff. it really oversaturates the market, and especially given how easy it is to download things, it makes it really hard for artists to stand out and it makes it even harder for fans to pay money for the songs they buy. it's a fine line though, because especially with message boards where artists post, like lethalville where mac is always interacting with fans, it creates a way deeper connection between artists and fans. those connections make the fans dig the artists as human beings, and consider the artists to be their friends. you don't want to steal from a friend; you want to go out of your way to make sure your friend succeeds. without the internet, those kinds of interactions and opportunities would only be limited to live shows.
Salina: Tell me a little bit about your connection with QN5. How did you get into them?
Samiha: oh man... okay so i listened to southernunderground, which is the second album by cunninlynguists, and it changed my life. i literally listened to that album non-stop for god knows how long. i'm not even exaggerating. anyway, i completely fell in love with them. there is a skit on southernunderground in which tonedeff (ceo/founder/rapper extraordinaire of qn5) acts as an obnoxious dj on a station called WQN5. that, in combination with his guest appearance on "love ain't" off southernunderground made me want to check his work out. and one thing led to another, and i realized that every artist on that label is incredibly talented.
and again, this is where the message board/internet aspect of it comes into play again. i registered for their forums, and i soon began to realize how incredibly interactive they were with their fans, and also how awesome the tight-knit the fanbase was as a result of that. it's kinda like lethalville. everyone knows each other, and they've all met each other through shows and stuff. big groups of fans travel across the country for the annual megashow. there are inside jokes between artists and fans. it made me realize that they were the most incredible human beings. i know a lot of DIY labels, but seriously, NOTHING beats the DIY attitude of QN5. the level of work and struggle that goes into all their projects is incredible. i fully support them in everything they do, and it's so easy to do that because they are seriously the nicest, most talented, funniest, dopest, most awesome people in the whole wide world.
Salina: You also work on their webzine.
Samiha: yup! and that is a perfect example of the profound impact they have on their fanbase. the webzine is actually an off-shoot of the first ever qn5 zine, which was distributed exclusively in physical form at one of the annual megashows. to this day, i still have not seen a single copy surface on the internet. only the people who were at that show got it. but yeah, supposedly it was comprised of some fan and artist articles and lots of inside jokes. with the online version, we wanted to create something that would allow us to channel all our love for the artists into a constructive product that would not only bolster the enthusiasm for qn5 amongst existing fans, but would also garner new fans as well. working on the online fanzine has been a lot of fun. there are some incredibly talented fans in our group. the amount of time our graphic designer, kontrast, put in was incredible. that dude designed the most professional looking layouts ever.as much work as it was, i was a really rewarding and important experience because it let us give back to the artists who have given us SO much. we're actually working on our third issue right now
Salina: You're a part of a LOT of fan communities. Which one do you think has the most fun?
Samiha: lethalville, NO DOUBT. and i'm not only saying that because that's how i know you. lethalville is seriously comprised of the best individuals ever. i IM, text, and call users from lethalville on the regular. i mail them goodies simply because i WANT to, simply because i know it'll make them happy, and they do the exact same thing back. it's not a matter of obligation or courtesy, it's just genuine friendship. i really do consider a lot of people on the boards to be my REAL friends.
Salina: Okay, give me a quick run down of your dream playlist.
Samiha: okay well my friend and i actually decided we're only going to play our favorite songs on our next show. so i guess this will be good preparation. this is a random order, so don't judge my mix-making abilities! tonedeff - porcelain, pos - goodbye, purexed (can you tell that i love never better?!), cunninlynguists - nothing to give, dance for me, brother ali - chain link, picket fence, common/lauryn hill - retrospective for life, blackstar - respiration, nas - doorags, tupac - never call you bitch again, atmosphere - always coming back home to you, lift her pull her, in her music box, cecil otter - 100 fathers, dtr - traveling dunk tank, kid gloves, the wren (!!!), dots and dashes, substantial - r love songs gay, tonedeff - optimist. um yeah i can go on and on and on ahha) OH outkast - da art of storytellin pt 2
Salina: Where and when can we tune in to hear some of these on your radio show?
Samiha: ahhh!!! tuesdays from noon to two pm (est) on http://wbar.org/
Salina: I notice a lot of Doomtree on that list. ;)
Samiha: well isn't that a coincidence!
Salina: Shocking, what is it about them you're drawn to?
Samiha: UH EVERYTHING? really though, that's so true. because they are such a massive crew with so many different things going on, they really give you 82475824798 different ways to get into their music.
Salina: What's your best discovery of 2009 so far?
Samiha: does never better count? i have this horrible habit that when i get into one album, i play it almost exclusively. and it's only interrupted by another equally dope album, and then the albums duke it out for playing time. so ultimately i end up listening to maybe 6 or 7 new albums each year.. sad. but okay, if never better doesn't exist, then i gotta say spork kills. that's a legit answer. new artist!
Salina: And for those that don't know Spork Kills is...
Samiha: spork kills is the brainchild of THE louis logic, mc extraordinaire, and two danish producers named rolf and laust. basically it's a mix between surf and rap music. i love their work because louis is just an awesome lyricist, and the beats are just crazy inventive, so they make for a great combo. but more than that, i love the ideology behind it, which is that they all found something new that they loved, and they realized that it might be a risky or alienating move, but they believed in it enough to put it out there. i think it's so brave and rare for artists to do that, and i really hope and believe their gamble will pay off.
Salina: What can we look forward to from your blogs?
Samiha: semi-articulate show reviews. i should preface my blogposts with the warning that they will most likely contain a lot of colorful adjectives, capital letters, and exclamation points. i'll try to tone it down so as to sound less like i'm rambling, but i can make no guarantees.
Salina: Georgia wants to know "left coast vs. right coast who wins?"
Samiha: LEFT COAST. NO QUESTION.
Salina: Fresh Coast for life.
Samiha: fresh coast is the best coast
Salina: Was there anything you wanted to get out there that we didn't cover?
Samiha: YEAH. i think this blog is such an awesome idea! i want to big up cody again for coming up with it, and you for taking the initiative. i'm really excited to read about all you other lovely ladies' experiences! seriously. so much of what georgia said about the typical female at a rap show is so on true, and that's depressing. this is our attempt at changing things, and i think that's just way too cool.
Samiha: and oh yeah, hip hop-wise, I've heard more sub par Portland emcees than genuinely enjoyable ones. i really do dig braille though.
Salina: If you weren't into all that how did you get into new artists then?
Samiha: haha i'm a gigantic loser. i would see that my brother posted on IGN (Internet Gaming Network) message boards. i secretly made an account, because i obviously couldn't admit to brother bear that i was in any way trying to emulate him. they had a hip hop forum, and seriously that is how i got into a lot of the artists i now listen to. that was my first experience with real, in-depth, passionate discussion of music, and i actually met some interesting people there. those boards didn't just introduce me to indie artists, but schooled me on hip hop in general as well. that's how i learned about wu-tang (which EVERYONE was obsessed with), a tribe called quest, people like kool keith.
Salina: Were those the artists you kind of cut your teeth on? Who else?
Samiha: I'd have to say nas, tupac, wu-tang clan, and a tribe called quest were the main ones. oh common too. oh and blackstar and mos def and kweli separately too. because when all of those artists came out, i was mad young. blackstar was probably the most "recent" out of all of them, and I'd guess that their album came out in 97 or 98. that means i was 7 or 8 haha
Salina: I was going to say you were a baby when a lot of those things came out/were big.
Salina: You're kind of large into the street team thing these days. How did you get into that?
Samiha: well, i love love love love love LOVE brother ali to death, and atmosphere is pretty freaking incredible too. and also for a lot of other rhymesayers artists, I'm supportive of them as musicians but also as human beings. both of those things make me want to spread their work to as many people as possible. because RSE doesn't have a message board, i used to check the news section of rhymesayers.com EVERY FREAKING DAY! multiple times a day. the day i saw the posting for street team members, i seriously freaked out like crazy. haha this just shows what a big nerd i am, but i actually had boatloads of homework due the next day, but i decided to put that aside and fill out the application. and not just put in thoughtless, easy answers either. i sat there for ages, trying to craft the perfect answers which would convey the right amount of passion and responsibility and whatnot. i thought it was going to be a mad intense application process. but yeah, a couple weeks later i got a last.fm message from Jake (who is seriously wayyyyyy tooooooo cool) from RSE, thanking me for supporting RSE. i was really confused, but then a few days later i got an email from kevin saying that i made the team. it clicked because i remembered that i linked my last.fm page to my application in my attempt to show how "down" i was with rse haha. but yeah it's been awesome ever since. it made me realize how easy it can be to physically promote artists. i reached out to the booking agent at a venue in Portland when cunninlynguists were coming, and he said that he'd make the show all ages if i helped promote. just stuff like that, and the fact that i helped bring people out to shows or got people exposed to music, that blows my mind.
Samiha: and oh yeah! I'm on the spork kills street team now too! everyone really needs to check them out! Louis logic is not only a genius but also such a lovely human being!! and amazing live!!!
Salina: Back to Ali. You're like superfan when it comes to that man. What is it about him and his music that has you so passionate? (I threw on Shadows On The Sun just for this interview fyi)
Samiha: hahaha good work, good work! okay but seriously, about ali, have you HEARD the man? have you heard his passion? have you heard how heartfelt his lyrics are? have you heard how real he is? i feel like his music is incredibly infectious, and the way i feel about it is simply reciprocating all that he has put into it. I'm really drawn to artists who are storytellers. most of my favorite songs are those that tell incredible tales. a good majority of ali's tracks fall under that vein. i really don't think there is another artist in the game right now who is as emotional or raw on the mic as ali. it doesn't hurt that every last bit of that passion translates into his live show. let's see, i've seen him... in august 06 with atmosphere in Portland, may 07 in Portland (first headlining tour!!), aug 07 at paid dues in eugene, nov 07 with ghostface and rakim in portland, nov 08 in philly, and jan 09 in nyc. yeah so six times. and i'm planning on three more times in may. but yeah, anyway, every single time has been incredible. if he is that amazing in studio and live, then he just wins in life. or in my book, at least. and oh yeah one last thing about ali, i'm Muslim, and so is he, and i know that a lot of people make the assumption that i only heard of him because of that connection, or that that is why i love him so much. actually when i went to paid dues in eugene, murs asked me who i was there to see, and even though i was most excited about felt and brother ali, i didn't want to sound too eager about felt so i said ali. his response was, "yeah, i knew it" and that almost makes me sad. ali isn't a great emcee JUST because he's muslim. i mean i have SO much pride that he's repping my faith so hard, and that he's breaking stereotypes, and just being awesome, but i consider that an added bonus.
Salina: Really quick before we move on, top five Ali songs?
Salina: oh crap... picket fence, chain link, faheem, rain water, um, dorian, damn no. i want to add pedigree and his verse off the wale song. this is too hard
Salina: Haha alright so that is seven.
Samiha: and that's leaving off so many other favorites
Salina: So its your freshman year over there in NYC. What kind of adjustment has all that been for you?
Samiha: MANAGING MY TIME. i'm working, and i have leadership positions in some organizations, and my closest friends live a few feet away from me, and i try to go to as many shows as possible. combine all that, and i'll find that some days i leave my room at 8:30 in the morning and don't return until 1:30 in the morning. and when do i do work? beats me. at the same time though, i think going to shows has made me manage my time to some extent. i saw murs the day before a midterm, so i sat outside the venue until the first artist came onto stage, reading over my study guide haha
Salina: Hah. I've brought flash cards with me and quizzed myself in line etc. before too.
Samiha: haha yeah, you'd be surprised at how efficient it is! especially because everything runs on hiphop time
Salina: Two hours late you mean?
Samiha: hahaha yes!
Salina: So we've got Georgia at Greenpeace, what kind of organizations are you involved in?
Samiha: well right now, i'm involved with two on-campus organizations. i'm the event coordinator for WBAR, which is one of our radio stations, and i'm a program committee member for the Muslim Students Association. i know that the "audience" of both those organizations are incredibly different, but to me religion and music are such big parts of who i am that it's a very natural thing. i also worked with habitat for humanity this past summer, and that got me REALLY into non-profit work and social justice, so i'm hoping to integrate that component into my life to a greater extent too. through MSA, i'm in charge of community service events. and i'm actually hoping that i can help bring this awesome chicago-based non-profit that combines islam, arts, and social justice to NYC. those three things are my favorite and most important things in my life, so i want to and am trying to focus my time on them.
Salina: What are some of the biggest stereotypes you look to break about your religion?
Samiha: hmmm, probably that we are all extremists. i mean i wear hijab, which is the head scarf traditionally worn by muslim women, but i am also very american. my religion is not at all a barrier for me, and in no way does it oppress me. i really do view it as a way of life. it's something that inspires, encourages, educates, and motivates me. if people can see that i'm very proud of my religion, and that i very openly practice it, but that i am also very "normal," then they'll realize that muslim women aren't subdued and submissive. it's actually very interesting that i've gone to a lot of rap shows where artists will say "assalamualikum" to me, which is the greeting of peace that muslims say to one another. when i saw ghostface, he actually saw me in the crowd, pointed at me, and said that into the mic. people looked around to see what he was doing. i thought that was a very cool and teachable moment. it just showed that you can be very religious and still have other interests.
Salina: You've mentioned the internet quite a bit. How do you see the web changing music and the hip hop community?
Samiha: the internet is both awesome and terrible for the hiphop community. it's awesome in the sense that it really allows people to transcend geographical boundaries and become exposed to all sorts of artists. there are QN5 fans in australia, and QN5 has never toured there. there are BCR fans in holland, and BCR has never toured there. and neither of the artist from those labels have the type of marketing or publicity that would otherwise make them accessible in countries like that, had it not been for the internet. at the same time though, and this is going to sound way trite because this is a gripe every freaking human being with any experience with the internet has, but it gives everyone an opportunity to be heard. everyone can make a myspace and start promoting their stuff. it really oversaturates the market, and especially given how easy it is to download things, it makes it really hard for artists to stand out and it makes it even harder for fans to pay money for the songs they buy. it's a fine line though, because especially with message boards where artists post, like lethalville where mac is always interacting with fans, it creates a way deeper connection between artists and fans. those connections make the fans dig the artists as human beings, and consider the artists to be their friends. you don't want to steal from a friend; you want to go out of your way to make sure your friend succeeds. without the internet, those kinds of interactions and opportunities would only be limited to live shows.
Salina: Tell me a little bit about your connection with QN5. How did you get into them?
Samiha: oh man... okay so i listened to southernunderground, which is the second album by cunninlynguists, and it changed my life. i literally listened to that album non-stop for god knows how long. i'm not even exaggerating. anyway, i completely fell in love with them. there is a skit on southernunderground in which tonedeff (ceo/founder/rapper extraordinaire of qn5) acts as an obnoxious dj on a station called WQN5. that, in combination with his guest appearance on "love ain't" off southernunderground made me want to check his work out. and one thing led to another, and i realized that every artist on that label is incredibly talented.
and again, this is where the message board/internet aspect of it comes into play again. i registered for their forums, and i soon began to realize how incredibly interactive they were with their fans, and also how awesome the tight-knit the fanbase was as a result of that. it's kinda like lethalville. everyone knows each other, and they've all met each other through shows and stuff. big groups of fans travel across the country for the annual megashow. there are inside jokes between artists and fans. it made me realize that they were the most incredible human beings. i know a lot of DIY labels, but seriously, NOTHING beats the DIY attitude of QN5. the level of work and struggle that goes into all their projects is incredible. i fully support them in everything they do, and it's so easy to do that because they are seriously the nicest, most talented, funniest, dopest, most awesome people in the whole wide world.
Salina: You also work on their webzine.
Samiha: yup! and that is a perfect example of the profound impact they have on their fanbase. the webzine is actually an off-shoot of the first ever qn5 zine, which was distributed exclusively in physical form at one of the annual megashows. to this day, i still have not seen a single copy surface on the internet. only the people who were at that show got it. but yeah, supposedly it was comprised of some fan and artist articles and lots of inside jokes. with the online version, we wanted to create something that would allow us to channel all our love for the artists into a constructive product that would not only bolster the enthusiasm for qn5 amongst existing fans, but would also garner new fans as well. working on the online fanzine has been a lot of fun. there are some incredibly talented fans in our group. the amount of time our graphic designer, kontrast, put in was incredible. that dude designed the most professional looking layouts ever.as much work as it was, i was a really rewarding and important experience because it let us give back to the artists who have given us SO much. we're actually working on our third issue right now
Salina: You're a part of a LOT of fan communities. Which one do you think has the most fun?
Samiha: lethalville, NO DOUBT. and i'm not only saying that because that's how i know you. lethalville is seriously comprised of the best individuals ever. i IM, text, and call users from lethalville on the regular. i mail them goodies simply because i WANT to, simply because i know it'll make them happy, and they do the exact same thing back. it's not a matter of obligation or courtesy, it's just genuine friendship. i really do consider a lot of people on the boards to be my REAL friends.
Salina: Okay, give me a quick run down of your dream playlist.
Samiha: okay well my friend and i actually decided we're only going to play our favorite songs on our next show. so i guess this will be good preparation. this is a random order, so don't judge my mix-making abilities! tonedeff - porcelain, pos - goodbye, purexed (can you tell that i love never better?!), cunninlynguists - nothing to give, dance for me, brother ali - chain link, picket fence, common/lauryn hill - retrospective for life, blackstar - respiration, nas - doorags, tupac - never call you bitch again, atmosphere - always coming back home to you, lift her pull her, in her music box, cecil otter - 100 fathers, dtr - traveling dunk tank, kid gloves, the wren (!!!), dots and dashes, substantial - r love songs gay, tonedeff - optimist. um yeah i can go on and on and on ahha) OH outkast - da art of storytellin pt 2
Salina: Where and when can we tune in to hear some of these on your radio show?
Samiha: ahhh!!! tuesdays from noon to two pm (est) on http://wbar.org/
Salina: I notice a lot of Doomtree on that list. ;)
Samiha: well isn't that a coincidence!
Salina: Shocking, what is it about them you're drawn to?
Samiha: UH EVERYTHING? really though, that's so true. because they are such a massive crew with so many different things going on, they really give you 82475824798 different ways to get into their music.
Salina: What's your best discovery of 2009 so far?
Samiha: does never better count? i have this horrible habit that when i get into one album, i play it almost exclusively. and it's only interrupted by another equally dope album, and then the albums duke it out for playing time. so ultimately i end up listening to maybe 6 or 7 new albums each year.. sad. but okay, if never better doesn't exist, then i gotta say spork kills. that's a legit answer. new artist!
Salina: And for those that don't know Spork Kills is...
Samiha: spork kills is the brainchild of THE louis logic, mc extraordinaire, and two danish producers named rolf and laust. basically it's a mix between surf and rap music. i love their work because louis is just an awesome lyricist, and the beats are just crazy inventive, so they make for a great combo. but more than that, i love the ideology behind it, which is that they all found something new that they loved, and they realized that it might be a risky or alienating move, but they believed in it enough to put it out there. i think it's so brave and rare for artists to do that, and i really hope and believe their gamble will pay off.
Salina: What can we look forward to from your blogs?
Samiha: semi-articulate show reviews. i should preface my blogposts with the warning that they will most likely contain a lot of colorful adjectives, capital letters, and exclamation points. i'll try to tone it down so as to sound less like i'm rambling, but i can make no guarantees.
Salina: Georgia wants to know "left coast vs. right coast who wins?"
Samiha: LEFT COAST. NO QUESTION.
Salina: Fresh Coast for life.
Samiha: fresh coast is the best coast
Salina: Was there anything you wanted to get out there that we didn't cover?
Samiha: YEAH. i think this blog is such an awesome idea! i want to big up cody again for coming up with it, and you for taking the initiative. i'm really excited to read about all you other lovely ladies' experiences! seriously. so much of what georgia said about the typical female at a rap show is so on true, and that's depressing. this is our attempt at changing things, and i think that's just way too cool.
SAMIHA'S THE BEST, quite simply put.
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