The Style Writers
Sight Zilla and Menes One interview graffiti artists and graffiti writers.
The Style Writers
Vel Nine Interview
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Sight Zilla interviews the legendary Vel Nine. Not only is Vel a dope MC, but she also has been doing graffiti for years. Vel discusses both paths in this episode.
Alright, I'm right here with one of the um I feel like the the dopest female MC in the world. Um I said it again and I said it many times and uh if you guys wanna uh disagree with me uh we can debate it but uh fuck y'all I'm just gonna Yeah so it's like I met Vale a long time ago at the homie's house uh back on 55th I think it's 55th Street on uh Junior Yeah June Bug, yeah June bug and she was the shyest person, didn't say anything, didn't talk. And you know, we brought her to a meeting uh a few years after that off of Gauge in Vermont and they were saying that she can spit, but nobody believed her. So they had um I don't even remember this.
SPEAKER_03No, I don't remember this. So we kind of remember, but then I don't.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so we had the we had the we had a UPN meeting, and um Val's not UPM, but she was there. We're at uh we're at the homie Robo's house.
SPEAKER_03Now I remember.
SPEAKER_01Yeah and uh they they had this the cipher going back there and uh Vale went back there and ate them up. And it was just like when we heard that, when I saw that, it was just like this isn't no normal girl right here. This is somebody that is uh sent by the gods or the goddesses or the sacred feminine or some shit like that, but uh Vale's not an ordinary girl. You can see that, you can feel that, you can hear that. Um but Vale, like, who raised you?
SPEAKER_03Uh I mean, shout out to my parents, shout out to Alex and Annette, because they definitely had a large part in uh teaching me how to be me. But really it was like a hip-hop raised me, you know? Like I was got I got to be in such a special generation where like growing up I wasn't an iPad kid because that wasn't a thing yet. So I got to be outside.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_03So like I was, you know, I was raised, like my parents had to work all like two jobs to hold it down. So my grandma she watched like me and all my cousins, and we were just like all little like badass kids, and I remember being in the backyard like fucking shit up and being out on the street fucking shit up, and we played sports, so we were always like outside playing basketball, baseball, over the line. Like basically, I just spent all my whole childhood outside, and I feel very lucky that I got to do that because now, like, that's not really the case with a lot of kids. They I mean I know parenting is hard, I've seen it firsthand with my nieces and nephews, or like a lot of the times parents kind of rely on the iPad to get their child to calm down or to be or to behave or to listen, and although there is great, um there's a great like avenue for that, and where like children are being introduced to technology early and are probably able to incorporate that in their childhood and in like their ability to learn graphic designing by 10 years old, I got to be in the special generation where like I still had to be a kid outside, and I I credit a lot of that to like being an adult wanting to be outside and like learn knowing how to walk on the street and how to maneuver and how to be in another country and get to paint graffiti, like but you know, at the same time, like the internet did pop off um for me just a little bit later. So, like I remember being what probably like late middle school, early high school, like looking through what was it, 35mm or 50 mm Los Angeles. Um, I would be like looking through hashtags of graffiti on photo bucket and all of that was like my first introduction into hip hop. Like a lot of people think that rapping is my first introduction in hip-hop, but it wasn't not at all. It was definitely graffiti. I had been damn near like quote unquote doing graffiti for almost seven years before I taught myself how to freestyle because my first introduction in graffiti, I was like, I had to be like seventh or eighth grade. Yeah, I think it was actually seventh grade, and it was it's so cool that it was uh it was the older girl that got me into graffiti, so yeah, I was in seventh grade because she was in eighth grade, and it was this like older, like she was one year older than me. She was just like this banged out chick, like dressed like a full-blown boy. She was she lived on my block, and I remember she had a binder, and this is when like kids had um the like the clear sheets, yeah. And all she opened up her binder, she's like, check this shit out. She opened up a binder, it was full of slabs, just like fucking slaps from like it was like gang, gang neighborhood slabs, it was like local writers, it was writers that she had like went and met up with. And I thought it was the coolest fucking shit ever. And then me and my homegirl, we just started writing like our own name. I don't even remember. My my first name was probably so fucking stupid. I don't remember what it was. It was probably like the lamest, like four-letter lame name. But we we would get permanent markers and we would go into the bathroom and like start striking up, and it was just like the funniest shit because we didn't know what we were doing, but that was just our our like original, like genuine introduction into the act of graffiti, and I I love that it was just like it was just us figuring it out, it wasn't necessarily like oh, like somebody putting it on. It definitely wasn't no man a dude putting us on, but it was just so cool that it got to be like genuine and it got to be ridiculous because it was new, you know. Yeah, and so so yeah, I credit a lot of like who I am today from from my childhood and like how I was raised, and I'm very grateful. I'm from Baldwin Park, California. It's like this little cut off the 605, and um, you know, that that definitely made me who I am today.
SPEAKER_01I mean, you've been doing graffiti for a minute, so when I first met you, that's all we did was draw on books.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And and Velle didn't talk at all. She just did graffiti. I didn't even know she could talk. I thought she had like some kind of like disease or some kind of or she was just mad or I don't know, but I never heard her speak. So, but she was always hitting the books. And that was back like Ooh, like 2020 that what year was that?
SPEAKER_03Fuck, that's that had to be like 20. That was I mean that had to be like 2010, 20. No, that had to be like 2011. That was probably like 2010, 2011.
SPEAKER_01It was a while ago.
SPEAKER_03Because uh I think I had like it took me damn near, after I met you, it took me damn near like two years, I think, before I actually started uh um making music.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, because when I when I when I used to go to June Bug's house, and I'd be like, where's Belle at? They'd be like, oh, she's in the studio with Yoshi. Yeah. And I'm like, what? Yoshi? And I was like, okay, and they were like, yeah, she she makes music. I'm like, okay. And then and then you blessed us with that cipher, and I was like, man, that's the dopest female I've ever heard in my life. Ever. Hands down. So how important is it for for women to do graffiti, for women to be in MCs, for M for women to be uh important figures and express themselves through hip hop?
SPEAKER_03I think it's important for for people to express themselves and what what you're born is what you're born, you know. Um I never really looked at it as like a female MC or a female graffiti writer, although I do totally like fall into the category of women writers because even though the two crews I'm from or was from at that time were very male-dominant crews, I really only painted with my homegirls, and that's just because like I'm a writer, and then after being a writer, I just so happen to be a chick. So all my friends are girls, and all the girls I kicked it with all wrote, and so like our girls' night out was like go into the freight yard, you know, but it wasn't like oh I'm I'm a woman and I'm gonna do this because I'm a woman, like that was a just a fact after the matter, or um, you know what I mean? Like it was it wasn't like the first part of my definition, yeah. Like the first part of my definition or my description or however you describe me is an artist, you know? So I tend to be around other artistic people. Um with rap, I definitely don't fall into like the woman category. I'd say I never thought about myself as a a female um MC, it was just straight like I'm a I do graffiti, I'm an artist, I come from this culture, I taught myself how to freestyle, and what I rap about is real, and it was just genuine, and there's nothing wrong with female um MCs, but I feel like there's such a like there's such a like emphasis on the word female when really it's like what's the difference between you and I, you know, yeah, other than our like inside organs and and how like you know I could I could birth a child, which is great, yeah. But other than that, like I think an artist is just an artist, and it's like how how fucking crazy are you compared to me? I don't know, like but I love don't get me wrong though, like I I love being a woman and I love that I get to create with other women and that are like equally if not even doper than I am. That's like fucking sick as fuck. And um, but I I think what I love creating about the with the women that I create with is it's never an emphasis on on being a woman, you know. We don't sell sex to like get our point across. The point is just fucking thrown across the room.
SPEAKER_01So I love this. I think it's No, I love the way I love the way you think and I love the way you you speak right now. Like you you you give me a lot of game. So like as an artist, I feel like you know are you just you're not just an artist, but you so much more than that. But when I was walking over here, I was listening to your music, I was just like, damn, Vel's a she's a healer too. So I mean, I mean a lot of people see you on the on the gram or through the social media and the concerts, but who who is a real Vale?
SPEAKER_03Because I see you folding up clothes, yeah, and I see I love being like for lack of better term, like domesticated. Like I think it's like when I it's so funny that you even mentioned that because I do feel like I'm I'm this whole like this huge entity, and being an artist, even though I'm I'm truly an artist, like being an artist is even like not even the full picture, you know. It's like I was raised by my grandmothers, I was raised by my fias, I was raised by my mom, like taking care of your home is probably the most important part of your mourning because it sets the precedence for the rest of the day, the rest of the week, the rest of the month, the rest of the year. I love like being able to have a home and taking care of it and showing like I think maybe what seven years ago I did not display as many like motherly nurturing uh behaviors, whereas now like I love it. I'm I don't I'm not a mom to a human child, but I'm a mom to three animals, and these bitches be keeping me on my toes. And I I get to have my own like big beautiful space. I love my I love my home, like I love being a partner, I love being a friend, a girlfriend, I love being a daughter, I love be I love being an aunt. Being a Thea is like probably the best thing that's ever happened to me. And I guess that does go back to like being a woman, you know. I just don't really correlate needing to be an artist and a woman at the same time, but I I do exist as both.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Um you know, I'm a little bit older now, and so like I've got to experience so much in my life. I feel so grateful for I've gotten to like go to so many countries, so many states, just to just to be an artist. And um, but my favorite thing is when I get to come back home, you know, because like nothing feels as great as home to me. Like, I love I have the travel bug. I love leaving. Yeah, I love leaving. I'm damn near leave for like three weeks, but after that I'm like, all right, I want to go back home. Like, I love taking care of my space. It it just sets it's it's uh it's like a I get to be in my own world. I really am like a homebody too. Like, but that comes after you're like you know a decade and a half of being outside after a while, like you start to appreciate being in your like safe space, like not to sound like so cliche, but there really is like a safe space and then and taking care of like your mind, like I really this this like last five years really was like a turning point for m for me like mentally and it was like okay cool I know how to like I I mastered being an artist although you never master it, there's always learning, yeah. Um I mastered like how to be a um an entertainer, but like who am I like who is like who is Val, you know? And I I I I had to go through a lot to kind of figure that out. There was a lot of dark moments in the last few years, specifically probably the last five years, and um and then they and the light would come and then I would be the light would stay on and then boom it would turn off again. So it was a it was a lot of like discovering and rediscovering, learning and unlearning that I had to do that I'm still doing and that I'll have to do for the rest of my life in order to feel content as a as a human because that's who I need to take care of first, is like who I am as a human in order to even like be able to show up as all the other descriptions as an artist, as a as a a partner, as a friend, as a daughter, like I'm not gonna be able to show up who I am if I can't even show up for myself. So, um, and a huge part of that was like dealing with um who I am sober and that journey that I'm taking now. And it's a journey that I've tried to do over and over, but now I'm realizing like there was no way that I'd be able to do it without a s a solid community.
SPEAKER_01So why why the um so I've been I've been on the gram, hashtag sober life, I'm I'm for it, but like what what inspired that?
SPEAKER_03You know, I feel like even though like I wasn't someone who is um you know abusing substances every day, it was more that like I was using them when I didn't I couldn't process like certain emotions and I knew that once I realized I was doing that like I had to stop because if I can't process my emotions like sober or without substances, like I would have to rely on them for the rest of my life, and that's that's something that I never wanted to do. I grew up with in a household in the alcoholic household, not necessarily directly to my parents growing up, but you know, my family, they've always abused substances. Um and even like so like when I say like a hundred percent sober, I mean like I don't I'm not smoking weed anymore. And for the first time since I'm since I've been 13 years old, since since the age of 13, like this is the very first time I haven't smoked weed. And although I wasn't like rolling up backwards and fucking puffing like you know, bong hits all day, like I would smoke every day, at least once. And not only that, I would do artistic things I would have to smoke before, before during, before and during. So I decided to cut everything out. It was kind of like the noise was too loud and I needed to cut the noise because I just didn't feel good, and I was letting like the excuse of needing to process my emotions in order to like drink or smoke, and I didn't want to do that anymore because I knew what I was doing wasn't working.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03So I cut the noise and I was fucking so scared because I thought I was going to like I thought I was going to lose my creative spark, specifically from not smoking anymore, because I have been smoking so much and I've always smoked while being creative, but that's actually like the complete opposite of what happened, like it feels like a cloud has kind of been lifted from from my head space, and I just feel so clear-minded that and uh you can hear it in my music. I like to use a lot of things that like I'll say one bar and it really means like three different things. Now I can say one bar and it'll say it'll mean ten different things because my mind is like it's so clear, like it's almost like being on acid, like where I can like look at something and I dissect it so much, like it's now impixelated into small, tiny, fucking atom-sized squares. And I didn't think that would happen. I thought the opposite. I thought I was gonna become dull. I thought things were gonna lose its color, and like, no, it's actually giving me an opportunity to see life and face it um forward, you know. And um, but again, like having a community and and engaging and um with other people who are on the same journey as me, that's the only way I'll be able to get through this.
SPEAKER_01Um so I never asked you this, but I don't know if anyone ever asked you this, but what does the name Vel come from? I I hear Vel 9, I see Vela right here, you drawing, like, where does that come from?
SPEAKER_03Well, my my first like real name in in graffiti um was Vela, yeah. I write something else now, but I'm not gonna say it at all. Okay. But uh yeah, I mean it was it was um Vella. I got it actually that name it I got it in like eighth grade. Okay, which will which is a true testament to how fucking real what I'm telling you is. Like, nah for it wasn't no actually it must have been I was probably 14 years old, so I think I was um a freshman, or it was like the summer in between eighth grade and freshman year, but basically, yeah, it was that fucking long ago. And um, I would just that's that's what I wrote. Vella V-E-L-A. I would sometimes add a H at the end, like to make it five letters because I wanted to balance out like the middle letter, and and that's what I ran with, and um I don't remember who but at some point someone shortened my name from Vella to Vel, and then um yeah, then when I started rapping with Yoshi and the homie High and like all my my homies from the valley, like that's just what it became. It it became Vel. And then um I needed uh A name to put on for the the Cypher effect video that I did, but I mean I should I didn't fucking know I didn't have a rap name, I didn't even have a rap song. So my homies in the valley they had a a rap group, it was called Super Friends. Okay. It was like a super villain theme, which was so uh it's always my favorite theme in hip hop like MF Doom, mad villain, like that's my favorite theme in hip-hop. It's like her like superhero slash super villain. So they were called super friends, and I don't remember I think I was just like bouncing names with one of my homies one time. Shout out to my homie Skeprock, and and somehow Vel the Wonder Um popped up. It was kind of like a like Wonder Woman play, you know. Although I'm not I'm not even really like a wonder Wonder Woman fan, to be honest. I was like Catwoman. Well, I like Catwoman, but I don't even like Catwoman. I like Batman. So it's like it goes back to that, but um it was a playoff of just the Wonder Woman name, so Vella Wonder popped up, and I was like, alright, fuck it, I'll put that. I really didn't think it was gonna like that was gonna be my rap name. It just kind of like it was my whole rap career is a fluke.
SPEAKER_01I mean, I mean why what? I mean, I don't I don't mean to get out topic, but why Batman? Uh out of all of Superman why Batman? Or is it a big thing?
SPEAKER_03I think because I like No, I think it's because like Gotham City is sick as fuck, and he he didn't like he wasn't he was like a real human being, you know, like like um Superman. I love Superman, but like you know, he he was like smoking kryptonite or whatever. Like I he was punching through fucking walls. Like Batman was a real human, like that flooded a souped-up car. You know, he had like some wings that helped him glide, but like he didn't have like real like powers that were not real to other humans, so maybe it was like the twist on him being like a real human, and then I just love Gotham City, and I I also love the like the the other super villains in Batman. Yeah, like I fucking love Joker, I love the penguin, Catwoman, like I just feel like the the um the empire of Batman was always my favorite. It's just fucking it's super sick. Alright. You're gonna get the group? Okay, and um, yeah, um so so then Vel the Wonder happened, and um they put it on the the Cypher effect. I don't know what the fuck I was doing. You know, that was my very first time looking into a camera was that video, yeah.
SPEAKER_01How'd you feel?
SPEAKER_03Fucking scared shitless, like you could tell, like I didn't know what I was doing. Mind you, when I showed up to that rooftop, like there was eight girls, uh, including myself. Those other seven girls, they had already been making music, they all knew each other, they had been you making music for like five plus years. Yeah, I was the only outsider, I was the only one who's never made music, who no one else knew, and probably the only um you know started graffiti writer into rapper, but uh after the after I I did it, like there was a few of them that came up to me and they're like, You're dope as fuck, like um, shout out to Gavlet. I remember her telling me like you're a f uh a breath of fresh air, which is like really nice to hear, you know. And yeah, after that, it went on YouTube and then boom, it just fucking it it was like it was a fluke. The whole fucking thing just it was like well what do they say when the when it starts rolling down the hill and it gets bigger and bigger and bigger.
SPEAKER_01That's pretty much Avalanche.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that's pretty much like how it happened. Like, I remember looking at the comments, and YouTube was like barely getting its feet at that time, too. Well, it had been a thing, but real at that time it was really popping off. And um, I remember looking at the comments, and I didn't know what the fuck to do because again, like I'm just some fucking kid, like writing and fucking smoking weed and black booking and freestyling, like I really had no direction at that time, yeah. And um, all the comments were like bell, bell, bell. Like, I was like, what the fuck? Am I gonna get in trouble for this shit? Like, what is this? And I I remember showing my dad, and my dad was so proud, he was so happy. You didn't take her, he was so proud, he was just like, damn, like this is my daughter, and it was cool after that. The name stuck, everyone loved the name, but then I had to start figuring out how to be like Vel the MC, you know? Yeah, and so I started making music, but I didn't even know how to write like a 16. Like my first thing I ever recorded was like 11 bars, and it was all I used to talk about in the beginning was graffiti because that's all I knew. And I remember somebody was like, All you rap about is graffiti. I'm like, Well, what the fuck? I'm not gonna rap about like no big booty hoes, like I'm gonna rap about what I actually do.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03And um, yeah, after that, it just kind of like it it I really give it up to my higher power because it all fell into place for me. I that was that was like 2012. I think the first show I headlined was in 2012, and like people be rapping for years before they get a headlining show, you know? And so like I I got to like I got a foot, I got a a foot up in the game from God, and after that I was I had already by 2014 I was on warp tour and I was doing warp tour and I got to travel with DJ Lala and the homie the hip hop kid, and but I got I'm glad I still got to do it like out the mud style. Like we still had to drive our own whip and and drive like eight to twelve hours overnight and really like drag our merch from like a mile long in the heat and like I didn't get I didn't get walked into it. I still had to like crawl through the mud, but I got the chance to, you know. I'm always so grateful I got the chance to like to crawl through the mud to be able to to say all the things that I've done like today. And um, yeah, it was it was great.
SPEAKER_01No, um I'm real proud of you because it's like I heard about the shows, like you, you know, in the bay, opening up for like, you know, B40 and a bunch of a lot of big name artists, and I was just like, when I heard about it, when I see you doing it, it just made me smile because it's like this was this little Vale that wasn't even talking that I met, like she was like this little girl, and now she's coming out of the graffiti culture out of that circle and evolved. I mean, came so much more and still evolving. So to me, you're a living legend because I know there's still more evolution in you, still more growth, still more words, a lot more medicine for you to give to the people, and I'm I'm excited to see where you go. Um, but with the graffiti, like what it what is graffiti though to you? Like what is it, what does it do for you? Was it what does it represent? Um I see you doing graffiti right now, and I'm like, damn, she still got it.
SPEAKER_03You know what? I'm even like fucking way better than I've ever been. Like I'll show you some of the shit we were painting, but um I okay, so I remember like a long time ago one of my homies was like only toys retire. And uh and uh I just kind of knew like you know, graffiti's always just gonna be part of my lifestyle, and and that's just because it was from it it started like as a child for me and everything. I love graffiti. I love I even love just fucking gang strike-ups, you know. I love seeing like neighborhoods, like that's such an LA thing, like like for sure, bombing and color schemes and wild stocks. That's very New York, but like neighborhood fucking cholo tags, like that's LA, and I love that we got to like come from that and you know put your putting your name somewhere, like it's just a rush and seeing your name. My favorite thing is like going to go back to the countries that I've visited and like seeing old tags and like seeing stickers, you know, like going to going to driving up to the bay for a show and stopping in every bathroom to catch a scribe of the mirror, and it's like I already have two scribes up here. Like one says 2014, the other one says 2018. Like, what am I gonna add? A 25?
SPEAKER_01Like to.
SPEAKER_03I just like driving across the country to go to different states to perform and getting to like put your name up in these nasty ass bathrooms or like next to gas stations or like catching um daytime fills in an abandoned building off the five freeway just because you can like like I'm not I'm definitely not out here trying to be like oh I'm up, I'm up, like I'm all city, but like I'm also always going to be a writer, like I'm never not gonna be a writer, I'm never not gonna wanna not pay my name, you know? You know, and um I don't know. I just I love like I love art, I love color schemes. When I got to go to Europe for the first time and I came back, that was when I decided I was no longer going to outline in black or white because of how inspired I was from the color schemes that they use. So now instead of outlining in black, I'll uh I'll outline like midnight blue or like aubergy purple or like really like dark red burgundy, and um it just brings more like it brings more life to shit and the act of spray painting. Fuck I love painting, I fucking love spray painting, like yeah, I like drawing on canvases and I like I like using acrylic to paint, but like nothing feel nothing feels better than like using aerosol. And I remember being so young, I was so little, I was probably like 14 years old when I watched some OG ride, I don't even remember his name. Me and my homie went to go paint with some OG and I watched him clean up. That was the first time I realized, like, oh, you could clean up, like it was so cool. It was what it was just watching him like cut back and like making the lines crispy, and then I remember the first time I watched somebody paint, which basically was like backwards, in order to save yourself from having to clean up so much. So, like you do your fill, and then you you add, I usually do my fill, and then I'll do the background, and then I'll do the 3D, and then the last thing I do sometimes I'll even do the highlight, and then the last thing I do is outline because then like boom, I just layered all on top of each other, and the outline really needs to be like the nicest looking thing. And I've I've got you can ask anybody who knows me who sees me painting, like I have can control like a motherfucker. Okay, I do. I I love that about myself. I won't say I'm the best writer, I won't say I have the best style, yeah. I won't say I have the best anything, but I do have fucking can control, and I take pride in that, and um, I just like I really love like color schemes, I love doing backgrounds, I love filling in these crazy feels, like when I started painting with my girlfriends a lot more, we would start doing just like sick ass productions, you know. Shout out to my homegirl Lakes, my homegirl T's Raquel, Key, Venus, fucking Queens in New York, Claw Money in New York, like it's just fun painting with girls because we're just some fucking couple of bitches hanging out. Just talking so much shit, but also like laying a fire ass production in the back.
SPEAKER_01That's what's up.
SPEAKER_03My homegirl Kessra, my homegirl Whims. Yeah, I got homegirls like all over the US that paint.
SPEAKER_01So, man.
SPEAKER_03It's fun.
SPEAKER_01So what's the average night? I mean, like, with you, like you you watch TV more or you listen to music more?
SPEAKER_03I like podcasts.
SPEAKER_01What podcasts are you listening to right now?
SPEAKER_03Oh my god. Anything that has to do with murder and death. No, I'm just kidding. I love pop crime podcasts, of course, because I don't know. I felt I my sister's the one that got me into podcasts, and she got me into like a crime podcast. It was like the first podcast I ever listened to, and now I damn near know about like every serial killer in in US history. Okay. Sometimes I'd be like going down the serial killer um like spiel, and I'm like, wait, people probably looking at me so sketchy right now. But um, let me see. I mean, I don't really watch TV as much because it's just not like time to like ever watch TV. There's always something to do. Yeah, I like going to the movies because the movies remind me of my childhood. My dad used to take us to the movies. We'll go to the movies at like Saturday morning and we'll stay all day watching like three movies. We'll just go to a one theater. Shit, what is the last movie I saw?
SPEAKER_01Don't say Superman.
SPEAKER_03Fuck no. I was probably terrifier high key, even though that was no no, I couldn't be terrifier because I've definitely seen seen movies after that. Oh, I think it was the latest Wicked, which I do love Wicked because because in um I used to be in like um in like uh what is it called? Musical theater.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_03So I mean I have a music background other than rapping from when I was little. I would like sing. I was like part of like my elementary choir. I did I did middle school choir, did high school choir, like so you can sing. I mean I wouldn't I never call myself a singer, but I have like I can hold a melody, you know. Okay. Um, but it just but it does come back to like I do have a musical background, you know, other than just rapping. And so like I like um I I really love like Broadway. Like I've I've seen Wicked on Broadway, I've seen The Lion King, I seen um a Bronx Tale. I like shit like that. Like I like uh I remember and I think it's because when I was really little, my elementary school, they took us to go see uh, you know how they do like the government just be like paying for shit for like um poor kids to go and do cool shit they'd never be able to do with their parents. So they took us to go see the LA Orchestra. Okay. And I remember thinking like this is so fucking sick. Like, I wanna be like, I wanna be around this, like so that was really like uh my introduction to like classical music. So I think that's why I like Broadway so much.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_03So I like to do I'll go do anything or like my one of my favorite things to do is um go watch movies, like they'll have a lot in LA. I think one of the last ones I saw was um Nightmare Before Christmas, but while they're playing it on the large screen, the orchestra is playing the music in black. I love shit like that. I've seen Frankenstein like that, like anything like real classic and music and um just like entertaining and educational at the same time, like that's that's what I want to surround myself with. If I get to have kids, you know, God willing, like I'm gonna make sure these these motherfuckers are all up in that shit because it's it's real like educational and it's like it's so art forward, you know.
SPEAKER_01You don't play any instruments?
SPEAKER_03No. God did not give me that ability. I like to fuck around with the percussions. I like like drumming is probably the thing that I would um if I had to like if I if I had the time, which I always have the time, but if I got to like really dedicate myself, I would definitely be a drummer. Just because it reminds me of punk rock music and I have a lot of aggression. So as a drummer, yeah.
SPEAKER_01What's your um you don't have to speak on this, but I like the way you think, I like the way you talk. Cause like you just not the average. I'm not trying to like like blow your head up or anything like that, but I'm just saying, like, your energy, like the way you are, you're not no average girl, and you have different thoughts, your heart's built different, it got a different shape. So it's like, what's your stance on all this immigration shit going on right now? Like, how how you feel about it? What's your perspective? I mean, it's I mean, fuck ice all day.
SPEAKER_03For sure, definitely. It's fucking terrible. It's it's terrible that I mean I spend so much of my time in downtown and shit just like really took a a turn for the worse, you know? And I I just like I'm so baffled that we live in a time that this is even happening.
SPEAKER_01Oh, right.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it's fucking it feels like our amendments are being ripped right from us and the hard working classes being removed from our homes. It's a terrible thing to happen. Even like with you know, because I'm like first generation, I come like from a family that's first generation, second generation, like I don't I'm lucky that I'm lucky in the sense that I pass as someone who doesn't have to be um you know asked about my my immigration status, but there's like cousins of mine that are first generation that have to ride around with their birth certificate in the car because they're terrified, you know, of being taken away from their homes. Like a lot my all my grandparents have passed away, and um a lot of my aunts and uncles have passed away. Or also I probably feel scared for them too, you know. But it's even more than just beyond my family, it's like the temperature of of our city and LA has dealt with that so much and so hard, it's even hard to think about it on a broader spectrum where like it's not just Los Angeles, like it's in Pomona, it's in San Bernardo, it's in Chicago, it's in yes, it's in other states. Like and um I mean p politically and our government has been fucked for a while. And I don't I I wish I had like more answers on how we could change that, but I mean right now I think we're just trying to keep our head above the water, you know.
SPEAKER_01I think you are the answer. I think I think that you give us the medicine to keep our heads up and stay positive and stay strong, you know. You give us, you know, you remind us what we learn through your stories, through your experiences, and and knowing that we're not alone, we're a part of a bit a larger community.
SPEAKER_03Absolutely. I do really lean on my community for so much, so I love giving back because it really is like what I can what I can like what God can give me, like, I want to be able to provide for others too. I really am like a hundred percent for a community. So I do try to do things that are like really community involved and and also giving back to the community. I I participated in a lot of events that um that the prophets were send uh giving back to uh families that needed uh legal aid with immigration and you know I I mean I might be just be one person, but I feel like if one if every single one person showed up, then we that's how we could make a difference.
SPEAKER_01Sure. So what's the um if there was one thing, one message that you can give to the people of the world, what would that message be?
SPEAKER_03Um don't give up before the miracle happens.
SPEAKER_01Ooh, that's that's a bar.
SPEAKER_03I got to hear that from other people, and it and I at first when I heard it, I didn't understand what it meant. And now I'm really realizing that like it's like you you really have to believe in yourself. Not even like not even in an unrealistic way. But as in a human way, like just keep showing up for yourself and and lean on your community and lean into your higher power and fulfill your day with purposeful things, even if it's just one thing, because I I know what like depression feels like. Depression could take away everything from you.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03I've been in this home that we're sitting in right now, so depressed that n no light came through the windows, even though like the curtains were open and the windows were open, it was so dark, and I had to do so much um soul searching and and figuring out what it is that I needed, and really it was removing all of the um everything that was bad, you know. And now like there's so much light. I'm figuring out how to direct it and also how to give it back to other people who who need it. Like I get to feel some of this light, so like let me let me help someone else who needs a little bit of shine on them. And um, yeah, I think it's like this what we do in this life, like it's gonna be a lifetime journey. It's not just like, oh, I'm gonna get to this milestone and then I'll be good forever. Like, no, it really is because life doesn't stop. You don't get to just somewhere in life and then life it stops and then that's just where it's at. Like, no, things happen. And when when things when good things happen, when bad things happen, when life just happens, like processing your emotions and and figuring out how you're gonna get through them instead of avoiding them really is um a huge part of getting through what we call life. And there's always a miracle waiting for you. So I would say don't stop, don't stop before the miracle hinders.
SPEAKER_01Uh damn, okay, shit. That was hella powerful.
SPEAKER_03I haven't even smoked either. I'm just like running off vibes right now.
SPEAKER_01Wow. Okay. I'm gonna wrap this up with two basic questions. Um I'm really I really want to hear this. Um top five greatest MCs of all time.
SPEAKER_03I knew it.
SPEAKER_01Dead or alive. I knew it.
SPEAKER_03I knew it.
SPEAKER_01Um let's do it, let's do it live. We already know the dead take up like top five MCs that are alive. That are alive. If they exist.
SPEAKER_02Okay, um blue.
SPEAKER_01Blue, okay.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, blue is he's one of my favorite MCs. Just cause like below the heavens, not only that, like everything that he spits up to date is is grand. Love blue. Um see, cause then it's like, are we talking like hip hop? Are we talking like grimy rap?
SPEAKER_01Well, like all categories, like Bahamadia, love Bahamadia.
SPEAKER_03She's like probably my favorite female MC.
SPEAKER_01Um you gotta put your partner in there. Cyrillus is the best.
SPEAKER_03I always say he's better than me. I always say he's better than me, and then he'd be like, You're better than me. I think it's a it's great to be able to like um play off of each other.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, you guys are beautiful together.
SPEAKER_03Cause uh when we f first started um dating and we're making music together, and he sent me a song and I was like, damn, this motherfucker's bitting.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Well, I gotta come just as hard if not harder. So that was fun. So yeah, I would say definitely like I'm for sure put me and him on the list with that's just me.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03We're gonna we're gonna push rough ruffle some feathers with that button, but shit, I'm I'm here all day. And then I guess if I was to say one more I really like this cat SD NAC, but just cause he be bring he be rhyming some like most ridiculous off the wall shit. And I like um it reminds me of like it reminds me of if uh rap was uh graffiti. I know this just sounds probably even crazier than I'm trying to explain it, but like if rap was graffiti, it'd be a m uh it'd be a grimy motherfucker. And so like he raps like that, you know, just like grimy and like I like that shit. I'm real like positive and and um forward thinking and and try to be graceful, but at the end of the day, like I'm still just some like grimy kid that's just trying to I don't know man.
SPEAKER_01You kinda uh you're not average, you know, nah nah nah nah.
unknownI don't know.
SPEAKER_03I think it's just uh yeah I'm well I mean I I get to feel lucky for for what I've come from and and what I've got to accomplish and what I'm gonna get to do, so I don't know man.
SPEAKER_01You're the trophy wife. So I got one qu one last question for you. Um might be a little different, but if you can use your love to change five things in the world, what would you change?
SPEAKER_03If I could what you said? If you can use your love, use my love to change five things in the world.
SPEAKER_01Like your heart, you got a different heart. So if you can use your love to change five things in the world, what would that be?
SPEAKER_02Fuck, that's a crazy one.
SPEAKER_01Cause I feel it. When you talk, when you spit, when you draw, I feel your love. But can you articulate that? What would you change with that love?
SPEAKER_03Mmm. That's so like so that's so broad.
SPEAKER_01It's like I mean, cause the whole world is the whole world, but I mean like what what comes to mind?
SPEAKER_03If I could like change anything, I wish that families would stop being ripped apart from each other. That's probably first and foremost.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_03Because it's such a huge thing, not in not only in the US, but like across the world, you know. Um I think family is probably the number one thing in this world. So if I could like keep families together, that would be that would be the number one thing. Um I wish I wish I could provide a loving shelter for every dog in this world.
SPEAKER_01Okay. That's some love right there. That's some love.
SPEAKER_02Even if it was like just a place for all the strays to go.
SPEAKER_01For real though, because I went to the shelter to volunteer. They wouldn't let me volunteer because I had a felony. But like, it is like that. I don't know if you know that. You got a felony, you can't volunteer. So, like, I I went with my daughter because she wanted to volunteer. They still won't let me need a shopper room.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01They still won't let me do that because I had a felonies. But we walked through there and that's just crowded.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01They got like hundreds of dogs like in cages like these, like, in in in the building.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01They don't even have enough room for their own kennel.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01They got them in cages, it smells horrible. Oh, yeah. And they're just like, we need people to come get these dogs. It's mostly pit bulls and huskies.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, we have my girl's a pit bull. She's an American bully, but like she's basically a pit bull breed, and I always feel like so scared for her, you know, because and she's a baby, she's like the little little Frenchie. That's what you gotta watch out for. She's the ink biter. The pit bull, she's super sweet, man. And so I have I have a very soft spot for for animals. For all animals, really, but like dogs, I mean, I've just I'm a dog, I've been a dog mod my whole life, so Okay. And then um I think the if I could change another thing, it would be the the school to prison pipeline, you know? And how a lot of a lot of children end up just being like led straight to to to jail and incarceration or or group homes and because of how our system is set up, you know. I think I think nurturing children is the first way that we can start becoming nurturing adults.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Um you're gonna be a good mom, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Thank you. One day maybe.
SPEAKER_01Umb me to the baby shower. I'm I'm bringing all kind of diapers.
SPEAKER_03Um the the writer in me is like, make a canvas for the kids. Um I think also like children in that need to be adopted. Like, I wish that all the kids could be taken care of. I know there's such a a huge problem in like the foster care system and and also like being taken advantage of and if we can like find every child a deserving parents, that would be wonderful. So that's four, right? I think that's four. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's four. The fifth one, the fifth one, fixing our um fuck, there's so much. But I would say like, because I want to say like making food accessible and free, but also making it healthy, and then that leans into having free health care.
SPEAKER_00Okay, okay.
SPEAKER_03So I think really just nourishing every human and giving them the opportunity to receive free health care. Okay. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Fuck yeah.
SPEAKER_01You're good. Man, I got to, I mean, I've been seeing you for a minute, but I never really got to talk to you and hear you and listen to you. It's always been with other people or at the end of a show, or so this is my first time hearing you. I hope everybody that listens to this interview got to learn a little bit more about Vale and how superhuman she is and she's on that goddess level right now. So um thank you for listening and um thank you, Val. Thank you. You're dope. Um ain't no other it's no other woman like like Vail. Promise you, when you meet her, it nah, it's nobody like her. So take care everybody.
SPEAKER_02Thank you.