Emmerald: What advice would you have for an up and coming female MC?
Lyric L: Just be. Be you. Be real. Be honest. Be open. Be great. Be better. Be-come. Be at ONE with your musical calling, poetry, rhyme, rap, song, sound's, scat, soca, whatever. Let the spirit take you and walk with your head high. We can give birth in life and give birth to new beginnings--go for that. Never look back and never have any regrets (or at least try not to). In a shell-of-nuts, just keep fighting da good fight and keep on keepin' on! Even the Amazon warriors cut off their left breast in order to carry their arms, so a few sacrifices may be made, but we'll be stronger from it. (Trust me!)
Emmerald: You sing a little bit. Do you play any instruments?
Lyric L: Yep, I sing. Not the hand in the air/eyes closed kind of thing, just perfect harmonies. I have a great key and ear for arrangements. I play a little piano by ear, but it hurts my head (ha ha ha). I know the keys, but cannot read music as yet. I also play triangle, tambourine, glockenspiel, cymbals, shakers and whistle.
Emmerald: "Loose Lips" is an undisputed classic. How did that tune come together?
Lyric L: Seiji I met thru Mark DC Lowe. He had a few beats on cassette—cassette, in this day and digital age huh? The beats were bangers. I wrote to one heavy-weight track that never got finished using a braggadocio's old chorus with quick-fire Ebonics from a hip-hop track I wrote. Then I went with him to Velvet Room (the former Co-op location) and MCed. I asked him to play any of the beats and I would do my thang. He played that beat for "Loose Lips" and I did what God has blessed me with, fed off the crowd and caught a vibe. That was incorporated with my chorus, "If loose lips sink ships, my ill scripts rips and flips like gymnastic and that's it)." We decided to record it at Bugz' Bitasweet Studios. I had worked with Daz-I-Kue before and loved his energy so didn't mind him mixing it down. I just added vocal and re-created the vibe without the Co-op super peeps and made magic. I was honored and to this day love the response from hearing it, including the Q-tip mix. That was heavy!! I didn't see or speak to Seiji again for months till he wanted me to MC with him and Bugz in Europe. The rest is exactly that.
Emmerald: You're a Londoner by way of Nigeria?
Lyric L: I was born in London, yet my origins and family (cousins, grandparents etc) are all in Nigeria. I haven't traveled there for 2 years. I missed my grandfather's 90th birthday last year and that really really upset me. But I get to talk, write and my mum and immediate family pass on blessings, wishes and love from me. I even sent a CD down so my peeps can check me out back home.
Emmerald: How is your music and MC styles influenced by the musical tradition coming out of Nigeria?
Lyric L: My dad loved African jazz, African gospel, High Life, Oriental Brothers and King Sunny Ade. He used to entertain us when we were young by making human beatbox/chest tap-drum sounds and playing his hands as wind sounds, all as forms of music. That was of course, when he wasn't playing records and tapes. I sometimes understood a few of the Igbo words in the songs. Other songs were in other tongues or pidgin (broken English/Patois). I was always called out to dance and sing for my family/guests/visitors and they would encourage me with applause and sounds of appreciation. Plus my mommie dances and sings in her own key of happiness to this very day. That vibe and energy continues in my current works.
