Look on any music chart these days and you can’t help but notice Atlanta’s strong presence. Usher, OutKast, Ludacris, Lil Jon, Jermaine Dupri and Dallas Austin are just a few of the mega-talents who call the Peachtree State their home. It’s certainly no surprise that up and coming artists of all ages and backgrounds find themselves packing their belongings and heading south to seek their musical fate.
With that said, there is a new trio of young ladies prepped for their intro into the Crunk & B spotlight with a little southern flavor and some “confessions” of their own. Adopting their shared zodiac sign, they call themselves Taurus. Doma and Notation hail from Tulsa, Oklahoma, while the third member, Jazz, is the Georgia native of the group. In typical Taurean fashion, this strong-willed threesome seems determined to take the bull by the horns as they grind their way to musical success.
Will the trio have what it takes to follow in the footsteps of Atlanta’s music icons? We recently took a moment to converse with the talented teens to learn more about their quest to become the next girl group du jour.
AllHipHop.com Alternatives: Why don’t we start with Doma: You’re from Tulsa, correct?
Doma: Yes. Notation and I are from Tulsa, Oklahoma.
AHHA: What brought you to Atlanta?
Doma: Our music career, actually. We thought it was a good spot to jump our career off.
AHHA: Doma and Notation, did you two know each other? Did you go to Atlanta together.
Doma: Yes, ma’am.
AHHA: How did the two of you meet up with Jazz?
Notation: Through a mutual friend that we knew who thought it would be a good idea to meet each other. We were all doing the music thing anyway so we thought it would be a good idea to come together and be a group.
AHHA: Do any of you have a singing background, or was this something that you did when you came together as a group?
Jazz: Yes, we all have a singing background. [Our] backgrounds came from church and school.
AHHA: Can you give us some of your musical influences?
Notation: Destiny’s Child, TLC, Whitney Houston, Usher, Chris Brown, Salt-n-Pepa – definitely those two, and Missy Elliot – all of the best artists.
Jazz: I can reiterate the same people: Missy Elliot, I loved Aaliyah, also Minnie Riperton, Whitney Houston, basically the same.
Doma: Marvin Gaye, Al Green, Luther Vandross – I like the old school – I love them.
AHHA: Speaking of TLC, we had groups like TLC, Total, SWV, and we had supergroups like EnVogue and Destiny’s Child, and they’re not even together anymore. Tell me what’s so different about Taurus?
Doma: The thing about our group that’s different is that we’re actually out here grindin’ – it’s like 10% sleep, 90% grindin’. We go out to the FYE’s and show people that we don’t just need a hand-out. We want to work hard for what we’re trying to achieve so therefore that’s what makes our group different. Instead of everybody helping us we like to show them that we do it ourselves.
AHHA: I was going to ask you what the group’s biggest challenge has been thus far, but it sounds like that might be it. Maybe I’ll just let you elaborate on that – the group’s biggest challenge.
Notation: I would say [appearing on] Soul Train. To be an upcoming group, really trying to grind and get out there, to really just have a big opportunity to hit the stage that the majority of artists hit was a great experience for Taurus. Just to get to that goal and be able to get on that stage – touch the stage that all the big time artists have touched – it was like a great big challenge for Taurus, so I would have to say Soul Train.
AHHA: How were you discovered?
Jazz: We met Mr. Joseph Wimbley [CEO Landmine Entertainment] – well, Doma and Notation had previously met him, and I came with a mutual friend. He saw us all and he just said he had a vision to make us bigger than ever, and so we’re just trying to fulfill his dream and fulfill his idea of what he wanted us to be.
AHHA: Tell us a little bit about the album. What can we expect?
Doma: The album is actually like, if you popped a CD in, you can’t skip over any song, because every song is touching every aspect of how you’re feeling on each particular day, or how you used to feel. So I would just say that our album is gonna take you on a rollercoaster ride. It’s talking about love, relationships, inspirational songs – it has a variety. We’re just versatile with this album. It’s a really wonderful album and it’s gonna be great!
Notation: We actually had a variety of different producers as well as hot writers on the album, not to forget Taurus as hot writers on the album as well. The album is really gonna be hot!
AHHA: So you girls contributed some of the writing on the album?
Taurus: The majority.
AHHA: This next question is for each one of you. If you had the chance to have a dream collaboration, who would you choose?
Jazz: Missy Elliot
Notation: Michael and Janet Jackson
Doma: Jermaine Dupri and Missy Elliot
AHHA: What are the goals for the group? Where do you see you going with this whole project?
Notation: One of the goals for the group is when we leave the industry, we want to leave the best mark in the industry. We want to be well-respected all the way around; just doing a lot of tours and keeping a lot of positive songs out there. Sex sells, but you don’t always have to take a piece off just to be sexy. So we really want to stress that message. We’re three young, beautiful ladies, but we don’t always have to take a piece off just to be discovered and sexy. We could be fully dressed and sexy – we just want to put a positive mark out there in the industry.
AHHA: On the album you’re dealing with a very heavy subject matter such as suicide. That is very different for Crunk & B music, where the party scene is really what it’s all about. Tell me how did you decide to deal with such a subject, and what made you include that in your project?
Doma: Well, being in high school you have a lot of different friends, you have a lot of different personalities, and teenagers deal with a lot of different things in the world. So when we wrote this song, we wrote it so that everybody, not just young, but everybody could understand the same thing – no matter what you go through, no matter how bad it is, that you can always get through something, and that there’s a way out. We’re high up off spiritual too – you got to pray about these situations and know that God is there for you. You ask what would Jesus do. What would you do?
AHHA: Anything else that you would like to add?
Notation: Just to give you a little bit more information: In this Taurus group, everybody sings lead, it’s not just one solo singing. We’re the first group on Landmine Entertainment – the Charlie’s Angels of Landmine Entertainment.