This is going to be simple. Here are the things you need to know about Shawnna these days:
She’s got an album with Ludacris coming called Battle of the Sexes
You can catch up with the Chi-Town MC at myspace.com/shawnnafanspace
She’s one of the best lyrical spitters out, male or female.
Now, here is what you should want to know.
How the “rift” between her and DTP came about.
How, she’s working it out and why Shawnna Guy never stopped working.
Her relationship with jailed friend Remy Ma and other female rappers.
How she’s able to “make it clap” these days.
Her thoughts on the lyrical state of Hip-Hop.
For this and so much more…read on.
AllHipHop.com: Now, when this new project was announced many people were under the impression that you and Ludacris had beef and you had left Distubing Tha Peace. Can you give us the background on this?
Shawnna: A lot of people really want to know what happened, but out of respect for my fans, I ain’t gonna bulls**t y’all. Anybody that’s in the industry knows that this s### don’t always go the way you want it to go. It got to the point where…[pauses] there was a lot of red tape we had to go over. [pauses] It got to the point where I could come home. I missed home. You know what I mean? There’s a lot of talent at home.
People always want to say, “Oh, they fell out.” “She ain’t f***in’ with them no more.” I was never like that. This industry is about timing. People fail to realize, I was with Disturbing Tha Peace and Def Jam and I’m not one to point the finger but, y’all never saw Shawnna out in the media. I feel like people at Disturbing Tha Peace is family and you know family doesn’t always agree.
And everybody knows, Def Jam – they had a lot going on. They were switching from Jay-Z to JD to what’s his name?
AllHipHop.com: L.A.
Shawnna: L.A. Reid. That’s the machine so if the machine isn’t running right, how can my project come out right? It was time to pause.
AllHipHop.com: I got you.
Shawnna: The industry is f**ked up all over the place. I’m sure you talk to artists everyday that tell you they are unhappy with their situation. That’s just a part of the game. I never left DTP, it was just time for reconstruction.
AllHipHop.com: I just saw this clip and you know…you’ve thickened up a lil’ bit in the last few years. A lot of people want to know what’s going on there too.
Shawnna: [laughs] I’m not stressing no more. I’m eating good. I’m great right now. My sister is living with me and she’s like my in-house chef. She gets down. It’s going to be a moderation now that I have to get back out and we seen by the public. Polish up, as one of my NFL buddies keeps telling me. I don’t get all caught up in what size I am supposed to be. Black women come all shapes and sizes and we are all beautiful Please just love me the same and pay attention to my lyricism.
AllHipHop.com: I don’t want you to get it confused. Nobody is complaining.
Shawnna: Well, my manager said, “We have a couple people that want to do some things – photo shoots and endorsements. But [They are saying] we’re a little concerned about this extra weight she’s gained.” I like my size. I’m not stressed out. My type of man likes a woman with a lil meat on the booty…a lil’ meat on the curves.
Shawnna with Ludacris: Emcees
AllHipHop.com: No doubt. Your style has always been impressive to me. I’m somebody that always likes lyricism. What are your thoughts on lyricism in general?
Shawnna: Anybody that follows the industry as far back as the Rakim’s, the KRS-One’s, the Latifah’s, the Monie Love’s, our Redman & Method Man, to our OutKast and Goodie Mob’s. You can go out to the West Coast. You got your Ras Kass. Female-wise: Bo$$ and Lady of Rage. It’s so vast and versatile. We don’t even have to mention Jay-Z, Biggie and Nas, that’s a given. I’m in the when I didn’t even know I was in the industry with my dad being an entertainer (Rock and Blues legend Buddy Guy). Music changes. Some people want to hear the “dumbed down, you ain’t got to put too much thought to it” music. And a lot of people want to hear actual lyricism. When I put out a project, im going after both of those genres. I personally prefer lyricism. I come from the days of you had to be nice. You had to be a spitter for people to even respect you. Don’t get it twisted – I respect everybody for what they do.
Shawnna raps with two mics and talks about biting
AllHipHop.com: Right. What happened to that group you had with Remy and Jacki-O?
Shawnna: Them my babies. This industry is crazy. When we were going through that, I was going through my negotiations at DTP and Remy was going through her thing with her lable. I think Jack was the only one that was able to move around. It just kept hindering our progress a lot and then unfortunately Remy got caught up in that…I’m just waiting to go see that girl so I can tell her how much I love her..how much I’m there for her.
AllHipHop.com: The landscape for women in Hip-Hop is crazy right now. Aside from the vixens, people are almost hostile to women. What do you think about that?
Shawnna: I don’t care. That makes me go harder. That makes me go even harder. We know that it’s a male dominated industry, but we know that the women are buying most of the records. The industry doesn’t try to make men battle unless they say something about each other. We are in high demand and you gotta have tough t###### for this s**t. I’m not going anywhere.
AllHipHop.com: Right.
Shawnna: Its way harder for women. We not supposed to be anything but a sex symbol or something to sleep with. Once we get past the fact that it doesn’t have to be just one, I think we’ll do much better. We didn’t even have a category for female artist in the majority of the awards shows for the last two years. So why would I s**t on another female artist when we both getting s**tted on?
AllHipHop.com: Are there any interesting “wars” that you and Ludacis have been though?
Shawnna: Me and Luda are straight lyricists. We know how to learn from each other. And piggyback off each other and swap ideas. Like, we battle. We battle literally. Like if he goes hard, I’m like I have to kill that. And Luda knows that I am gonna go hard, so he’s like “I gotta do something that she can’t kill.” And I think that’s enough for people to buy into [Battle of the Sexes]. It ain’t weak and ain’t watered down. It’s lyricism. We stay rappin’- like…there’s nothing else to do now. We’ve put on all the jewelry, we’ve driven all the cars, we’ve flown all the jets, we’ve been to all the islands, shown all the diamonds. Now what? Lets get back to rap.
Shawnna makes ’em clap
AllHipHop.com: Whats a regular day like for you?
Shawnna: I’m a big kid at heart so I might play softball with my kids. Flying down the street in my motorized scooters. We go to the movies in 3D. Being in the industry, it takes a lot of time from your kids and time they deserve. So when I have down time, I’m making up for what I’ve missed with them. It all works out for me being a big kid. It was different with my dad, he was gone all the time and too tired when he came home.
AllHipHop.com: What about a man? Are you taken?
Shawnna: No, I’m not. I’m not. It’s cool. Me with being on a plane, or being in the studio at all times of the night, men don’t understand that. They don’t understand that I just left the afterparty at 4am and I’m going back to the hotel. [Men say] “Well why is it so loud? There’s n***as in the background.” It doesn’t work. They don’t understand the hours, the environment. Until I have somebody that really trusts me…everybody has somebody they can call [for an intimate moment].
AllHipHop.com: [Laughs]
Shawnna: As far as a companion…I don’t have that. [laughs] He’s out there somewhere. I’ll find him one day. And he’s going to enjoy my brand new, big ol’ booty.
AllHipHop.com: Uh-huh…yeah. I would think that you would have more people stepping up to the plate.
Shawnna: Let me explain something to you. N***as at home (Chicago) swear “She’s got a baller or a rapper.” The ball players and the rappers are like, “I know she got a hood n***a that got her on lock.” Honestly, I’m stuck here with nothing. They don’t even try me out. A lot of times, men be intimated. I guess that’s good, because a lot of guys, they just want to hit and I ain’t with that bulls**t.
