I've been meeting more and more Philly based artists, and I can honestly say that they've all been down to Earth, humble, and talented. The latest amazing Philly artist that I met is Joie Kathos. Joie raps, sings, writes, dances, acts, and produces and I see her as someone who will be able to change the current state of female hip-hop.
Last week I sat down with Joie to discuss everything from musical inspirations, the lack of female unity in hip-hop, and who she would love to go on tour with. Check out our interview below.
When did you realize that you wanted to make a career out of music?
I was 9 years old, going on 10. Before I got into music, I was a dancer, you know jazz, tap, ballet, and dance was the safe way for me to go because that's what I was so used to doing. Eventually, I would find myself trying to recreate the songs that I was dancing to, you know first I started just banging on tables, then I played with the guitar for a little bit, then played with the keys and ended up being more into the keys than anything else. I would go home from school and while my friends would like go outside and play, I would be inside playing around with the keyboard. I discovered poetry and writing and everything went hand in hand because if I needed an instrumental to rap to, I would make it myself and that's how it sparked.
How much would you say things have changed since you first started doing music?
I'm a lot more educated, I've gone through a lot, more life experiences and I articulate a lot differently than I did when I was like 9. The things that I talk about are much more mature, much more in tune with a regular 21 year old; I wouldn't put myself on a pedestal discussing things that are so out of this world, like I have a good voice that people wanna listen to and I discovered that when I was younger when I started rapping., so I just honed in on my craft and my artistry.
I'm definitely inspired by Michael Jackson; his creativity and his ability to make timeless music was a gift that a lot of artists lack these days, so I find myself trying to fit that type of mold. I'm also inspired by Madonna and how she's always willing to go that extra mile to think outside the box and be innovative. Her songs have changed so much over the last 20 years and I was around for that growth and got to see it, so it's inspiring. More importantly, life and things that I go through and things that my friends and family go through, they all inspire me because it allows me to connect with human emotions that people don't always wanna talk about.
How would you describe your songwriting process?
Writing a song for me is funny because I'll just be singing a tune, like singing melodies around the house and I'll record it on my phone and the more and more I repeat it, words will come up. I'm good at freestyling concepts, so if you give me an idea or something to talk about, I can formulate a few words. Like the fastest I've written a song was in like 15 - 20 minutes, but for me I'm more focused on the quality rather than how much or how fast I can put it out. I can write a bar a month and go back in 6 months to finish it. It all depends on how inspired I am at the time and how much creativity is around me that I can feed off of.
So being as though more and more independent artists are beginning to see success without the backing of major labels, would you rather stay independent or go the major label route?
That's the million dollar question that everyone always asks *laughs*. I'm really comfortable being an independent artist; I'm not gonna say no or never to major labels because I believe that with growth comes change and I may have a change of heart. i think being an independent artist right now in my life, being as though I'm young and still trying to find what my niche is, it's important for me to explore before stipulations, quotas, and making music that other people want you to make comes into play. Record labels have a lot of power and that mixed with the media and social media is crazy. The money that is put into promotion alone can dictate what people like, you'll see it plastered everywhere like on buses, billboards, on YouTube, etc so you'll have no choice but to see it. I would rather my talent and other people liking my talent determine how successful I am rather than having things forced upon the demographic.
As far as support from Philly, have there been any artists here that you've met and become good friends with?
Yeah, a lot of them. Brianna Cash is one of them, she's dope. Whenever I have a show she goes to it, whenever she has a show I go to it. It's funny because she didn't know what I did when we first met and we ended up being on the same bill and she saw me perform and she was like "Oh my god you're amazing" and I was like "We should definitely work together" so I talk to her from time to time. Mont Brown and ARF Band put me on a lot of their shows, they're all amazing and they do a lot of humanitarian work too. Frenchie is another one; she's dope too. We're both dancers, songwriters, dancers, and she's really cool. She's definitely a humble individual.
Did you ever have the urge to move to a different city because there may be more opportunities, or is Philly a good spot for you right now?
Well, I'm biased because Philly is my hometown *laughs* but I've performed a lot around Philly and there's so much talent here and artists are starting to stick together and appreciate each other. I'm definitely staying here, my brand started here so I'll always be here, but I have a huge fan base in New York and LA because I've done touring there. I want to expand internationally, but those 3 cities (Philly, New York, LA) are where you'll find me most likely.
Speaking of touring, if you could pick anyone to go on tour with, who would it be?
Ahh, that's a good question *laughs*. I would definitely like to tour with Macklemore; I think what he's doing right now for hip-hop, for minorities, for social injustice, I think it all falls strongly in line with what I plan to do with my music and how I plan to impact people. He's a great performer as well, he and his band are amazing, so I could definitely see myself being on tour with him. If I could pick someone in the past who inspired me, it would be Aaliyah. She was a triple threat; she always put on a great show and people love to be entertained. I appreciate her for everything that she did, even her unspoken movement of being comfortable in your own skin. She was very much a tomboy, but she was beautiful and she didn't have to be raunchy or flaunt any of it. I think that's what a lot of girls looked up to at that time.
I know that you're called "Joie The Advocate" because of your open support of social equality and things like that, so how did that come about?
The "Advocate" part of my name kinda just happened because so many people just started calling me that. A lot of times when I performed at shows, it was never just about me getting up there and being a star, it was always about what was leaving the crowd with. I chose to stick with that because of what I had gone through in high school and realizing that it was a huge part of me without having to say it. My first shows as a kid were always at Stop the Violence rallies and rather than leave that and not make mention to it, I thought that it was important to let people know that that's really important to give back. The more transparent and worldly you are, the better people will receive you and that's been my saving grace. If people don't know me as an artist or a performer, they'll be able to say "She advocates against bullying" or "She's someone that kids can look up to" and I appreciate that and i makes me feel better about myself as a person because I'm helping other people.
I know there are a lot of backdoor politics and rumors and things like that to deal with when you're an artist, so did you ever have any doubts in your career because of how things sometimes work?
To be honest, as a human being you go through ups and downs. I think that's what makes like beautiful, you can appreciate the highs because you've been through the lows, and I can a lot of my lowest points in my career were because of doubt. However, I didn't have clarity at that time and I didn't gain clarity until I started to do things on my own. When I was younger I was signed to a pop girl group and it was very cookie cutter. It's like you have to do this and you have to be this way to make the whole group work, and I was able to learn a lot about myself in that situation. I learned a lot about my strengths and weaknesses and I learned that the journey is much more important than the destination. The more I stopped focusing on doubts and worries, the more things started happening and falling into place.
I see you as a game changer, especially when it comes to female rap. I listen to artists like Iggy Azalea and Azealia Banks, but their message isn't the same as yours and there isn't much unity in female hip-hop right now. When you go back to old school female hip hop artists like Queen Latifah, there seemed to be much more unity and their message was different than music today. Do you see yourself changing the game and bringing unity back into the female rap game?
Yes, absolutely. Some of my biggest female rap influences are Left-Eye, Lauryn Hill, Queen Latifah, and MC Lyte. What was different about them and why people like them so much is because they had their own thing. I feel like I have a bit of them in me and that's just the evolution of music and artistry that's coming with the new wave of artists. I haven't found anyone who does what I do and stands behind it so strongly because a lot of artists fear that being too transparent is a sign of weakness. They may feel like it's not something that people wanna listen to because it hits too close to home. A lot of times in hip-hop, people listen to things that don't relate to them; they listen to songs about having money that they don't have, cars that they don't have, jewelry that they don't have and it makes the listeners feel better about themselves because of where they are. People that are bold enough to talk about serious things/issues can grab a different audience and that's where my focus is. That's where the change will come because I'm not trying to approach it the same way as everyone else.
To close out, what would you say is the one thing you're looking forward to the most going forward in your career?
Touring is the number on thing I'm looking forward to. I love travel, I love to experience new things, meeting different people and seeing different environments because that all contributes to me making music. You also grow so much as an artist in such a short period of time. That and performing on award shows; I have big dreams about big performances on big stages *laughs*.
Check out Joie's mixtape "Unmarked" below and be sure to connect with her on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram to stay updated on her upcoming endeavors and shows.