In her latest project, My Own Truth: No Love Story, her lyrics are remorseless and crisp. She rides the beat while sharing her bucking truths. Her rhyme and reasons are definitive contributions to the hip hop culture.
While female emcees stand under a disparaging microscope, Sota Black is making sure that indie artists of her caliber get the respect they deserve.
Her single, Drug Dealers Children, is the perfect representation of life in the hood, when kids turn to hustling and become products of their proverbial environment.
When Times Change, that’s another gritty narrative, where Sota Black talks about the nostalgic end to friendships-- Praying to God for change, but not able to accept His alterations in the end.
Sota Black is a wordsmith who tells a story like no other. She doesn’t mind talking about the pink elephant in the room or speak on God, another taboo topic in the hip hop world (although Drake changed that opinion quite recently).
Video for single Crack
Unsurprisingly, the lyrical femme fatal has an international following spanning from France all the way to India.
We believe that Sota Black is the female version of Freaky Tah from the Lost Boyz. She can get as rough as she wants to, while still maintaining a sense of appeal, to wet our fashion pallets. In which case, we’d say that she’s the female equivalent to MC Lyte—Yes, the grand, lyrical wizard, of all female rhymers.
Sota Black recorded her first song at the age of 13 with the help of her mom and aunt; however, it wasn’t until she turned 19 that making music became her full-time passion.
“I fell in love with hip hop when I was a little kid. Rap music was already out by the time I was born. My dad always listened to rap music and my mom was more into church music si U got both sides of the music,” she said. The native of Sarasota, Florida remembers listening to the philosophical verses of Tupac Shakur when she was 6 years old. Though the artist wasn’t born when MC Lyte hit the stage, she does remember hearing Lil Kim and Missy Elliot on the radio. “I used to listen to Nelly. I remember, everyday, we would get home from school. I would hurry and get dressed so I could sit in front of the TV and wait for “Dilemma” to come on every morning. I used to record his videos on tape [DVD].”
While hip hop is described as the premeditated odes, in our opinion, rapping is a little different. MCs would line up on the block for a little battle rap. It didn’t matter if the story made sense. It was jab for jab and hook for hook against the other opponent. The emcee considers herself both a hip hop artist and a rapper because she writes music as well.
“Technically, I’m not too metaphoric. One person could say that I’m not hip hop because I’m not metaphoric. I do a little bit of metaphors but, here, in Florida, and in the South, metaphors aren’t popular.” Speaking of her hip hop and rap music, the artist said that millennial's could relate to her truth because she’s part of the same generation.
“I was raised up on the same thing that they were raised on. I think people spend a lot of time talking about the past, and what it used to be, and I’m telling listeners what it is right now. It’s not over. We’re still here, and I’m still living, and I’m having today’s experience. I wasn’t raised on what y’all [Generation X] were raised on. You have to relate because I am a millennial.”
Sota Black is inspired by the-all-graceful Beyoncé. She is inspired by Young Jeezy as well. She said she wants to share the stage with him. “It’s his mindset. A lot of people talk about street stuff, and then they say a lot of crazy stuff that I don’t agree with. When it comes to talking about street and selling drugs even though it’s wrong, he wants to get out of it. He may be out of it by now, but some people talk about it like it’s okay, and that’s where they want to be, and where they want to stay. They don’t talk about growth. I think he talks about growth and he even talks about focusing. That’s inspiration to me. He doesn’t say crazy stuff, and he’s respected by people. He’s someone, after all these years, he still has respect.”
Sota Black said that she wants reverence from her fanbase. She wants to be remembered as a person of moral integrity and a woman of strength. In closing, Sota Black wants our readers to keep doing what they are doing, and don’t give up. “I know it sounds very cliché, but if you really want it, you got to work for it.”
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Listen to her music for My Own Truth: No Love Story