iHipHop Exclusive Interview With Rapsody: A Beautiful World

Hip-Hop has forever been a man’s world, but that hasn’t deterred female MC’s from proving that they can play with the boys as well; and some even better than their male counterparts.

One such artist who has proven her worth on a microphone time and time again is North Carolina’s own Rapsody.

Coming from the house that 9^th Wonder built, (which happens to be Jamla Records) the Hip-Hop purest released her debut album, The Idea Of Beautiful this year, after feeding her fan base with a catalog of mixtapes.

While she was on a hectic promo run here in New York, we were able to grab a few minutes of her to talk about working with 9^th Wonder, touring with Mac Miller, and more. Time for you to hear it in her own words.

iHipHop.com: Right now, your debut album, The Idea Of Beautiful is out… So for the people who haven’t had a chance to check it out yet, can you fill them in on what they’re missing?

Rapsody: This is real good music, man… Right now, I’m working on making songs, and telling more of my story… I have a large array of topics.

Love, family, and I have a song about Jay-Z because he’s my favorite rapper… I have a brother in Afghanistan, so I have a song dedicated to him… Its just good music…

iHipHop.com: When you say telling your story more; do you feel as if you weren’t really telling it earlier on in your career?

Rapsody: Well, I think that I just had to grow into my own… When you’re a female artist, you have to work ten times harder just to gain the respect… Before, I was just trying to prove that I was a good rapper, and that was cool… But now, I’m trying to make music that stands the test of time with the listener…

iHipHop.com: Usually, when it comes to a debut project, most artists go it alone, and don’t have features. But you have people like Mac Miller, The Cool Kids, Ab-Soul, and a few others featured on the record. So what made you share the wealth?

Rapsody: I thought about that in the beginning, but I just want to record some of the best music that I can make…There are a lot of features with singers on it, and I can’t sing; so someone had to do it [Laughing]…

But yeah, I just try to make the best music, and who’s ever on it, then that’s what it is… That was the most important thing to me… I just wanted to put out a dope project…

iHipHop.com: Speaking of putting out projects, you’ve given your fans 4-5 free mixtapes, but The Idea Of Beautiful is coming with a barcode…

So with that being said, do you feel as if you spoiled your fans too much, and now it might be a little difficult trying to get them to open up their wallets?

Rapsody: No, not at all… I think the ones that really support it, will go out and buy it regardless, because they’re real fans…

If you have real fans, they’ll support you no matter what… With the other people, if they’re going to download, then they’re going to download… If people want it for free, they’re always going to find a way, and that’s how I looked at it…

iHipHop.com: You also had a few dates on Mac Miller’s Incredibly Dope Tour. Can you talk a little about that experience?

Rapsody: That was a great experience, and it was my first real tour… All the venues were sold out with over 2,000 kids, and it was just a really good experience… That really helped me to make my shows better, and I was on it for about three weeks…

That was an audience that really wasn’t my audience; it was a Mac Miller audience… But I gained a lot of fans from it… It was real dope, and I’m excited to go on another one…

iHipHop.com: Not too long ago, I saw an interview with 9^th Wonder, and he said after he was introduced to Kooley High, he said that you were the star. When you hear things that like, how does it make you feel?

Rapsody: [Smiles]… I don’t even know how to put it into words, especially when it’s coming from him… He really pushed me, and he is really the driving force for me… Growing up in North Carolina, the only artists we really had were Petey Pablo and Little Brother…

So to hear that 9^th [Wonder] said that, it really means a lot to me… It’s really humbling, and it pushes me, and lets me know that anything is possible… You just have to work hard at it…