Tanya Stephens Still Rising To The Top With Gangsta Blues

"If you want to hear a brand new album that is actually brand new, that’s not recycling all the same old topics, that’s not recycling all the same old songs, then Gangsta Blues is an album you might want to listen to. It’s like going to the movies and buying one ticket and being able to watch movies all day, ‘cause we tried to keep it like a bunch of adventures flowing from one to the other." –Tanya Stephens

Livonn: Tanya, to begin I want to congratulate you on your new album, Gangsta Blues produced on your new Tarantula Records with Andrew Hinton and VP Records. It’s a beautiful album, I’ve been listening to it quite often and I must say the lyrics are fresh and its clear that a lot of work went into making this album.

Tanya: Now, I understand why I feel so tired (laughing).

Livonn: I wanted to talk to you about the album and since Andrew is there with you maybe we could start off with your record company Tarantula Records. Andrew, how did you and Tanya get together to form the Tarantula Records?

Andrew: Tanya used to work with my father, Computer Paul (Paul Hinton) and I started road managing for her and over time we started working out songs (I play music also) and then slowly it evolved into making a label.

Livonn: Is this the first production on Tarantula Records?

Andrew: Yes, Gangsta Blues is the first project on the label.

Livonn: Tanya, your album Gangsta Blues is a refreshing surprise to hear some of the songs that you sang on the album and perhaps we can touch on a couple of the cuts.

Tanya: Definitely!

Livonn: Alright! Lets start with one of my favorites on the album, "Little White Lie" – beautiful song.

Tanya: Thanks! I’m happy that you like it.

Livonn: It was so moving to hear your sentiments of overstanding a situation, can you tell the audience more about the song, "Little White Lie" and how it evolved?

Tanya: Well, the situation depicted in that song is what we call in Jamaica a "jacket child" where the woman has a child for one man and she names another man as the father. And, I think, that is a situation where we judge too harshly too often. It is so easy to just point fingers at the woman, I am not saying she is right, but I don’t think you should judge a situation without first examining every angle and the fact is, she does have a story and it doesn’t necessarily mean that story is one that depicts her in a bad light. She could be doing it for a noble cause.

Livonn: That’s what I loved about the song. It gives you an opportunity to look at the situation from the other side. The words that you used to express the pain she is feeling for her deception is motivated by pure love for the well being of her child. This is something that a lot of people need to hear.

Tanya: Exactly! Because there are a lot of woman who have come back after hearing this song and they have been so grateful like ‘yes, I’m happy that you spoke about this’. I really didn’t even realize how much people that could possible touch. I mean, I know people in that situation and I happen to know that a few of them really are decent, very nice people but bad things happen to good people too!

Livonn: Gangsta Blues is somewhat of a departure for you. Your other music has been more sexually charged, I mean every track. Not that I don’t like that because I love it too!

Tanya: I wouldn’t say it is a departure though. Well, if I would say it is a departure, I would say it’s a departure from the stigma. I don’t have to do any particular thing; I can do anything I want! That has been my vibe on this record.

Livonn: The songs are all very reflective and very, very personal. Can you talk about how it is for you to incorporate your personal feelings into your songs/lyrics?

Tanya: Well that’s natural for me, that is the only thing I write about. If I don’t know it, I can’t say it! If it doesn’t represent me, I don’t represent it either.

Livonn: Along with Spragga Benz, you also worked with the talented Haitian born artist Wycef Jean on this album. What was your experience working with this artist?

Tanya: Well, actually being in the studio working was very refreshing because most of the time when you run into artists who have achieved some measure of main stream success its really hard because the egos are so huge. But honestly, being in the studio working with Wyclef was pretty easy. He was just getting into the voice room and putting the song down and that was all he was concerned with and I’m happy because he brought the song across just the way I’d written it.

Livonn: Tanya, I’ve heard that you have been studying and working towards continuing your formal education.

Tanya: Well, I’m studying on and off. It’s been a challenge for years; I’ve wanted to complete my formal education. But you know when you start working it gets harder every time. It’s hard for you to depart from your paychecks and go pay somebody else to tell you something. The whole point of getting an education is earning an income and for me to go pay somebody else to tell me how to earn when I’ve already been an earner is really hard. But it’s something that I am dedicated to, and with the intention to complete. So, I am doing it on and off, bits and pieces but I’m going to get there.

Livonn: A lot of young ladies out there sometimes want to depend more on what they can get from others instead of working towards something their selves. How important is it for you to get that message out to young women about getting an education and working towards being able to make a living for themselves?

Tanya: Well, to be honest, I don’t really try to tell other people how they should do things. I suggest that in your best interest it would be good if you have an education even if you want to depend on some guy to take care of you, I would suggest having an education and actually be able to afford your lifestyle. Because if the guy who is taking care of you bolts, then hell, your lifestyle is going to change drastically if you can’t afford it. So I’d say, an education is key regardless of whatever profession you’re going to pursue. You still need to have a sound educational background. It is what make the difference between you being good at what you do and not, even if it’s not an academic job.

Livonn: Now let’s talk about the track "The Other Cheek", a song about Jamaica and the struggles that people are going through and the desperate need for reform in order to get the economics on track so that people are working and able to provide for themselves and their families.

Tanya: Well, this is important to me because I live in Jamaica and I know that the problems we have are shared by other countries. But immediately, I live in Jamaica and I think there is a lot that we can do to change stuff, all of us, collectively. I don’t want to point a finger at the politicians and I don’t want to say Mr. Big Man did this because I think that we all have a part to play in the breakdown of our economics. I’ve always approached everything in life from a standpoint that I would much rather cure the disease. I’m not really into treating symptoms because symptoms recur you know? And everything has a cause, I mean the balance of nature is all cause and effect so if we have an effect then there must have been something that caused it. So, I am for fixing the problem.

Livonn: Being in Jamaica and being a native of Jamaica do you see anything happening positive there that perhaps we can grasp on to, some movements or anything happening in Jamaica that could ease the suffering of the people there?

Tanya: Wow! That’s a hard one, that a very hard one. I don’t know because for the people I am around most often, I fail to see anything happening, I honestly can’t recognize anything happening positively. I am around a lot of kids on the street. Children who are wiping people windshields and begging money and I don’t see anything happening for them. Everybody uses them as a ploy when they need to win some votes and stuff. They do something that’s very superficial and very temporary but nothing is really done. They need an education, they need a safe home because a lot of these kids are abused at night sleeping on the street, you know? And I don’t really see much being done. We think very short term. We think of ourselves and what we have and how comfortable we are. But tomorrow these kids will be adults; they are still going to be living among us. We will be living with them sharing the place and if they’re not comfortable we are not going to be either. I don’t think there is enough being done at all!

Livonn: Another song I’d like to talk about is "Take Him Back". I really like this song, it was so amusing, it’s like you do something wrong and you really wish you hadn’t done it. Can you talk a little bit about the song because I think a lot of people can recognize this situation?

Tanya: I don’t think that there is anything wrong with making a mistake. The important thing is how you deal with that mistake that you made. And it doesn’t make you any less of an adult or less of a person to admit that hey, I was wrong, you know? He belongs to you after all and you can have him back. We do that, I’m sure, and I know a lot of woman who have done that, you know -- take somebody’s man. You see them together, they look like a happy couple but you don’t know what she has to endure to make that relationship look so good and it might not be something you’re willing to put up with. So a lot of times its best to just leave them alone.

Livonn: Tanya, you are very articulate in the way you write and the way that you talk and I think that a lot of people are going to be enchanted by what you have to say in this particular album.

Tanya: Well, for VP’s sake and mine I really hope so! (Laughing)

Livonn: A lot of people may have a misconception that your music tends to focus on what they call "male bashing", you know, telling the man about the things that he is doing wrong especially sexually. Do you think men are listening to what you’re saying or do you think it’s more females taking heed to what you’re saying and giggling when they hear it because they feel that experience?

Tanya: Men are definitely listening because they have come back and I’ve had the feedback from men. I’ve had a variety of feedback from men. Some of them take offense and there are others who support my cause and even knock the other guys who take offense and say the reason why they take offense is because they’re insecure about themselves and I must be talking about them. I definitely don’t approach it from a standpoint of bashing men. It’s an easy misconception because I am a female, I’m in dancehall, I’m in music which has been a male dominated field forever since. It’s easy for any female who stands up and does her thing, and is strong and independent to be conceived as feminist. Which I have no problem with the word feminist either. I think everybody should be feminist. There is nothing wrong with supporting the female gender, but I don’t wear it as a banner. I don’t use it as a handicap. I am very proud of myself as a female and I don’t feel like I need to challenge the men to validate myself. I coexist with the men in perfect harmony you know! If they make a mistake, I tell them it’s a mistake because if I don’t say what I feel about what they do they cannot possibly know.

Livonn: Tanya, I go to a lot of Reggae festivals in the U.S. and I notice that there are very few female performers on the line up and it’s very distressing to see shows and know that all this talent is out there and people are not tapping into it. What do you think is happening, is there anything that you particularly see in the music business why females are not embraced and put on the bills, there are few female performers being booked at the larger festivals.

Tanya: There is one thing -- even if we want to be emotional and say ‘oh gosh I wish there were more females’ you have to be honest and admit if there is a demand for an artist then the promoters will bring them. If they haven’t been bringing a lot of females then I guess there hasn’t been much demand for females and if there isn’t much demand for females, I guess the females haven’t commanded that demand. So, it begins with us! I don’t think it is fair to argue with an audience and say ‘you have an obligation to like me because I am female because there should be a balance’ - I’m the one who needs to create that balance. If I do good songs, and it doesn’t even have to be good because people have a choice they can decide to like something that’s crappy, but if I do something that is appealing to people then I will move on the strength of that, but I shouldn’t expect to be lifted and carried on the basis or premise that I am a female.

Livonn: I know what you’re saying Tanya, but there IS so much female Reggae talent out there, incredible talent that is just not being exposed and many people wonder is there something we are not doing as an audience or is it just the business in general that its male dominated? Why do you think that artists like yourself, Ce’Cile, Lady Saw - artistes that are dong tremendous amounts of work and are very good, getting lots of airplay, people are asking about them - but when you go to the shows they are not on the bill.

Tanya: Well, I don’t think that I am in the position to make a comment on that because I am not aware of a situation like that. I’ve been getting calls for a lot of shows. If I say that females are not getting calls for a lot of shows I would be a hypocrite.

Livonn: Perhaps it’s a phenomena found mostly in the U.S and not the West Indies and overseas?

Tanya: Maybe, but I’ve been hearing that female artistes have been getting support. I think that what has happened with us that we’ve become too caught up in our own self pity and when you whine and complain a lot you don’t get respect, you get pity and somebody who pity’s you isn’t going to try and help you make no money. They’re just going to give you sympathy. So if we whine less and stop begging people to help us as females and go make more songs we will definitely move as an artist. If we stop moving as females we will get calls as artistes! I really don’t think that there is anything being done to penalize women in general. Every time a woman does a song that’s great it gets applauded, they get just as much airplay as the men. That is what I have seen. I don’t know if I’m wrong, but I don’t think we should expect. I do a lot of songs that don’t get played. What I do is go examine those songs and see what I did wrong and try to correct it on the next song, you know. The one that earns from Tanya Stephens being promoted is Tanya Stephens you know. So Tanya Stephens has an obligation to get up and get stuff done. It is too much to ask that you pay $16 to buy my record and promote it just so that I can be more comfortable. It’s just too much to ask.

Livonn: Tanya it’s been a pleasure talking to you. In closing can you speak to the people out there about Gangsta Blues, people who have not heard the album yet that you really want to give an impression and express what Tanya Stephens is all about, what can you say?

Tanya: Well, I could definitely tell them that if you want to hear a brand new album that is actually brand new, that’s not recycling all the same old topics, that’s not recycling all the same old songs, then Gangsta Blues is an album you might want to listen to. It’s like going to the movies and buying one ticket and being able to watch movies all day, ‘cause we tried to keep it like a bunch of adventures flowing from one to the other. It’s an entertaining album if I may say so myself. I still listen to it and some of the topics I still laugh because after making it then you don’t hear it for a while and when you take it out it’s like damn, did I say that! It’s an album I would have bought if I didn’t get a free copy. (Laughing).

Livonn: (Joining in the laughter) Gangsta Blues is really great! Everyone I’ve played it for has excitedly asked me ‘who is that’, ‘where did you get that album from’ and ‘where can I get it’. People are very excited about Gangsta Blues and we are very honored and pleased to feature you in the April 2004 edition of Reggae Review. We are excited and very happy for you Tanya and we can’t wait to see you here in Northern California.

Tanya: I am very grateful for the support and you can always go to my new web site at http://www.tanyastephensmusic.com

Livonn: Many of us will be heading out to VP Records 25^th Anniversary Celebration at New York’s Radio City Music Hall on May 8^th. Can we expect to see you there?

Tanya: I don’t know, but if they're real nice to me…(Laughing)

Livonn: Do you have any plans about touring in the U.S?

Tanya: We are discussing that now and trying to set up that as best as possible.

 

Give Thanks to VP Records and Chris Schlarb for making this interview possible.

Blessed Love!