LIN QUE: TRUE SCHOOL & RAZOR SHARP
By Khalid J. Strickland a.k.a. Dirty Angel
The artist formerly known as Isis
As a member of Blackwatch, a militant movement that includes pro-black hip-hop group X-Clan, skilled rapper Lin Que Ayoung released her debut album, “Rebel Soul”. At that time Lin was known to the world as Isis, impressing fans with her commanding voice, fierce delivery and well-crafted verses. Now performing under her birth name, Lin Que has since collaborated with artists such as Will Downing, Mary J. Blige, Queen Latifah, The Beatnuts and Monifah. In ’95, Hype Williams directed the video for Lin’s Elektra Records single, “Let It Fall”, which featured hip-hop legend MC Lyte. Ayoung can also be seen in Spike Lee’s film “He Got Game” and Dr. Dre and Ed Lover’s comedy “Who’s The Man”. In addition, the abundantly talented Lin helms, along with friend and business partner Barbara Sherin, a successful multimedia company called Queb Inc. (pronounced “cube”). Queb has developed websites and television commercials for various corporations, created poster ads for Mountain Gear Apparel and designed the subway ads for law firms such as Fitzgerald & Fitzgerald, spots that thousands of New York City straphangers view daily.
Although her non-musical seeds have also blossomed, Lin Que hasn’t retired her microphone and her lyrical blades are still quite deadly. With the video for her Ayatollah-produced single “Breathe, Spit, Don’t Stop” in rotation, Lin is meticulously sifting through the 22 new songs she’s recorded, selecting tracks for her upcoming yet-to-be-titled album. For now, Lin intends to release the LP through Queb Inc., taking her time to formulate a high-quality product that she’s satisfied with. In an interview with Insomniac Magazine, Lin Que broke down her modus operandi.
Dirty Angel: What’s poppin’ off with you right now? Enlighten me.
Lin Que: I just recently dropped a single called “Breathe, Spit, Don’t Stop”, which was produced by Ayatollah. He’s worked with artists such as Mos Def, Styles P and Smif-N-Wessun. I believe he also did a track on Tupac’s last album. I’m also going to be working with him on my album. That’s the first single for the album but I’m working on the album now. Actually, I have about 22 songs already done but I’m a perfectionist and I believe in elevation. I’ll just keep going until I find the right 10. I’m probably going to drop an underground album before I drop the more… I don’t want to say mainstream (album)… but before it (really) gets out there. I want to drop something that kind of hits the foundation… hits the streets.
Angel: Kool Keith told me there’s no such thing as an underground in his opinion, it’s just all about how many people know you. Would you agree with that assessment?
Lin: Absolutely. To be honest with you, back in the days when I first came out, the underground was what the authentic hip-hop was. What was mainstream was more commercial, but it’s not the same today. You have people such as Outkast or Kayne West or Talib Kweli and Mos Def. People like that who have their following but I wouldn’t consider them underground.
Angel: So what do you hope to accomplish with the music you’re about to drop right now?
Lin: Well, I’m doing what I love to do, you know what I mean? I’m a lyricist and I’m into Hip-Hop. I’m into the authenticity of hip-hop, the art form. I just do what I love to do. It’s all about being successful, but my idea of successful is probably not the same as your average American. My idea of being successful is being who I am and doing what I love to do and being respected for it. That’s what I’m about and that’s what I’ve always been about. I’ve had three album deals in my life but you guys only heard one album. So I think it’s time for people to get Lin Que full spectrum and see what I’m truly about and my versatility.
Angel: Whether they’re telling the truth or not, a lot of rappers claim they don’t write their rhymes on paper. They say they go to the studio and hear a beat and just zone out. Describe your creative process.
Lin: I’m a writer. I’m into writing. I think in the beginning every artist, every emcee starts off (freestyling) because that’s how you get stuff down on paper. But there’s a difference between freestyling and making records. Somewhere along the line I fell into the art of writing. I wouldn’t call myself a freestyler although I freestyle. I wouldn’t say I’m the best freestyler out here, not at all, because I don’t practice it like that. When I freestyle I feel like I talk too much garbage, you know what I mean? What’s first off the head is not going to be any real kind of deepness like how I like. I’m really into wordplay and punch lines pretty much every line. When I freestyle it’s not like that. I just have more of a respect for the art form than to just come out there and freestyle. It’s so funny, because even throughout my career when anybody says “Yo, kick a freestyle”, I always have to say this is something that I wrote already. Because people are under the impression that freestyle is off the top of the dome and a lot of people claim that they’re doing that but they’re not. It’s a little bit different.
Angel: There have been female rappers who’ve tried to get on the rosters of certain labels, and a lot of them have been turned away because they’ve been told “we already have a female emcee” like there’s a quota or something. Does it disappoint you that emcees who just happen to be women still get lumped in as “female emcee” as opposed to just good rappers?
Lin: Oh my god, it’s incredible. You can have a whole crew of dudes down together but you can’t have more than one female, which is insane. I think I was part of a group that kind of broke the mold when I came to that. When I was down with Blackwatch and X-Clan, we had myself, we had Queen Mother Rage, we had Tredonya. You had a whole different spectrum of artists that came together for one cause. Whereas nowadays, you just have to have one female, which I find ridiculous. And the one female usually comes out on the credibility a guy who already went platinum, so they listen to them. It’s never really on the strength of a female just coming up there and somebody says, “Oh, she’s dope”. It’s usually on the credibility of somebody who’s already out. It’s a sad thing, but at the same time, sexism is every facet of the world. It’s even in religion so it ain’t nothing new.
Angel: As an emcee that’s been in the game since the “golden days” when there was a lot of different variety in hip-hop, a lot of different types of groups and everybody had their own identity. What are some of your feelings on the current state of rap music as of now.
Lin: Well the difference is, in the beginning rap and hip-hop were the same for me. As time progressed, rap and hip-hop are two different things. Rap music for me is what people do to sell records. They’ll say whatever they have to say to sell records. It’s a business. Hip-hop to me is about the art form and about the culture. I believe hip-hop is on its last breath, but I also believe that hip-hop will never die because there is an underground; because there are people and emcees that stay true to this. They may not be on the radio but they do it for the love and that’s never gonna die. Rap music is the multi-platinum (side). And you do have some emcees who make it into the rap world, and it’s cool. They do what they gotta do and they keep the hip-hop mainstream. But that’s one of the things I so very miss. I just love that we did have the variety that we did have when I was younger, when I was coming up. I feel so privileged that I was able to witness and kind of deal with the authenticity of hip-hop. Even female emcees had variety. You didn’t have, “Okay, that’s one female emcee”. You had all different facets of human nature, whether it be sex, whether it be violence, whether it be growing up in the streets, whether it be on some intelligent hoodlum s**t, whether it be on some consciousness, whether it be telling stories, whether it be straight-up lyricism. All different facets, you know? There are a lot of people who grew up in a violent household, that are dealing with violence, and it’s a therapeutic thing to get up there (on the mic). Ice Cube went from “N****z Wit Attitude” to “Today Was A Good Day”. I’m an artist and I just don’t believe in anybody telling me what to write or say, so I don’t do that to anybody else. But it’s a sad day when we don’t have that variety anymore.
Photo by Yve Cotto
Angel: When I started traveling outside of this country and going to different places, it’s like being in a time capsule from the past. Other people seem to have a different type of respect for hip-hop culture. You’ve been around, would you agree with that assessment?
Lin: Oh, hell yeah. I love Europe, and the reason that I love Europe is because Europe is hip-hop in the late 80’s, early 90’s. And they understand the realism in it, they understand the culture of it. It’s a sad thing, being brought up in New York and the very first time I’m in a studio, (I’m there) in the Bronx with (Afrika) Bambaataa and (Grand) Puba and Professor X. That’s the birthstone of hip-hop. New York is the blueprint, and for us to be where we are; and when I say “us” I’m including myself because I’m an emcee and I’mma take responsibility for the state of hip-hop, that’s why I’m back out; (but) for us to be the birth of hip-hop but also it’s death, it’s sad. We’re supposed to be on the next level, we ain’t supposed to be following anything. And when you go to Germany these people, they speak English, but they have a whole other language. And they still be understanding your shit and be bumpin’ your shit. So it’s a lovely thing when I have people calling me; whether it’s (people) from London and they’re telling me they went to Hong Kong and heard “Let It Fall” in the clubs. Or I have people reaching out to me from South Africa and from Denmark and from Belgium and from all over the globe, they’re like, “I heard your music but I never saw your video, thank you for putting it on (Myspace) so I can check it out”. And if you go to a place in New York somewhere, they may not have ever heard of me. It is what it is. Hip-hop is one of the only genres of music where the people from back in the days don’t get the respect. And it’s not so much, “Oh, they gotta get respect” or anything like that. It’s just that the realism in hip-hop and how it was formed, it was about the culture. It was about the people. It was about what we went through as a people and what we’re going through as a people. It just sometimes feels like it forfeits that for money (nowadays). But it is what it is.
Angel: You’re a very beautiful woman. Have you ever been approached by any labels or anybody in the game that’s like, “Look, Lin. If you just showed a little skin or if you wore this little bikini you’d blow up and sell twenty-million copies”.
Lin: (Laughs) Let me tell you why I’m laughing. First of all, thank you very much for the compliment. But, on top of the looks, or whatever people perceive as beauty, I also have this kind of no-nonsense vibe to myself. So nobody kind of really feels comfortable doing that (laughs). Although I’ve been in the studio one time… and when I tell this story to some people they just start dying (laughing), cause they know me as a person… this dude was like, “Yo, Lin, come to the studio. We’ve got this whole set-up… let me let you to hear this cat’s beats”. And I heard this cat’s beats and it was a young cat who just started producing, but the dude was mad nice with it. So I said, ‘Okay, let me see what’s up’. So I went there and I spit my rhyme on there or whatever, and (the producer) was like, “Aw, yeah, that’s hot. But, Lin, could you rhyme about your lips?” (Laughs) I’m glad you’re laughing, because that’s exactly what I did. First I laughed, then I got pissed off and sh*t, and I had to leave. You always kind of feel people alluding to that. Actually, to be honest with you, the record deals I’ve had, I’ve never had to deal with anything like that. They respected me for what I did and they never approached me on that. And I don’t know if that has to do with my personality. I think probably it does (laughs)… and my history too. I don’t think they would do it. If I was a rapper and I was in this for the money, I’d be a multi-millionaire already, because I could’ve done that a long time ago. But I love hip-hop and I have a respect for it.
Angel: I want to ask you about Professor X. The brother passed away recently. That was a big loss. Can you share one of your fondest memories of that brother?
Lin: Wow. In the very beginning, I don’t think people really realized the potency of what we were doing. Yes, we had record deals, but we weren’t the type of artists who were gallivanting around. We were marching. We were activists and I don’t know if people understood how real that was. I think that a lot of people thought it might have been a gimmick. I think a lot of people thought that maybe we were using that as an avenue to get a record deal. I don’t know, but I do remember the potent energy, that beginning energy, that was just so surreal. It was so undiluted. And coming up at a very young age in the Blackwatch movement, it was so key for me because I was taught how to begin the process of self-love through my “black”-ground, my history and it was the beginning of a very amazing journey. And (Professor X) was very instrumental in that. A lot of people always ask, “Lin, how come Professor X on every song you had?” And they were under the impression that it was him that did that, and on the real, it was me. Because I was just like this loyal puppy that was just so open off of the fact that, one, this was the first guy that was like, “Hey, why don’t you write, Isis?” You have to remember the time I came out. What females was really writing their rhymes? And he gave me an opportunity not just to write my rhymes, but to just be myself and to learn about myself in the process, and about my people and learn about purpose and learn about responsibility. It took me a while to come out because I was just so fed up with the industry, completely fed up. I had to learn that this is a business. This is not a business of making records, it’s a business of selling records. And I can’t expect to buy an egg roll at a pizza shop. I have to go where I have to go to do what I have to do. And I think (Professor X) taught me a lot about the love of yourself, the love of people and the love of music. It was just family, you know what I mean. It was exactly what I needed at the time. I hadn’t seen him in a long time prior to him passing. And when I went to the wake, it was such a sad, yet joyous occasion because everybody was there; it was almost like a family reunion. Rest in peace. That was a long winded answer, but basically it was his energy. It wasn’t just one specific event. It was that potent energy of feeling unified with every person that was brought up like us, no matter what part of the globe we were on. That energy you can’t buy, you can’t sell, that’s just authentic.
Angel: Are you on an independent label? Are you releasing your new material yourself?
Lin: This I’m actually doing myself. But I have stuff in the making and I have 22 songs already and I’m still creating. But it’s just something that I wanted to do, not waiting for anybody right now and creating that buzz. But I do plan on taking it to the next level. But I learned the hard way it’s not about a record deal, it’s about the record deal. So it’s not about anybody who’s gonna wave a check to me and all kinds of things. It’s not about that. I need to be in a place where people respect me as an artist and where I can flourish and do what I love to do without people stressing me out. It’s not about a major. If it is a major and they give me what I want, that’s lovely. But it’s not about the jewels and all that, it’s about dropping jewels. Right now it’s Queb Inc. I have a company that’s been incorporated since 1999. Me and my friend Barbara Sherin, we have a company together. We do websites, graphics and multimedia. And we also just branched off into music videos and production, stuff like that. The video I just did was co-directed by me and Cynical of Bucktown U.S.A. television. I also edited it. So we’re multi-dimensional artists. We had to learn everything ‘cause we’re tired of waiting for people. Like, “Okay, we’re gonna learn how to shoot a video. We’re gonna learn how to edit the video. We’re gonna learn how to push a record”. I learned all this stuff while I was out there anyway and now I’m putting it to use.
For more information on Lin Que visit www.myspace.com/linquemusic and www.quebinc.com.
For more stories and work by Khalid Strickland a.k.a. Dirty Angel, visit www.supremearsenal.com and www.myspace.com/blackpacino.
