YO-YO interview (8/8/2005)

Flatline: What was it like to be involved on "Amerikkka's Most Wanted" with Ice Cube?

Yo-Yo: Working with Cube was a wonderful experience because I had a chance to see how the industry was. Being a fan of hip hop at an early age and then getting a chance to be with one of the most successful west coast artists...right when he was leaving NWA...it was cool cause Cube was considered the man. It was real cool...it was an honor.

Flatline: Then you turned around and put out your debut "Make Way For The Motherlode"...

Yo-Yo: Yeah, worked on my demo, cause at the time, Cube was just starting Street Knowledge. So, from room to room, worked on my demo, went to New York, met with Sylvia Rhone and got signed with Atlantic.

Flatline: Wow, very cool...

Yo-Yo: That easy baby! Nah, just jokin'...(laughs)

Flatline: It couldn't have hurt to have Cube in your corner...

Yo-Yo: Couldn't be too hard, huh? (laughs)

Flatline: On your second album, "Black Pearl", you worked with DJ Pooh, Muggs from Cypress Hill, Sir Jinx, Bobcat....and yet, it was viewed as kind of a disappointment. You even dissed it yourself on your third album!

Yo-Yo: Well...when "Black Pearl" came out, Cube had a lot of problems with Sylvia Rhone. It was an industry problem where...I'm not exactly sure. Cube got mad, decided he wasn't dealing with Sylvia anymore and guess who's caught in the middle? Little ol' me...new to the industry...don't know jack. I got caught in the middle of all that drama. So, "Black Pearl"...it was really what I wanted, but it didn't read the way I wanted. The song "Black Pearl" I was happy with but I didn't have a balance. It was a shock and people wasn't ready for it. When I dissed it, I didn't really DISS IT. I mean, I did, but I DIDN'T, you know what I mean? It just wasn't what I wanted at that time. But hey, it was a break through...I was battlin' my identity anyway. West coast was so gangsta...I had never been a tom boy. (laughs) I was fightin' trying to show my feminine side and tryin' to work with Cube and the NWA image, just being a female in it though.

Flatline: You followed up "Black Pearl" with "You Better Ask Somebody", one of my personal favorites, and "Total Control" dropped in 96. I pick up The Source in the spring of 1998 and see an ad for "Ebony". The release date came and went...no album. What happened?

Yo-Yo: My whole situation with the Yo-Yo project is, once Cube and Sylvia had those problems, the record company didn't know what to do with me. Cube was like, to hell with them, don't do anything. But you know, easy for him to say...he wasn't on the label. So from then on, I just got pushed to the side. Nothing was done correctly....I mean....I don't know.....

Flatline: Was there a full "Ebony" album recorded? Is there something in the vaults?

Yo-Yo: Yes.

Flatline: Will that ever see the light of day?

Yo-Yo: No...I mean, I remixed some things and used vocals on here and there for remixes but...no.

Flatline: You've mentioned Tupac in your songs before and if I remember correctly, he was in the "Romantic Call" video with you and Patra. What's it like for you not having him around? What was your relationship like with him?

Yo-Yo: Oh gawd! Pac was just like a big brother. He was a young black man who was just always in search of something else...always in search of something more. To me, he was militant, he was street, he was smart, he was a poet, he was an entertainer...he had all these qualities. He was cute...(laughs)....he was just a great person. I always loved when he came around cause he always had that energy. He always had character...he was SOMEBODY. He motivated me.

Flatline: It's been about nine years since "Total Control". What's it been like for you to sit back and just kinda watch the majority of these female rappers lose half their clothes and not really bring much in the way of skills and subject matter?

Yo-Yo: Well, for me, after recording "Ebony" in 98, I was disappointed it was never released. I was working and planning for that to move forward, which it never did, and then seein' all the other sisters coming out and doin' their thing and they're sexy and they're this, they're that...and me, I'm just the "intelligent black woman" but ofcourse I talk shit...they labeled me "gangsta" but I really never was....I talked a lot of mess but I still represented for the ladies. I was just like, maybe it's time for me to move on because I can't see myself talkin' about no Coke bottles...I couldn't see me being half naked in a lil' bikini rappin'...

Flatline: So you actually thought about hanging up the mic?

Yo-Yo: Yeah...I was like, maybe it's over, maybe it's time for me to do something else. But I started when I was 17 so I was like, what else can I do? I started right out of high school so I didn't even go to college. So I moved to New Jersey. I said, okay, I'll do acting. I got my feet wet in acting but I didn't want any homegirl roles and I felt like I was getting a lot of those roles because of Yo-Yo. So I said, well if I go to school and study the craft, then maybe they'll take me serious with my acting. So I studied acting for two years, worked on my associates degree in liberal arts, took a lot of writing classes, took a lot of english classes. I stayed in Jersey for a minute, then I said, oh it's time to go back to California. I think I was going through my transition in life, where it was, how do I bring the old Yo-Yo to the new Yo-Yo or how do I get to the next level of what it is I want to do? So I started writing again and finding other things to talk about...started listening to other kinds of music.....

Flatline: What type of music were you listening to?

Yo-Yo: Just, you know, alternative music...all kinds of music...old music. I'd listen to new music but outside of rap because for awhile I didn't even listen to the radio, I didn't watch videos...I guess I was depressed. (laughs) Even attempting to do it on my own, without Atlantic, was a challenge. I was like, what do I do? Where do I go? Who do I talk to? When you're with a major, they have everything lined up for you. So when it was time for me to get out there and do it myself, I was standing like a little lost girl in the desert.

Flatline: So now that you're on your own and doing it yourself, how's it all coming together for you?

Yo-Yo: When I moved back to L.A., I started working on my music and just working with local producers here and there. I decided that people need to know that Yo-Yo is back out so I decided to do some remixes, go the 50 Cent style...and I remixed "Goodies" by Ciara. I got a list of all the radio stations, sent'em all out, called them, emailed them....and I started getting emails back. People were like "Oh gawd, I love it!" and "Yo-Yo, you're my favorite rapper, where have you been?"....

Flatline: It's gotta be nice to feel the love after being away from the scene for awhile...

Yo-Yo: Yeah!! Because you really don't know how people are going to react. You really have to ask yourself, is it time to give it up? But, you know, this time around is so different for me. I'm doing it for more than one reason...this is for my company, this is so I can give back, this is for my community, this is for the Intelligent Black Women's Coalition, this is for my center...you know what I mean? Now I have control. Now I can do everything I've ever wanted to do. Now I have another outlet, another chance to be the Magic Johnson of my community on the female side.

Flatline: Do you have a list of producers you'd like to work with on the new album?

Yo-Yo: I'm working with Focus, Dent, Shakespeare, Battlecat..Snoop is on the project...who else? Jellyroll is producing....I'm tryin' to do something with me, MC Lyte and Queen Latifah....Kurupt is on the album...oh, almost forgot...Daz is on the album too!!

Flatline: Oh wow...I'm so excited for this project......

Yo-Yo: I know! I am too!! I just felt like, hip hop, we have such a responsibility and when I was younger we used to go around and tell these journalists, we are not role models, let the parents raise their kids and blah blah blah. We really wasn't responsible and now that I'm older, I do understand that we do have a responsibility. It means so much more for me this time and then to have everybody pull in...I mean, the SUPPORT that I've gotten from the west coast and around the world has been SO incredible. Now I get to start my own business for all the young girls that's been looking for me to do something for them, now I know how to help them and now I have an outlet to help them. It's not just me this time. So many people gonna come up under this...it's just gonna be wonderful.