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| Rhian
Benson |
Rhian
Benson tip-toed onto the music scene with a gazelle-like grace
bearing gifts of sweet, jazzy, R&B infused melodies that
shifted the mind, body and, soul into a state of euphoria.
This therapeutic phenomenon is most evident in her debut
offering Gold Coast (DKG
Music). A musical
journey about the high and low notes of life, Gold
Coast is an autobiographical manifesto that brims with that
I’ve-been-down-now-I’m up type of optimism that is a far cry
from the less positive music that has currently clogged the
airwaves.
With uncomplicated gusto, Rhian manages to
pour her heart and soul into each song as she weaves the
soundtrack of her experiences into a seamless masterpiece.
Using her storytelling abilities, she floats in and out of
heartbreak “’Words Hurt Too,” lust “Say How I Feel,”
chaos “Stealing My Piece of Mind,” empowerment “Young
Girl,” divine awareness “Spirit,” and love “The One.”
etc. all in one harmonious breath.
I managed to meet up with the
Ghanaian-born/Ashanti/singer/songwriter/producer on the eve of her
Valentine’s Day performance at the El Rey Theatre (she headlined
along with Anthony Hamilton and Calvin Richardson) in Los Angeles.
Here is a little taste of Rhian’s world…
LJC: You have opened for people
like Raphael Saadiq and Brain McKnight. If you could describe your
experiences in the music business to date in one word, what would
it be?
RB: Eye-opening… in terms of all the
elements that go into promoting an album, things that you don’t
necessarily knows about unless you are in the business.
There’s so many ways nowadays to get a record in
people’s faces, from touring to online presence.
I have a journal that I keep online and people write into
the label to talk about what I’ve been through and my
experiences that I share online. So, I’m learning all the time
about the impact of my music.
LJC: Who has influenced you musically?
RB: Tons. Mostly jazz artists like Ella
Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn.Early soul, Chaka Kahn, Earth, Wind, and
Fire, Fela Kuti, a lot of old school stuff.
LJC: What inspired the title of your
album and how will your cd set you apart from the others out
there?
RB: On my album I wrote about my experiences
that as far as I know are unique to me, my life.
I grew up in West Africa-Ghana and a lot of the images that
I used in my lyrics are based on the images I remember growing up
there in my childhood. I pull very widely in terms of musical
references from reggae, to jazz, through world music, through
funk, and I think when I hear the album it’s like yeah, that’s
the kind of vibe, that’s my vibe, that’s the kind of stuff I
listen to.
LJC: Did you write all the songs on your
album?
RB: Yes I did.
It was my therapy.
LJC: In a recent interview you stated
that African people, be it rich or poor are at peace with
themselves. Is Rhian at peace with herself?
RB: Yes.
Yes. I need to
take five every now and again to make it stay that way. This is
not my only life. I graduated from college.
I have a degree. I
worked in the banking industry for about a year before I dived
into this one, so you know, this is just one aspect of my life.
It’s enriching it, but it’s rich in many other ways
too.
LJC: What drives you?
RB: I’m driven very much by the very pure,
almost naïve idea that music can change the world and improve
people’s lives- I still do believe that’s true because it has
happened for me. There
has been so many times when I’ve been going through a tough
situation and I kind of have just gone to my bedroom, put the cd
on, I’ll go to however I know that will deliver me the peace
that I need and it could be any number of artists.
They’ve never failed in the past and it just fills me
with delight that I could be doing that for people too.
LJC: If you were to choose an animal to
describe your experiences till now, what animal would you be?
RB: I think it probably be a cat to be
honest, because they are so independent and they do seem to have
nine lives. And they kind of observe from afar and learn and are
quite cautious and yet sometimes are quite wild and fierce, so I
think I’d probably be a cat.
LJC: What is one item that you can’t
leave home without?
RB: Unfortunately, it’s my cell phone.
As much as I battled against becoming dependent on the cell
phone and technology like that, I gotta have it.
LJC: If you could go back to when you
were just starting in the business, what advice would you give
yourself?
RB: Let go, don’t be afraid, just let it go
and people get it. That
really is ultimately the most powerful thing in music is that
communication and the artist has to trust themselves that what
they are communicating is worthwhile and just let it flow through,
just let it go. It took me awhile to get to that stage.
LJC: What do you do for fun in your
downtime?
RB: I love to go watch movies. I am inspired
by the escapism of it all. Just
kind of suspending reality for a bit and going off, and it helps
me with my writing. L.A.
is so gorgeous as well, there’s still quite a few
places…I’ve been here for two and a half years, there’s
still a lot of parts that I haven’t been to and it’s so
beautiful and diverse, so exploring L.A.as well.
LJC: I know that you will host and
co-produce a BET Jazz docu-series called the
Gold Coast. What other projects are waiting in the wings for
you?
RB: That is ongoing, the BET Gold Coast series. The
next season starts in May. We
have some really cool guests like L.L.Cool J., Jesse Jackson among
some other pretty cool artists. Aside from that we’re going to
be starting a tour in April and it’ll be all over the states
again, probably about 30 cities and the most exciting thing
that’s just about to happen to me is going back to London to
perform and I haven’t been back since I left so it’s going to
be exciting.
LJC: Future goals.
Where do you see yourself in the future be it physically,
spiritually, musically etc.?
RB: Just
enjoying life as a creative person, you know I’m finding that
it’s just not limited to music; that is just one avenue. I’d
love to get into acting. I’ve
had a few opportunities that have come up and it’s something
I’d like to take a little more seriously.
It’s all self-expression, so I’m defiantly going to get
more into that side of things.
LJC: Now if you were granted three wishes,
what would they be?
RB: Wish number one is that I stop sweating
the small stuff and that’s huge on it’s own, number two that
my mom continues to live life fully and not have to go through
more treatments
and three that my music does reach people, the people that I want
it to, and does bring them all the peace I want it to as well.
LJC: Beyond everything, who is Rhian at
the end of the day?
RB: I’m
a young girl at heart. I have my fears and worries, you know, I do
think ‘am I worthy’ before I do anything adventurous or
stretch myself at all, but its just growth.
I do have to keep coaxing myself along and a lot of the
messages on my album are about that, about finding inspiration
from within, about overcoming the odds, and that’s very
autobiographical- take that away and it’s like she’s just like
us, but she’s trying to do things in her own way.
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