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Outside the Box: Twitterview with SyLen

Written by Tyler Hakes. Published: Thursday, September 10, 2009.

SyLen is a super-fresh MC from Hawaii that’s working on her new album. We did a twitterview with her to find out what it’s like being a female MC from outside the continental United States, and she also hooked us up with an EXCLUSIVE look at a track from her new album. Check it out, and thanks again to SyLen for talking with us.

SyLen_and_JIK-Feed_the_fishes.mp3

SyLen and JIK – Feed the Fishes | Download (Usershare)

aGM: Okay! It’s officially 9:00PM EST time to get started! @MissSylen is the interview subject — are you ready?
I am.

Excellent! I’ll let you do what you do, please introduce yourself. Who is SyLen?

SyLen the best rapper you heard of like once from somebody who knew somebody who heard something, Hip-Hop Artist from Hawaii

Excellent. Do I even want to know what the weather is like in Hawaii right now?
Yes, same as all year long…sunny.

What about the climate? Particularly the hip-hop climate in Hawaii, tell me about that.

The climate out here is like El Nino, you never what you’re going to encounter at any given time regarding hip-hop, whether or not it’s terrible to the freshest sound you’ve ever heard.

[Is] there a lot of hip-hop to be heard coming out of Hawaii?

Yes, but it’s not readily available unfortunately. We don’t have too many local businesses that help support the growing culture of hip-hop here. Its always been alive here, but just not publicly exposed much.

What about a being a female MC in general, how many others do you know of in the area?

I personally have never met ONE female emcee here & don’t even know of any that exist here…there must be some though. ??

You seem like you’re pretty certain that there are some, why is that?

Well I figure it like this, if I exist here (and not everyone knows that) there must be others. There [are] female MCs nationwide.

Seems logical to me. Do you think female MC’s are slept on, in general, more than males?

Yes, because most people have the mentality of “You’re good for a female MC” & keep you in comparison of a small caregory. Dope is Dope…and if you don’t understand that you’re a sleeper.

Dope is Dope…and if you don’t understand that you’re a sleeper.

So how do you break that habit? How do you get people to see you as equal to any other MC and realize your talent?

You really just have to go out there and “do what you do”, talent is recognizable when people open their ears.

And you definitely are doing what you do. You’ve got this track called “Feed the Fishes” to share, what can you tell me about it?

What I can tell you…is to be prepared. I’m about to alter your mind state.

Before we release the track, give us some details on the album. What are we expecting?

Well on the entire album the best way I could describe is “1985 to 3030″. Its got a wide variety of sound that compliments each other along with emcees with totally different styles, but like I said earlier dope is dope so stay tuned.

Okay, so I’m going to let people check out this track real quick. SyLen & JIK – Feed the Fishes: [Download Link]
What are people’s reactions when they find out that you’re a female MC?

My last reaction was Friday..”I would of never guessed you rapped!” Apparantly people don’t realize that Hip-Hop is [tattooed on] my wrists. Its usually a surprise until they hear me & then the new surprise is “Wow you’re good at it.” Us female MCs are rare commodities out there, especially us good ones.

The best way I could describe is “1985 to 3030″.

What keeps you inspired to “do you” when you think about the stigma there is out there against female MC’s?

I don’t let the stigma bother me honestly. What I do is Hip-Hop and one day I was told “I plan on making music for the rest of my life” by JIK and I felt the same way & since then that’s what I’ve been doing. I have no plans on stopping, only plans on achieving the most I can through this and enjoying it.

What kind of a role does making music play in your life?

Its what I live for, aside from my son. Its definitely always been the most important “thing” in my life & that won’t change.

That’s dope. It’s been over an hour now so I’m going to wrap it up with one last question if that’s cool.

Sounds like a breeze to me.

What is your favorite part about making music? What drives you?

There is no favorite part for me about making music, the outcome of it all drives me & keeps me in motion to better myself.

Shoutout to the group I’m in…OMNi, which consists of @DodgeCitysOwn <-Lunchbox @mercurywaters @obsidianblue @earlflynn,John The Baptist, Tapez, Kneegrow, Inzo, Terell Xxx, Kil Beats. They definitely keep me going.

Well I wish you the best of luck with the album and I’m looking forward to hearing more from you. Thanks for taking the time for this interview!

No problem & thank you too. There’s more to come soon.

Category: Features, Music