GenQ - For the not so straight individual

God-des and She are taking the lesbian community AND the rap world by storm! While God-des had been rhyming in her hometown for over 10 years, in just the two years since their relocation to Brooklyn, NY, the duo have advanced from being struggling Madison, Wisonsin local yokels to being
NYC hip hop stars making such television appearances as the Logo Documentary "Hip Hop Homos", and the recent season finale of Showtime's "the L Word"...And their Love You Better has been number 1 on LOGO for 4 consecutive weeks.

They have played countless high-profile events with rap stars such as Slick Rick (Originally known as Doug E. Fresh's vocal partner in the Get Fresh Crew) and female rap pioneer MC Lyte.
With God-des rapping and the soulful vocals of singer She, their sound is unmatched in female witticism, heart and energy.....We at queerplanet decided to check in and have a chat with God-des and She as they embark on a new year, new projects and hopefully, more new music.....

So, I understand God-des started out performing in music as a school band percussionist (so did I!)...Do you feel that this type of early experience made performing in front of people easier in general, rap music included?
Yes, for sure. Performing in any fashion makes it easier to get in front of people. Although, I have never been afraid to speak my mind no matter how many people were watching.

Did you know early on that you wanted to have a career in rap music, or did you start off just with idea of doing it for fun with your friends? What other types of music are you influenced by?
I knew since I was a kid that I wanted to make a big impact on society. I told my mom I was either going to be the first women's president or the first female NBA star. Now look, LOL, I'm going to be the first OUT lesbian famous rapper. When I first started rapping, I did it for fun but also to be really political and out. I was sick of feeling invisible and I wanted to give a voice to the community. After I saw how people responded to my music, I knew I could go far if I never gave up and stuck to my dream.
Both my parents are classical muscians so I was exposed to music in my mom's tummy. I have always loved all types of music and learn something and appreciate every style of music. I take a little bit from every style.

How did the working relationship between God-Des and She start? Do you two plan to always work as a duo, or do you have aspirations of going primarily into solo work?
I used to have a male singer (Wanda) who I started God-Des with. He was an opera singer who played punk music. LOL. He was also a SICK R&B singer. A few years into our career he had to leave Madison and go to Boston for grad school in Opera. I needed another singer. SHE was in a rock band Doll and I thought she would be perfectly with my style. At first, SHE was supposed to just do a couple tracks with me. But once we started, our chemistry was so amazing that we started doing gigs together and traveling together. We started to become so popular that SHE decided to put her other music on hold and focus on God-Des and SHE. We both lay down stuff for other folks but we are a BAND and plan to be for a long time.

Female rappers are already a bit of a minority in the "rap game"...do you feel that being out as lesbians in your music made it harder for you, industry-wise, or is the rap scene more open-minded to women and their input & views than it may appear in the mainstream?
Hmmm, of course it is hard to be a female in the rap game none the less be queer and in the rap game. We are trying to do something that has never been done before. However, that is what people love about us. We are REAL, different, and stick to what we believe. People are deeply affected by music that is real and heartfelt and are music is definitly that. We have more than just fans. We have people that almost feel like it is life or death that our voices get heard. When I say OUR voices, I don't mean SHE and GOD-DES. I mean a VOICE for our community. We give hope and strength to people when they feel totally isolated and alone. THe industry can't ignore us anymore. All these BIG ass labels that spend millions of dollars on marketing people like James Blunt and The Blacked Eyed Peas, are looking like TOTAL chumps with us beating their biggest artists out on the countdown. It's really funny to me.

While you have played with such huge hip hop acts as MC Lyte and Slick Rick, I noticed that a lot of your bigger gigs have been at events where hip hop and rap are not the generally "expected" styles such as the Vans Warped Tour, Michigan Women's Festival, and so on....What made you decide to work more within the "alternative circles" (Including
Autonomous Zones, Poetry Clubs, etc) as opposed to the run-of-the-mill hip hop club circuit?
Even though we do rap music, we affect people in a way that we can fit right in with Folk, country, rock, punk or whatever type of music. SO MANY PEOPLE TELL US that they hate rap music, but they love God-Des and SHE. That's the thing, people like what we stand for and like our sound. A lot of people's perception of rap is that it is negative, sexist and homophobic. We introduce them to a different side of hip hop.

Also, you performed at the Chicago A-Zone, which organized the protests against MTVs "Real World" show in Chicago...and now your music is a very successful hit on MTV Networks Logo Channel...Do you think the people there, and other activists like them tend view you and other
"alternative lifestyle" artists who become commercially successful as so-called "sellouts" simply because of the level of popularity?....What are your feelings on those types of commercial success vs. "street / scene cred" issues? Do you ever run into other artists who you feel display the attitude of "player Haters"?
HAHAa. NO. Because we have NEVER wanted to be underground and political in that sense! We don't just speak about revolution, we are a REVOLUTION!!! We are political because we go in front of thousands of people from all walks of life and talk about eating pussy. We make people aware of oppression issues that they literally have never thought about before. Even if people just like our music and don't understand the message, that's a start. At least they might say, "Man, that dyke is cool as hell." That's a start. I refuse to only stay in my community and remain invisible. VISIBILITY is crucial to our community and we need to TAKE A STAND!

How do you feel the lesbian community is recieving you as a rapper? Have you found it harder to get lesbians (esp. old-fashioned ones) interested in you for your style of hip hop music, not just the fact that you are cute lesbians? (Although I'm sure that is fine sometimes
too!)
Nope, the older ladies LOVE US!!! For real. Every women's fest that we play the majority of the women that buy our cd's are older. THey have told us that we are the voice of the new generation. They love it. We love our older women!!!

God-des, were you raised in a particularly religiously orthodox Jewish household, or was you family more reformed? You do state that you are Jewish, but do you mean only in the ethnic
sense or are you also practicing Judaism as a religion? Do you run into many homophobic Jews, religiously-based or otherwise??
No not at all. My mom is Jewish and my dad is not. Neither one of my parents practice any sort of orgainized religion. My mom's side of the family is VERY Jewish in the Jewish culture type of way. LOL. You know, family dinners where they won't let me stop eating. LOL. I feel proud of my heritage and the struggles that my ancestors went through because they were Jewish. As far as homophobic Jews, I find that the majority of reformed Jews and even conservative Jews don't generally go around preaching hate. But there are Jews that are homophobic. The fact is that society is homophobic and homophobia exsists in every culture. Homophobia does not discriminate.

How feel that do your views on religion/spirituality affect your music and your personal life as an Out lesbian?
I am NOT a religious person. I am a very spiritual person though. I figure, if I am going to hell because I am gay, I would much rather be in Hell with all the cool people than in heaven with Fred Phelps and George Bush.

How has relocating from Wisconsin to New York changed your career's direction, and/or your perspective?
It is VERY different in New York. I love it though. I love how diverse New York is and how you can literally do anything you want here. I do miss Wisconsin and how laid back the midwest is. I am sure I will end up back in the Midwest someday. New York has TOTALLY helped our career. Just the exposure alone has made a world a difference. If you play a bar in Wisconsin, you might have a ton of fans but never people from record labels, PR companies, and people who know people in the business. Networking is key in this business. IT really doesn' t matter how good you are, it matters who you know.

Tell us a bit about how you got involved in the Logo documentary "Hip Hop Homos"? How did that go?
This awesome director Dave O'Brien caught wind of us and asked if he could do a short interview on us. After he met us and saw how interestingn our story was, he wanted to focus on us and Deadlee. LOGO heard about it and picked it up immediatly.

How was it performing "Lick It" on the season Finale of "The L Word"? Do you think TV shows like this and other which feature queer and queer-friendly characters are promoting a positive visibility for queer people in places like Middle America, where some people might have very
little or no other exposure to queer culture?
ABsolutly!!! So many people had never heard of us untill they saw us on The L Word. We need a lot more shows that cater to our community.

What are your upcoming plans for 2006 and beyond? Any major goals you hope to accomplish with your music?
We want to WIN the MTV music awards. LOL. We want to not only have our video on LOGO, we want our music on MTV and on mainstream radio. We want to walk down the red carpet with our partners and prove that it is not only ok to be an openly gay artist, but that it is FUCKING AWESOME to be an out artist. We want our music to be available in stores in middle America where kinds feel totally alone. If a major record label can do that for us, so be it.

Please go buy Lick It (From The L Word) on itunes or napster. It only costs .99 cents but it REALLY helps us out. We need to prove that we can sell our music to these labels. They still don't think there is a market for gay artists.

thank you
www.god-des.com
www.myspace.com/goddes