March 7, 2025 • 52 mins
New York metal singer and rapper Mizzie from the X introduces us to Doja Cat's debut album, Amala.
We explore Doja's complicated persona and reckless online presence. Mizzie explains how Doja's freewheeling art continually inspires her in hip hop, heavy metal and beyond.
Mizzie has released two albums with her metal band Dishonest Escape and last year she launched her rap career with the debut single, "Ivy."
Subscribe so you don't miss an episode of At First Listen!
Follow us on Instagram at @AtFirstListenPodcast.
(Episode 27.)
We explore Doja's complicated persona and reckless online presence. Mizzie explains how Doja's freewheeling art continually inspires her in hip hop, heavy metal and beyond.
Mizzie has released two albums with her metal band Dishonest Escape and last year she launched her rap career with the debut single, "Ivy."
Subscribe so you don't miss an episode of At First Listen!
Follow us on Instagram at @AtFirstListenPodcast.
(Episode 27.)
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to At First Listen, the music podcast for people
who don't always get the hype but want to.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
I'm Andrew, I'm Dominique, and we're here with Mizzy from
the ex Hi, our first guest in the New Era.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
And we're fighting through numerous technological issues with.
Speaker 4 (00:33):
Their equipment, but we're survivors.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Were Yeah, we're gonna fight through it. And let's introduce
everyone to missus track where she introduces herself.
Speaker 5 (00:44):
Actually, here, we are, we.
Speaker 6 (00:48):
Need.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
This has never been more true, right.
Speaker 5 (00:57):
Period.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
So Missy, we're going to talk about your record and
your band, Designs to Escape and the show you have
coming up in Brooklyn. But first we're going to get
into your pick for our listening this episode, which was
a Maala by Dojah Cat, her debut album from twenty eighteen.
(01:20):
So first things first, since you picked it, why did
you pick it?
Speaker 5 (01:24):
I absolutely love this album. I remember when I first
heard of Doja Cat. It was kind of in passing.
I was on sound I was on SoundCloud. It was
kind of in passing and SoundCloud recommended that artist to
me and the song was called Popping and it sampled
(01:45):
Powerpuff Girls and it was Bubbles saying how like everybody
wants to be everyone else, but no one wants to
be her, And I was like, this is such a
cute song, but it was also like aggressive and cute,
and I was like, this is fabulous, and I never
really thought more about it until I heard Moo and
I was like, why does this seem like I know
(02:07):
this artist?
Speaker 3 (02:08):
And then when I saw it, I was like Doji
cat and I was like.
Speaker 5 (02:10):
I looked at my Spotify, I was like, no, I've
never seen any of these songs, and I looked at
my SoundCloud.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
I was like, oh, whoa, that was artists that I
really like.
Speaker 5 (02:19):
That sampled Powerpuff Girls. I was like, oh, that's cool,
and they sampled Powerpoff Girls and Nintendo they sampled Animal
Crossing I believe, and I was just like all right, yeah,
hell yeah. And then when I heard Moo, I was like, oh, yeah,
this is this is the kind of thing that I'm
one hundred percent and do right now. So yeah, I
(02:42):
listened to the rest of the album and I was like,
this is such a creative, refreshing take on like current music.
I thought it was fun, it was playful, it wasn't
too heavy, but there was artistry behind it, there was creativity.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
Was this in twenty eighteen when it came out?
Speaker 5 (03:01):
When the deluxe came out, it was in twenty nineteen.
But when that first one came out, I was like
cool because Move came out, then the album, then the
deluxe album with MoU so it wasn't on the release
until she released it again when she dropped more singles
on the deluxe album, and it was just it was
great to listen to. I was like, this is so different.
(03:23):
This doesn't seem like everything else I'm listening to. There's playfulness.
It's not she's not taking it too seriously. She's having fun.
And it's so hard to find artists that are like
genuinely enjoying themselves. I feel like sometimes people just it's
always a competitive thing, whereas we could just vibe sometimes
(03:44):
then they could just chill and like talk about being
a cow.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
Why not? Is it? Was it sort of a thing
that like you didn't hear another artist that like made
those kind of references that it's like.
Speaker 5 (03:56):
That it was so comfortable with like being weird okay,
and just talking about really like simple things that I
would talk about on the daily, like Okay, yeah, I'm
a cow.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
Sometimes I just want to be something else.
Speaker 5 (04:12):
Why not? Or like this song, one of the songs
on this album, Wild.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
Beach, It's so ethereal.
Speaker 5 (04:19):
It makes me feel like I'm a fairy, Like I
feel magical listening to that song. So it's just it
gives me a lot of it makes it makes me
feel like I'm able to dream and just think otherworldly.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
First, Dominique, what what did you know about Doja?
Speaker 1 (04:39):
I'm definitely a Doja fan. I love a problematic girly
like I love like I'm on the same page with
Mizzy that I just I love like a weird girl
who's like not caring in this era, especially, she wasn't
expecting these songs to be really heard by that many people.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
It was music for herself.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
Yeah, it was.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
It was like her being creative and her playing and
I think that I I think what was one thing
that was really cool about it was that it was
so it was all of that and there was like
I was in art school at the time when this
came out, so I think that I was like really
(05:27):
in the artsy world, but that wasn't reflected at all
in like pop music or anything that was on the radio,
and so it was really cool, like you hear I
heard like MoU when I heard some of these songs
for the first time, and I just didn't expect it
to blow up, but then like slowly it would be
like everyone would know it and you'd hear it at parties,
and it was literally just like the type of stuff
(05:49):
that you would say with your friends that doesn't mean
anything and it doesn't get the giggles over it.
Speaker 5 (05:56):
It was like it was being able to just like
have those fun conversations that you'd have with your like
Bessie when you're just like sipping coffee or going out
for brunch and you're just like say the weirdest thing ever,
and they're like, you know what, Yeah, And I felt seen.
I was like, you know what, I like this. I
like that she just putting her thoughts out there in
(06:17):
the open, just like, yeah, I'm thinking about this, I'm
thinking about I'm a cow, I'm thinking about being on
a beach, I'm thinking about how i want to vibe
Tia Tamara.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
I'm just like, yeah, you know what, same.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
Right, And I think there's like there was a lot
of I think in this in this moment in hip hop,
there was a lot of songs that were just kind
of like silly like that like broccoli.
Speaker 5 (06:40):
Oh yeah, I was singing that right before I came.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
It's like in that same realm and like, you know,
like little Yachti's like just like some word that they
just thought of, and like broccoli is about like weed
or something, but like it is still just kind of
like saying broccoli as this song is so playful.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Yeah, sure, the end of like the SoundCloud like rap
Golden Age, right, So yeah, I think so where music
got more casual.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
Yeah yeah, and also like a lady doing it, Like
I think like a lot of the girls were kind
of limited to like talking about, you know, being bad
bitches and such. And she was like, I'm not that. Yes,
I'm I guess I am that, but I'm like not worried.
I don't need to try.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
I don't need to try, and like announce it consistantly.
Speaker 5 (07:25):
She's like, today, I'm a cow and I'm the baddest
cow and that's that's just what it is.
Speaker 6 (07:31):
And we all agree, we collectively collectively, and like the
low fi element of the videos and stuff I think
was really fitting of the time.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
So you use the word problematic, dominique is maybe what
makes doja cat problematic? Kind of what we're talking about.
It's just very off the cuff. It's the private conversation
that's not being recorded, but here it is, and it's
in a song and it's people. Do you think people
(08:02):
like don't get it, don't get her sense of humor,
don't get where she's coming from, or do you think
she's really got some views that are.
Speaker 5 (08:09):
Uh I, In my opinion, I think her sense of
humor is probably pretty like pretty messy edge. Yeah, it's
just it's like probably trying to get a rise out
of people. It seems that way because they're social media
is very like, hey, I'm gonna do this and people
(08:29):
are gonna have a problem with it, and I'm gonna
say I don't care.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
Like, Yeah, her social media is interesting, it's very it's
very it's from like the glam photos to like the weirdest.
Speaker 3 (08:45):
Yes, that is like the perfect way to explain it.
Speaker 5 (08:47):
Actually like crusty and no shame in just posting that
and that.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
I yea, is she's slightly problematic?
Speaker 5 (08:57):
Yes? Is she very much herself and just doesn't care
about being like growth is good, but she doesn't take
the words of people that she doesn't know to her
heart and like to may have it influence her decisions,
like she's very much so if she's gonna change or
do certain things, it's because it's coming from her. It
(09:20):
doesn't seem like the external really has much of an
influence on her. And I think that's that part is admirable.
I think that's pretty cool. I think certain things that
have been said by her problematic in the past, but
I also think that allowing grace for people who have
(09:41):
grown since then or have been like there's a room
for growth, allowing people grace, allowing us to just not
fully understand the picture, Like I don't fully understand what
was going on. I don't have an explanation, but maybe
there's something there. I don't know, but to each his own.
And I think live and let live as long as
(10:03):
it's not really I don't see it as like there
hasn't been anything where it's like you're hurting people, you
are causing this huge thing where like you're the meeting
people or you're like tearing people down. I feel like
a lot of the things were self what do you
call it? Like self directed in a way, and that's
what kind of made it problematic for groups of people
(10:24):
as a whole, as opposed to like.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
Right, because if you see yourself in her, then she
her being self deprecating or degrading or something.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
That's the word.
Speaker 5 (10:32):
It was very self deprecating, and a lot of people
took that as like these commons and these things that
she's doing is going against the community and it's like
very harmful. And I think it could be viewed that way,
and it also could be viewed as maybe there's something
there that she probably needs to work on internally, like
maybe it has nothing to do with anyone else. Yeah,
(10:54):
And I think so many people are quick to jump
and like on this cancel culture of like oh they're
cancer because of the things they say the things that
they do. Is just like, well, we can't always be
quick to just cancel because we know face value. There
are certain things that are very obvious that are like okay, whoa.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
There are certain things.
Speaker 5 (11:13):
That I'm like, Okay, well, people make mistakes, people do
things sometimes, and it's they're battling their own demons.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
The interesting thing about her particular issues to me are
like I didn't know about any of them before digging
in a little bit for this episode, Like she's a
huge pop superstar. She just performed at the Oscars. And
it's not like some of the other people who are
(11:41):
in trouble currently where it's in the news and everybody
knows about it. It's more like there's particular communities who
are like, wait, there's this particular instance.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
Yeah, it's like black women are expected to be like
this model minority and just the really like I think,
especially in this moment, it was like first Trump administration, right,
it was like we as black people have to be
perfect because and like uplifting to black people at all times,
which means like always uplifting to yourself, even if that's
(12:15):
not authentic. Yeah, and like not you like there was
there's not a ton of space for complexity. I think
that part of her is that there's there's a lot
of problematic stuff that goes on behind closed doors with everybody.
But she yeah, locker room talk exactly, grabbing people by
all the body parts. But like she wasn't she was
(12:39):
just like not trying to play that game. She wasn't
trying to create an image that was different, and it
was like the perfect time, because I think that she
was like early to this current phase of like a
less censored social media like more TikTok type of like
content where you just like pick up your phone, make
(13:00):
your house is messy, you don't have you don't look
great like, and you're just just like saying your little sillies.
I love her because she is like it's like openly
like not trying to be a role model, and like
it's like if you if you're mad about what I'm
saying because you think I'm representing something wrong, like perfect,
(13:20):
be mad.
Speaker 5 (13:21):
Yeah, And at the end of the day, it's just
nothing to the extreme of word. There's a lot of
like you said, a lot of other artists on the
news right now for certain things that they've done, and
it's like it's definitely not to that extent. So I
feel like sometimes people make things blow up and like
really look into it, which can happen sometimes, but I
(13:42):
think other times it's just well, that's life. People are people,
and you're looking at it super under a microscope because
they are big right now. But I can guarantee you
the person next to you is also like it's.
Speaker 3 (13:55):
Probably said like things that are just like whoop oo.
Speaker 5 (13:58):
Like I think we all have been like at one
point in time.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
All right, so let's take a break and in the
next segment we'll talk specifically about the album, the the
moments about it that made you fall in love with it,
and then we'll get into more of your music on
half first Listen.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
Welcome back to at first Listen. We're here with Mizzy
talking about Amala Doja Cat's first studio album.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
And the name of the album is her actual name, right, Yes,
her actual first name.
Speaker 5 (14:44):
Okay, I was wondering, Yeah, that's her actual legally.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
You have cool names like m I A you can
that's an album title. What am I is the tangy Oh?
Speaker 3 (14:59):
Yeah, that is an album title.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
And then I think did Nick Minaj do that? No,
she didn't know yet. Anyway, it's coming though, album coming right, she.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
Has so many identities. So yeah, first album, first song
on the album, go to Town. I think this was
like one of the biggest hits.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
This was the only one that I recognized and I
had the thought of I for a long time. I
would hear this, I think it was Rihanna and then
be like, no, it's definitely somebody else. And this was
the first time that it occurred to me that it
actually is, don't you cat.
Speaker 5 (15:46):
I think in the beginning that go Down, God Down,
she has kind of actually kind she does with it,
and it has that same inflection that Rihanna would have
put with that, like the kind of knows like right,
So I can hear a little bit of rein there,
so I see that too. But yeah, that song sick.
(16:07):
That song's fun. It's a very playful song.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
Yeah, it's really it's like, it's definitely playful, and I
think it's it. It's like a dance song. It's like
a fun dance song, but it's definitely about something and
I and I love that also because it's she's I
love the like like she's not saying I'm not like
(16:35):
other girls, like she's like other girls. She's still talking
about the same stuff that the other rap girlies are
talking about, the stuff that she's really passionate about, right,
you know, And I love like, you know, the first
she goes from going to Town to Cookie Jar, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:53):
I felt I felt like a lot of the tracks
were about the same exact thing.
Speaker 3 (16:58):
And we know what she's passionate about.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
And that's that's fine.
Speaker 5 (17:02):
I so Missy, you're against it.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
No, I'm not against your moment. This is my problematic moment.
Speaker 5 (17:12):
No.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
The thing that was difficult for me about this album
was I like your band a lot, and I would
before you chose the album. I was listening to Dishonest
Escape a lot, and then I would get to like
four tracks through this and be like, my my often
(17:34):
my process when we're listening to a pop record that
I'm not super like jamming is I'll listen to a
few tracks and then I'll listen to something like disgusting
and really heavy and gory, and then get back to
it with my like palette cleanse in my ears, free
you of like bubblegum or whatever. So every four tracks
(17:57):
or so, I was like, I'm gonna put on slows
or something. Oh yeah, I want someone to scream at
me for like three and a half minutes and then
we can then we can get back to, you know,
something like something pretty.
Speaker 5 (18:16):
This is such, this.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
Is Wild Beach, and what I like about your choices.
As far as the tracks go, the earliest one was
I think track eight. You mentioned Candy m No. Wild
Beach is sixt so you didn't even want to talk
about the hit on the album, you were starting in
the middle.
Speaker 5 (18:37):
Yeah, I feel like you're deep into it. Yeah. I
feel like for the most part, when it comes to
like when it comes to albums and artists that I
really like, like the hits are the things that catch
your attention, but on the album, the songs are the
ones that are really like a little bit deeper, a
little bit more moving, a little bit more niche, and
(19:00):
those that really love the artists, they tend to have
a favorite that's just like this is my favorite on
the album because it speaks to me. I feel like
sometimes the hits are hits because they're catchy and they're
good in that regard, but the meat and potatoes of
the album is really what usually speaks to me, because
(19:21):
I think the other songs are great. Go to Town
is fun, Cookie Jar is fun, Roll with Us is fun,
Windpani and fancy, But when it's like Wild Beach and on,
I feel like there started to be some like some
changes in it. Like even in Wild Beach, the way
she's singing it's it's a it's lighter, she's playing with
(19:42):
her voice more morning light, I mean candy, she's singing
a little more.
Speaker 3 (19:47):
Game is more of a like pop.
Speaker 5 (19:49):
Dancy kind of beat, and it sounds she's having fun
throughout the album. And then she comes back with like
Tia Tamia and Bang, which that is a single. But
that single that was like a best choice for a single,
because I feel like sometimes artists pick singles and they're
like a lot of people are like, why did you
pick this one for a single? I feel like that
(20:10):
was like the greatest choice for a single.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
Let's let's listen to this second of candy first, since
that was that's the next on the list. This if
she released it today, would probably have been a single
for sure.
Speaker 5 (20:30):
Yes, I feel so too. I feel like if she
because I feel like we're more currently, like a lot
of people are back in their R and B wave.
I feel like that took a pause for a minute,
but now people are more into the like softer kind
of chill, low key vibes, and I feel like that
would have hit very hard. It still hits hard, but
if it was released today, it would definitely be a
(20:51):
great single.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
And that's track eight mm.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
Hmmm, And I think this one I'm checking I'm checking
on the clock app right now. But I'm the Candy
definitely was one of the more viral songs like this was.
This was like another thing about her lore is that
she's like a very viral artist, and MoU was definitely
(21:15):
a viral moment, but I think Candy was, like you said,
I think it's.
Speaker 5 (21:19):
Like And there are later versions too, like an old
town Cloud version and then a newer version, so people
that became viral again on TikTok. So if like her
song is not the biggest trending right now on like
radio or Spotify, it's somewhere on TikTok like, and that's
what happened where people started giving her older albums more.
Speaker 3 (21:43):
Attention.
Speaker 5 (21:44):
And it also got to the point, like with her
current album, people are constantly saying, like, oh, she changed
so much. I'm like she was literally like twenty something
like eighteen when she started making this. She's grown like that.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
That's one of the interesting things about the music industry today,
and like the best new artists at the Grammys is
always always gets a lot of criticism because there's like
usually artists on there that are not new to many people,
but because of the way record labels aren't really developing
artists they're not really putting money into that. They're kind
(22:22):
of looking for artists who are already like close to
finish and then picking them up and then picking them up.
So it's like a lot of these artists who are
putting out a debut album, like with this one for
a Dojia caf from twenty eighteen, it's not their first
time doing it.
Speaker 5 (22:37):
Yeah, they have.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
Whether they've been touring or not or performing is another thing.
But they've been making music, they've been writing, they've been
doing they've been developing their their art, their art, their vision.
Speaker 5 (22:50):
I one hundred percent agree with that, and I feel
like she crafted this at such a young age. She
had a vision of what she wanted and even in
her more recent ones you can hear or some playful.
But at the same time, I feel like, not only
does she grow as a person as people do, but
she's grown in her craft. She's grown in her ability
to deliver her lyrics and perform Because wall she her performances,
(23:15):
I had the amazing opportunity to see her life and
it was just mind blowing. So I think that growth
and like hearing from this album to current album and
hearing where she is here where this album we're listening
to is just a really fun, like it's a fun
learning experiment to hear how she started and where she
(23:37):
is in the similarities and differences.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
What's your second of a game?
Speaker 6 (23:41):
Here?
Speaker 2 (23:47):
Another R and B playing a little bit of house
in there.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
Yeah, Yeah, I love how like she she really was
like developed. She was developing herself in this public way,
the same way that she's kind of just kind of
let stuff flow out into the world. It wasn't until
sometime in her second album, like Moment, when when we
(24:17):
were like, oh, you're a dancer, and it was like
she was a dancer way before she ever started making music,
like recording her own music, and everybody was like, what
what are you doing? Like we don't even we It
was like there was all those memes about like, you know,
doja cats dancing, but it was actually like Bollywood and dancing.
(24:38):
It was like really like technically incredible stuff that like
we just hadn't seen in pop at all. But it
seems like she had she like gave herself that time.
I guess she to like really work on her sound
and her music and her songwriting, and then she's like,
I'm actually a sick performer.
Speaker 3 (25:00):
Yeah, she was just like, actually, guys, check this out.
Speaker 5 (25:04):
Look what I could do.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
When there's little dance videos of her, like I guess
dance battles.
Speaker 3 (25:09):
Yeah, I can see her.
Speaker 5 (25:11):
She's like popping in and locking exactly. We're just and
she does some of that like you can see in
her performances now where she like I love the way
she like pops and locks. It's very specific to her
because it's such a sharp way that she does it
while she's keeping her breath, and I'm just like, yes,
that is what I have to say. At the same time,
it's amazing pretty well.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
So the Casual was the other one you mentioned. The
thing I appreciated about this record a lot is and
the advantage of having a label behind you is the
production is like perfect throughout. There's no like, there's no
like tininess. It feels really warm. Even though it's mostly electronic,
it doesn't it doesn't feel that way.
Speaker 5 (25:52):
Yeah, and I also love on that note this was
it did such a great balance of being clean but
not over the top cookie cutter clean, and it had
some room to breathe. I was able to hear her
voice and not too edited like her raspiness. It wasn't like, oh,
(26:14):
we need to autotune. Yes, it's auto tune there, but
it's it's done in a way that reflects her like
person as opposed to just the studio. You know. So
I think that's such a great thing.
Speaker 1 (26:29):
She's it has that like la airiness to it. I
feel like also, like specifically some of your favorite songs,
like we've talked about Wild Beach, Candy, Game Casual, they
all have like this really airiness, like you know, driving
down the yeah in in like southern California.
Speaker 5 (26:49):
Yeah, it definitely does. It's like it's it's definitely for chilling, unwinding.
I feel like most of these songs on this album
are just like except for the ones we're getting to,
but I feel like most like this, most of this
album is very like let's chill, let's lounge, let's let's
have a sangria, like, let's vibe out and just have
(27:10):
a good time. And then the bonus and I'm just like,
we'll give me a shot at aequila.
Speaker 2 (27:19):
So you mentioned Tamara, So this is like.
Speaker 5 (27:27):
Full trap and I love this because I was like, oh,
like she was. I feel like the album was like,
look at what I can do, but don't don't play
with me.
Speaker 3 (27:37):
I can also do this.
Speaker 5 (27:38):
I can also switch it up and give you something
a little heavy hitting, a little bit harder. So I
feel like that was kind of a glimpse into the
future of what she can do.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
She was.
Speaker 5 (27:49):
I feel like she was just kind of teasing with
a like, look at this, this is sick, right, and
then moving on for the future. I'm like, whoa, look
at what you've done.
Speaker 2 (27:58):
So here's Juicy hed.
Speaker 1 (28:03):
Yeah, I just think it's great. I just wanted to note,
you know, we have another song, you know, with a
particular theme that she likes to follow, you know, go
to town Cookie Jar and Juicy.
Speaker 3 (28:21):
And Tia Tamira.
Speaker 5 (28:24):
Yeah, that's about that's about her booms, Yeah, twins.
Speaker 1 (28:31):
Yeah no, And I wonder I'm thinking now thinking about
That's all. I just wanted to know about Juicy. Really,
I do love it, but we can move on. But
Tia Tamara and the video for it, I think that
that as an introduction to her actually is in small
part where the disconnect comes with her like problematic moments,
(28:55):
because I think we like the video is so much
like black girl power moment, and I think that's really
Rico who's bringing that, because it's like who are all
those girls? Like it's her on Rico, and like but
I know like several other.
Speaker 3 (29:10):
Several other people that looks so awesome.
Speaker 1 (29:12):
Yeah, and you're like who is that? I don't know,
but I'm interested. And Rico has consistently supplied that type
of content, like yeah, every time, every time she becomes
big and powerful and loud and proud and out here
with a group of black girls who are like baddies
and just like dope and Doja, that's not really her energy.
(29:36):
And I think like, like she's just like she's she's herself.
She's like in high fashion world. She's not really trying
to be like black girl magic. And I think that's Rico, Like,
I don't think that's Doja's personal.
Speaker 4 (29:47):
That's not her identity.
Speaker 5 (29:48):
She's she's someone who enjoys the art and the creativity
and is living life. Whereas like it seems more like
I agree with you where Rico is that's also a
part of something that she should she wants to portray
to people because that's her message.
Speaker 3 (30:03):
That's part of what she wants to explain and express.
Speaker 5 (30:09):
Where As Diligium were like, look at me as an artist,
look at my art and a game I produce, and yes,
like we have anime.
Speaker 2 (30:16):
Threads are pretty strong in this hole.
Speaker 1 (30:21):
It's all that. And I don't think I like, she's
an Internet like deep reddit like that stream and I
think that, like, yeah, like she that is like really
where all the problematic stuff goes. And I think, like
any there's like there's such a disconnect because like I'm
not I'm not into that stuff. You know, I'm not
(30:41):
against it, you know, not protesting against Pokemon. But it's like.
Speaker 5 (30:49):
But it's not my like it's.
Speaker 1 (30:51):
Not my world. And so like we just like got
a glimpse into the gamer world, but through Doja, and
like we weren't prepared for that because we were we're
like fans of people who are outside, you know, right,
that makes.
Speaker 3 (31:06):
Sense is outside? Yeah, he is outside with her audi.
Speaker 2 (31:11):
Yes, So and you mentioned move so many times. This
is on the deluxe edition of the record, which I
was hoping that you didn't want to talk about because
it would be a shorter album for me to listen to.
So I only just heard this.
Speaker 3 (31:26):
So was this a real blog for you?
Speaker 1 (31:28):
Andrew? You know? You don't have to be positive about everything.
She's not paying us as far as I know.
Speaker 2 (31:37):
No, it wasn't a slog I like a lot of
the songs. I think for this particular, like four or
five days since you made your choice, it wasn't what
I was into. And especially since I know that you
have a cool band that I like, it made it
harder to concentrate.
Speaker 1 (31:53):
Yeah, Like I was like, I met this cool person,
like they have this awesome band, like we have to
go to this h and then a few days later
and so it's like we were both like does honest
Escape follow? We were like listening to it like as
a part of our regular music rotation, and then like
it was like, okay, this is homework now, and I
(32:15):
didn't really need.
Speaker 3 (32:15):
To introduce it at this stage.
Speaker 1 (32:17):
Like I think I agree, like I do love this album,
but I think it is more of like a socializing moment.
I think it is, Like it's like I had to
listen to it several times because it would just kind
of pass and blend together. However, I do know that
I love Dosia, so I was like deluxe obviously, and
(32:41):
I'm glad I did because I think I really respect
it that as an artist, she didn't release the singles
the hits as a part of the album. It's such
an annoying thing. And this we we you know, I
think on not like us? Was that the name of
the album? The song what's the name of the album?
(33:02):
Xt GNX gen x thank you? That like that, it's
like half singles, like so many of these songs some
of these albums. It's like, okay, which ones of these
are new? Like I can't even tell.
Speaker 2 (33:17):
And this like half the album before the album comes out.
Speaker 1 (33:19):
Yeah, like I've heard this before and I'm like happy
to hear the album, I guess, but like with this,
sorry about that. With this, she we got a whole
actual album. And then she's like, okay, but I want
to put these on an album, so here you go.
Speaker 3 (33:33):
He'll put them at the end.
Speaker 2 (33:35):
Sort of. My perception of her was as like a
hit maker, where like like kiss me More and stuff
in that vein and to get this like very kind
of cool R and B leaning album with like some rapping.
There's not like a big moment like in the middle
that kind of breaks it up. It's a lot of
kind of the same tempo, same sort of mellow vibe,
(33:58):
you know.
Speaker 5 (33:58):
Yeah, And I was actually this. I was so surprised
when I heard this album because I was actually shocked
by how like how drawn to it. I was OK,
And I was like.
Speaker 2 (34:10):
I had the same feeling about Brat.
Speaker 5 (34:14):
I was like I at that time, I had been
listening to a lot more metal and focusing on my
band stuff, so I wasn't really paying attention to like
a lot of Wrap and R and B, and then
Doja kind of brought me back to it.
Speaker 3 (34:29):
And this kind of brought me back to it.
Speaker 5 (34:31):
And I've been on the top point zero five percent
of Dojakat on Spotify since like for the past three raps.
It's just like, did you know you're on the top
five percent. I'm like, I'm not surprised. I am like,
I'm not surprised, but I kind of am because I'm like,
I listened to so much and Doja still makes it
to the top, Like I end up at some point
(34:52):
in time, even if I don't listen to her for
a while, I will just binge watch Binge, listen to
all of her albums and listen to those progress. So
I think it kind of brought me back into the
world of like rap and hip hop and what I've
been missing out on when I was just so super
like focused on metal. I just loved being able to
(35:12):
watch that progression and like hearing her development and her
artistry is just so inspiring to me. So yeah, that's
why I chose a Mala because it was like that
first step and that first push for me to really
like check things out and really listen and experiments, be creative,
(35:34):
don't be nervous about your stuff. Make music for you.
Other people will enjoy it. Like stop focusing on others and.
Speaker 3 (35:41):
Do what you enjoy and it's okay. People will pay off.
Speaker 5 (35:45):
People enjoy it too.
Speaker 2 (35:46):
Yeah, so her Ubra has has affected you creatively, Yeah
for sure.
Speaker 1 (35:52):
That's a great segue. I want to go into our
next Brank.
Speaker 2 (35:56):
I don't know how to work the equipment, but I
can do a segue, all right. So we'll be right
back with more with Missy from the X on a
first listen, and welcome back to at first Listen. I'm Andrew,
(36:21):
I'm Dominie, and we're here with Missy from the X
and I have the video for your song Ivy right here,
and I'm sort of I'm looking at a picture of
your face and I realize you're wearing the same headphones
now as in the video.
Speaker 3 (36:35):
I love these headphones. They was They're great for the price.
Speaker 5 (36:39):
I got them sixteen dollars. That's like, what.
Speaker 2 (36:40):
Sixteen dollars she's got. She's getting deals too. So you're
in this metal band, You're listening to Dojia Cat and
you're like, let me try rap too.
Speaker 5 (36:55):
Yeah, So I grew up listening my My father was
very into music, still is very passionate about music. He
used to write and wrap himself and growing up, he
would play a lot of different genres for me, Like
I grew up listening to Wu Tai Clan Meth and Men,
Busta Rhymes, listening to Cameron Duel Sentano, these people, and
(37:19):
also listening to Corn Marilyn Mens and my dad was
into that stuff too, So I kind of had an
idea of these artists. And then I remember really loving
Ludacris was one of my favorite rappers when I was younger,
and he still is, Like I feel like he's overlooked
(37:40):
a lot of the time because.
Speaker 2 (37:41):
He's start right.
Speaker 5 (37:44):
He's he's also a great actor, but he lyrically like
he's such a great rapper, and that's that's a rapper
that used to like really speak to me as a kid.
Speaker 3 (37:54):
I was like, I love Lud And also I also
used to think.
Speaker 5 (37:56):
My dad looked like just a slightly larger version of
Chris and I used to be like a tin, He's like,
what really reality? His twin is ice Cube.
Speaker 1 (38:03):
But I think Luda is very like I wouldn't say
kid friendly at all, but very like cartoon.
Speaker 3 (38:11):
That's the thing, very animated. It was very like big
and funny.
Speaker 5 (38:15):
And I had a little MP three player and I
had the clean version of the album that I burned
into my MP three player. When I was little, I
had it was ludicrous Usher, and I forgot the other artists,
like your dad.
Speaker 2 (38:29):
Is into Tang Clan and Corn and Marilyn Manson, but
you're still getting the clean version of the album.
Speaker 5 (38:36):
Yeah, because like my grandma would also buy me the
CDs and he'd be like, okay, and then he would
play the regular version in the car. It's okay. I
never said the lyrics out loud, but listening to those
artists when I was little, and then when I was
in sixth grade, one of my friends at the time
introduced me to the band Slipnot, and I never.
Speaker 3 (38:56):
Went back because I used to listen to rock before that.
Speaker 5 (39:00):
I used to like very dead rock bands that I
have no shame in ad meeting. I love Shine Down,
Shine Down's great. I love Seither and bands of that matter.
Speaker 3 (39:10):
But when I heard Slipknot and then I heard Lamb
of God and.
Speaker 5 (39:15):
Then I heard these bands, I was like, Okay, yes,
Lamb of God is amazing all that, but I'm sorry, Slipknot,
I'm sorry, come again.
Speaker 3 (39:22):
I was like nine people on stage. One of them
is a DJ. They're hitting things and he's shouting his
head off in masks.
Speaker 2 (39:28):
One of them his whole job is to hit it again.
Hell yeah.
Speaker 5 (39:33):
I'm like, that's chaos and I love it so listening
to that, I was like, Okay, well, this is my
life now. And then after listening to Slipnot, I was like,
I need to learn how to scream because I wanted
to do that so badly. And I also used to
like sing and like sing dance and rap. I was
very inspired by Beyonce when I was younger, and then
(39:55):
the metal kind of just spoke to me because I
feel like I was going through a lot of some
trauma in my life, and it kind of felt like
that music really understood me. I felt very healing, I
felt seen. I felt like, honestly, a couple times a
music like the words and the messages have saved my life.
So I was like, Okay, this is something that I
want to get behind. I want to have that impact
(40:17):
on other people too. And I went to that, and
then recently I was like started listening to a lot
more hip hop again and getting more into it, like
refreshing myself and getting back into that music. And I
was just like, I've always used to produce beats since
I was like out of high school.
Speaker 3 (40:35):
I would play.
Speaker 5 (40:36):
Around with different like online music things, and I was like, well,
I want to create my own.
Speaker 3 (40:41):
Beats, So I always had them.
Speaker 5 (40:43):
I wrote songs, never did anything with it because I
was like, oh no, I'm a metal vocalist. And then
sometime I was just kind of like why am I
saying it like I don't rap in my metal songs?
Like why am I acting like I don't sing and
rap and write the songs and produce little beats and
riffs here and there. I'm like, I'm also a rapper,
I'm a producer, and that's okay, Like, why am I
(41:04):
so scared to pursue this? So I did, and then
I was like, you know what, I'm gonna take this
very seriously, and I finally dropped that single. Then I
made like a while ago.
Speaker 2 (41:17):
Yeah, so I had the thought while listening to Dishonest
Escape before you made the Doja choice, because there's some
very fast vocals and let's stop beating around the bush
and we'll just finally play some So mom, turn it
down maybe, but there's a lot of like rappid fire vocals,
and I thought like, it sounds like she could probably
(41:38):
rap if she wanted to. And then like two days later,
Dominique sends me a link to uh, yeah, it's funny
your your journey back to how Doja Cat brought you
back into wrap and R and B. I went through
the same thing, but with like really ignorant hardcore and
(41:59):
metal core and death metal. Recently because of a band
called Throne that I saw last week. You know they
saw them. They're great, Yeah, you were going to go
to that show so sick.
Speaker 3 (42:09):
I've watched them perform before with Alfa Wolf and they're amazing.
And a wolf is great on care of people will
be like.
Speaker 2 (42:17):
I need I needed just like music that was not
sophisticated for listening to in the gym.
Speaker 3 (42:24):
Oh yeah absolutely, I have a hardcore plase for that too.
Speaker 2 (42:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (42:28):
I'm just like, yeah, I love this.
Speaker 1 (42:31):
I love this like story of you kind of like
finding your voice in the same way that we're talking
about Doja, because it's like you're really in in metal,
like uh, screaming and stuff, you really are kind of
like you're hiding like that's not your true voice, Like
that's just not anyone's true.
Speaker 4 (42:51):
Insane the meanest person, but like.
Speaker 1 (43:02):
You know, tricky out of me or something vibes. But
like but like it's this way that like that that's
how you know, Missy, is how you show up in
the world today to day. Like that's how you really are.
And I and I think it's really cool that that
like they're both you, right, but like you were connected
(43:24):
when you were first started doing metal vocals, you were
really connected with this like deep eggs, this like deep
struggle part of yourself, like deep inside, and then you
like you matured and you kind of found you were
like I can I can show I can show the world.
Speaker 2 (43:43):
You found a space for both things.
Speaker 5 (43:46):
Yeah, I didn't feel so like, because I feel like
my raps, in my my lyrics, when I'm in the band,
it's not just me. It's my family, it's it's my
one of them is my like literal cousin. So that's
my peoples. We up there together, we're representing together, we
are speaking, and the lyrics to the song, I'm not
(44:07):
just speaking on myself. I'm speaking on situations. I'm speaking
on like different things that are you can like interpret them,
interpret them differently. But I feel like for my raps,
it's very personal to me. It's my story and it's
the way I'm telling it.
Speaker 3 (44:29):
And it's scary.
Speaker 5 (44:31):
It's scary when I'm on stage and I'm just like, wow,
it's just me. It's not a drummer behind me, there's
not a guitarist, there's no feedback and my feedback from
the mic only I'm just like, oh, it's just me.
Speaker 3 (44:42):
So that was scary.
Speaker 5 (44:43):
But being able to be like, you know what, I'm
going to do that and show who I am once.
I got my name Missy and I got that because
I used to be in an elementary school teacher and
I did not let the kids call me miss. My
last name is Matthews. I didn't let them call me
miss Matthews. My first name starts with the Z.
Speaker 3 (45:00):
I was just like Missy, so they would call me
Missy Missy.
Speaker 5 (45:04):
So I got Missy from that because those kids were
my heart and that just reminds me of the impact
that I had on them and how much they would
love how creative I was, and I used that as
a driving force to be this artist. So as much
as Dojakat influenced me, these my old students that were
(45:26):
like young because they were third second, first grade, they
inspired me too, So I had to keep that name.
And that kind of awakened it in me to be like,
I'm Missy from the ex and.
Speaker 3 (45:38):
I'm like, oh my god, I found who I am.
Speaker 5 (45:41):
I love that.
Speaker 1 (45:42):
I love how kids like just like oh yeah, they
they see they just like it's just pure. They just
like see the real you. They don't and there it's
just like that actually was inside of you and they
you with them collectively.
Speaker 3 (45:59):
Yeah, yeah, I love them.
Speaker 5 (46:00):
They're so they were so great and they they definitely
inspired me with like the way that they were to
react to me.
Speaker 3 (46:06):
In the way that they would tell me.
Speaker 5 (46:07):
Like they have been can you show me this? Can
you see me song? Can you do this?
Speaker 3 (46:10):
And I'm just like, yes, I can and I can.
Speaker 2 (46:13):
Did you ever have to? Like I definitely did, but
they piped down.
Speaker 3 (46:18):
They won't with you anyway.
Speaker 5 (46:21):
Yeah, they've asked me before. They're like, I'm like, bro,
and they're like whoa. But they weren't really scared of
it because they were just like what was that? Like,
you guys are just so funny, tell.
Speaker 2 (46:30):
Us about this is one of the best ones coming up,
so everyone's getting back in line. No talking.
Speaker 5 (46:47):
I would do that in work too sometimes, and I
used to were good at Crystal Shop. Like when I
was making my way through the owls and my boss
was in the way because he was like looking under herself.
I'd be like, and I look away. He was like
care him want to be like home, whoa? What was that?
Speaker 3 (47:03):
Because he didn't know I did the bolk was in
until later I told him. He was like it was you.
Speaker 5 (47:06):
I was like, yeah, it's fun.
Speaker 2 (47:11):
Okay. Well, if anyone wants to hear more of that live, if.
Speaker 5 (47:15):
Anyone wants to hear more of that live, well I
do have a show coming up this Saturday, March eighth
at the wood Shop. It's going to be my band,
Dishonest Escape. Shout out to Plague Master, Torn Open, Burn,
(47:36):
the Skies, and Fhimera. They're going to be playing.
Speaker 3 (47:39):
This show and I hope, my god, the venue ride.
Speaker 5 (47:44):
Yeah, they're all going to the wrong place, guys, by
the way, you'll see us there. I'm so excited, and
I'm really excited because it's a lot of women led bands,
So I think that's really important into because you don't
see a lot of women take up space in the
(48:04):
metal scene, in the hardcore scene, and if they do,
they're perceived a certain way or they have to like
kind of mold themselves to be acceptable by certain standards.
And it's really cool when you see someone just up
there on stage being themselves and taking up space and
like a male dominated like genre.
Speaker 1 (48:27):
And I you know, it's also the vibe of having
like a lot like the men who are there are
like so supportive of that energy. They're like they're to
uplift it. And there's nothing wrong with having like four
bodyguards with you, period times.
Speaker 3 (48:44):
Period.
Speaker 5 (48:44):
Yeah, And it's so fun, Like the community is so
supportive and they're so uplifting and they're so like, hey,
you know what, that was sick and it's I love it.
I love the community, I love my scene, I love Yeah.
Speaker 2 (48:57):
That's that's like the best of what metal can be.
I feel like the genre is about everything that you said,
empowering people of different backgrounds, with different abilities or disabilities
and different issues, like whatever the case may be. It's
supposed to be a unifying force, and it's just like
(49:18):
I think, not that many people learn about.
Speaker 5 (49:20):
It, Yeah exactly, not.
Speaker 2 (49:22):
That many people know about it, but it can be
such a great environment and even over they're like the
past fifteen years since I've been going to shows around
the city, like I've seen it change a lot for
the better. Like when we were talking about going to
that Throne show, Dominique was like, am I going to
be the only black person there? And I'm like, no, no,
(49:44):
I'm pretty sure.
Speaker 5 (49:46):
No.
Speaker 2 (49:46):
Yeah, I saw them before and that would have not
have been the case. But it's their show. They're from Sweden.
I don't know what it's going to be like, but
then you go and it is like a very diverse crowd,
and that's that is the best thing for metal to
keep it alive going forward. Is it needs to be
for people, for everybody.
Speaker 5 (50:06):
Absolutely, for the people, for the crowd, for the community
of space, to just release, relax. That's where I got
the name dishonest escape from. It was it's an escape
from reality, but it's it's only honest when you tackle
the problems till then it's a dishonest escape. So these
songs and these words, they mean nothing unless you take
them and apply them. So it's kind of that's where
(50:28):
I got dishonest Escaped from. That's where we were. We
were thinking about it, and we we like sat for
a moment with a couple names, and then like we
ended on that. We were all like, you know what
word that It does really feel like that, and yeah
it is.
Speaker 1 (50:44):
It's also a benefit show, so I think it.
Speaker 5 (50:47):
Really does all the benefits to support women. So I'm
super excited about this show. I'm I'm so high. This
is I think this.
Speaker 3 (50:57):
Is our first show of the year.
Speaker 2 (51:00):
Who yeah, welcome back.
Speaker 1 (51:04):
Yeah, this has been at first listen this is We've
had Missy the ex.
Speaker 3 (51:10):
Missy from the from Catch Me?
Speaker 5 (51:13):
Can I give my handle? Oh my god, you can
catch me at This is so fun Underscore, Underscore, m
I z z I E, Missy and for my band
Dishonest Escape on Everything.
Speaker 2 (51:27):
So that was our first listen. Tell us about yours
at at First Listen podcast on Instagram and YouTube. We
will be back next week with a new episode. Thank you, Bye,
good bye.
Speaker 1 (51:40):
Yeah show your lap
Welcome to At First Listen, the music podcast for people
who don't always get the hype but want to.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
I'm Andrew, I'm Dominique, and we're here with Mizzy from
the ex Hi, our first guest in the New Era.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
And we're fighting through numerous technological issues with.
Speaker 4 (00:33):
Their equipment, but we're survivors.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Were Yeah, we're gonna fight through it. And let's introduce
everyone to missus track where she introduces herself.
Speaker 5 (00:44):
Actually, here, we are, we.
Speaker 6 (00:48):
Need.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
This has never been more true, right.
Speaker 5 (00:57):
Period.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
So Missy, we're going to talk about your record and
your band, Designs to Escape and the show you have
coming up in Brooklyn. But first we're going to get
into your pick for our listening this episode, which was
a Maala by Dojah Cat, her debut album from twenty eighteen.
(01:20):
So first things first, since you picked it, why did
you pick it?
Speaker 5 (01:24):
I absolutely love this album. I remember when I first
heard of Doja Cat. It was kind of in passing.
I was on sound I was on SoundCloud. It was
kind of in passing and SoundCloud recommended that artist to
me and the song was called Popping and it sampled
(01:45):
Powerpuff Girls and it was Bubbles saying how like everybody
wants to be everyone else, but no one wants to
be her, And I was like, this is such a
cute song, but it was also like aggressive and cute,
and I was like, this is fabulous, and I never
really thought more about it until I heard Moo and
I was like, why does this seem like I know
(02:07):
this artist?
Speaker 3 (02:08):
And then when I saw it, I was like Doji
cat and I was like.
Speaker 5 (02:10):
I looked at my Spotify, I was like, no, I've
never seen any of these songs, and I looked at
my SoundCloud.
Speaker 3 (02:15):
I was like, oh, whoa, that was artists that I
really like.
Speaker 5 (02:19):
That sampled Powerpuff Girls. I was like, oh, that's cool,
and they sampled Powerpoff Girls and Nintendo they sampled Animal
Crossing I believe, and I was just like all right, yeah,
hell yeah. And then when I heard Moo, I was like, oh, yeah,
this is this is the kind of thing that I'm
one hundred percent and do right now. So yeah, I
(02:42):
listened to the rest of the album and I was like,
this is such a creative, refreshing take on like current music.
I thought it was fun, it was playful, it wasn't
too heavy, but there was artistry behind it, there was creativity.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
Was this in twenty eighteen when it came out?
Speaker 5 (03:01):
When the deluxe came out, it was in twenty nineteen.
But when that first one came out, I was like
cool because Move came out, then the album, then the
deluxe album with MoU so it wasn't on the release
until she released it again when she dropped more singles
on the deluxe album, and it was just it was
great to listen to. I was like, this is so different.
(03:23):
This doesn't seem like everything else I'm listening to. There's playfulness.
It's not she's not taking it too seriously. She's having fun.
And it's so hard to find artists that are like
genuinely enjoying themselves. I feel like sometimes people just it's
always a competitive thing, whereas we could just vibe sometimes
(03:44):
then they could just chill and like talk about being
a cow.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
Why not? Is it? Was it sort of a thing
that like you didn't hear another artist that like made
those kind of references that it's like.
Speaker 5 (03:56):
That it was so comfortable with like being weird okay,
and just talking about really like simple things that I
would talk about on the daily, like Okay, yeah, I'm
a cow.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
Sometimes I just want to be something else.
Speaker 5 (04:12):
Why not? Or like this song, one of the songs
on this album, Wild.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
Beach, It's so ethereal.
Speaker 5 (04:19):
It makes me feel like I'm a fairy, Like I
feel magical listening to that song. So it's just it
gives me a lot of it makes it makes me
feel like I'm able to dream and just think otherworldly.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
First, Dominique, what what did you know about Doja?
Speaker 1 (04:39):
I'm definitely a Doja fan. I love a problematic girly
like I love like I'm on the same page with
Mizzy that I just I love like a weird girl
who's like not caring in this era, especially, she wasn't
expecting these songs to be really heard by that many people.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
It was music for herself.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
Yeah, it was.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
It was like her being creative and her playing and
I think that I I think what was one thing
that was really cool about it was that it was
so it was all of that and there was like
I was in art school at the time when this
came out, so I think that I was like really
(05:27):
in the artsy world, but that wasn't reflected at all
in like pop music or anything that was on the radio,
and so it was really cool, like you hear I
heard like MoU when I heard some of these songs
for the first time, and I just didn't expect it
to blow up, but then like slowly it would be
like everyone would know it and you'd hear it at parties,
and it was literally just like the type of stuff
(05:49):
that you would say with your friends that doesn't mean
anything and it doesn't get the giggles over it.
Speaker 5 (05:56):
It was like it was being able to just like
have those fun conversations that you'd have with your like
Bessie when you're just like sipping coffee or going out
for brunch and you're just like say the weirdest thing ever,
and they're like, you know what, Yeah, And I felt seen.
I was like, you know what, I like this. I
like that she just putting her thoughts out there in
(06:17):
the open, just like, yeah, I'm thinking about this, I'm
thinking about I'm a cow, I'm thinking about being on
a beach, I'm thinking about how i want to vibe
Tia Tamara.
Speaker 3 (06:26):
I'm just like, yeah, you know what, same.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
Right, And I think there's like there was a lot
of I think in this in this moment in hip hop,
there was a lot of songs that were just kind
of like silly like that like broccoli.
Speaker 5 (06:40):
Oh yeah, I was singing that right before I came.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
It's like in that same realm and like, you know,
like little Yachti's like just like some word that they
just thought of, and like broccoli is about like weed
or something, but like it is still just kind of
like saying broccoli as this song is so playful.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
Yeah, sure, the end of like the SoundCloud like rap
Golden Age, right, So yeah, I think so where music
got more casual.
Speaker 1 (07:05):
Yeah yeah, and also like a lady doing it, Like
I think like a lot of the girls were kind
of limited to like talking about, you know, being bad
bitches and such. And she was like, I'm not that. Yes,
I'm I guess I am that, but I'm like not worried.
I don't need to try.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
I don't need to try, and like announce it consistantly.
Speaker 5 (07:25):
She's like, today, I'm a cow and I'm the baddest
cow and that's that's just what it is.
Speaker 6 (07:31):
And we all agree, we collectively collectively, and like the
low fi element of the videos and stuff I think
was really fitting of the time.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
So you use the word problematic, dominique is maybe what
makes doja cat problematic? Kind of what we're talking about.
It's just very off the cuff. It's the private conversation
that's not being recorded, but here it is, and it's
in a song and it's people. Do you think people
(08:02):
like don't get it, don't get her sense of humor,
don't get where she's coming from, or do you think
she's really got some views that are.
Speaker 5 (08:09):
Uh I, In my opinion, I think her sense of
humor is probably pretty like pretty messy edge. Yeah, it's
just it's like probably trying to get a rise out
of people. It seems that way because they're social media
is very like, hey, I'm gonna do this and people
(08:29):
are gonna have a problem with it, and I'm gonna
say I don't care.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
Like, Yeah, her social media is interesting, it's very it's
very it's from like the glam photos to like the weirdest.
Speaker 3 (08:45):
Yes, that is like the perfect way to explain it.
Speaker 5 (08:47):
Actually like crusty and no shame in just posting that
and that.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
I yea, is she's slightly problematic?
Speaker 5 (08:57):
Yes? Is she very much herself and just doesn't care
about being like growth is good, but she doesn't take
the words of people that she doesn't know to her
heart and like to may have it influence her decisions,
like she's very much so if she's gonna change or
do certain things, it's because it's coming from her. It
(09:20):
doesn't seem like the external really has much of an
influence on her. And I think that's that part is admirable.
I think that's pretty cool. I think certain things that
have been said by her problematic in the past, but
I also think that allowing grace for people who have
(09:41):
grown since then or have been like there's a room
for growth, allowing people grace, allowing us to just not
fully understand the picture, Like I don't fully understand what
was going on. I don't have an explanation, but maybe
there's something there. I don't know, but to each his own.
And I think live and let live as long as
(10:03):
it's not really I don't see it as like there
hasn't been anything where it's like you're hurting people, you
are causing this huge thing where like you're the meeting
people or you're like tearing people down. I feel like
a lot of the things were self what do you
call it? Like self directed in a way, and that's
what kind of made it problematic for groups of people
(10:24):
as a whole, as opposed to like.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
Right, because if you see yourself in her, then she
her being self deprecating or degrading or something.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
That's the word.
Speaker 5 (10:32):
It was very self deprecating, and a lot of people
took that as like these commons and these things that
she's doing is going against the community and it's like
very harmful. And I think it could be viewed that way,
and it also could be viewed as maybe there's something
there that she probably needs to work on internally, like
maybe it has nothing to do with anyone else. Yeah,
(10:54):
And I think so many people are quick to jump
and like on this cancel culture of like oh they're
cancer because of the things they say the things that
they do. Is just like, well, we can't always be
quick to just cancel because we know face value. There
are certain things that are very obvious that are like okay, whoa.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
There are certain things.
Speaker 5 (11:13):
That I'm like, Okay, well, people make mistakes, people do
things sometimes, and it's they're battling their own demons.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
The interesting thing about her particular issues to me are
like I didn't know about any of them before digging
in a little bit for this episode, Like she's a
huge pop superstar. She just performed at the Oscars. And
it's not like some of the other people who are
(11:41):
in trouble currently where it's in the news and everybody
knows about it. It's more like there's particular communities who
are like, wait, there's this particular instance.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
Yeah, it's like black women are expected to be like
this model minority and just the really like I think,
especially in this moment, it was like first Trump administration, right,
it was like we as black people have to be
perfect because and like uplifting to black people at all times,
which means like always uplifting to yourself, even if that's
(12:15):
not authentic. Yeah, and like not you like there was
there's not a ton of space for complexity. I think
that part of her is that there's there's a lot
of problematic stuff that goes on behind closed doors with everybody.
But she yeah, locker room talk exactly, grabbing people by
all the body parts. But like she wasn't she was
(12:39):
just like not trying to play that game. She wasn't
trying to create an image that was different, and it
was like the perfect time, because I think that she
was like early to this current phase of like a
less censored social media like more TikTok type of like
content where you just like pick up your phone, make
(13:00):
your house is messy, you don't have you don't look
great like, and you're just just like saying your little sillies.
I love her because she is like it's like openly
like not trying to be a role model, and like
it's like if you if you're mad about what I'm
saying because you think I'm representing something wrong, like perfect,
(13:20):
be mad.
Speaker 5 (13:21):
Yeah, And at the end of the day, it's just
nothing to the extreme of word. There's a lot of
like you said, a lot of other artists on the
news right now for certain things that they've done, and
it's like it's definitely not to that extent. So I
feel like sometimes people make things blow up and like
really look into it, which can happen sometimes, but I
(13:42):
think other times it's just well, that's life. People are people,
and you're looking at it super under a microscope because
they are big right now. But I can guarantee you
the person next to you is also like it's.
Speaker 3 (13:55):
Probably said like things that are just like whoop oo.
Speaker 5 (13:58):
Like I think we all have been like at one
point in time.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
All right, so let's take a break and in the
next segment we'll talk specifically about the album, the the
moments about it that made you fall in love with it,
and then we'll get into more of your music on
half first Listen.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
Welcome back to at first Listen. We're here with Mizzy
talking about Amala Doja Cat's first studio album.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
And the name of the album is her actual name, right, Yes,
her actual first name.
Speaker 5 (14:44):
Okay, I was wondering, Yeah, that's her actual legally.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
You have cool names like m I A you can
that's an album title. What am I is the tangy Oh?
Speaker 3 (14:59):
Yeah, that is an album title.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
And then I think did Nick Minaj do that? No,
she didn't know yet. Anyway, it's coming though, album coming right, she.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
Has so many identities. So yeah, first album, first song
on the album, go to Town. I think this was
like one of the biggest hits.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
This was the only one that I recognized and I
had the thought of I for a long time. I
would hear this, I think it was Rihanna and then
be like, no, it's definitely somebody else. And this was
the first time that it occurred to me that it
actually is, don't you cat.
Speaker 5 (15:46):
I think in the beginning that go Down, God Down,
she has kind of actually kind she does with it,
and it has that same inflection that Rihanna would have
put with that, like the kind of knows like right,
So I can hear a little bit of rein there,
so I see that too. But yeah, that song sick.
(16:07):
That song's fun. It's a very playful song.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
Yeah, it's really it's like, it's definitely playful, and I
think it's it. It's like a dance song. It's like
a fun dance song, but it's definitely about something and
I and I love that also because it's she's I
love the like like she's not saying I'm not like
(16:35):
other girls, like she's like other girls. She's still talking
about the same stuff that the other rap girlies are
talking about, the stuff that she's really passionate about, right,
you know, And I love like, you know, the first
she goes from going to Town to Cookie Jar, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:53):
I felt I felt like a lot of the tracks
were about the same exact thing.
Speaker 3 (16:58):
And we know what she's passionate about.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
And that's that's fine.
Speaker 5 (17:02):
I so Missy, you're against it.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
No, I'm not against your moment. This is my problematic moment.
Speaker 5 (17:12):
No.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
The thing that was difficult for me about this album
was I like your band a lot, and I would
before you chose the album. I was listening to Dishonest
Escape a lot, and then I would get to like
four tracks through this and be like, my my often
(17:34):
my process when we're listening to a pop record that
I'm not super like jamming is I'll listen to a
few tracks and then I'll listen to something like disgusting
and really heavy and gory, and then get back to
it with my like palette cleanse in my ears, free
you of like bubblegum or whatever. So every four tracks
(17:57):
or so, I was like, I'm gonna put on slows
or something. Oh yeah, I want someone to scream at
me for like three and a half minutes and then
we can then we can get back to, you know,
something like something pretty.
Speaker 5 (18:16):
This is such, this.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
Is Wild Beach, and what I like about your choices.
As far as the tracks go, the earliest one was
I think track eight. You mentioned Candy m No. Wild
Beach is sixt so you didn't even want to talk
about the hit on the album, you were starting in
the middle.
Speaker 5 (18:37):
Yeah, I feel like you're deep into it. Yeah. I
feel like for the most part, when it comes to
like when it comes to albums and artists that I
really like, like the hits are the things that catch
your attention, but on the album, the songs are the
ones that are really like a little bit deeper, a
little bit more moving, a little bit more niche, and
(19:00):
those that really love the artists, they tend to have
a favorite that's just like this is my favorite on
the album because it speaks to me. I feel like
sometimes the hits are hits because they're catchy and they're
good in that regard, but the meat and potatoes of
the album is really what usually speaks to me, because
(19:21):
I think the other songs are great. Go to Town
is fun, Cookie Jar is fun, Roll with Us is fun,
Windpani and fancy, But when it's like Wild Beach and on,
I feel like there started to be some like some
changes in it. Like even in Wild Beach, the way
she's singing it's it's a it's lighter, she's playing with
(19:42):
her voice more morning light, I mean candy, she's singing
a little more.
Speaker 3 (19:47):
Game is more of a like pop.
Speaker 5 (19:49):
Dancy kind of beat, and it sounds she's having fun
throughout the album. And then she comes back with like
Tia Tamia and Bang, which that is a single. But
that single that was like a best choice for a single,
because I feel like sometimes artists pick singles and they're
like a lot of people are like, why did you
pick this one for a single? I feel like that
(20:10):
was like the greatest choice for a single.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
Let's let's listen to this second of candy first, since
that was that's the next on the list. This if
she released it today, would probably have been a single
for sure.
Speaker 5 (20:30):
Yes, I feel so too. I feel like if she
because I feel like we're more currently, like a lot
of people are back in their R and B wave.
I feel like that took a pause for a minute,
but now people are more into the like softer kind
of chill, low key vibes, and I feel like that
would have hit very hard. It still hits hard, but
if it was released today, it would definitely be a
(20:51):
great single.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
And that's track eight mm.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
Hmmm, And I think this one I'm checking I'm checking
on the clock app right now. But I'm the Candy
definitely was one of the more viral songs like this was.
This was like another thing about her lore is that
she's like a very viral artist, and MoU was definitely
(21:15):
a viral moment, but I think Candy was, like you said,
I think it's.
Speaker 5 (21:19):
Like And there are later versions too, like an old
town Cloud version and then a newer version, so people
that became viral again on TikTok. So if like her
song is not the biggest trending right now on like
radio or Spotify, it's somewhere on TikTok like, and that's
what happened where people started giving her older albums more.
Speaker 3 (21:43):
Attention.
Speaker 5 (21:44):
And it also got to the point, like with her
current album, people are constantly saying, like, oh, she changed
so much. I'm like she was literally like twenty something
like eighteen when she started making this. She's grown like that.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
That's one of the interesting things about the music industry today,
and like the best new artists at the Grammys is
always always gets a lot of criticism because there's like
usually artists on there that are not new to many people,
but because of the way record labels aren't really developing
artists they're not really putting money into that. They're kind
(22:22):
of looking for artists who are already like close to
finish and then picking them up and then picking them up.
So it's like a lot of these artists who are
putting out a debut album, like with this one for
a Dojia caf from twenty eighteen, it's not their first
time doing it.
Speaker 5 (22:37):
Yeah, they have.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
Whether they've been touring or not or performing is another thing.
But they've been making music, they've been writing, they've been
doing they've been developing their their art, their art, their vision.
Speaker 5 (22:50):
I one hundred percent agree with that, and I feel
like she crafted this at such a young age. She
had a vision of what she wanted and even in
her more recent ones you can hear or some playful.
But at the same time, I feel like, not only
does she grow as a person as people do, but
she's grown in her craft. She's grown in her ability
to deliver her lyrics and perform Because wall she her performances,
(23:15):
I had the amazing opportunity to see her life and
it was just mind blowing. So I think that growth
and like hearing from this album to current album and
hearing where she is here where this album we're listening
to is just a really fun, like it's a fun
learning experiment to hear how she started and where she
(23:37):
is in the similarities and differences.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
What's your second of a game?
Speaker 6 (23:41):
Here?
Speaker 2 (23:47):
Another R and B playing a little bit of house
in there.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
Yeah, Yeah, I love how like she she really was
like developed. She was developing herself in this public way,
the same way that she's kind of just kind of
let stuff flow out into the world. It wasn't until
sometime in her second album, like Moment, when when we
(24:17):
were like, oh, you're a dancer, and it was like
she was a dancer way before she ever started making music,
like recording her own music, and everybody was like, what
what are you doing? Like we don't even we It
was like there was all those memes about like, you know,
doja cats dancing, but it was actually like Bollywood and dancing.
(24:38):
It was like really like technically incredible stuff that like
we just hadn't seen in pop at all. But it
seems like she had she like gave herself that time.
I guess she to like really work on her sound
and her music and her songwriting, and then she's like,
I'm actually a sick performer.
Speaker 3 (25:00):
Yeah, she was just like, actually, guys, check this out.
Speaker 5 (25:04):
Look what I could do.
Speaker 1 (25:05):
When there's little dance videos of her, like I guess
dance battles.
Speaker 3 (25:09):
Yeah, I can see her.
Speaker 5 (25:11):
She's like popping in and locking exactly. We're just and
she does some of that like you can see in
her performances now where she like I love the way
she like pops and locks. It's very specific to her
because it's such a sharp way that she does it
while she's keeping her breath, and I'm just like, yes,
that is what I have to say. At the same time,
it's amazing pretty well.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
So the Casual was the other one you mentioned. The
thing I appreciated about this record a lot is and
the advantage of having a label behind you is the
production is like perfect throughout. There's no like, there's no
like tininess. It feels really warm. Even though it's mostly electronic,
it doesn't it doesn't feel that way.
Speaker 5 (25:52):
Yeah, and I also love on that note this was
it did such a great balance of being clean but
not over the top cookie cutter clean, and it had
some room to breathe. I was able to hear her
voice and not too edited like her raspiness. It wasn't like, oh,
(26:14):
we need to autotune. Yes, it's auto tune there, but
it's it's done in a way that reflects her like
person as opposed to just the studio. You know. So
I think that's such a great thing.
Speaker 1 (26:29):
She's it has that like la airiness to it. I
feel like also, like specifically some of your favorite songs,
like we've talked about Wild Beach, Candy, Game Casual, they
all have like this really airiness, like you know, driving
down the yeah in in like southern California.
Speaker 5 (26:49):
Yeah, it definitely does. It's like it's it's definitely for chilling, unwinding.
I feel like most of these songs on this album
are just like except for the ones we're getting to,
but I feel like most like this, most of this
album is very like let's chill, let's lounge, let's let's
have a sangria, like, let's vibe out and just have
(27:10):
a good time. And then the bonus and I'm just like,
we'll give me a shot at aequila.
Speaker 2 (27:19):
So you mentioned Tamara, So this is like.
Speaker 5 (27:27):
Full trap and I love this because I was like, oh,
like she was. I feel like the album was like,
look at what I can do, but don't don't play
with me.
Speaker 3 (27:37):
I can also do this.
Speaker 5 (27:38):
I can also switch it up and give you something
a little heavy hitting, a little bit harder. So I
feel like that was kind of a glimpse into the
future of what she can do.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
She was.
Speaker 5 (27:49):
I feel like she was just kind of teasing with
a like, look at this, this is sick, right, and
then moving on for the future. I'm like, whoa, look
at what you've done.
Speaker 2 (27:58):
So here's Juicy hed.
Speaker 1 (28:03):
Yeah, I just think it's great. I just wanted to note,
you know, we have another song, you know, with a
particular theme that she likes to follow, you know, go
to town Cookie Jar and Juicy.
Speaker 3 (28:21):
And Tia Tamira.
Speaker 5 (28:24):
Yeah, that's about that's about her booms, Yeah, twins.
Speaker 1 (28:31):
Yeah no, And I wonder I'm thinking now thinking about
That's all. I just wanted to know about Juicy. Really,
I do love it, but we can move on. But
Tia Tamara and the video for it, I think that
that as an introduction to her actually is in small
part where the disconnect comes with her like problematic moments,
(28:55):
because I think we like the video is so much
like black girl power moment, and I think that's really
Rico who's bringing that, because it's like who are all
those girls? Like it's her on Rico, and like but
I know like several other.
Speaker 3 (29:10):
Several other people that looks so awesome.
Speaker 1 (29:12):
Yeah, and you're like who is that? I don't know,
but I'm interested. And Rico has consistently supplied that type
of content, like yeah, every time, every time she becomes
big and powerful and loud and proud and out here
with a group of black girls who are like baddies
and just like dope and Doja, that's not really her energy.
(29:36):
And I think like, like she's just like she's she's herself.
She's like in high fashion world. She's not really trying
to be like black girl magic. And I think that's Rico, Like,
I don't think that's Doja's personal.
Speaker 4 (29:47):
That's not her identity.
Speaker 5 (29:48):
She's she's someone who enjoys the art and the creativity
and is living life. Whereas like it seems more like
I agree with you where Rico is that's also a
part of something that she should she wants to portray
to people because that's her message.
Speaker 3 (30:03):
That's part of what she wants to explain and express.
Speaker 5 (30:09):
Where As Diligium were like, look at me as an artist,
look at my art and a game I produce, and yes,
like we have anime.
Speaker 2 (30:16):
Threads are pretty strong in this hole.
Speaker 1 (30:21):
It's all that. And I don't think I like, she's
an Internet like deep reddit like that stream and I
think that, like, yeah, like she that is like really
where all the problematic stuff goes. And I think, like
any there's like there's such a disconnect because like I'm
not I'm not into that stuff. You know, I'm not
(30:41):
against it, you know, not protesting against Pokemon. But it's like.
Speaker 5 (30:49):
But it's not my like it's.
Speaker 1 (30:51):
Not my world. And so like we just like got
a glimpse into the gamer world, but through Doja, and
like we weren't prepared for that because we were we're
like fans of people who are outside, you know, right,
that makes.
Speaker 3 (31:06):
Sense is outside? Yeah, he is outside with her audi.
Speaker 2 (31:11):
Yes, So and you mentioned move so many times. This
is on the deluxe edition of the record, which I
was hoping that you didn't want to talk about because
it would be a shorter album for me to listen to.
So I only just heard this.
Speaker 3 (31:26):
So was this a real blog for you?
Speaker 1 (31:28):
Andrew? You know? You don't have to be positive about everything.
She's not paying us as far as I know.
Speaker 2 (31:37):
No, it wasn't a slog I like a lot of
the songs. I think for this particular, like four or
five days since you made your choice, it wasn't what
I was into. And especially since I know that you
have a cool band that I like, it made it
harder to concentrate.
Speaker 1 (31:53):
Yeah, Like I was like, I met this cool person,
like they have this awesome band, like we have to
go to this h and then a few days later
and so it's like we were both like does honest
Escape follow? We were like listening to it like as
a part of our regular music rotation, and then like
it was like, okay, this is homework now, and I
(32:15):
didn't really need.
Speaker 3 (32:15):
To introduce it at this stage.
Speaker 1 (32:17):
Like I think I agree, like I do love this album,
but I think it is more of like a socializing moment.
I think it is, Like it's like I had to
listen to it several times because it would just kind
of pass and blend together. However, I do know that
I love Dosia, so I was like deluxe obviously, and
(32:41):
I'm glad I did because I think I really respect
it that as an artist, she didn't release the singles
the hits as a part of the album. It's such
an annoying thing. And this we we you know, I
think on not like us? Was that the name of
the album? The song what's the name of the album?
(33:02):
Xt GNX gen x thank you? That like that, it's
like half singles, like so many of these songs some
of these albums. It's like, okay, which ones of these
are new? Like I can't even tell.
Speaker 2 (33:17):
And this like half the album before the album comes out.
Speaker 1 (33:19):
Yeah, like I've heard this before and I'm like happy
to hear the album, I guess, but like with this,
sorry about that. With this, she we got a whole
actual album. And then she's like, okay, but I want
to put these on an album, so here you go.
Speaker 3 (33:33):
He'll put them at the end.
Speaker 2 (33:35):
Sort of. My perception of her was as like a
hit maker, where like like kiss me More and stuff
in that vein and to get this like very kind
of cool R and B leaning album with like some rapping.
There's not like a big moment like in the middle
that kind of breaks it up. It's a lot of
kind of the same tempo, same sort of mellow vibe,
(33:58):
you know.
Speaker 5 (33:58):
Yeah, And I was actually this. I was so surprised
when I heard this album because I was actually shocked
by how like how drawn to it. I was OK,
And I was like.
Speaker 2 (34:10):
I had the same feeling about Brat.
Speaker 5 (34:14):
I was like I at that time, I had been
listening to a lot more metal and focusing on my
band stuff, so I wasn't really paying attention to like
a lot of Wrap and R and B, and then
Doja kind of brought me back to it.
Speaker 3 (34:29):
And this kind of brought me back to it.
Speaker 5 (34:31):
And I've been on the top point zero five percent
of Dojakat on Spotify since like for the past three raps.
It's just like, did you know you're on the top
five percent. I'm like, I'm not surprised. I am like,
I'm not surprised, but I kind of am because I'm like,
I listened to so much and Doja still makes it
to the top, Like I end up at some point
(34:52):
in time, even if I don't listen to her for
a while, I will just binge watch Binge, listen to
all of her albums and listen to those progress. So
I think it kind of brought me back into the
world of like rap and hip hop and what I've
been missing out on when I was just so super
like focused on metal. I just loved being able to
(35:12):
watch that progression and like hearing her development and her
artistry is just so inspiring to me. So yeah, that's
why I chose a Mala because it was like that
first step and that first push for me to really
like check things out and really listen and experiments, be creative,
(35:34):
don't be nervous about your stuff. Make music for you.
Other people will enjoy it. Like stop focusing on others and.
Speaker 3 (35:41):
Do what you enjoy and it's okay. People will pay off.
Speaker 5 (35:45):
People enjoy it too.
Speaker 2 (35:46):
Yeah, so her Ubra has has affected you creatively, Yeah
for sure.
Speaker 1 (35:52):
That's a great segue. I want to go into our
next Brank.
Speaker 2 (35:56):
I don't know how to work the equipment, but I
can do a segue, all right. So we'll be right
back with more with Missy from the X on a
first listen, and welcome back to at first Listen. I'm Andrew,
(36:21):
I'm Dominie, and we're here with Missy from the X
and I have the video for your song Ivy right here,
and I'm sort of I'm looking at a picture of
your face and I realize you're wearing the same headphones
now as in the video.
Speaker 3 (36:35):
I love these headphones. They was They're great for the price.
Speaker 5 (36:39):
I got them sixteen dollars. That's like, what.
Speaker 2 (36:40):
Sixteen dollars she's got. She's getting deals too. So you're
in this metal band, You're listening to Dojia Cat and
you're like, let me try rap too.
Speaker 5 (36:55):
Yeah, So I grew up listening my My father was
very into music, still is very passionate about music. He
used to write and wrap himself and growing up, he
would play a lot of different genres for me, Like
I grew up listening to Wu Tai Clan Meth and Men,
Busta Rhymes, listening to Cameron Duel Sentano, these people, and
(37:19):
also listening to Corn Marilyn Mens and my dad was
into that stuff too, So I kind of had an
idea of these artists. And then I remember really loving
Ludacris was one of my favorite rappers when I was younger,
and he still is, Like I feel like he's overlooked
(37:40):
a lot of the time because.
Speaker 2 (37:41):
He's start right.
Speaker 5 (37:44):
He's he's also a great actor, but he lyrically like
he's such a great rapper, and that's that's a rapper
that used to like really speak to me as a kid.
Speaker 3 (37:54):
I was like, I love Lud And also I also
used to think.
Speaker 5 (37:56):
My dad looked like just a slightly larger version of
Chris and I used to be like a tin, He's like,
what really reality? His twin is ice Cube.
Speaker 1 (38:03):
But I think Luda is very like I wouldn't say
kid friendly at all, but very like cartoon.
Speaker 3 (38:11):
That's the thing, very animated. It was very like big
and funny.
Speaker 5 (38:15):
And I had a little MP three player and I
had the clean version of the album that I burned
into my MP three player. When I was little, I
had it was ludicrous Usher, and I forgot the other artists,
like your dad.
Speaker 2 (38:29):
Is into Tang Clan and Corn and Marilyn Manson, but
you're still getting the clean version of the album.
Speaker 5 (38:36):
Yeah, because like my grandma would also buy me the
CDs and he'd be like, okay, and then he would
play the regular version in the car. It's okay. I
never said the lyrics out loud, but listening to those
artists when I was little, and then when I was
in sixth grade, one of my friends at the time
introduced me to the band Slipnot, and I never.
Speaker 3 (38:56):
Went back because I used to listen to rock before that.
Speaker 5 (39:00):
I used to like very dead rock bands that I
have no shame in ad meeting. I love Shine Down,
Shine Down's great. I love Seither and bands of that matter.
Speaker 3 (39:10):
But when I heard Slipknot and then I heard Lamb
of God and.
Speaker 5 (39:15):
Then I heard these bands, I was like, Okay, yes,
Lamb of God is amazing all that, but I'm sorry, Slipknot,
I'm sorry, come again.
Speaker 3 (39:22):
I was like nine people on stage. One of them
is a DJ. They're hitting things and he's shouting his
head off in masks.
Speaker 2 (39:28):
One of them his whole job is to hit it again.
Hell yeah.
Speaker 5 (39:33):
I'm like, that's chaos and I love it so listening
to that, I was like, Okay, well, this is my
life now. And then after listening to Slipnot, I was like,
I need to learn how to scream because I wanted
to do that so badly. And I also used to
like sing and like sing dance and rap. I was
very inspired by Beyonce when I was younger, and then
(39:55):
the metal kind of just spoke to me because I
feel like I was going through a lot of some
trauma in my life, and it kind of felt like
that music really understood me. I felt very healing, I
felt seen. I felt like, honestly, a couple times a
music like the words and the messages have saved my life.
So I was like, Okay, this is something that I
want to get behind. I want to have that impact
(40:17):
on other people too. And I went to that, and
then recently I was like started listening to a lot
more hip hop again and getting more into it, like
refreshing myself and getting back into that music. And I
was just like, I've always used to produce beats since
I was like out of high school.
Speaker 3 (40:35):
I would play.
Speaker 5 (40:36):
Around with different like online music things, and I was like, well,
I want to create my own.
Speaker 3 (40:41):
Beats, So I always had them.
Speaker 5 (40:43):
I wrote songs, never did anything with it because I
was like, oh no, I'm a metal vocalist. And then
sometime I was just kind of like why am I
saying it like I don't rap in my metal songs?
Like why am I acting like I don't sing and
rap and write the songs and produce little beats and
riffs here and there. I'm like, I'm also a rapper,
I'm a producer, and that's okay, Like, why am I
(41:04):
so scared to pursue this? So I did, and then
I was like, you know what, I'm gonna take this
very seriously, and I finally dropped that single. Then I
made like a while ago.
Speaker 2 (41:17):
Yeah, so I had the thought while listening to Dishonest
Escape before you made the Doja choice, because there's some
very fast vocals and let's stop beating around the bush
and we'll just finally play some So mom, turn it
down maybe, but there's a lot of like rappid fire vocals,
and I thought like, it sounds like she could probably
(41:38):
rap if she wanted to. And then like two days later,
Dominique sends me a link to uh, yeah, it's funny
your your journey back to how Doja Cat brought you
back into wrap and R and B. I went through
the same thing, but with like really ignorant hardcore and
(41:59):
metal core and death metal. Recently because of a band
called Throne that I saw last week. You know they
saw them. They're great, Yeah, you were going to go
to that show so sick.
Speaker 3 (42:09):
I've watched them perform before with Alfa Wolf and they're amazing.
And a wolf is great on care of people will
be like.
Speaker 2 (42:17):
I need I needed just like music that was not
sophisticated for listening to in the gym.
Speaker 3 (42:24):
Oh yeah absolutely, I have a hardcore plase for that too.
Speaker 2 (42:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (42:28):
I'm just like, yeah, I love this.
Speaker 1 (42:31):
I love this like story of you kind of like
finding your voice in the same way that we're talking
about Doja, because it's like you're really in in metal,
like uh, screaming and stuff, you really are kind of
like you're hiding like that's not your true voice, Like
that's just not anyone's true.
Speaker 4 (42:51):
Insane the meanest person, but like.
Speaker 1 (43:02):
You know, tricky out of me or something vibes. But
like but like it's this way that like that that's
how you know, Missy, is how you show up in
the world today to day. Like that's how you really are.
And I and I think it's really cool that that
like they're both you, right, but like you were connected
(43:24):
when you were first started doing metal vocals, you were
really connected with this like deep eggs, this like deep
struggle part of yourself, like deep inside, and then you
like you matured and you kind of found you were
like I can I can show I can show the world.
Speaker 2 (43:43):
You found a space for both things.
Speaker 5 (43:46):
Yeah, I didn't feel so like, because I feel like
my raps, in my my lyrics, when I'm in the band,
it's not just me. It's my family, it's it's my
one of them is my like literal cousin. So that's
my peoples. We up there together, we're representing together, we
are speaking, and the lyrics to the song, I'm not
(44:07):
just speaking on myself. I'm speaking on situations. I'm speaking
on like different things that are you can like interpret them,
interpret them differently. But I feel like for my raps,
it's very personal to me. It's my story and it's
the way I'm telling it.
Speaker 3 (44:29):
And it's scary.
Speaker 5 (44:31):
It's scary when I'm on stage and I'm just like, wow,
it's just me. It's not a drummer behind me, there's
not a guitarist, there's no feedback and my feedback from
the mic only I'm just like, oh, it's just me.
Speaker 3 (44:42):
So that was scary.
Speaker 5 (44:43):
But being able to be like, you know what, I'm
going to do that and show who I am once.
I got my name Missy and I got that because
I used to be in an elementary school teacher and
I did not let the kids call me miss. My
last name is Matthews. I didn't let them call me
miss Matthews. My first name starts with the Z.
Speaker 3 (45:00):
I was just like Missy, so they would call me
Missy Missy.
Speaker 5 (45:04):
So I got Missy from that because those kids were
my heart and that just reminds me of the impact
that I had on them and how much they would
love how creative I was, and I used that as
a driving force to be this artist. So as much
as Dojakat influenced me, these my old students that were
(45:26):
like young because they were third second, first grade, they
inspired me too, So I had to keep that name.
And that kind of awakened it in me to be like,
I'm Missy from the ex and.
Speaker 3 (45:38):
I'm like, oh my god, I found who I am.
Speaker 5 (45:41):
I love that.
Speaker 1 (45:42):
I love how kids like just like oh yeah, they
they see they just like it's just pure. They just
like see the real you. They don't and there it's
just like that actually was inside of you and they
you with them collectively.
Speaker 3 (45:59):
Yeah, yeah, I love them.
Speaker 5 (46:00):
They're so they were so great and they they definitely
inspired me with like the way that they were to
react to me.
Speaker 3 (46:06):
In the way that they would tell me.
Speaker 5 (46:07):
Like they have been can you show me this? Can
you see me song? Can you do this?
Speaker 3 (46:10):
And I'm just like, yes, I can and I can.
Speaker 2 (46:13):
Did you ever have to? Like I definitely did, but
they piped down.
Speaker 3 (46:18):
They won't with you anyway.
Speaker 5 (46:21):
Yeah, they've asked me before. They're like, I'm like, bro,
and they're like whoa. But they weren't really scared of
it because they were just like what was that? Like,
you guys are just so funny, tell.
Speaker 2 (46:30):
Us about this is one of the best ones coming up,
so everyone's getting back in line. No talking.
Speaker 5 (46:47):
I would do that in work too sometimes, and I
used to were good at Crystal Shop. Like when I
was making my way through the owls and my boss
was in the way because he was like looking under herself.
I'd be like, and I look away. He was like
care him want to be like home, whoa? What was that?
Speaker 3 (47:03):
Because he didn't know I did the bolk was in
until later I told him. He was like it was you.
Speaker 5 (47:06):
I was like, yeah, it's fun.
Speaker 2 (47:11):
Okay. Well, if anyone wants to hear more of that live, if.
Speaker 5 (47:15):
Anyone wants to hear more of that live, well I
do have a show coming up this Saturday, March eighth
at the wood Shop. It's going to be my band,
Dishonest Escape. Shout out to Plague Master, Torn Open, Burn,
(47:36):
the Skies, and Fhimera. They're going to be playing.
Speaker 3 (47:39):
This show and I hope, my god, the venue ride.
Speaker 5 (47:44):
Yeah, they're all going to the wrong place, guys, by
the way, you'll see us there. I'm so excited, and
I'm really excited because it's a lot of women led bands,
So I think that's really important into because you don't
see a lot of women take up space in the
(48:04):
metal scene, in the hardcore scene, and if they do,
they're perceived a certain way or they have to like
kind of mold themselves to be acceptable by certain standards.
And it's really cool when you see someone just up
there on stage being themselves and taking up space and
like a male dominated like genre.
Speaker 1 (48:27):
And I you know, it's also the vibe of having
like a lot like the men who are there are
like so supportive of that energy. They're like they're to
uplift it. And there's nothing wrong with having like four
bodyguards with you, period times.
Speaker 3 (48:44):
Period.
Speaker 5 (48:44):
Yeah, And it's so fun, Like the community is so
supportive and they're so uplifting and they're so like, hey,
you know what, that was sick and it's I love it.
I love the community, I love my scene, I love Yeah.
Speaker 2 (48:57):
That's that's like the best of what metal can be.
I feel like the genre is about everything that you said,
empowering people of different backgrounds, with different abilities or disabilities
and different issues, like whatever the case may be. It's
supposed to be a unifying force, and it's just like
(49:18):
I think, not that many people learn about.
Speaker 5 (49:20):
It, Yeah exactly, not.
Speaker 2 (49:22):
That many people know about it, but it can be
such a great environment and even over they're like the
past fifteen years since I've been going to shows around
the city, like I've seen it change a lot for
the better. Like when we were talking about going to
that Throne show, Dominique was like, am I going to
be the only black person there? And I'm like, no, no,
(49:44):
I'm pretty sure.
Speaker 5 (49:46):
No.
Speaker 2 (49:46):
Yeah, I saw them before and that would have not
have been the case. But it's their show. They're from Sweden.
I don't know what it's going to be like, but
then you go and it is like a very diverse crowd,
and that's that is the best thing for metal to
keep it alive going forward. Is it needs to be
for people, for everybody.
Speaker 5 (50:06):
Absolutely, for the people, for the crowd, for the community
of space, to just release, relax. That's where I got
the name dishonest escape from. It was it's an escape
from reality, but it's it's only honest when you tackle
the problems till then it's a dishonest escape. So these
songs and these words, they mean nothing unless you take
them and apply them. So it's kind of that's where
(50:28):
I got dishonest Escaped from. That's where we were. We
were thinking about it, and we we like sat for
a moment with a couple names, and then like we
ended on that. We were all like, you know what
word that It does really feel like that, and yeah
it is.
Speaker 1 (50:44):
It's also a benefit show, so I think it.
Speaker 5 (50:47):
Really does all the benefits to support women. So I'm
super excited about this show. I'm I'm so high. This
is I think this.
Speaker 3 (50:57):
Is our first show of the year.
Speaker 2 (51:00):
Who yeah, welcome back.
Speaker 1 (51:04):
Yeah, this has been at first listen this is We've
had Missy the ex.
Speaker 3 (51:10):
Missy from the from Catch Me?
Speaker 5 (51:13):
Can I give my handle? Oh my god, you can
catch me at This is so fun Underscore, Underscore, m
I z z I E, Missy and for my band
Dishonest Escape on Everything.
Speaker 2 (51:27):
So that was our first listen. Tell us about yours
at at First Listen podcast on Instagram and YouTube. We
will be back next week with a new episode. Thank you, Bye,
good bye.
Speaker 1 (51:40):
Yeah show your lap
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