September 23, 2025 • 31 mins
In this engaging conversation, Divinity Roxx takes us through her remarkable journey from classical clarinet player to hip-hop artist, to Beyoncé's bassist and musical director, and ultimately, a creator of genre-defying music for all ages.
Divinity talks about her experience as musical director in Beyoncé's groundbreaking all-female band—a role that transformed perceptions of women in music across generations. "I meet people all the time who talk about how impactful it was," she shares, recounting stories of young women who became professional musicians after seeing women commanding stadium stages for the first time. This representation wasn't just vital for girls but also for boys who grew up with limited notions of what women could accomplish musically.
Her artistic evolution is a masterclass in following curiosity wherever it leads. Growing up in Atlanta's rich musical ecosystem, Divinity absorbed influences from local funk bands to Parliament Funkadelic, from Bad Brains to Bob Marley. This diverse musical diet created the foundation for her uniquely genre-fluid approach to composition. When the pandemic hit, an unexpected opportunity to create music for Scholastic led to her first Grammy nomination and a whole new creative chapter.
Beyond her own creative work, Divinity speaks passionately about advocating for women in music, especially instrumentalists who often face the harshest industry conditions. "You're the first to get cut, the least paid, nobody worries about you," she explains, highlighting why mentorship and visibility matter so profoundly. Yet her message ultimately transcends the music industry: "You can start over as many times as you want to. You can have as many lives and different lives as you want to."
Join us for this intimate conversation about breaking barriers, finding joy in unexpected places, and the power of staying endlessly curious about what might come next. Whether you're a musician, a parent, or simply someone navigating your own career pivots, Divinity's journey offers inspiration and practical wisdom for charting your own path.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
Hi, you're listening to Sarah Nagourney and welcome
to.
She Creates Noise, a newpodcast spotlighting women who
power the music industry, comingto you from New York City.
Now, if you don't know me yet,here's a little background.
I'm a songwriter, producer,manager, educator and mentor.
I've written platinum sellingsongs, had tracks on Grammy
nominated educator and mentor.
(00:45):
I've written platinum-sellingsongs, had tracks on
Grammy-nominated records andreleased music on both major and
independent labels.
I've been a jazz singer, ajingle singer, toured with big
bands and became a pop artist,and I've performed at festivals
across the US, europe and Asia.
These days, I focus on writingwith and developing young talent
.
In the coming weeks, I'll bepulling back the curtain on the
(01:07):
music industry's femalechangemakers.
Some are close friends, othersI'm just getting to know, but
all have reshaped the businessin profound ways.
My goal here is to helplisteners better understand how
the music business really worksand just how instrumental women
behind the scenes have been.
You'll hear from both sides ofthe desk artists, producers,
(01:32):
managers, label executives,lawyers.
Women making things happen,often without the spotlight on
them.
Thank you for joining me onthis journey.
Now let's dive in.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
Thank you for joining me on this journey.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
Now let's dive in.
Today's guest is Divinity Rocks, a celebrated bass player,
composer and mentor whoseinfluence stretches across
genres, generations and stagesworldwide.
Best known for her role asbassist and musical director on
Beyonce's iconic tours from 2006to 2011, Divinity brought
undeniable power and presence toglobal arenas, helping redefine
(02:09):
what it means to be a woman onstage in the world of live music
.
Before that, she toured withfive-time Grammy-winning bassist
, Victor Wooten, and her ownsolo journey has been just as
groundbreaking.
A two-time Grammy nominee,Divinity has carved out a unique
lane in family-focused music,creating albums that uplift and
inspire while staying true toher deep musical roots.
(02:31):
Her work extends far beyond thestudio.
She's written music for thePeter Rabbit franchise,
co-created and performed thetheme song for PBS Kids,
Emmy-nominated Lila and the Loop, and she's seen her songs
adapted into children's books byScholastic.
As a passionate mentor andadvocate for equity in the music
business, Divinity Rockscontinues to elevate emerging
(02:53):
voices and challenge outdatednorms, reminding us all what it
looks like to lead with bothfire and heart.
Today, I'm really happy to haveDivinity Rocks on the podcast
Now.
Divinity, you've had such adynamic and interesting journey,
from playing with Victor Wootento being Beyonce's bassist and
(03:15):
musical director and nowcreating Grammy-nominated
children's music.
Please tell us briefly aboutyour journey.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
First of all, thank you for having me on the podcast
.
I'm really excited to be here.
When I think about my journeyas a musician and artist, I have
to start when I was a littlegirl.
My mom always had music playingin the house and I loved music.
Growing up, it seemed to beable to touch me deeply and help
me explore my feelings and myemotions.
(03:44):
I think a lot of times themistake we make is that children
don't have deep emotions.
But music was able to do thatand I wanted to participate in
it.
I had a music teacher who wouldcome to our class.
I remember in kindergarten wewould have music three or four
times a week and she would cometo the class and we'd all follow
her to music room and she'dplay the piano and we'd learn.
Follow her to music room andshe'd play the piano and we'd
(04:05):
learn these beautiful songs.
And so as I got older inelementary school, this music
teacher asked who wanted to bein the chorus and I joined the
chorus.
I wanted to sing.
The band teacher came aroundwho wanted to play an instrument
.
I wanted to play an instrumentand I started playing the
clarinet and you know, we hadsome really great opportunities
as really young people.
Really quick, funny story.
I went to school with Daron from112, the group 112.
(04:29):
We were singing in the chorustogether as third and fourth
graders yes, very cool, and Iwas a part of this honor chorus,
which was a group of somewhatelite students.
We all came together and wewould sing at the lighting of
the Christmas tree, which was abig deal in Atlanta as I was
growing up.
Rich's used to light thisChristmas tree every year and
(04:50):
they would air this on TV and wewould sing for the mayor and we
would go around and sing in allthese places and playing the
clarinet was really important.
I played the clarinet throughmiddle school.
I was first year clarinet.
At one point I really lovedclarinet and around this time in
middle school rap became reallyimportant and it became this
way for young people to expressthemselves and I was in love
(05:13):
with rap music and I wanted todo it because I loved writing, I
loved reading and I loved musicand rap seemed like a great
place for me to be able to putit all together.
So I started rapping when I wasin middle school and throughout
high school I started this hiphop group called Dat Bood it was
an acronym for Divinity in theBreakfast Unit and I went off to
college, to UC Berkeley, tostudy journalism.
(05:34):
I wasn't thinking of pursuing acareer in music but at UC
Berkeley I picked up the bassguitar and fell in love with the
bass and started writing rapsand putting bass lines under
them and teaching myself how torap and play bass.
And I dropped out of Berkeleyconvinced my parents that I was
going to take a year off to seewhat I could do in music, and
(05:55):
that turned into me never goingback to UC Berkeley.
But my hip hop group started tobecome popular.
We started opening up forgroups like the Roots and all
the really cool hip-hop groupsthat would come in town and I'd
left the hip-hop group andreally started pursuing the bass
guitar and a solo career.
And that's how I jumped on tourwith Victor Wu.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
That's great, and I love that you start with the
clarinet.
What a cool instrument to startwith.
Yes yes, what a greatbackground to have.
I want to get into all thesethings.
I do want to talk.
The children's music transitionsounds like an interesting
place to go, but I think yourrole as musical director in
Beyonce's all-woman band as bassplayer and musical director was
extremely unusual andgroundbreaking.
(06:39):
How do you think that impactedrepresentation for women in
music on a broader scale?
Speaker 2 (06:45):
You know the impact we still feel the impact of that
all-female band that Beyonceput together and I had the honor
of being one of the co-musicaldirectors under the brilliant
Kim Burse For someone likeBeyonce to put together an
all-female band, something thatshe had been wanting to do for a
long time because it wassomething she hadn't seen
(07:06):
growing up.
It opened the door for so manywomen and young girls to see
what was possible.
Over the years I don't think weunderstood how impactful it
would be and how it wouldreverberate throughout time.
What happened and I'm nottrying to just big us up as
something that was so special,it really was that important.
(07:28):
It was, it really was.
I met so many young women whoare professional musicians today
, who talk about that band andgoing to that show, somebody
taking them.
I remember meeting this onewoman whose aunt took her to the
show and her aunt was soexcited to see Beyonce.
(07:49):
But she remembers looking upand saying there are all women
on the stage.
There are women playing drumsand guitar and horns, and she
was just enamored with this ideathat women could do this
because she'd never seen ithappen in with her own eyes and
(08:11):
um, and she grew up and became amusician.
I meet people all the time whotalk about how impactful it was,
and it wasn't just impactfulfor women, it was also impactful
for young men to see women inthat role, because I think
sometimes young men grow up withthis idea of what women can and
(08:32):
can't do For sure, and it wasso important for Beyonce to show
the world what women could dowhen we all came together.
Speaker 3 (08:40):
Yeah, I mean, I play around doing some production
stuff and I remember coming upwith some cool bass lines and
having a guy say, wow, that's agood bass line for a woman, what
you know.
This was maybe 20, some oddyears ago, but still, you know,
you've helped change things somuch, and Beyonce of course, for
doing that.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
Yeah, without her, none of it would have been
possible.
Speaker 3 (09:01):
Now, she had big auditions for that.
She really reached far and wide, didn't she?
She did.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
It was a lot of fun.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
That's a great story too.
I mean, please, you know share.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
I mean, everyone wants to hear any fun stories
about Beyonce if you have any.
Well, you know, each one of ushas an origin story, right?
Everybody in that band has thisgreat origin story and audition
story.
How we all came to thisaudition.
I was at the time touring offand on with Victor Wooten.
Victor was a part of Bela Fleckin the Flecktones band, so
whenever he wasn't touring withBela he would take his own group
(09:36):
out and I was a part of thatgroup, which, and him and Bela,
were really busy.
So we didn't go out very often.
We only went out two or threetimes a year and in between
those times I was playing in theclubs in Atlanta the famous Yin
Yang Cafe, the famous ApacheCafe and I started hearing that
she was holding auditions for anall-female band.
(09:56):
I wasn't really that interestedin going to the audition
because I was really focused onbeing an artist myself and I was
starting to become popular andhaving tour with Victor was
great and I was really writingmy own music and putting my own
bands together and doing that onthe scene.
Through a series of a bunch offriends and a bunch of
encouragement.
(10:16):
I went to the audition and Iended up booking the gig and I'm
glad I did.
Speaker 3 (10:23):
Fantastic.
What a great, great experience.
Now your sound blends a lot ofdifferent sounds funk, hip hop,
rock and it's incrediblyseamless.
How did you develop your genreDefying Voice and who were the
artists or experiences thathelped you shape it?
Speaker 2 (10:40):
I think growing up in Atlanta really helped shape my
sound, who I am as an artist,how I present myself in the
world.
Atlanta is such a special cityand there are lots of incredibly
diverse artists in Atlanta.
During the time where I wasdeveloping my musicianship, one
of the first producer groupsthat I was involved with was a
(11:03):
techno group called 100 Monkeysand they produced my hip hop
group and we were blendingtechno music with hip hop, which
was exciting and different forus.
We always wanted to do whatnobody else was doing and I
think that stayed with me.
We would go out and see somereally incredible bands.
There was a punk band calledJohnny Prophet.
(11:24):
There was a rock band, followFor Now there was Joy was an
incredible artist that was doingher thing on the scene Wild
Peach.
These are bands that nobodyreally heard of, but they were
so influential and so different.
Oh my God, tommy Martin's groupwas really great.
(11:47):
Tommy Martin is an incredibleguitar player who has toured
with everybody from Madonna.
There was just all these localbands and groups, hip hop groups
in Atlanta that were blendingall these great sounds, you know
, and, of course, having grownup listening to George Clinton
and Parliament, funkadelic andBad Brains and you know, coming
(12:11):
into our own as hip hop artists.
You know, of course, bob Marley, and his message was always at
the forefront of what we wantedto talk about and the love and
the message we wanted to spread.
We listened to Nirvana whenthey came out, cypress Hill
Tribe Called Quest, goody Mob,outkast.
There was just so much richmusic, mother's Finest.
(12:34):
Nobody gives Mother's Finestthe credit they deserve for
being genre bending.
So there was just so much musicI grew up listening to and I
believe we are influenced by thethings and the music we
experience, and so when I beganto write for myself, you can
hear all of that.
Speaker 3 (12:51):
So you're a sponge.
You took all of this in andthen you came out with your own
version.
You know you've turned yourcompositions into children's
books and TV themes, like theone for Lila and the Loop.
How did you come to decide tofocus on children's music and
what does storytelling mean toyou across these different
platforms?
Speaker 2 (13:11):
You know, just like most things in my life, I follow
my heart and I follow the paththat is laid out before me.
I'm able to recognize the pathand I'm so curious about just
about everything that I will godown the rabbit hole out of
curiosity.
I always thought I would end upmaking kids music when I was
(13:33):
done, touring and exploring thisadult world of music.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
Why did you feel that you don't have kids?
I assume right.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
I don't.
I don't have any children.
I have 11 godchildren.
I have a host of nieces andnephews, I'm the oldest of 10
grandkids and I'm the oldest ofthree siblings.
So I think that I've always hadthe responsibility of being
this caretaker as the oldest andI've always been held
responsibility of being thiscaretaker as the oldest and I've
(14:02):
always been held responsiblefor being an example in my
family for the people who comeafter me.
Music was always so influentialfor me that I wanted to share
that the passion and the lovethat I have for it, with young
people.
Years and years and years ago, Ihad the opportunity to write a
kid's song called I Could BeAnything for this hip hop label,
(14:23):
and nothing really everhappened with the project.
It was called MeWe.
It's actually still up onSpotify and the streaming
platforms and this was in thelate 90s.
That it was something I alwaysthought I would go back to, and
so I think during the pandemic,a friend of mine called me and
asked if I had some children'smusic to contribute to a program
that Scholastic Inc, the greatchildren's publisher, was
(14:44):
putting together for a programin Texas for pre-K kids, and at
the time I was studyingproduction and composition at
Berklee College of Music becauseI wanted to go back and get my
degree after having dropped outof UC Berkeley, and so I thought
it was so exciting and Istarted writing music for this
program and I needed to write abunch of songs really fast.
(15:06):
And they accepted all of themusic that I presented to them
and they wanted to turn two ofthe songs into books, children's
books, yeah, and so I wasreally excited.
Speaker 3 (15:17):
This is the silver lining of COVID right.
All these people did differentthings during.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
COVID.
During COVID, you know yourcalendar was clear and you had
time to recenter and refocusyourself and your mission and to
think about what it was youwanted to really do in the world
and to follow that path andstay curious and not allow this
thing to get you frustrated anddepressed, right.
So I was in here making allthis great joyful music which
(15:44):
made my household so joyful.
My wife would come in and I'dbe like, come in here and sing
on this hook and what do youthink about this song?
And we were jumping up and downsinging these kids songs.
It was so much fun and I knew Ihad these kids books coming out
, which I thought from abusiness perspective, wow,
that's going to be kind of oddfor everybody in 2021 to have
these two kids books come out ofnowhere.
(16:05):
And so I thought, well, whydon't I make a full length album
?
And I did.
The album was called Ready SetGo.
I wrote more songs andself-released it, and it was
really well received.
It actually got me my firstGrammy nomination.
That's fantastic.
Speaker 3 (16:19):
It's great and I've listened to some of the music
and it's so cool.
I mean this is the coolest kidsmusic I've ever heard.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
Thank you.
My niece and nephew do thinkI'm pretty cool.
Speaker 3 (16:32):
It's definitely because I was like, is this her
stuff or is this kids music?
Oh no, it's definitely kidsmusic, but it's very special.
I was wondering how you woundup going towards children's
music.
It was just kind of an accidentwhich developed into something.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
It was one of those divine accidents.
You know, I think it wassomething that I was.
I had always thought I would do.
I just thought I would do itlater.
You know how you have thatthing I'm going to do it later,
I'll do it later, I'll do itlater, I'll do it later.
And then the universe says nowis later.
You know, tomorrow never comes,it's always today, right.
So we always say we're gonna dosomething tomorrow, tomorrow,
tomorrow never comes.
It just had it.
You know, it's one of thosethings, do you feel?
Speaker 3 (17:06):
that you're thinking differently when you're
approaching writing for youngaudiences yes and no.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
You know, one of the things that people constantly
say to me and I never reallythought about was you don't talk
down to the kids in your music.
It wasn't a conscious choice, Iwas really just being myself.
I think with the kids stuff Ido lean more towards the best
versions of myself.
I don't tend to explore some ofthe darker things about myself
(17:38):
that I may explore in my adultmusic.
You know, my last album I'mPossible was an album where it
was deeply personal.
I was going through some reallytough things and I was
exploring them on that album.
I don't tend to do that with thekids music.
I tend to lean into some of themost positive teachings that my
(17:59):
mom would encourage in me as achild Really believing in myself
, knowing that I have power inmy mind and I can create my own
circumstances, being the bestversion of myself.
And I'm thinking about as Icontinue to make kids music do I
start really exploring some ofthe darker topics?
And I'm thinking about as Icontinue to make kids music do I
start really exploring some ofthe darker topics?
(18:21):
And I think it really dependson the age I'm going for.
I think 14 and 13 year olds arestarting to think about life a
little bit differently than afive year old, right?
So if I'm writing music for afive year old, I'm exploring
things that I think tap into myfive year old self.
Speaker 3 (18:37):
But it sounded very joyful.
You know the things that I didhere.
Yeah, that's where I want to be.
I've written very little kids'music and the one kids' song I
wrote, I'm very proud to say,wound up on an album with Carney
Wilson and her father, brian,in a duet album.
So it's like it was weird Iwrote one kids' song and then
I'm very.
I think I should write morechildren's music maybe.
(18:58):
Yes, you should that would be agood idea.
The world needs it.
The world needs it, the worldneeds it.
It is very optimistic, so Inoticed mentorship and advocacy
seem central to your mission.
What gaps in the industry areyou most passionate about
addressing, especially for queerartists and artists of color?
Do you see change happening andwhat gives you hope for change?
Speaker 2 (19:22):
I do see change happening.
I see more artists taking theirpower back and taking their
careers and their lives in theirown hands and releasing the
music they want to see in theworld, as opposed to releasing
music that corporations want tosee in the world.
(19:44):
I think that there's still alot of room to grow.
There are plenty of gaps,especially when it comes to
women and queer artists.
I think there's still a lot oftaboos around being a queer
artist and being able to expressyourself fully in an album, and
when I think about the I'mPossible album, it was the first
album that I really expressedand was able to express myself
(20:08):
as a queer woman in the world.
I also think as instrumentalistsand musicians, there are so
many opportunities for us toadvocate for being women on the
road, being women-ledorganizations, being women-led
artists, independent artists,having resources, being able to
(20:29):
fund your projects, findingpartnerships with corporations
that are looking to enhance andto build a presence for
women-led organizations andengineers, producers, especially
instrumentalists.
I really have a special placein my heart for them because
(20:49):
that's my background and it'snot easy being a woman on the
road, and it's not easy beingprimarily an instrumentalist,
because you are the first to getcut.
You're the least paid, nobodyworries about you, nobody cares
about you.
You know there are too manylegendary musicians who find
themselves in tough situationswhere they are having to create
(21:13):
a GoFundMe, when they havehealth issues or crises, or when
they pass away and they can'tbury themselves because people
have taken advantage of them andit's hard, and so I am a huge
advocate for women musiciansspecifically.
Speaker 3 (21:31):
That makes sense and yes, I could see there'd be very
difficult being a woman on theroad.
I do notice some improvement inthe world of women producers.
I mean, I know that that's notrepresented on the charts, but I
do think there are just a lotmore women producers today.
Would you agree with that?
Do think there are just a lotmore women producers today.
Would you agree with that?
Speaker 2 (21:48):
I think there are a lot more women producers.
I think there are a lot morenonprofit organizations who are
focused on women producershaving access and opportunity in
the music industry.
Absolutely, and I think thatyou know, because technology has
evolved in such a way, there ismore access for women to
explore production, and so I'mreally excited about last year
(22:09):
we had Alicia on the ballot as anominee for Best Producer, and
that is pretty amazing.
So we are getting morevisibility, which is helpful,
because visibility is important.
You don't see it, you don'tknow that it's possible and also
women engineers.
There are just a lot oforganizations that are focused
on that, and I think that that'swhat we need in order to bring
(22:30):
more visibility to thatparticular career.
Speaker 3 (22:33):
Yeah, I mean I know that the Annenberg study I'm
sure you're familiar with thathas not been as optimistic, but
I do.
I know it's out there because Iwork with a lot more women
producers than I ever did.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
Yeah, I think that study just doesn't really
explore women instrumentalistsin the way that it can, and it's
hard because there are so manywomen who identify as producer
and instrumentalist, right Likeme.
But I'm a bass player and I'm aproducer and I'm a songwriter,
but I can tour as a bass player.
There's a very small number ofus and I don't know if there are
(23:05):
enough of us on the radar to beincluded in any mass study so
that we can begin to advocatefor these women.
But I do believe that we arestarting to see more co-ed bands
, which I love.
This idea of seeing more womenon stage, whether it be on TV,
(23:28):
on tours, leading bands,fronting bands as musicians and
not just the singer in the band,I think it's extremely
important and playingnon-traditional instruments.
A lot of bass players frontbands these days and I love that
.
Speaker 3 (23:41):
Yeah, and actually this is something we should get
whoever's in charge of theAnnenberg study to bring into
their study, because I havenever seen women touring
musicians.
I think that would be a goodthing for them to add.
We'll make a note of it.
So you're not only creating,but you're also mentoring and
leading.
What do you wish someone hadtold you at the start of your
journey, and what are you tryingto instill in young artists
(24:03):
that you mentor?
Speaker 2 (24:04):
Oh, that's a great question.
I think one of the things Iwish.
We always say this, right, whatdo we wish?
Somebody told us we wereyounger, however, would we have
listened when we were younger?
You know what I mean.
Like, I tell young people stuffall the time and they're not
listening and I'm like, well,you know, I get it, because I
probably wouldn't have listenedeither.
You can start over as many timesas you want to.
(24:27):
You can have as many lives anddifferent lives as you want to.
I don't think people expressthat enough.
In general, I don't care whatcareer path you're on, what
you're doing in life.
You're podcasting now, right?
You know you can do as manythings as you can imagine you
(24:48):
can do.
Just do it, and it's not easy.
The pivot is important.
Pivoting, staying curious isimportant.
I think that's something that Ithat I wish somebody would have
said.
I think, naturally, I'm socurious that I don't mind
pivoting and exploring so manydifferent things.
I'm exploring all kinds ofthings right now that are not
even music related.
(25:08):
One of the things I wishsomebody would have told me when
I was young, my dad was reallyinto computers.
Like, we used to sit around andhe used to get these computer
magazines and back then you hadto code yourself right and
basically we would just follow abunch of zeros and ones and we
would input them into a computerand then we'd have this really
(25:30):
cool game right that we couldplay.
It wasn't that cool, there wereno graphics or, and you know, I
wish somebody would have told meto stick with that, stick with
learning to code when I was alittle girl, because now I'd
(25:53):
probably be, you know,gazillionaire coder doing
something completely different.
Speaker 3 (25:58):
But then we wouldn't have had you doing all this
wonderful music.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
I'm just kidding, but yeah, yeah, that's for me,
that's a personal thing, but Ithink it's important to
understand that you can pivot,and you can.
Whatever you're doing right now, you don't have to be doing
that in 10 years or five yearsor three years, you can continue
to explore and grow and keepgoing, no matter what anybody
(26:26):
around you says or does.
Speaker 3 (26:28):
Just work your ass off, Whatever it is you do you
got to work your ass off, that'sfor sure.
Be the best you can On a funnernote.
Funner, more fun.
What's something we don't knowabout you?
Is there something unlikelysurprising?
It could be a Beyonce fun thingthat happened, or whatever.
(26:49):
Anything about whatever.
That you think is somethingthat people go wow.
I mean, one of my people thatwas on was Madonna's roommate,
for example, and I was like, wow, I never knew that.
Another one was Bowie's likebuddy, since they were quite
young and you know.
So I've got funny, funnystories Okay.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
I got one.
Speaker 3 (27:04):
Not just funny, but cool or unexpected.
Speaker 2 (27:06):
Yeah, this is a good one.
I don't tell this story enough.
Many people would rememberyears and years and years ago,
kanye West had this huge caraccident right when he had his
jaw sewn shut.
The night that happened, I wasin the studio with Kanye
freestyling and William Me,kanye and William sitting around
(27:27):
freestyling.
We were working on a songtogether.
I think we actually recordedsomething.
Will probably has.
It Should dig that up.
Ha ha.
Yeah, oh man, I kind ofremember.
Yeah, it was really cool, andKanye was going to get a choir
to come into the studiosomething.
He was like yeah, you know,I'll get my choir to come in and
sing on this record.
Yeah, it's going to be superdope, I'll drop my verse
(27:47):
tomorrow or this week.
And the next day Will called meand said turn on the news.
And he's like Kanye was in thisreally really, really bad
accident.
Speaker 3 (27:57):
And he couldn't come and sing because his jaw was
wired closed.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
And he, you know, and from and from that he had all
these really profoundrevelations about his own life
where he took his artistry inhis own hands and he became not
only he was already thisincredible producer, but he
became his own artist.
Out of that traumatic accidentand shortly after, I was in LA
(28:23):
exploring this writing, I waswriting with William, I wrote
with DJ Lethal, I was in thestudio with a bunch of other
people too, and we wererecording this album.
After that I left LA andshortly after that I ended up
(28:44):
joining Beyoncé on tour and Isaw Kanye at the World Music
Awards with Grace Jones.
I licked Grace Jones's facethat day.
I have a picture of me lickingGrace Jones's face Ridiculous.
Speaker 3 (28:58):
Yeah, I want to see that picture I have to pull it
up.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
I've been thinking about posting it as a flashback
Friday.
You should see her look on herface.
She's like what?
Speaker 3 (29:10):
That's crazy.
It's just been so cool andinteresting to have you.
Is there anything I left out,something you definitely want to
talk about that we didn't cover, something you want to end with
that you think is important forpeople to know about you.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
Yeah, go sign up for my email list at
divirockskidscom ordivinityrockscom.
I still make adult music.
I just released a single calledBe the One.
It's a love song and I'm stillexploring writing music for
adults and I'm consideringreleasing another adult project,
I just don't know when.
I think I'll leave it at that.
Speaker 3 (29:44):
Keep us posted on that.
I will put up links to anythingyou would like on the podcast
notes and you'll let me knowwhat to add.
Yes, thank you, and it's reallybeen so lovely having you.
Thank you so much for makingtime and telling us your unique
journey.
Thank you, alrighty.
Talk soon.
I'd like to thank today'ssponsor, heard City, the premier
(30:07):
audio post-production companyservicing the advertising,
motion picture and televisionindustries right here in NYC.
I'd also like to thank Antello,aka XON, for singing the she
Creates Noise theme that I wrote.
Thanks for listening to sheCreates Noise.
If you enjoyed this episode, besure to subscribe, rate and
(30:28):
share.
I want to thank the team hereBlair Reinly, jelena Stavanovich
, emily Wilson and the Master ofEngineering and Grammy-winning
Cooper.
Speaker 1 (30:37):
Anderson.
Speaker 3 (30:38):
We'll see you next time.
Speaker 1 (30:39):
She creates noise.
She creates noise.
We hear her voice.
She creates noise.
Hi, you're listening to Sarah Nagourney and welcome
to.
She Creates Noise, a newpodcast spotlighting women who
power the music industry, comingto you from New York City.
Now, if you don't know me yet,here's a little background.
I'm a songwriter, producer,manager, educator and mentor.
I've written platinum sellingsongs, had tracks on Grammy
nominated educator and mentor.
(00:45):
I've written platinum-sellingsongs, had tracks on
Grammy-nominated records andreleased music on both major and
independent labels.
I've been a jazz singer, ajingle singer, toured with big
bands and became a pop artist,and I've performed at festivals
across the US, europe and Asia.
These days, I focus on writingwith and developing young talent
.
In the coming weeks, I'll bepulling back the curtain on the
(01:07):
music industry's femalechangemakers.
Some are close friends, othersI'm just getting to know, but
all have reshaped the businessin profound ways.
My goal here is to helplisteners better understand how
the music business really worksand just how instrumental women
behind the scenes have been.
You'll hear from both sides ofthe desk artists, producers,
(01:32):
managers, label executives,lawyers.
Women making things happen,often without the spotlight on
them.
Thank you for joining me onthis journey.
Now let's dive in.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
Thank you for joining me on this journey.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
Now let's dive in.
Today's guest is Divinity Rocks, a celebrated bass player,
composer and mentor whoseinfluence stretches across
genres, generations and stagesworldwide.
Best known for her role asbassist and musical director on
Beyonce's iconic tours from 2006to 2011, Divinity brought
undeniable power and presence toglobal arenas, helping redefine
(02:09):
what it means to be a woman onstage in the world of live music
.
Before that, she toured withfive-time Grammy-winning bassist
, Victor Wooten, and her ownsolo journey has been just as
groundbreaking.
A two-time Grammy nominee,Divinity has carved out a unique
lane in family-focused music,creating albums that uplift and
inspire while staying true toher deep musical roots.
(02:31):
Her work extends far beyond thestudio.
She's written music for thePeter Rabbit franchise,
co-created and performed thetheme song for PBS Kids,
Emmy-nominated Lila and the Loop, and she's seen her songs
adapted into children's books byScholastic.
As a passionate mentor andadvocate for equity in the music
business, Divinity Rockscontinues to elevate emerging
(02:53):
voices and challenge outdatednorms, reminding us all what it
looks like to lead with bothfire and heart.
Today, I'm really happy to haveDivinity Rocks on the podcast
Now.
Divinity, you've had such adynamic and interesting journey,
from playing with Victor Wootento being Beyonce's bassist and
(03:15):
musical director and nowcreating Grammy-nominated
children's music.
Please tell us briefly aboutyour journey.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
First of all, thank you for having me on the podcast
.
I'm really excited to be here.
When I think about my journeyas a musician and artist, I have
to start when I was a littlegirl.
My mom always had music playingin the house and I loved music.
Growing up, it seemed to beable to touch me deeply and help
me explore my feelings and myemotions.
(03:44):
I think a lot of times themistake we make is that children
don't have deep emotions.
But music was able to do thatand I wanted to participate in
it.
I had a music teacher who wouldcome to our class.
I remember in kindergarten wewould have music three or four
times a week and she would cometo the class and we'd all follow
her to music room and she'dplay the piano and we'd learn.
Follow her to music room andshe'd play the piano and we'd
(04:05):
learn these beautiful songs.
And so as I got older inelementary school, this music
teacher asked who wanted to bein the chorus and I joined the
chorus.
I wanted to sing.
The band teacher came aroundwho wanted to play an instrument
.
I wanted to play an instrumentand I started playing the
clarinet and you know, we hadsome really great opportunities
as really young people.
Really quick, funny story.
I went to school with Daron from112, the group 112.
(04:29):
We were singing in the chorustogether as third and fourth
graders yes, very cool, and Iwas a part of this honor chorus,
which was a group of somewhatelite students.
We all came together and wewould sing at the lighting of
the Christmas tree, which was abig deal in Atlanta as I was
growing up.
Rich's used to light thisChristmas tree every year and
(04:50):
they would air this on TV and wewould sing for the mayor and we
would go around and sing in allthese places and playing the
clarinet was really important.
I played the clarinet throughmiddle school.
I was first year clarinet.
At one point I really lovedclarinet and around this time in
middle school rap became reallyimportant and it became this
way for young people to expressthemselves and I was in love
(05:13):
with rap music and I wanted todo it because I loved writing, I
loved reading and I loved musicand rap seemed like a great
place for me to be able to putit all together.
So I started rapping when I wasin middle school and throughout
high school I started this hiphop group called Dat Bood it was
an acronym for Divinity in theBreakfast Unit and I went off to
college, to UC Berkeley, tostudy journalism.
(05:34):
I wasn't thinking of pursuing acareer in music but at UC
Berkeley I picked up the bassguitar and fell in love with the
bass and started writing rapsand putting bass lines under
them and teaching myself how torap and play bass.
And I dropped out of Berkeleyconvinced my parents that I was
going to take a year off to seewhat I could do in music, and
(05:55):
that turned into me never goingback to UC Berkeley.
But my hip hop group started tobecome popular.
We started opening up forgroups like the Roots and all
the really cool hip-hop groupsthat would come in town and I'd
left the hip-hop group andreally started pursuing the bass
guitar and a solo career.
And that's how I jumped on tourwith Victor Wu.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
That's great, and I love that you start with the
clarinet.
What a cool instrument to startwith.
Yes yes, what a greatbackground to have.
I want to get into all thesethings.
I do want to talk.
The children's music transitionsounds like an interesting
place to go, but I think yourrole as musical director in
Beyonce's all-woman band as bassplayer and musical director was
extremely unusual andgroundbreaking.
(06:39):
How do you think that impactedrepresentation for women in
music on a broader scale?
Speaker 2 (06:45):
You know the impact we still feel the impact of that
all-female band that Beyonceput together and I had the honor
of being one of the co-musicaldirectors under the brilliant
Kim Burse For someone likeBeyonce to put together an
all-female band, something thatshe had been wanting to do for a
long time because it wassomething she hadn't seen
(07:06):
growing up.
It opened the door for so manywomen and young girls to see
what was possible.
Over the years I don't think weunderstood how impactful it
would be and how it wouldreverberate throughout time.
What happened and I'm nottrying to just big us up as
something that was so special,it really was that important.
(07:28):
It was, it really was.
I met so many young women whoare professional musicians today
, who talk about that band andgoing to that show, somebody
taking them.
I remember meeting this onewoman whose aunt took her to the
show and her aunt was soexcited to see Beyonce.
(07:49):
But she remembers looking upand saying there are all women
on the stage.
There are women playing drumsand guitar and horns, and she
was just enamored with this ideathat women could do this
because she'd never seen ithappen in with her own eyes and
(08:11):
um, and she grew up and became amusician.
I meet people all the time whotalk about how impactful it was,
and it wasn't just impactfulfor women, it was also impactful
for young men to see women inthat role, because I think
sometimes young men grow up withthis idea of what women can and
(08:32):
can't do For sure, and it wasso important for Beyonce to show
the world what women could dowhen we all came together.
Speaker 3 (08:40):
Yeah, I mean, I play around doing some production
stuff and I remember coming upwith some cool bass lines and
having a guy say, wow, that's agood bass line for a woman, what
you know.
This was maybe 20, some oddyears ago, but still, you know,
you've helped change things somuch, and Beyonce of course, for
doing that.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
Yeah, without her, none of it would have been
possible.
Speaker 3 (09:01):
Now, she had big auditions for that.
She really reached far and wide, didn't she?
She did.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
It was a lot of fun.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
That's a great story too.
I mean, please, you know share.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
I mean, everyone wants to hear any fun stories
about Beyonce if you have any.
Well, you know, each one of ushas an origin story, right?
Everybody in that band has thisgreat origin story and audition
story.
How we all came to thisaudition.
I was at the time touring offand on with Victor Wooten.
Victor was a part of Bela Fleckin the Flecktones band, so
whenever he wasn't touring withBela he would take his own group
(09:36):
out and I was a part of thatgroup, which, and him and Bela,
were really busy.
So we didn't go out very often.
We only went out two or threetimes a year and in between
those times I was playing in theclubs in Atlanta the famous Yin
Yang Cafe, the famous ApacheCafe and I started hearing that
she was holding auditions for anall-female band.
(09:56):
I wasn't really that interestedin going to the audition
because I was really focused onbeing an artist myself and I was
starting to become popular andhaving tour with Victor was
great and I was really writingmy own music and putting my own
bands together and doing that onthe scene.
Through a series of a bunch offriends and a bunch of
encouragement.
(10:16):
I went to the audition and Iended up booking the gig and I'm
glad I did.
Speaker 3 (10:23):
Fantastic.
What a great, great experience.
Now your sound blends a lot ofdifferent sounds funk, hip hop,
rock and it's incrediblyseamless.
How did you develop your genreDefying Voice and who were the
artists or experiences thathelped you shape it?
Speaker 2 (10:40):
I think growing up in Atlanta really helped shape my
sound, who I am as an artist,how I present myself in the
world.
Atlanta is such a special cityand there are lots of incredibly
diverse artists in Atlanta.
During the time where I wasdeveloping my musicianship, one
of the first producer groupsthat I was involved with was a
(11:03):
techno group called 100 Monkeysand they produced my hip hop
group and we were blendingtechno music with hip hop, which
was exciting and different forus.
We always wanted to do whatnobody else was doing and I
think that stayed with me.
We would go out and see somereally incredible bands.
There was a punk band calledJohnny Prophet.
(11:24):
There was a rock band, followFor Now there was Joy was an
incredible artist that was doingher thing on the scene Wild
Peach.
These are bands that nobodyreally heard of, but they were
so influential and so different.
Oh my God, tommy Martin's groupwas really great.
(11:47):
Tommy Martin is an incredibleguitar player who has toured
with everybody from Madonna.
There was just all these localbands and groups, hip hop groups
in Atlanta that were blendingall these great sounds, you know
, and, of course, having grownup listening to George Clinton
and Parliament, funkadelic andBad Brains and you know, coming
(12:11):
into our own as hip hop artists.
You know, of course, bob Marley, and his message was always at
the forefront of what we wantedto talk about and the love and
the message we wanted to spread.
We listened to Nirvana whenthey came out, cypress Hill
Tribe Called Quest, goody Mob,outkast.
There was just so much richmusic, mother's Finest.
(12:34):
Nobody gives Mother's Finestthe credit they deserve for
being genre bending.
So there was just so much musicI grew up listening to and I
believe we are influenced by thethings and the music we
experience, and so when I beganto write for myself, you can
hear all of that.
Speaker 3 (12:51):
So you're a sponge.
You took all of this in andthen you came out with your own
version.
You know you've turned yourcompositions into children's
books and TV themes, like theone for Lila and the Loop.
How did you come to decide tofocus on children's music and
what does storytelling mean toyou across these different
platforms?
Speaker 2 (13:11):
You know, just like most things in my life, I follow
my heart and I follow the paththat is laid out before me.
I'm able to recognize the pathand I'm so curious about just
about everything that I will godown the rabbit hole out of
curiosity.
I always thought I would end upmaking kids music when I was
(13:33):
done, touring and exploring thisadult world of music.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
Why did you feel that you don't have kids?
I assume right.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
I don't.
I don't have any children.
I have 11 godchildren.
I have a host of nieces andnephews, I'm the oldest of 10
grandkids and I'm the oldest ofthree siblings.
So I think that I've always hadthe responsibility of being
this caretaker as the oldest andI've always been held
responsibility of being thiscaretaker as the oldest and I've
(14:02):
always been held responsiblefor being an example in my
family for the people who comeafter me.
Music was always so influentialfor me that I wanted to share
that the passion and the lovethat I have for it, with young
people.
Years and years and years ago, Ihad the opportunity to write a
kid's song called I Could BeAnything for this hip hop label,
(14:23):
and nothing really everhappened with the project.
It was called MeWe.
It's actually still up onSpotify and the streaming
platforms and this was in thelate 90s.
That it was something I alwaysthought I would go back to, and
so I think during the pandemic,a friend of mine called me and
asked if I had some children'smusic to contribute to a program
that Scholastic Inc, the greatchildren's publisher, was
(14:44):
putting together for a programin Texas for pre-K kids, and at
the time I was studyingproduction and composition at
Berklee College of Music becauseI wanted to go back and get my
degree after having dropped outof UC Berkeley, and so I thought
it was so exciting and Istarted writing music for this
program and I needed to write abunch of songs really fast.
(15:06):
And they accepted all of themusic that I presented to them
and they wanted to turn two ofthe songs into books, children's
books, yeah, and so I wasreally excited.
Speaker 3 (15:17):
This is the silver lining of COVID right.
All these people did differentthings during.
Speaker 2 (15:21):
COVID.
During COVID, you know yourcalendar was clear and you had
time to recenter and refocusyourself and your mission and to
think about what it was youwanted to really do in the world
and to follow that path andstay curious and not allow this
thing to get you frustrated anddepressed, right.
So I was in here making allthis great joyful music which
(15:44):
made my household so joyful.
My wife would come in and I'dbe like, come in here and sing
on this hook and what do youthink about this song?
And we were jumping up and downsinging these kids songs.
It was so much fun and I knew Ihad these kids books coming out
, which I thought from abusiness perspective, wow,
that's going to be kind of oddfor everybody in 2021 to have
these two kids books come out ofnowhere.
(16:05):
And so I thought, well, whydon't I make a full length album
?
And I did.
The album was called Ready SetGo.
I wrote more songs andself-released it, and it was
really well received.
It actually got me my firstGrammy nomination.
That's fantastic.
Speaker 3 (16:19):
It's great and I've listened to some of the music
and it's so cool.
I mean this is the coolest kidsmusic I've ever heard.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
Thank you.
My niece and nephew do thinkI'm pretty cool.
Speaker 3 (16:32):
It's definitely because I was like, is this her
stuff or is this kids music?
Oh no, it's definitely kidsmusic, but it's very special.
I was wondering how you woundup going towards children's
music.
It was just kind of an accidentwhich developed into something.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
It was one of those divine accidents.
You know, I think it wassomething that I was.
I had always thought I would do.
I just thought I would do itlater.
You know how you have thatthing I'm going to do it later,
I'll do it later, I'll do itlater, I'll do it later.
And then the universe says nowis later.
You know, tomorrow never comes,it's always today, right.
So we always say we're gonna dosomething tomorrow, tomorrow,
tomorrow never comes.
It just had it.
You know, it's one of thosethings, do you feel?
Speaker 3 (17:06):
that you're thinking differently when you're
approaching writing for youngaudiences yes and no.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
You know, one of the things that people constantly
say to me and I never reallythought about was you don't talk
down to the kids in your music.
It wasn't a conscious choice, Iwas really just being myself.
I think with the kids stuff Ido lean more towards the best
versions of myself.
I don't tend to explore some ofthe darker things about myself
(17:38):
that I may explore in my adultmusic.
You know, my last album I'mPossible was an album where it
was deeply personal.
I was going through some reallytough things and I was
exploring them on that album.
I don't tend to do that with thekids music.
I tend to lean into some of themost positive teachings that my
(17:59):
mom would encourage in me as achild Really believing in myself
, knowing that I have power inmy mind and I can create my own
circumstances, being the bestversion of myself.
And I'm thinking about as Icontinue to make kids music do I
start really exploring some ofthe darker topics?
And I'm thinking about as Icontinue to make kids music do I
start really exploring some ofthe darker topics?
(18:21):
And I think it really dependson the age I'm going for.
I think 14 and 13 year olds arestarting to think about life a
little bit differently than afive year old, right?
So if I'm writing music for afive year old, I'm exploring
things that I think tap into myfive year old self.
Speaker 3 (18:37):
But it sounded very joyful.
You know the things that I didhere.
Yeah, that's where I want to be.
I've written very little kids'music and the one kids' song I
wrote, I'm very proud to say,wound up on an album with Carney
Wilson and her father, brian,in a duet album.
So it's like it was weird Iwrote one kids' song and then
I'm very.
I think I should write morechildren's music maybe.
(18:58):
Yes, you should that would be agood idea.
The world needs it.
The world needs it, the worldneeds it.
It is very optimistic, so Inoticed mentorship and advocacy
seem central to your mission.
What gaps in the industry areyou most passionate about
addressing, especially for queerartists and artists of color?
Do you see change happening andwhat gives you hope for change?
Speaker 2 (19:22):
I do see change happening.
I see more artists taking theirpower back and taking their
careers and their lives in theirown hands and releasing the
music they want to see in theworld, as opposed to releasing
music that corporations want tosee in the world.
(19:44):
I think that there's still alot of room to grow.
There are plenty of gaps,especially when it comes to
women and queer artists.
I think there's still a lot oftaboos around being a queer
artist and being able to expressyourself fully in an album, and
when I think about the I'mPossible album, it was the first
album that I really expressedand was able to express myself
(20:08):
as a queer woman in the world.
I also think as instrumentalistsand musicians, there are so
many opportunities for us toadvocate for being women on the
road, being women-ledorganizations, being women-led
artists, independent artists,having resources, being able to
(20:29):
fund your projects, findingpartnerships with corporations
that are looking to enhance andto build a presence for
women-led organizations andengineers, producers, especially
instrumentalists.
I really have a special placein my heart for them because
(20:49):
that's my background and it'snot easy being a woman on the
road, and it's not easy beingprimarily an instrumentalist,
because you are the first to getcut.
You're the least paid, nobodyworries about you, nobody cares
about you.
You know there are too manylegendary musicians who find
themselves in tough situationswhere they are having to create
(21:13):
a GoFundMe, when they havehealth issues or crises, or when
they pass away and they can'tbury themselves because people
have taken advantage of them andit's hard, and so I am a huge
advocate for women musiciansspecifically.
Speaker 3 (21:31):
That makes sense and yes, I could see there'd be very
difficult being a woman on theroad.
I do notice some improvement inthe world of women producers.
I mean, I know that that's notrepresented on the charts, but I
do think there are just a lotmore women producers today.
Would you agree with that?
Do think there are just a lotmore women producers today.
Would you agree with that?
Speaker 2 (21:48):
I think there are a lot more women producers.
I think there are a lot morenonprofit organizations who are
focused on women producershaving access and opportunity in
the music industry.
Absolutely, and I think thatyou know, because technology has
evolved in such a way, there ismore access for women to
explore production, and so I'mreally excited about last year
(22:09):
we had Alicia on the ballot as anominee for Best Producer, and
that is pretty amazing.
So we are getting morevisibility, which is helpful,
because visibility is important.
You don't see it, you don'tknow that it's possible and also
women engineers.
There are just a lot oforganizations that are focused
on that, and I think that that'swhat we need in order to bring
(22:30):
more visibility to thatparticular career.
Speaker 3 (22:33):
Yeah, I mean I know that the Annenberg study I'm
sure you're familiar with thathas not been as optimistic, but
I do.
I know it's out there because Iwork with a lot more women
producers than I ever did.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
Yeah, I think that study just doesn't really
explore women instrumentalistsin the way that it can, and it's
hard because there are so manywomen who identify as producer
and instrumentalist, right Likeme.
But I'm a bass player and I'm aproducer and I'm a songwriter,
but I can tour as a bass player.
There's a very small number ofus and I don't know if there are
(23:05):
enough of us on the radar to beincluded in any mass study so
that we can begin to advocatefor these women.
But I do believe that we arestarting to see more co-ed bands
, which I love.
This idea of seeing more womenon stage, whether it be on TV,
(23:28):
on tours, leading bands,fronting bands as musicians and
not just the singer in the band,I think it's extremely
important and playingnon-traditional instruments.
A lot of bass players frontbands these days and I love that
.
Speaker 3 (23:41):
Yeah, and actually this is something we should get
whoever's in charge of theAnnenberg study to bring into
their study, because I havenever seen women touring
musicians.
I think that would be a goodthing for them to add.
We'll make a note of it.
So you're not only creating,but you're also mentoring and
leading.
What do you wish someone hadtold you at the start of your
journey, and what are you tryingto instill in young artists
(24:03):
that you mentor?
Speaker 2 (24:04):
Oh, that's a great question.
I think one of the things Iwish.
We always say this, right, whatdo we wish?
Somebody told us we wereyounger, however, would we have
listened when we were younger?
You know what I mean.
Like, I tell young people stuffall the time and they're not
listening and I'm like, well,you know, I get it, because I
probably wouldn't have listenedeither.
You can start over as many timesas you want to.
(24:27):
You can have as many lives anddifferent lives as you want to.
I don't think people expressthat enough.
In general, I don't care whatcareer path you're on, what
you're doing in life.
You're podcasting now, right?
You know you can do as manythings as you can imagine you
(24:48):
can do.
Just do it, and it's not easy.
The pivot is important.
Pivoting, staying curious isimportant.
I think that's something that Ithat I wish somebody would have
said.
I think, naturally, I'm socurious that I don't mind
pivoting and exploring so manydifferent things.
I'm exploring all kinds ofthings right now that are not
even music related.
(25:08):
One of the things I wishsomebody would have told me when
I was young, my dad was reallyinto computers.
Like, we used to sit around andhe used to get these computer
magazines and back then you hadto code yourself right and
basically we would just follow abunch of zeros and ones and we
would input them into a computerand then we'd have this really
(25:30):
cool game right that we couldplay.
It wasn't that cool, there wereno graphics or, and you know, I
wish somebody would have told meto stick with that, stick with
learning to code when I was alittle girl, because now I'd
(25:53):
probably be, you know,gazillionaire coder doing
something completely different.
Speaker 3 (25:58):
But then we wouldn't have had you doing all this
wonderful music.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
I'm just kidding, but yeah, yeah, that's for me,
that's a personal thing, but Ithink it's important to
understand that you can pivot,and you can.
Whatever you're doing right now, you don't have to be doing
that in 10 years or five yearsor three years, you can continue
to explore and grow and keepgoing, no matter what anybody
(26:26):
around you says or does.
Speaker 3 (26:28):
Just work your ass off, Whatever it is you do you
got to work your ass off, that'sfor sure.
Be the best you can On a funnernote.
Funner, more fun.
What's something we don't knowabout you?
Is there something unlikelysurprising?
It could be a Beyonce fun thingthat happened, or whatever.
(26:49):
Anything about whatever.
That you think is somethingthat people go wow.
I mean, one of my people thatwas on was Madonna's roommate,
for example, and I was like, wow, I never knew that.
Another one was Bowie's likebuddy, since they were quite
young and you know.
So I've got funny, funnystories Okay.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
I got one.
Speaker 3 (27:04):
Not just funny, but cool or unexpected.
Speaker 2 (27:06):
Yeah, this is a good one.
I don't tell this story enough.
Many people would rememberyears and years and years ago,
kanye West had this huge caraccident right when he had his
jaw sewn shut.
The night that happened, I wasin the studio with Kanye
freestyling and William Me,kanye and William sitting around
(27:27):
freestyling.
We were working on a songtogether.
I think we actually recordedsomething.
Will probably has.
It Should dig that up.
Ha ha.
Yeah, oh man, I kind ofremember.
Yeah, it was really cool, andKanye was going to get a choir
to come into the studiosomething.
He was like yeah, you know,I'll get my choir to come in and
sing on this record.
Yeah, it's going to be superdope, I'll drop my verse
(27:47):
tomorrow or this week.
And the next day Will called meand said turn on the news.
And he's like Kanye was in thisreally really, really bad
accident.
Speaker 3 (27:57):
And he couldn't come and sing because his jaw was
wired closed.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
And he, you know, and from and from that he had all
these really profoundrevelations about his own life
where he took his artistry inhis own hands and he became not
only he was already thisincredible producer, but he
became his own artist.
Out of that traumatic accidentand shortly after, I was in LA
(28:23):
exploring this writing, I waswriting with William, I wrote
with DJ Lethal, I was in thestudio with a bunch of other
people too, and we wererecording this album.
After that I left LA andshortly after that I ended up
(28:44):
joining Beyoncé on tour and Isaw Kanye at the World Music
Awards with Grace Jones.
I licked Grace Jones's facethat day.
I have a picture of me lickingGrace Jones's face Ridiculous.
Speaker 3 (28:58):
Yeah, I want to see that picture I have to pull it
up.
Speaker 2 (29:01):
I've been thinking about posting it as a flashback
Friday.
You should see her look on herface.
She's like what?
Speaker 3 (29:10):
That's crazy.
It's just been so cool andinteresting to have you.
Is there anything I left out,something you definitely want to
talk about that we didn't cover, something you want to end with
that you think is important forpeople to know about you.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
Yeah, go sign up for my email list at
divirockskidscom ordivinityrockscom.
I still make adult music.
I just released a single calledBe the One.
It's a love song and I'm stillexploring writing music for
adults and I'm consideringreleasing another adult project,
I just don't know when.
I think I'll leave it at that.
Speaker 3 (29:44):
Keep us posted on that.
I will put up links to anythingyou would like on the podcast
notes and you'll let me knowwhat to add.
Yes, thank you, and it's reallybeen so lovely having you.
Thank you so much for makingtime and telling us your unique
journey.
Thank you, alrighty.
Talk soon.
I'd like to thank today'ssponsor, heard City, the premier
(30:07):
audio post-production companyservicing the advertising,
motion picture and televisionindustries right here in NYC.
I'd also like to thank Antello,aka XON, for singing the she
Creates Noise theme that I wrote.
Thanks for listening to sheCreates Noise.
If you enjoyed this episode, besure to subscribe, rate and
(30:28):
share.
I want to thank the team hereBlair Reinly, jelena Stavanovich
, emily Wilson and the Master ofEngineering and Grammy-winning
Cooper.
Speaker 1 (30:37):
Anderson.
Speaker 3 (30:38):
We'll see you next time.
Speaker 1 (30:39):
She creates noise.
She creates noise.
We hear her voice.
She creates noise.
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