Interview With Chelsea Jane

Photo Courtesy of Michelle Grace Hunder

In the world of the underground, a lot of artists want to break through the mold and become the next hottest sensation.  The daily grind and dedication usually pays off when an artist generates a buzz in which those individuals have people paying attention and supporting their movement.   It’s time for the hip hop world to pay attention to Australia’s Chelsea Bredhauer who goes by the hip hop name of Chelsea Jane.  Chelsea first sparked interest with her fiery lyrics when she was featured on Atlien Workshop’s  mixtape “First Contact”.  Now with the release of her video “Good Evening” featuring Ness Lee, which is making waves on YouTube.  Chelsea has just released her six song EP “Queen Of The Hill”.   Solovibes kicks it with Chelsea Jane as she discusses her new EP, receiving crazy fan mail, rap battles, and Atlien Workshop.

Sincere: Chelsea, tell us how you got started and what artists did you listen to when you were growing up?

Chelsea Jane:  I actually grew up in a small town south-west Queensland called Charleville.  It's not like I was born into a hip hop family at all, my dad is super country and my mum isn't musical by any means.

It wasn’t until I was about 12 or so when my parents bought a furniture shop which also sold CD’s.  That was my first real introduction to music.  But even then I wasn’t listening to hip hop.  I grew up on my mums roxxette tapes and Dad's monty python soundtrack haha.

I was introduced to hip hop through the battle scene nearly two years ago, until then I would just listen to what was on the radio and it's funny now, I hate most of what is on radio nowadays, and yet I work at a radio station. Haha! 

Sincere:  The first time I’ve ever heard your music, you rhymed over D.I.T.C’s instrumental “Enemy” along with the Atlien Workshop.  Anyone who rhymes over that track has to rip it apart.  All of you definitely hold your own.   How did you link up with Atlien Workshop?

 
Chelsea Jane:  Before I met up with the ATLien Workshop, I had formed an online relationship with them all (Sonny, Hemi, Ness, Tasha and 24/7) so we were homies before I flew out. But at the time I was visiting my brother who was in Canada whilst the KOTD WD3 was on and it made sense to go to Atlanta and meet up with them before flying home. We didn’t actually plan to even do a track, we were just sitting around and hemi kind of persuaded me to do a verse. That was the first verse I ever recorded, wrote it in about 20min, and I think that’s why people started talking, all because of that verse so thank you ATLien Workshop!

Sincere: You have just released your new video “Good Evening” featuring Ness Lee with great fan fare and your EP “Queen Of The Hill” was just released March 29th.  Are you happy with the response so far?

Chelsea Jane: The response has been crazy.  It's really ideal that I dropped the "Good Evening" video, then I won the Hilltop Hoods Initiative because they announced it and linked my video everywhere. The next day, the EP dropped so timing could not have been better to say the least. 

Sincere: Mules Mecca produced your first single “Good Evening”.  Did Mules Mecca produce the whole EP and how did the both of you met?

 

Chelsea Jane: Yes, Mules produced the whole EP and did an amazing job.  Mules is my everything, he has stood by me and has had so much faith in me from the start.  I met mules on twitter actually, he was producing for Prime, who is one of my favorite rappers and we just started talking, I sent him a shitty freestyle I did at home and he obviously saw something in me ha.

Sincere: Are there plans for a second video from your EP?

 

Chelsea Jane: YES! We are about to drop a video for ‘Queen of the Hill’’ so make sure you check it out!  It’s a completely different vibe to ‘Good Evening’ I love it. 

Sincere: The song “By Surprise” I have posted on my blog is one of the many hot songs on your EP.   You really killed it with your flow and witty word play.  What was the thought process when you were creating the record?

   

Chelsea Jane: Thank you. To be honest, I just wanted to show a range of flows and content on the EP and I think ‘’By Surprise’’ was a good way to showcase that.  The thought process, well I don’t really think too much when I write.  I just hear the beat and whatever comes out comes out.  It’s not a deep or emotional track.  I wasn’t really thinking that much haha!  Ordinarily, I wrote ‘By Surprise’ to a Wizard beat then changed it up, but with most of my tracks, they are written very fast so I just go by the beat and what I feel. 

Sincere: What separates your style from other artists?

Chelsea Jane: Ummm…Ness (Lee) describes me as an instrument that has never been heard.  There are very few rappers, especially females who have clever content, flow well and have that ‘don’t fuck with me’ delivery.  As far as style, I am very flexible.  I'm a woman, there are so many sides to me and I think I put that in my music and I get away with having vast range.

Sincere: You were a guest judge at the “Got Beef” rap battles in Sydney and Adelaide in 2012.  Have you participated in a rap battle?

Chelsea Jane: For sure, I have a lot of love for "Got Beef".  I still co-host and judge for them.  I have a lot of time for the battle rap community, it's really developing into a new culture and a lot more people are getting involved, which is great.  I have not battled yet, I do get called out a lot.  However, it's not my path at this point in time.  All I care about is music, I want to live off music, battling is fun to watch and a lot of my homies live off of it, but it's not something for me at this stage. 

                                               

Sincere: I've always believed we need more women in hip-hop. However, due to politics and sexism that goes on some women just don’t want to deal with it.  Have you faced any sexism and what makes you keep pushing the bar?

Chelsea Jane: Oh yeah for sure, everyday haha! I don’t think there is ever a day where I'm not!  I never react to it, but I don’t feel there is any need to react, I don’t need to justify why I do my thing.  Hip Hop needs more strong independent female icons and if I plan to be one that is exactly what I need to be. I keep pushing the bar because I love to prove people wrong and it all comes back to the love of the music too. 

Sincere: You’re the winner of the 2013 Hilltop Hoods Initiative in which you’ve won $10 grand which will be used to promote your new album in November.  What was going through your mind when you’ve won?

Chelsea Jane: Suffa called me and said ‘’Chelsea, you have won, congratulations! You deserve it…’’ and I was thinking this can't be happening surely, I still can't explain the feeling, and I can't even recall everything I said it's all blurry.  Then, it started to sink in when the tweets/facebook/blogs started writing about me. That was a moment I thought ‘OK, shit just got real’.

Sincere: In Australia, Melbourne’s underground hip-hop scene is popular.  Who is really making some noise in Melbourne that we should look out for?

Chelsea Jane: Because I live on the Gold Coast, I'm not really aware of everything that is happening in Melbourne, but its definitely where hip hop lives in Australia and there is always emerging talent.

Sincere: If the opportunity presents itself, would you sign with a major label or stay in the indie route?

Chelsea Jane: It's hard to say no for certain just because I don’t know what the future holds. But I do know that I have the best team for me. I know everything that a label can do I know my team can do so at this stage, no.

Sincere: Are there any artists you would like to work with in the future?

Chelsea Jane: There are plenty of artists I want to work with.  I have found out that it's one thing to make a track with someone, but to actually make a really good friendship through music is something else.  I am always sending concepts/tracks to people in my close circle asking for advice.  Of course, I would want to do something with the Hilltop Hoods not just because I won the initiative, but because they are legends who have worked extremely hard and make great music, I respect that.  Prime is another artist I would want to work with simply because I'm influenced by him a lot and he is just crazy talented.  I'm pretty sure he's not human. 

Sincere: Any plans to come to the states to perform?

Chelsea Jane: Haha!  I get asked that a fair bit. I think I will tour my own country first then make my way over for sure. I love the states, definitely wouldn’t complain about touring over there!

Sincere: With great fanfare comes with a mixture of weird request from fans.  Have you received any bizarre fan mail?

Chelsea Jane: Yes! I get crazy fan mail everyday.  One of the craziest ones was probably when a guy told me he bust a nut in his $5,000 versace suit everytime he looks on my page and would I do him the honor of being his 4^th wife.  I know right? Its all a very romantic and tempting. haha

Sincere: That's crazy....What do you do on your spare time outside of music?

Chelsea Jane: To be honest I don’t really have a life outside of music!  If I'm not working on music I am spending time with my friends and family.  Sorry, I'm not that interesting outside music.

Sincere: What advice would you give to upcoming artists trying to break into this game?

Chelsea Jane: I would say, work hard, and stay hungry.  No matter how big or talented an artist is, there is always room for improvement.  Keep an open mind, be open for ideas.  I keep seeing a lot of artists who have been rapping for 10+ years and are bitter they aren't major yet.  I think there comes a time where if you are applying the same method to your craft and getting no where, then you need to switch it up.  So always be open to new approaches to your music, but still do you.

Sincere: Thank you for allowing me to interview you.  Before we wrap things up, do you have any shoutouts and is there anything you would like to say to your fans?

Chelsea Jane: Yeah! Big shouts to everyone who bought my EP ‘Queen of the Hill’ this is the very beginning so stay tuned!  This album I’m working on is the next level and thank you for all the love. 

Follow @ItsChelseaJane on Twitter
www.facebook.com/ChelseaJaneMusic

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