Excerpt from Foxy Brown interview

F=Foxy Brown
S= James Spady

S: What are your favorite songs that you’ve composed? And what time of day do you find best to write songs?

F: My favorite songs?

S: Yes, your favorite songs that you’ve composed.

F: I compose all my songs!!! Let’s clear it up right now. And Jay-Z
will attest to that. Foxy Brown writes everything. But Jay-Z keeps
telling me that I should take it as a compliment that people think
that he is writing for me, because that means that my level of
writing is incredible. But, I mean, that has followed me through my
career. “No, she can’t possibly write something like that. That must
be Jay-Z.” And I just reunited with Jay-Z after a six-year
separation. So, it’s like, “Who was writing it during that period?”
My biggest, most critically acclaimed album, Broken Silence… And
that was the album that I decided to do incorporating my roots, my
cultural background. My parents are Trinidadian, and my fiancé is a
Jamaican. All my family… you know? That’s what I grew up on – that
Reggae culture. When I did that album the way I wanted to do it, as
opposed to doing the big pop record. And then I did a record called,
“Oh Yeah,” with Spragga Benz. And that record was my biggest record ever. So, I’ve stuck to that formula.

S: What time of day do you find best to compose?

F: Late at night. Late at night, and when I’m going through the
worst drama. That’s when I write the best songs.

S: Really? Are you serious?

F: Oh my God, oh my God. I can’t write when I’m happy. I don’t write
records when I’m happy! When I’m sad, it’s the emotions, it’s the
rhymes coming from that that people love about me. When I talk
about crashing my truck, almost committing suicide… All the things
I talked about were real. So…

S: But, you’ve always found ways of sustaining yourself, even when
tragedies nearly engulf you. That is also what people love about
Foxy. They continue to love you.

F: Yeah, that’s amazing to me. Because, I mean, I can’t believe
people care so much about me. I haven’t had an album out in five
years. My album came out in 2000. It’s actually six years, which is
crazy. There are not too many artists that can say that they are
still relevant without putting out an album in almost a decade.

S: When I interviewed the Jamaican Dancehall queen, Lady Saw, she
talked about your music.

F: Yeah, yeah.

S: When did you first start hearing Dancehall music?

F: Well, you know, my parents are stone-cold, born-and-raised
Trinidadians!!! Of course, when my parents came to New York, I was
born in a Caribbean household.

S: Where were they from, San Fernando or Port of Spain?

F: No, no, no. From Couva, from South. My mom’s from Couva. My dad’s from Morvant, and from St. Charles. I mean, I have a home there. And
I play Mas every year for Carnival. And so, like, I’m a West Indian.
I was just born in Brooklyn. But, you remember, Lauryn Hill, a good
friend of mine told me, she was like, “Foxy, that is your thing,
that Hip Hop/ Reggae thing. Stick to that. Nobody can do that
authentic as you do it.” That’s what makes me the happiest, doing
that. So, that is what I’m doing.

S: When did you first hear the steel bands, and which ones do you
remember hearing?

F: My father is a welder, one of the top welders in Trinidad. And he
makes steel [pans].

S: He makes steel drums?

F: Oh my God. He’s one of the best steel pan players ever.

S: What is your dad’s name?

F: My dad is Winston Cumberbatch and he is the wickedest welder. He
got a big shop in Brooklyn where he makes the pans. So, from young,
I wasn’t on the pan side, but I would play Mas and Bourkey. And wear
costumes. That’s my thing. I mean, I’m still… I’m very funny when I
go on tour, because I’m a West Indian baby, and I want my roti. Oh
God! And a lot of people can identify with that culture. But, what
pains me, is to see artists that don’t know nothin about it, trying
to do it. Not that people can’t experiment, but it sounds
inauthentic. It just sounds so ill to me when the artists who don’t
have any West Indian, not even a parent who is a West Indian, and
they try to, like, rap with the accent, and it sounds horrific to
me. Uh, God! It sounds bad. I mean, even Barrington Levy, who is
one of my best friends in the world, talks about that.

S: Do you know Barrington Levy like that?

F: He is one of my best friends. When I went through my hearing
thing – [Foxy lost 95% of her hearing, had a successful surgery,
and has now re-gained 90% of her hearing back] Barrington Levy,
Sizzla, and Baby Cham were my three best friends. They became my
brothers then. And then there’s my whole community in Soca – Alison
Hinds is family. They come over to eat. I have more friends in the
West Indian community than I do in Rap. It’s amazing. I’m a rapper,
but I have always wanted to be a Soca artist.

S: You wanted to be a Soca artist? Who were the Soca artists that
you enjoyed early on, and who are your favorite Soca artists?

F: Alison Hinds, Bunji Garlin… I used to like Machel Montano, but
I’m a Bunji girl. I like Bunji and Alison.

S: Who are your favorite Dancehall artists?

F: The best is Spragga and Sizzla. He was on my last thing, “Come
Fly with Me.” He’s amazing.

S: What about Buju Banton?

F: Oh my God! I had the biggest crush on Buju, would you believe?

S: No, you didn’t.

F: Oh my God, Buju was gorgeous. I’m going to tell you, man…

S: How did you, a Brooklyn born-and-bred girl, become so immersed in
Dancehall culture? How did that happen?

F: Brooklyn? Brooklyn is saturated with West Indians!!!

S: We’re here in Philly. You’ve got to tell the people about
Brooklyn.

F: No, man. Brooklyn is saturated with nothing but West Indians.
Flatbush, man? Nothing but! I’m telling you, my parents are still…
Every night, you have your oxtail, you have your dumplings, and you
have your Irish provisions. Every night, when I came in the house,
my parents were there. My mom is a school teacher, my dad is a
welder. I have parents who still live together in the same
household. So, I grew up very different than people would think. I
was born and reared very smart. I come from a very good and
well-versed family. I am glad I had that West Indian upbringing.
It’s totally different.

S: So, the household that you grew up, even though it was in
Brooklyn, was a West Indian home?

F: Oh my God! We grew up in a brownstone: my dad, my aunts, my
parents, my grandfather, and my granny. And then, there was the
other room with my aunties. It can’t be duplicated. Just the things
that they’ve done. I can just go home. I have a home in Brooklyn, no
matter what. I’m a Brooklyn girl...
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