GUESS WHO’S BACK: PAULA PERRY
BROOKLYN, NEW YORK | PAULA PERRY
INTERVIEW TERRELL “REALIFE” BLACK
If you’re a true fan of female mcs from the 90s then Brooklyn’s Paula Perry’s name should ring bells. From her in your face delivery, to her no holds barred rhymes, her skills earned her a spot on Masta Ace’s “Masta Ace Inc.” roster in the mid 90s. She proved to be much more than just a token female crew member, venturing out on her own, with her debut single "Paula's Jam," which was a huge underground hit. It was followed by a slew of other singles, including "Extra, Extra" produced by DJ Premier.
Recently Paula Perry signed with iGet@Em Media Group and is back in the studio working on new music, including her upcoming record “Guess Who’s Back”. Validated sat down with Paula Perry to discuss her history in the rap game, thoughts on 90s Hip Hop artists making new music, getting back in the studio and more.
VALIDATED: For those who aren’t familiar with your story, who is Paula Perry?
PAULA PERRY: Paula Perry is that street girl from Fort Greene projects. I had the single “Paula’s Jam”. I used to be down with Masta Ace Incorporated, the INC. Back when I was about 18, 19, I met Masta Ace, he took me on tour. I was traveling with the INC probably for about 6 years before I got my solo deal. So I was tied to Murphy first, I used to work with Mr. Cee. I completed a whole album throughout the Polygram system.
VALIDATED: So, as you mentioned, you’re from Brooklyn, being from Brooklyn, what’s your earliest memory of Hip-Hop culture?
PAULA PERRY: My earliest memory of Hip-Hop culture is the jams, it’s the jams outside, everybody just getting together beatboxing and rhyming, making beats on the desk, you feel me? And it’s just that cycle, it’s that love, and it’s that feeling of wanting to belong to something. And back then in the 90s, it was more like a family, in oppose to what’s going on now, everybody’s in competition with one another, you know, as far as the new generation of Hip-Hop.
VALIDATED: No, I definitely agree with that. So, what was it about early on that pulled you in to make you want to say, “Hey, I think I can do this.”?
PAULA PERRY: The excitement of it all. My cousins from Harlem, a lot of my cousins were djing and stuff, so I was always around it. My mother worked in the club. So, my thing is it was just in me, it was like the feeling of Hip Hop, the feeling of that. And what I used to do was I used to listen to all the early Hip Hop music as far as like Sweet Tee, everybody, Roxanne Shante. And I would actually write their lyrics down, and all of us was doing it, just to see who can rap it the best. Roxanne Shante was one of the most influential female rappers of all time; her and Sweet Tee and Salt-N-Pepa back then.
VALIDATED: So, you gravitated more towards the female mcs?
PAULA PERRY: Yes, and also the guy mcs too like Rakim, of course, pretty much everybody, Dana Dane, Juice Crew, everybody that was hot back then, out and noticeable, I was a fan of. There’s space in Hip Hop for everybody, but I love all types of Hip Hop, I love all types. It’s just I can’t listen to the same type of new Hip Hop.
VALIDATED: No, I agree. So, as you mentioned earlier, you were introduced to the rap world through the Hip Hop crew Masta Ace Inc., also known as the INC, which was formed by Masta Ace, how did that opportunity come about?
PAULA PERRY: Well, I met Masta Ace through a cousin of mine, Pop, he introduced me, and also Uneek, Eyce and Rokkdiesel.
Rokk, he brought me around him too, and they were down with Masta Ace first. So, I met Master Ace one day, spit for him, he was blown away, and he asked me to be down with the crew, probably like a month later.
VALIDATED: Oh, dope, what jewels did you pick up from working with him?
PAULA PERRY: The form of writing, just a lot of stuff. He told me to use Paula Perry, that’s my real name, he told me told me to use that as my rap name. He pretty much polished me, he pretty much just put me out there to the world. Before I met him, I was one of his biggest fans.
VALIDATED: So, what were you going by before you went by you real name?
PAULA PERRY: Paula P. or whatever they called me.
VALIDATED: So, Masta Ace Inc. debut album, “Slaughter House” was released in ‘93 on Delicious Vinyl, what was the response to the album?
PAULA PERRY: Oh, it was dope. I mean, it was like what, certified gold? Like, we was traveling the world, we was doing shows with everybody, Death Row, everybody. So, a lot of people don’t know the history of that, but Ace put me out there forefront. So, a lot of these cats now that’s big, they’re actually fans of mine, a lot of people don’t know that. Boys like Kanye and all of that.
VALIDATED: Do you remember what was running through your mind at the time, were you nervous?
PAULA PERRY: At first, I was scared, because I was used to being home working, coming home, doing what I had to do. And I was hanging out with Nikki D, Latifah and everybody anyways, so I was already whatever. And I was like, “Oh.” So I talked to my mother about it, and she’s like, “Go ahead, Paula, go see the world, go out there and get your stuff.” So I was like, “Okay,” so I went.
VALIDATED: That’s dope. So, you had the support of your family right away?
PAULA PERRY: Yeah, definitely, and my hood, everybody, they used to call me Gucci Girl, back then they called me superstar, just because of my essence, I guess. I don’t tell nobody I rap unless they ask me, I’m too old to brag about anything. This is the business right here, and I’m doing it more for the fun of it and the passion. So, I know if I do too much of something, it might be too overwhelming, so I’m going to try to slow down a little bit.
VALIDATED: Are you still rapping, writing new material?
PAULA PERRY: Oh, yeah, what? You know how I get down.
VALIDATED: Yeah, so, most got familiar with you through your debut single, “Paula’s Jam”, released in ‘96 by Loose Cannon, the single was a huge underground success. What did that record do for your career?
PAULA PERRY: It launched everything else, it walked me into other situations, other deals and stuff like that. It just opened the door for other opportunities, as it was made to do.
VALIDATED: Being a female artist in the mid 90s in a male dominated industry, was it difficult for you to move how you wanted to move because you are a female MC?
PAULA PERRY: Yeah, like at one point, I did catch a roadblock, but it wasn’t because I was a female MC, it was because I didn’t have the power that certain people had in the industry. Some of these people is the same people I used to deal with every day. So, it’s like as long as they’re with me, and as long as they know what I’m doing, they got time to infiltrate. So, what it is is I’m pretty much a quiet person unless you rouse me up. So, I can be in a crowd and you won’t even know I’m there, everybody will just be looking for me, and I’m right there. But at the end of the day, I do stand my ground, and I am a strong force in my own way, it’s like we all are.
VALIDATED: I know you were mentioning that you’re still doing music. After all this time and your experience with the industry, what’s kept you motivated to still create new music?
PAULA PERRY: Well, actually when I was going through a lot of things, Chico Del Vec from Junior M.A.F.I.A, that’s one of my good friend’s, he’s like a brother. He had introduced me to Dennis Mac, which he was managing him, so Dennis Mac had started looking into my situation for him. And he started putting pieces together and making phone calls, got his lawyer, Gerard, they helped me out. And we just started building together. So, we’re working together now, and right now it’s just the sky’s the limit, the doors is knocking down for different opportunities, we’ve just got to put it out there. So, I’ve got a situation now with Cleopatra Records, but this whole dilemma with Universal is pretty much keeping me from generating the money that I need.
So, they’ve got to straighten that out. Meanwhile I still got four other things on the table, and I’m pretty much doing this because they want me to do it. I don’t got to do this, I got other artists that I’m looking into to do this.
VALIDATED: I hear you.
PAULA PERRY: And we dying younger and younger these days, and in Hip Hop right now, they don’t give a fuck about our health, we got to care about that.
VALIDATED: Mental and physical.
PAULA PERRY: After you dead, your record is still selling.
VALIDATED: And they’re still making money off of it.
Paula Perry: Whether you dead or whether you’re alive. And everybody think it’s cute to be sitting there mistreating women by, exploiting them and beating them up because you want to be dominant. It’s a damn same what’s going on.
VALIDATED: You’ve worked with legendary Hip Hop MCs and producers, including DJ Premier, Masta Ace, The Lost Boys, Heavy D, Rah Digga, Bahamadia, Domingo, Easy Mo Bee and Clark Kent. That’s an impressive resume, did I miss anybody you’d like to mention?
PAULA PERRY: Yeah, but that’s to be announced. But I worked with a whole lot of people.
VALIDATED: Are there any Hip Hop artists that you’d like to work with?
PAULA PERRY: Yeah, I pretty much like to work with everybody, you know what I mean? There is space in music for everybody. I would like to do a song with Foxy Brown though. I love Foxy.
VALIDATED: You’re a female first before an artist, how do you feel the roles have changed from when you were doing music initially to what you see now?
PAULA PERRY: When you have to get naked and rub each other as women to impress these niggas. A lot of these guys wasn’t as perverted as they are now, a lot of things that was in the dark was coming to light. There was a lot of things that people thought that I didn’t know, but I always knew, it just ain’t none of my business.
VALIDATED: From an artist’s standpoint, you’ve seen a lot and gone through a lot in your career, what’s the one piece of advice you’d give to your younger self?
PAULA PERRY: Be careful who you got in your circle, read the contract well, have somebody to represent you. If you don’t know everything, it’s okay to ask questions. Don’t battle everything. If you have to go through a battle with a person, then you know it’s not worth it. So, at the end of the day, all of that stuff and all that hurt, and all that pain that I was carrying around, I let it go, and I’m here to make music. So, everybody just be fair, get along, and let’s do this. 90s Hip-Hop, my fellow artists, let’s take our seats, let’s take this music back. And there’s enough room for everyone.
VALIDATED: Being a fan of Hip-Hop first, how ironic is it to see all of these artists from the 90s and early 2000s making new music?
PAULA PERRY: I love it. It’s a real good feeling
VALIDATED: I feel like Hip-Hop took a turn.
PAULA PERRY: But everything comes back around. So, I’ve always had that feeling it was going crazy but it was going to get back to normal sooner or later. Sometimes things have to happen to where people just got to sit back and see what’s in front of them and see what’s happening, and see what’s making each situation work. If you don’t fix it now, then who knows? But it’s going the right direction now.
VALIDATED: So, your “Tales from Fort Knox” album under Mass Sounds Recordings, I know initially it wasn’t released, and then eventually it was. How did the album do?
PAULA PERRY: Well, the same thing, that album’s been up there on the market with Mass Sounds for years. So, whatever, you know what I mean? Little ASCAP checks in there, but the thing is now that everybody is selling it, the money’s going this way, the money’s going that way. Streaming, it’ll take you forever to reach a hundred dollars when people stream.
VALIDATED: I know you grew up in Brooklyn, what influenced your flow, and what’s the motivation behind it?
PAULA PERRY: What influenced my flow was pretty much me, like being around my dudes, hearing their slang, hearing their lingo, them giving me a couple of lines to spit, you know what I mean? So, as I’m doing that, I’m just developing my own way, before I just took me and how I was in the street and just implemented it in my music. Now I’m too old to be with the guns and all that crap, I had to put those down a long time ago. When you have a child, when you got to worry about having a gun under your child’s stroller, because people who want to be jealous because you’re getting money.
VALIDATED: For the fans that are looking to follow and find out more about Paula Perry, how can they do so?
PAULA PERRY: Well, they can go to my Instagram, @paulaperry101. My YouTube definitely, P1232. My Twitter, yeah, PaulaPerry.M1, my Facebook, Paula Perry. Google me and everything will come up. My LinkedIn page, just click on my LinkedIn and all the links are right there to all my sites.
VALIDATED: What can we expect from Paula Perry for the remainder of the year?
PAULA PERRY: After I’ve sorted a couple of things out, I might be signing. Also, I still got the Cleopatra situation going on, they’re still going to be selling “Tales from Fort Knox”. I’m working out something for CDs and vinyl.