SONGSTRESS: Blue Raspberry
PLEASANTVILLE, NEW JERSEY | BLUE RASPBERRY
INTERVIEW TERRELL “REALIFE” BLACK
“So music is a passion of mine. Music is something that I love. Music is my safe haven. It is not my stress and it is not my main bread and butter because it’s not guaranteed. So that’s how I basically carried it.” - BLUE RASPBERRY
VALIDATED: For those who don’t know, can you give us a brief background on yourself?
BLUE RASPBERRY: Where do I start? Okay, Songstress for the Wu-Tang Clan, “Heaven and Hell”, “Rainy Dayz”, “Glaciers of Ice”, “Ice Cream”. Oh yeah, “Release Yo’ Delf”, “Mr. Sandman”. I did a lot of stuff.
VALIDATED: So, being from Pleasantville, New Jersey, what’s your earliest memory of Hip-Hop culture?
BLUE RASPBERRY: Yo, the first time—man, I’m about to show how old I am—the first time I even heard Rap, really, was, I guess before “Rapper’s Delight”. Do you remember that song that was like, “Must be the music turning me on...” That was the first Rap song that I heard.
VALIDATED: That’s dope.
BLUE RASPBERRY: And after that, you had “Jam On It”, all that came out. When “Rapper’s Delight'' came out, I went crazy. And then from there, it was just… I mean, it was probably like the late 70s when I really started. And I was little, but something drew me to Hip-Hop culture, you know, like I said, when I heard that first song from there, it was like… I used to have a little ladybug record player that I would carry around like a boombox. And I’d be playing super rhymes going down the street.
VALIDATED: Your stage name, “Blue Raspberry”, what’s the story behind that?
BLUE RASPBERRY: We had a session and RZA and them was still calling me “Candy”. So when we came out, it was like, “No, we got to think of a name for Candy.” And so Killah Priest was standing there, I think Hell Razah, Deck, I think Ghost was out there too. So RZA was like, “Yo, we got to think of a name,” and so Killah Priest was like… you know how he is, he looked up like, “Yo, when I look at you, I think of a Blue Raspberry.” And then everybody was like, “Ooh, he killed it.” And I’m sitting there like, “Blue Raspberry? Hey, if y’all like it, I love it.” And that’s how Blue Raspberry began.
VALIDATED: So, you were actually discovered by the Wu-Tang Clan. What can you tell us about that?
BLUE RASPBERRY: It was in Atlantic City at the Impact Convention. And I’m going to say this: they were at the Impact Convention on the side, but they didn’t show that. Anyway, so you know, we up in the casino and I’m singing and I’m getting off work. And I’m with a couple of my cousins, a couple of my friends and we were walking past. And I remember on the intercom “Somebody Loves You”, by Patti LaBelle was playing. And I was walking past because we were getting ready to go somewhere else, so I was walking past, and I was singing, and I just heard somebody be like, “Yo, yo,” and I think it was Ghost. And turned around like, “Yo, was that you singing?” I said, “Yes.” So I believe it was Ghost, Deck, Raekwon, and it was a couple of others from the entourage that was down there.
And at first, I got kind of silent because I would sing when I would feel like nobody’s watching. But when you ask me, I would get shy. And so my cousin was like, “Oh, her name is Candy. You better sing for them. You don’t know who it is?” I don’t know who it is. They had bandanas on their heads and stuff like that, I’d never seen them. So I ended up singing and they was like, “We want you to go meet our producer. He’s upstairs.” So we went up there and it was RZA. And the room smoky as hell. I remember going in there, Genius and Meth was in there and a couple other people. And RZA heard me and then sat down and he told me, he said, “Not if, but when we blow, when we come out, we’re taking you with us.” And I was like, “Cool, all right.”
And we stayed in touch and everything. And it’s like before I even knew it, everything just became “Wu-Tang, Wu-Tang,” and my mom was like, “Wait a minute, isn’t that the group that you're…?” I was like, “Yeah.” So, I really didn’t think too much about it. But Raekwon and Ghost, they would always come to Pleasantville, they’d come get me, I’d go back to Staten Island. I’d be in the basement with RZA. He kept me under his wing. And just before things started happening, like they always had my back. I did Showtime at the Apollo. I won three straight times. The last time that I won, we’re outside and I hear the guys go, “There’s a bunch of guys in army suits running up the fire escape,” and came out and it was RZA and them. I was like, “Oh, wow, they came out here.” So, you know from that point, he told the people there, he was like, “Showtime at the Apollo, she don’t need this, she Wu-Tang.”
So, a little bit after that, that’s when RZA called me, he said, “Yo, you ready?” I was like, ‘Yeah.” And so when I went back up there to the studio, that’s the first time I went in to record “Heaven and Hell”, which came out on the “Fresh” soundtrack… the movie, “Fresh”, and it was on from there. Like I said, he kept me under his wing, being RZA, Buddha Monk, all of them used to be in the living room playing “Samurai Shodown”. It was just a family thing.
VALIDATED: I know you mentioned a few of the songs in the beginning, but what are a few of the most notable Wu-Tang albums that you are part of?
BLUE RASPBERRY: “The Purple Tape”, “Tical”, even Cappadonna’s “The Pillage”, Gravediggaz.
VALIDATED: So, when I came across you on social media, the first thing that popped in my head was “Release Yo’ Delf”. Your range, like, musical background? Does it run in your family? Were you singing in a choir? Or it was just…?
BLUE RASPBERRY: I didn’t even go to church. My mother could sing. My aunt used to sing at different places. And as a baby, she would take me with her and to their practices, band rehearsals and everything. So really, at a young age, there’s like… this was back in the day when you could sing at the club. And she used to watch me all the time, so the baby was backstage, that was me. And that’s how I came into it, like, I started mimicking songs, they said, when I was like two years old, from Chaka Khan, Minnie Riperton, Patti LaBelle, Aretha Franklin, Diana Ross, and I kind of came up in a Motown household.
So other than that, when I was in fourth grade, I used to battle kids in singing after school and at lunch time. As I got older, I sang for my graduation. I was in the school choir for a little bit, but not really a singing background like that. I don’t know, I wanted to be an attorney, but it was like, singing— people have put me in shows and different things like that. I didn’t really have too much experience in the choir or anything like that. My background is being in a closed room with the lights out, with the music playing, acting like I’m on stage at a young age all the way up.
VALIDATED: So, to get into your music, your solo music, your debut solo album “Out of The Blue” dropped in 2005 through chambermusik.com. What was the response to the project? I know it was a little bit delayed.
BLUE RASPBERRY: It was really good but it was something that they wanted to put out and I really just did some songs, put it together, and put it out there. But it did real good. And then the mixtape that Ron G did for me, the “Bluminati”, that went crazy.
VALIDATED: And I believe that was 2010?
BLUE RASPBERRY: Yeah.
VALIDATED: So, between those two projects, how do you feel you grew as an artist?
BLUE RASPBERRY: Between those two projects and the one called “Within” that I put out a couple of years ago, I think I’ve really evolved and got comfortable with my stage performance and my arrangements and things like that, but a lot of my stuff is freestyle. I write sometimes, but I have to go in and do the hook and then freestyle the versus first and stuff like that, and then I’ll write off of that. But when I go into a studio, when I’m doing a song, it’s like, this is the reason why I put that one out as a mixtape, the one by Ron G. It’s freestyle, it’s saying how I feel… the reason why I don’t write is because I get behind the microphone and look at a paper of everything that I wrote down and I’d be in a completely different mood, and I’ll do something else. So, between those, I’ve evolved a lot. You know, changed my process up and everything of how I do business, how I handle my vocal arrangements.
VALIDATED: It’s got to be a good feeling to be famous but not famous at the same time. How is that? Like, you can walk down the street and nobody knows that you’re on some of the most iconic Hip Hop albums.
BLUE RASPBERRY: Until somebody says it.
VALIDATED: Right. Do you get upset?
BLUE RASPBERRY: No. I would rather it be like that. I can be me at the end of the day. I won’t have to worry about half the things other people worry about. I don’t have to stress because for one thing I had got out of my contract with Wu around ‘99 because I wanted to raise my children, so I put music on the backburner. And the reason I did that is because I don’t want to miss the first steps. I don’t want nobody watching my child looking at their first teeth come in, or when they’re sick, and they need their mother to take care of them and be there for them… prom, graduations, slips and falls, getting their driver's license and teaching them how to drive, everything. I wanted to be there. I didn’t want to be gone.
VALIDATED: I understand that.
BLUE RASPBERRY: So music is a passion of mine. Music is something that I love. Music is my safe haven. It is not my stress and it is not my main bread and butter because it’s not guaranteed. So that’s how I basically carried it. Because really, I have my music, but then also have a corporate career. So, I’m glad that it’s like that because I don’t have nobody watching me.
Now if I do a show and people know who I am, I could walk across the stage and if they know that Wu is performing, or they see a female up there, they’re going to go crazy, like, “Oh, that’s Blue Raspberry.” But if you see me on the street, I could just walk past and normally go grocery shopping, you wouldn’t know who I am. I like that.
VALIDATED: You ever had a situation where somebody recognized you as Blue Raspberry?
BLUE RASPBERRY: Yes, I did in Detroit.
VALIDATED: How did that go?
BLUE RASPBERRY: I was asked for my autograph. I mean, one guy when I did his show, he actually bowed down to me and I still get bashful and out the side of my mouth, I’m like, “Please get up, get up. Please get up. Don’t…” You know? That was cool. But I like being that silent type.
VALIDATED: No, definitely understand that. So you mentioned earlier that you came up in the Motown era and you also mentioned a couple of vocalists, but which vocalists inspired your style and what if anything did you borrow from them?
BLUE RASPBERRY: Oh, man, each one that I mentioned inspires my style. And I take a little from each and that’s how I used to practice my vocals and that’s how my range got how it is. I know a lot of people, not taking anything away from anybody, but they want to bring back a sound that is a cause for a piece of that authenticity. So I keep that with me. Every piece that I used to hear when I was younger when people were at their prime, I keep it with me, and that’s what I do when I sing, it’s like, I feel like I want to call on the ancestors you know, because it’s a lot more to me than just doing a song or remaking a song and letting that be there. I keep every piece so when I do a song that may sound like something they would do or something like that, I may throw a note in there or something like that, just so they know, okay, you inspired me.
VALIDATED: To kind of show homage?
BLUE RASPBERRY: Yeah, matter of fact, the project I’m working on now is called “Homage”. Actually, I’m in and out the studio right now trying to get my album done. I just did a few songs with Inspectah Deck, that’s really dope. I just recorded a song on one of Focus over on the West Coast, one of his songs. I got a song with me and Geechi Suede from Camp Lo. I got a song on this album that Raekwon dropped two 16’s on that I’ve got to finish.
VALIDATED: Nice. I was going to ask, do you do any songs outside the family? Like do you do features with other artists and stuff like that?
BLUE RASPBERRY: I do. So, me and Tragedy Khadafi did one a few years ago, “Cinematic Gunplay”. I work a lot with Apathy.
VALIDATED: Yeah, I saw some stuff with you and Apathy.
BLUE RASPBERRY: Yeah, matter of fact, I have something where I’ve got a little surprise on his album, it’s a feature that’s on there that I’m not even going to mention. But all I’m saying is when it comes, people gonna’ be like, “Oh.” I’m going to hold that.
VALIDATED: So outside of the album that you’re working on, what does the remainder of 2022 look like for you?
BLUE RASPBERRY: 2022 is going to be… I give it the summertime, it’s going to be crazy because that’s when I’m looking towards the release… It’s going to be crazy. And like I said, there’s a surprise on there. As a matter of fact, oh, it’s a couple of them. But compared to the other ones, I feel like… You remember on Friday like, “This shit right here. This shit right here…”
VALIDATED: Now what you’re putting out is independent? It’s your own?
BLUE RASPBERRY: Yeah.
VALIDATED: That’s dope. You’re not signed, you’re a free agent.
BLUE RASPBERRY: I don’t want to be signed.
VALIDATED: That’s great. That way you can move how you want to move. So, what’s your social media contacts?
BLUE RASPBERRY: Oh, @theofficialblueraspberry on Instagram. “Candy Blue Raspberry Lindsay” on Facebook and it’s also “Blue Raspberry Wu Tang” on Facebook.
VALIDATED: Any last word for the people?
BLUE RASPBERRY: In a few more months the official site will be up. The words for the people is whatever you do, be good at it, be good with it, do it and don’t slack, or whatever you set your mind to, go for it. Sometimes you may fall but you going to have to fall to get up to know what not to do again. Know your business and if people sign anything or anything like that, make sure that they get it looked over and they never lose their freedom and creativity under their contract and keep your masters. Watch your paperwork and keep your grass cut because them snakes are slithery.