Call Her Name

Deandra Kamesha Joshua, aka “Deandra Rapscallion” is an artist/ blogger with thousands of views on Facebook and is featured on the song “Calling My Name” with local hip hop act Chromatics.

The 20-year-old from Old Road, Arima visited Sunday Newsday last week to speak about her path to music and following her destiny.

Joshua is bursting with energy and speaks almost as fast as she raps.

From about age four she was receptive to music and says she would always be singing and dancing along. As young as age 11 she was “mumbling stuff” and singing various lines. At that time she would sing pop songs, Disney songs and calypso, “because I’m a soca baby”.

She began rapping at about age 12 or 13 and she referred to rap as “American music”.

“I really had no knowledge about it. I’m still learning. Because I’m not a rapper,” she stressed.

She realised that she wanted to be a singer but did not have “much of an outstanding voice”.

“And I could rap so I was like ‘okay fine I am going to be the first female rapper (ever),” she said.

Then she learned there were female rappers at that time so she adjusted her plan to be “the first female rapper from Trinidad”.

“And then Nicki (Minaj) came and killed my dream when I was about 14. She take my title,” she quipped.

Her dream was adjusted again to “first female rapper from Trinidad.

Born, bred Trinidadian”. On local female rappers she said there are others but you would only know them if you are in the industry and they can be considered “underground artistes”.

INFLUENCES AND BIAS Growing up she was exposed to a variety of music but is currently drawn to “old school music”, and describes some contemporary music as “trash” that “does not make any sense”.

“And I think that influences the way I write today as well versus the (unintelligible sounds) that going now. Old school just had the love, the vibe, the passion, the hard work I guess. Everything now is just corrected by technology. Long time had the talent. So I grew up on the talent,” she said.

Asked who she would be listening to back then, she said there was no one artist religiously but she would like specific songs. She did, however, make special mention of rappers The Notorious B.I.G., Tupac Shakur, hip hop duo Eric B And Rakim and rap group Naughty by Nature. She said as an artist you may find yourself drawing unconsciously or writing unconsciously.

Growing up, her family was not heavy on technology, but they had “pen and paper and boredom, which works together”.

She recalled winning an extempo competition at Bishop Anstey East and her schoolmates surprised reaction that a girl had emerged the winner.

“We have a bias with genders.

Then it was like ‘what she come up and could possibly do?’. And then it is the Deandra factor of wowing them and saying ‘that is what I’m going to do’.” She said people usually presume a female rapper is “mess” or “a waste of time” but she is able to prove them wrong.

And what inspired her stage name? She chose “Rapscallion” because it means a “mischievous person”, which suits her personality.

The “rap” in the word was a bonus.

Originally she was just Rapscallion, subsequently adding her first name for convenience and familiarity.

Joshua began her career by posting videos -- rapping and spoken word -- online. “Yeah I like to talk,” she said.

Her first video to create a buzz was the song “You better watch” which sought to inspire young people and give a warning about life and love. She said people were amazed by the positivity she was able to bring across, though she prefers not to be put in a box as a “positive artist or a role model”.

Meanwhile, her parents were unaware of what she was doing until she had her first television interview.

Their reaction was that she was doing something good because she was on television.

After seven consecutive years at school, Joshua took a year off during which time she released the song “Wildstylin’ Part 1” which has had the most successful response of all her songs to date. The opportunities for interviews came pouring in.

GOING TO THE EXTREME She said a lot of people had been “hitting me up” about collaborations, “but if they approach the wrong way it makes no sense”.

Chromatics, who had first approached her when she was 17, told her that he had a song for her -- “Calling My Name”. It was not his usual hip hop style, but it was “suitable for us” as it was vibrant. It was also relevant to her as television stations were “calling my name”.

She believes that the song was so successful because of its “passion and pureness”. She had recorded songs before but “Calling My Name” was the first one that was “taken to the extreme”.

Asked to describe her style, she said “comedic, realistic and relatable”, adding that she does not often write about her own experience.

She would not divulge the “secret recipe” for her songs but did reveal that her peak time was about midnight to 1am.

“Rap is not something that I am the most enthusiastic about because I want to create like my own genre, which was something that was good working with ‘Matics.

Because when I heard some of the things he had coming up, he understood the concept of making up a Caribbean rapper you could say.” She explained that there are fusions in music, with even soca influencing foreign music. She pointed to Canadian rapper Drake’s latest album Views, with its Caribbean- infused tracks and Jamaican samples.

“And that’s why I wouldn’t really say that I’m a rapper. Because people feel you have to spit in a foreign accent. Or spit in a Trinidadian accent and people tend to have very conflicting views about that,” she said.

“My things is I do it how I want to do it. And that’s what people like.

Generally that’s how I am. I do me and that is what people seem to like.” Her priority now is to release a mix tape and she would also love to delve into soca. Her focus is on being an artist and putting her song out on social media, not struggling to get her song played on the radio.

“Let them come to me,” she reasoned.

Asked if this may turn out to be her full time career, she lamented that in TT you have to do something else to survive, although MusicTT is putting things in place to assist music artists.

“Come follow your dreams to make your dreams work,” she added.

To listen to her music you can check her YouTube channel Deandra Joshua, on Facebook at Deandra Rapscallion and on Instagram at original rapscallion. To book Deandra Rapscallion you can email bookings@chromaticsmusic.com.