Representin’: Atlanta
Sounds Like: Missy meets T.I.
In a world where female rappers have gone the way of the whoolly mammoth, Fiona Simone is something like a new species. Formerly signed to Universal, to say the emcee-writer has paid her dues would be an understatement. “The most important thing that I’ve learned is that if you’re in the music industry it has to be a passion, because it’s such a grind,” she says.
From writing for other artists, including Trina, to playing the waiting game with a major label, Simone has earned her industry stripes, but now she’s ready to turn her attention to the people. Buoyed by her “tomboy fresh” movement, which is vividly illustrated on her standout mixtape series, Ladies Room, her perspective is as fresh as her style. “Tomboy fresh is just any woman that’s really representing confidence,” the Miami native says. “It’s just you doing you and not compromising who you really are.”
While her mixtape series has caught the attention of commercial ears, she says her upcoming album, Detour, will take listeners in a different direction. “We’re taking a step left,” she says. “I’ve been compromising and appealing to the mainstream in a sense.”
Her single, “Grind From the Bottom,” reflects her current musical mission. “Everybody is looking for that radio or club single but when you think about hip-hop 10 years ago, it wasn’t like, ‘this is a club record’ — that’s not how artists created back then. Now everybody is in a box. What I’m trying to do is not even think in that scope and go with what I naturally do.” –j.h.
