Bucking the R rating

Colour Kelis reluctant about the "rap," "R&B" and "role model" tags

By GERARD DEE

It's snowing. In April. Not just snowing, it's damn near a blizzard outside. I mean, even for Montreal, that's fucked up. And to add insult to injury, Kelis (pronounced "kuh-lees"), the 20-year-old R&B wonder kid currently tearing up the charts with her debut album Kaleidoscope, tells me over the phone that she's taking advantage of the 29-degree Los Angeles heat to do some rollerblading. When I mention there's a foot of snow on the ground over here, she yells out to whoever can hear her, "Do you all understand that it's snowing in Montreal?!"

Next, she's schooling some of her posse about biting her style. "You have to understand," she explains, "there are these sneakers that you can't find anywhere, and now all my boys have them, every last one of them, but not me. And no one even noticed them before I wanted them. Now I don't have them and everybody else does."

When I give her props about being a role model and a fashion influence, she's not having it. "See, I don't really want to be--this is the point."

They love her so much right now

Little bit too late for that now. All eyes are already waiting to see what the woman behind the hit single "Caught Out There" will do next. That song, which boasts the unforgettable chorus "I hate you so much right now," and the video, produced by the ubiquitous Hype Williams, blew up so fast it caught the music industry off guard. Ironically, the song's angry tone received nothing but love from fans.

Furthermore, she wasn't shook by the fact that her first major release was being lumped in with other recent male-bashing hits, like TLC's "No Scrubs," or "Bills, Bills, Bills," from Destiny's Child. "I have a whole album," she says, "13 songs that are completely about something else."

Something else is right. Kaleidoscope serves up everything from gangsta love ("Mafia") to warnings about domestic violence("Ghetto Children"), the latter track doubling as a message to the music industry.

"The song is not just for kids listening to it," she says, "but for the people making the music right now. Just don't forget that someone is watching you, whether you want them to or not. So be a good example if you can."

Kelis is certainly a good example of how to make it against all odds. Born and raised in Harlem, NYC, by a jazz musician/minister father, she quit school and left home at 16. Though she eventually finished high school, she says she didn't get a lot of positive vibes about her decision. "I dropped out of school to pursue music and no one really supported that choice of mine. But I had to do what I thought was good for me. My niece, I love her to death, she's seven. And she looks to me like I'm this god. I look at her and I'm like, 'You can do anything you want to do.' Even if it sounds dumb to me--it could sound crazy to me. But I'm like, why not? Do it. Like, what benefit do I get out of telling her no, she can't? Why would I do that? But people did that to me."

Didn't stop her, though. After hooking up with rapper Ol' Dirty Bastard and providing dope vocals on his jammed-up "Got Your Money," she joined forces with longtime friends Chad Hugo and Pharell Williams--known collectively as production duo Neptune--for her first full-length set. "Recording, for me, was a new thing, so it was a bit complicated, so I really had to figure it out, find my niche. But they made it as easy as possible. We're really like family, we just work really well together."

The bracket racket

The work paid off. The album is a delicious mix of styles and sounds, ranging from the funky, feelgood "Good Stuff," (the second single in Europe) to the downbeat, almost new-age "Get Along With You" (the second single over here). Though Kelis has been dubbed an R&B artist, it's not a title she would place on herself.

"I feel like people are going to put me into a category anyway, why should I bother putting myself into a box? I'm not a rapper. However, being called a hip hop artist is a different situation because I mean it's part of my generation, so I don't mind. It's black music, so if that means it has to be bracketed into hip hop for anyone to understand, then fine. I'm not calling it anything because I don't have to, I feel people are going to do that for me. I'm just a regular old singer, like, regular old Kelis until someone decided that I should go in the R&B section in HMV."

Not only is her own music eclectic, so are her musical tastes. She grew up listening to jazz greats like Sarah Vaughn and Ella Fitzgerald, but these days cites Bjoerk as one of the artists getting heavy spin in her home. And then, of course, there's hip hop. Biggie and Dr. Dre are two of her favourites, but she listens to a wide variety of people. It's not about just diggin' their style; she's in awe of the effect hip hop culture has had world wide. "You've got white kids in, like, Germany, wearing baggy pants, talkin' about 'word up.' It definitely has an influence, a strong one, across the world. It's amazing."

When it's time to talk about her own stuff, though, she's considerably more low-key. "Me thinking my music's going to change the world? No. I mean, anything is possible, but that's not why I did it. Like, 'I'm going to change the world with this song.' A song is a song. That wasn't part of the plan."

Natural wrongs

Another thing that wasn't planned was her having as much creative control on her album as she did. She says the record company wasn't prepared for her coming to the table with so many ideas. She isn't shy to say that she thinks her age may have had something to do with that. And the fact that she's a woman.

"I think that being a woman in life, just period, is hard. It's a male-dominated world, just like it's a white-dominated world. But because I've never been anything else, I really can't compare. It's my assumption, because I can't imagine it being this hard for everybody."

As hard as it's been, Kelis has to admit she's getting somewhere, and where that put her. "Those of us that have made it out look back and remember that your niece is looking at you, and your neighbours. You know what, I don't think I'm qualified to be a role model, but I am one. It's inevitable. So to me, I'm kinda screwed because I have to watch what I say, and like, I'm not good at that. These are things that I didn't prepare for."

She has this caveat for anyone looking to her for guidance. "Don't copy me because I don't have all the answers. But if you do decide that you like the way I do things, then copy the fact that I am who I am comfortably. I recognize that I'm not perfect and I recognize that I have many flaws and issues, but I'm honest and I try.

"I think we naturally do wrong, so it's a conscious effort to try to be a good person all the time. Trust me, I'm going to get into trouble. I'm always doing something wrong. It's not on purpose. As long as I feel that I'm being honest and not trying to put out negative stuff, then I think I'm left less accountable." :