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TEAM DIGITAL Q&A: KESHIA CHANTE

10.26.03

She�s may only be 15 years old, but she�s heating up the urban charts with her Tupac-influenced beats! Our chat with Keshia Chante proves she really is unpredictable!

Team Digital: You�ve mentioned that Tupac Shakur has had a huge influence on your music - do you have any favourite Tupac lyrics?

Keshia: "And since we all came from a woman, Got our name from a woman, And out game from a woman, I wonder why we take from our women" - it�s from Tupac�s �Keep Ya Head Up.� He�s talking about empowering women. My favourite Tupac song is �Dear Momma.�

Team Digital: You shook things up with Shawn Desman for the track �Shook-The Answer.� How did you guys hook up?

Keshia: We�re on the same record label. I met him and he was like "Let�s do a track together! How about you do an answer to my song?" It was just more of a joke but [the record company] ended up liking it, so we used it!

Team Digital: And now you�re on the road touring with Shawn - got any backstage dirt or gossip about him?

Keshia: He hates me! No, I�m just kidding! We have fights but they�re fun fights. Like we had a water fight - he threw water at me. I got him back by filling balloons with water and coke then throwing them at his car! We love beating on each other!

Team Digital: Sounds like fun! So you�re from Ottawa - what�s the Hip Hop scene like there?

Keshia: I think there are a lot of people in Ottawa who are very talented but who aren�t really getting the chance to show what they�ve got. I think [the scene] is gonna grow but at this point we only have one urban radio station. There�s a lot of local talent, but I haven�t heard a lot of the local urban talent on the radio.

Team Digital: So did you have to leave Ottawa to get started?

Keshia: Yeah, everyone is in Toronto, so I have to come here to get things done. I think Ottawa could do more if people were given the chance.

Team Digital: If you were given the chance to work with any artists out there, who would you pick?

Keshia: I actually got to work with Jully Black, Esthero and Graph Nobel for a track for War Child Canada�s �Keep The Beat� project. The song is called �Let Life Live� - that was cool. I would like to work with any artist - even In Essence, they�re crazy! They�re amazing! As far as producers, I�d like to work with Swizz Beats and Just Blaze and all those hot urban producers.

Team Digital: Cool! What did you learn from working with Jully, Esthero and Graph?

Keshia: It was very "Let�s get this done! No time to play around, this is for charity!" They�ve been working at it for a really long time and they�ve got to where they are now after a while and working hard. They showed me that you could do anything - not that I didn�t know that before, but they definitely proved it.

Team Digital: And now you�re proving it yourself!

� Want more Keshia Chante? Check out her artist feature!


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