Listen Up: Shanell's single is 'so good'
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By Mike McCrayStaff writer
You would think delivering rapper Lil Wayne one of the biggest hits of the last decade - "A Milli" - through personal connections would be enough, but singer Shanell still has more to prove.
While she doesn't have the name recognition of label mates Drake, Nicki Minaj or Tyga, her talents have been invaluable to Young Money/Cash Money's rise and success.
"What people don't realize is I was around when it was created," Shanell said. "It was created with these ingredients, and I was one of the main ingredients. Now that people have signed in and on, I'm one of the originals, but I didn't put anything out right away."
In fairness, she was kind of busy.
Between writing songs, choreographing shows and serving as artistic director for several of Lil Wayne's tours - a position she still holds - Shanell wasn't focused on personal exploits.
She was working with rapper Ludacris when the opportunity to write for Jennifer Hudson came about.
"(Ludacris) wanted a hook, a big strong hook. He had me come in and write, and he was like the perfect person would be Jennifer Hudson. I was like, 'Yes! Please!' I wanted to hear her sing words that I wrote," she said.
Shanell, who considers herself a semi-feminist, described working with female artists Beyonc, Kelis and Danity Kane as "liberating."
Shanell shuffled her deck to make music her top priority, focusing intently on herself this year.
Visiting Fayetteville's Foxy 99 recently to push her upcoming ! mix tape , "Nobody's B----," the singer was a ball of energy as she chatted with on-air personality Jane Dough.
Only midway through a one-day radio blitz, which started that morning in Virginia and still had Greensboro, Raleigh and Charlotte left to go, she enthusiastically pumped up her latest single, "So Good." It features label mates Drake and Lil Wayne and began getting play in Fayetteville nearly a month ago.
"I just want it to be that song that everybody rides to in the summertime," she said.
During the interview, she addressed her rumored relationships with the song's two featured artists with a swift and stern, "Not at all." That's the part of the music industry she's still getting used to.
"I have a lot of respect in this business, so when that came out, I was so shocked because I'd never had that kind of stuff talked about with me," she said.
Thankfully, her sister, who is D. Woods from the group Danity Kane, had experienced similar blog buzz while on MTV's "Making the Band" and could help.
Woods, along with bandmate Aubrey O'Day, offered advice. "Both of them sat me down, just talking to me about, 'You're going to get this; you just have to keep rocking,' and now I don't really care what nobody says."
If the 2 million downloads of her last project, "Shut Up and Listen," or her 212,000-plus Twitter followers are any evidence, people care what she has to say.
"People saw me, they knew my name, but they didn't know what I did, what my music sounded like," Shanell said. "So the only thing they had was to talk about whatever the rumor was, and I really wanted people to shut up and really see that I have an amazing talent as a writer and singer."
Her upcoming project is almost complete, and she has a vision for whom she wants to reach with it.
"It's for all women in whatever work position you're in," Shanell said. "Women go through that - sexual harassment or rumor stuff - and a lot of women want to say it, but I'm going to say it for you, and I hav! e a whol e mix tape for you to listen to."
Men can enjoy it as well, she said. "It's fun party music, but it's a large statement, and it's a movement."
Shanell has adapted to the hectic pace of life on one of the biggest hip-hop labels.
"It is nonstop studio, nonstop touring. We haven't stopped since we started, and the studio is every night," Shanell said. "I go in at 8, Wayne goes in a little bit later, and then we don't come out until the sun comes up. If you love what you do, you do it."
WANT MORE?
Visit Shanell's website, ShanellakaSNL.net, or follow her on Twitter,@Shanell_SNL
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