Interview with rapper/producer Dawn Laird |
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Newcastle rapper and producer Dawn Laird drops new single Marla Hooch, which is a homage to her fellow ladies who are often overlooked despite being worthy of taking room in spaces. Rappfox speaks to Dawn about her love of Hip Hop, moving into rapping and making her debut album Doreen, which is named after her late grandmother.
Hey Dawn, thanks for taking time out for this interview. Tell me how you got into Hip Hop.
I don’t really remember a time I wasn’t into rap. I was a hardcore Janet Jackson fan growing up and she had some great feature rappers on her songs like Chuck D and MC Lyte and Q Tip. I remember being really young and hearing Chuck D’s verse on a Janet song called New Agenda and playing it over and over until I had the lyrics down. So Janet probably lead me to rap but being a kid in the late 90s/early 00’s we were spoiled with so much amazing hip hop music so artists like Tribe and The Fugees and Biggie definitely kept me there. By the time I was 15 I’d found a group of friends who also loved hip hop so it became life pretty much.
And when did you realise you wanted to rap?
I never really wanted to rap actually, I wanted to make beats and produce. I started off with a program called EJay and was on that 24/7. But when Lauryn [Hill] ’s Miseducation [of Lauryn Hill] came out I just got really inspired and started penning thoughts. So from then on I was like I’m gonna rap and produce. I was also listening to a tonne of rapper/producers like El-P, RZA, Kanye and Lauryn and rapper/producer crews like the [Hilltop] Hoods, Funkoars and EPMD. I was about 20 when I first got on the mic.
I love the reference to the film ‘A League of Their Own’, it was one of my favourite films growing up. Geena Davis is so tough in it and just the feisty attitudes of the women. What inspired you to make the song with this theme?
A League of Their Own was one of my favourite movies growing up. I was comfort watching it one night and just got to thinking about what a boss Marla [Hooch] is and how, despite being an insane hitter, she almost didn’t make it into the team because she didn’t look the part. That resonates with me A LOT. I had this beat that I’d made and had no idea where to take it song wise and the Marla hook just kind of came to me. I don’t think I was consciously trying to do a Shabba Ranks thing but when I realised it had that mood I was like YES.
Have there been moments in the Hip Hop scene where you feel you were bypassed for being a woman?
Yeah definitely, but not in a really long time. I almost don’t even wanna look back now cos it felt like pushing shit up a hill and I did my time in that cesspool of dicks. That’s not to say the work is done but I think it’s at a point now where we’re occupying way more space than ever before, the quality is top notch and we’re diverse as fuck so the ‘female rapper’ archetypes are dissipating. I still get disappointed when I look at streaming platform playlists but I don’t know enough to speak on that editorial stuff. Overall though I’m really excited about where things are at.
Hey Dawn, thanks for taking time out for this interview. Tell me how you got into Hip Hop.
I don’t really remember a time I wasn’t into rap. I was a hardcore Janet Jackson fan growing up and she had some great feature rappers on her songs like Chuck D and MC Lyte and Q Tip. I remember being really young and hearing Chuck D’s verse on a Janet song called New Agenda and playing it over and over until I had the lyrics down. So Janet probably lead me to rap but being a kid in the late 90s/early 00’s we were spoiled with so much amazing hip hop music so artists like Tribe and The Fugees and Biggie definitely kept me there. By the time I was 15 I’d found a group of friends who also loved hip hop so it became life pretty much.
And when did you realise you wanted to rap?
I never really wanted to rap actually, I wanted to make beats and produce. I started off with a program called EJay and was on that 24/7. But when Lauryn [Hill] ’s Miseducation [of Lauryn Hill] came out I just got really inspired and started penning thoughts. So from then on I was like I’m gonna rap and produce. I was also listening to a tonne of rapper/producers like El-P, RZA, Kanye and Lauryn and rapper/producer crews like the [Hilltop] Hoods, Funkoars and EPMD. I was about 20 when I first got on the mic.
I love the reference to the film ‘A League of Their Own’, it was one of my favourite films growing up. Geena Davis is so tough in it and just the feisty attitudes of the women. What inspired you to make the song with this theme?
A League of Their Own was one of my favourite movies growing up. I was comfort watching it one night and just got to thinking about what a boss Marla [Hooch] is and how, despite being an insane hitter, she almost didn’t make it into the team because she didn’t look the part. That resonates with me A LOT. I had this beat that I’d made and had no idea where to take it song wise and the Marla hook just kind of came to me. I don’t think I was consciously trying to do a Shabba Ranks thing but when I realised it had that mood I was like YES.
Have there been moments in the Hip Hop scene where you feel you were bypassed for being a woman?
Yeah definitely, but not in a really long time. I almost don’t even wanna look back now cos it felt like pushing shit up a hill and I did my time in that cesspool of dicks. That’s not to say the work is done but I think it’s at a point now where we’re occupying way more space than ever before, the quality is top notch and we’re diverse as fuck so the ‘female rapper’ archetypes are dissipating. I still get disappointed when I look at streaming platform playlists but I don’t know enough to speak on that editorial stuff. Overall though I’m really excited about where things are at.
You produced the track and wrote your own lyrics, what was the process making the song?
I’d made the beat first and was pretty clueless as to what to do with it. Everything I was coming up with was really vanilla and I knew it deserved something more. So I just sat on it for a while (like months) and then that’s when I was watching A League of Their Own and the Marla thing came to me. From there it wrote itself in no time. That’s often the process for me.
You will be releasing your debut album, Doreen, at some point this year. What is the inspiration behind the album?
I recorded a lot of these songs when I was living in Port Macquarie. I moved there to be closer to my grandparents who had gone into an age care facility. They played a huge role in my life and it was really important to me that I maximised the time I spent with them because I knew I didn’t have long. I decided to name the album Doreen, my grandmothers name, because recording it wrapped up close to when she passed and she played such a huge role in my early love for music. While I don’t think she’d have approved of some of the content, I’m okay with that dissonance now. The songs are about me but I’m confident they wouldn’t exist in the first place without her influence throughout my life.
And what has been the process of making the album? Have you also produced the album too?
The process of making the album was long because I lived 5 hours from my mix engineer in Sydney. It took a good while to get it all down and mix. I’d finish work on a Friday afternoon, drive to Newcastle and stay the night, drive to Sydney on the Saturday morning then drive home on Sunday. The writing itself was piecemeal too because I didn’t want to force anything. After stressing for so long about getting something out I decided not to care anymore because I could feel serious burnout coming in so I just let it be what it was and stopped worrying about optics. It’s made for a much better body of work. As for production, of the 10 songs, I produced 6 and co-produced 3. Other than myself it features production by Jayteehazard (Newcastle), Calski (Brisbane) and Sparra (Newcastle).
What’s next for Dawn Laird?
If I survive the superbug, more music!
Check out the track Marla Hooch above or on Spotify and follow Dawn Laird on her socials - Facebook, Instagram, Twitter & Soundcloud.
I’d made the beat first and was pretty clueless as to what to do with it. Everything I was coming up with was really vanilla and I knew it deserved something more. So I just sat on it for a while (like months) and then that’s when I was watching A League of Their Own and the Marla thing came to me. From there it wrote itself in no time. That’s often the process for me.
You will be releasing your debut album, Doreen, at some point this year. What is the inspiration behind the album?
I recorded a lot of these songs when I was living in Port Macquarie. I moved there to be closer to my grandparents who had gone into an age care facility. They played a huge role in my life and it was really important to me that I maximised the time I spent with them because I knew I didn’t have long. I decided to name the album Doreen, my grandmothers name, because recording it wrapped up close to when she passed and she played such a huge role in my early love for music. While I don’t think she’d have approved of some of the content, I’m okay with that dissonance now. The songs are about me but I’m confident they wouldn’t exist in the first place without her influence throughout my life.
And what has been the process of making the album? Have you also produced the album too?
The process of making the album was long because I lived 5 hours from my mix engineer in Sydney. It took a good while to get it all down and mix. I’d finish work on a Friday afternoon, drive to Newcastle and stay the night, drive to Sydney on the Saturday morning then drive home on Sunday. The writing itself was piecemeal too because I didn’t want to force anything. After stressing for so long about getting something out I decided not to care anymore because I could feel serious burnout coming in so I just let it be what it was and stopped worrying about optics. It’s made for a much better body of work. As for production, of the 10 songs, I produced 6 and co-produced 3. Other than myself it features production by Jayteehazard (Newcastle), Calski (Brisbane) and Sparra (Newcastle).
What’s next for Dawn Laird?
If I survive the superbug, more music!
Check out the track Marla Hooch above or on Spotify and follow Dawn Laird on her socials - Facebook, Instagram, Twitter & Soundcloud.