INTERVIEW: Hot Heavy and Bad - Joi's Return + Free Mixtape!

On the scene now for two decades, Joi is a popular and critically acclaimed artist who has managed to maintain an edgy, non-commercial, underground mystique. A soulful, renegade general presiding over her own army of rockin’ R&B insurgents, every few years Joi puts the music world on notice with yet another incredibly creative, notable missive from her secret lair.

Interview by Camille Collins for afropunk.com

A neo-soul visionary, Joi made her debut with the Dallas Austin produced Pendulum Vibe in 1994. By 1996, early reviews of her second disc, Amoeba Cleansing Syndrome, for which Joi commissioned the legendary Fishbone as backing band, anointed her “the new Madonna,” and hailed the record for being “ahead of its time.” (In fact, the disc was so compelling Madonna co-opted Dallas Austin to work his magic on her Bedtime Stories cd). Yet, in a stroke of major suck-ass timing, EMI records folded just as Amoeba was set for release. Despite the bad luck, the record gained wide popularity through bootleg exchange.

Now is just a good a time as any to pause and offer the following disclaimer: don’t let all this talk of critically acclaimed this and Madonna-like that, fail to make the most important point about Joi. The girl likes to funk. Joi embodies the ‘sister from another planet’ vibe more convincingly than many other artists, and surprisingly, with little excess fanfare. Imagine her dropping down from Saturn in a tricked out spaceship with one thing on her mind; getting down to the business of crafting outrageously funky, creative, sexy, unpredictable, oft genre-less music, without the aggression of Kelis or the mother-earth-ankh excesses of Badu.



For years Joi reigned as the first lady of Atlanta’s Dungeon Family collective, collaborating with Outkast, Sleepy Brown, and Goodie Mob. Outside the Atlanta clique she’s provided vocals for George Clinton, Fishbone, Tricky, Curtis Mayfield, T.I. and others. Freedom, a track from The Pendulum Vibe, was re-recorded for Mario Van Peebles’ film Panther by an all star group which included SWV, Aaliyah, Mary J. Blige, and TLC. After a turn replacing singer Dawn Robinson in the Grammy award nominated band Lucy Pearl, Joi hit her fans with another sumptuous piece of critically admired artistry with 2002’s Star Kitty’s Revenge, getting up with Dallas Austin once more. The cd’s second single, “Lick” was featured on the soundtrack for the film xXx. In 2006, bad timing reared its ugly head again when Joi was dropped from Raphael Saadiq’s Pookie Entertainment for financial reasons at the release of her fourth album Tennessee Slim is the Bomb. Without a label, Joi formed Joilicious records and put the album out independently. Even without the backing of a major label, Joi’s distinct artistry was not lost on reviewers or fans. The single “I’m So Famous” attained a significant level of popularity thanks to internet, college and satellite radio, and the small number of copies of the disc in circulation became a much sought after rarity.

In this exclusive interview, Joi talks with Afro Punk about her current project, Hot Heavy and Bad, a collaboration with fellow Atlanta musician Devon Lee. As if perfectly timed for this interview, the band’s free mix tape Hot Heavy & Bad Undercover just dropped. Download it below!

FREE MIXTAPE:

Camille Collins: You’ve definitely had your ups and downs in the industry. But taking the glass half full approach, it could be said that you’ve been fortunate in that your music is loved and critically acclaimed, and you’ve really been able to maintain the purity of your image as an artist, never becoming overly commercialized or repetitive. Doesn’t coming from this position give you a certain power over your creative freedom?

Joi: The autonomy is the biggest blessing of any of the setbacks I’ve experienced. Being able maintain what I know to be a rarity, to be true to my artistry. And being able to create based on having time for more explorative work. Yet, there’s something to be said about how things were done formally. There is something to be said about a marketing department and having that readily available when signed to a major label. Creating those departments on your own as an independent artist presents a challenge. To wear hats you never had to wear before becomes a process of trial and error. I’ve made some mistakes, and there’s no deep pocket to pull from when you make a mistake as an independent artist, yet you become less apt to repeat the same mistakes twice.


CC: What is your take on the state of the music industry of the past decade or so? How has its structure given you more freedom to do your thing, in a way that perhaps you couldn’t have in another era, and in what way has it limited you?

Joi: The landscape now creates more possibilities for new artists because it is a digital world. It’s about creating a personal path and template which works within this digital landscape. Navigating it has been my challenge and my pleasure. I’ve had to challenge myself in ways that I didn’t have to challenge myself before.


CC: What is your writing process? Do you write lyrics and music? Do you begin on your own and incorporate a collaborative partner later in the process?

Joi: It depends. Over the years the process has taken different shapes. Sometimes I write lyrics first, sometimes melodies first. Sometimes someone comes to me with music and I create the lyrics. Currently the process is more fluid and better suited to me. Collectively Devon Lee and I have Flawless Beast Productions and we use our band, Hot Heavy and Bad, to further our production style.


CC: Folks throw a lot of adjectives around in describing your sound. Soul, R&B, Funk, Rock. How do you describe it?

Joi: Progressive. Definitely progressive. Clearly it’s founded in some solid genres. Founded in rock, in funk, founded in soul. You can also hear tinges of the discipline of classical. With the new music we have coming out, there are very heavy Latin influences as well.


CC: How do you feel when people attach a label to your sound that you wouldn’t necessarily use yourself to describe it?

Joi: I embrace it from the perspective of, they like the music and they’re trying to place it within a genre because they like it and that’s the genre they know. By my affiliation with various artists people know me from a lot of different things; Lucy Pearl or The Dungeon Family. If you enjoyed it, fantastic, but to say that’s all I do would marginalize me in a criminal way. There are people who’ve only heard about the background work that I’ve done with the Dungeon Family, for example, but that’s not all I do. And its not for me to say, well that’s not all, I’ve done this and this and this too…I just say ‘thank you.’ But often people end up asking for more information anyway and I direct them to my website and from there they get a fuller picture.


CC: Who or what are your biggest musical inspirations?

Joi: I get asked that a lot. Probably it’s a different answer every time. There are many inspirations. Different things contribute to a style. I’ve been inspired by how someone’s career went. But to name a few, I would say Funkadelic, Bootsy. I’m a big Betty Davis fan. When I came across her material it was life altering. Sade was an influence when I was in high school. With quiet yet intense passion she made it clear you didn’t have to scream to tear someone’s heart apart. Labelle was an influence. A lot of people don’t know Patti [Labelle] was this serious funk and roll gal. So Labelle has been a large influence as well. Led Zeppelin. The complexity of their arrangements, their raw intensity and energy has influenced me live and in my recordings. Tina Turner has influenced me as a performer and with her music, particularly the early work she did with Ike. The career she’s had has also been an inspiration. I’m moved when I think about the fact that she didn’t break out big on her own until she was in her mid-forties.



CC: Tell me about Hot Heavy and Bad. I hear there’s a new album coming out soon. How’s it going?

Joi: Hot Heavy and Bad is collaboration between Devon Lee and I. (...) We both enjoy a wide range of music and between us we’re covering a massive scope of sounds. When we’re putting things together we allow all those things to be pursed and we leave no stone unturned. It’s been about two years now. We’ve shot three videos and completed three projects. We wanted to build up an arsenal of things we could release. In the current music scene it helps to do a mixtape so people can get a sampling of the music and get excited about it. We have a mixtape coming out. Hot Heavy & Bad Undercover. It’s a treasure trove of covers, all types of music and not restricted to any one sound. Its important to mix different styles. It’s our interpretation of other people’s songs. On it we cover songs from Pink Floyd, Kansas, Heart, Three Degrees, Edith Piaf and the Broadway production of Hair. We also have Psychedelic Coustic which we play live. It’s raw, just the two of us with an acoustic guitar, yet the sound has a psychedelic edge. We perform the set about once a month at Pal’s Lounge, building up the name of the club. Its an intimate, raw set. We cover Jolene by Dolly Parton, Blue Sky by Pink Floyd, Magic Man by Heart. The project we’re mixing right now is original Hot Heavy and Bad material. When released it will be a self-titled album of organic and digital sounds, melodic and wailing vocals, with many timely topics being covered. The sound is orchestral at times, with a heavy Latin thing happening on there too. It’s a really fresh, global project. We’ll be playing the Afro Punk festival this summer, debuting another project, Harem of God. Harem of God is a balls to the wall rocking three piece, still heavy funk, still heavy soul but most definitely a rock thing. It deals with a lot of social commentary, with love and tongue in check sexual lamenting. It’s going to be a very nice, proper, much needed addition to the current work.


CC: So Harem of God is the name of another project by Hot Heavy and Bad? Is it an EP or a full album? How did the band come into being?

Joi: Yeah it's Hot Heavy and Bad. It’s a full album. Devon and I met years ago and reconnected in the last couple of years. I’ve been doing music professionally since he’s known me. He’s always been a bad ass musician, a very cool, dope artist but he was more about doing art for arts sake. When we re-connected we decided to work together. I was also interested in doing some sets at his club, Pal’s Lounge, and we decided you know that we should do some music. We just stumbled into collaborating and it ended up being incredible. I had no idea it would be so awesome.



CC: Can we anticipate any live performances from you guys this Summer?

Joi: You can always catch us at Pal’s Lounge, 254 Auburn Ave. in Atlanta. We play there once a month throughout the summer. As for other pending summer tour dates, look for more information at the website: joilicious-online.org.


CC: Why did you establish Dirty Debutante Productions?

Joi: Dirty Debutante is more of an individual Joi thing. It covers primarily artist development which is something that is desperately missing from the music game today. They’re lots of underdeveloped artists being put in front of a camera and a microphone. The company has me involved in the artisan polishing process. I’ve created it for vocal polishing and stage performance, to help artists cultivate and identify their own unique sound, to create a signature sound and be comfortable and dynamic with their stage presence. Artists come to me and their anonymity is protected. Some come as young as eight years old, others fully grown. Some are established and needing to reinvent or sharpen what they already have. There’s psychology involved with what I do. It’s a setting that’s candid and raw and there is a confidentiality there between myself and them. Artist development was one of the first things to get slashed when major labels were overhauling. A lot of times it gets put on the AR person, but they don’t know anything about developing an artist. So we get a lot of people out there now who aren’t ready, with a lot of money behind them and they’re being forced down our throats as the latest thing.


CC: Do you think you’ll ever come close to saying everything you want to say as an artist?

Joi: I’m going to really try. I’m going to try and get it all out while I’m here. I don’t t know if I’ll have the time to learn and master everything I want to. I hear symphonies in my head, but I can’t play an instrument. But I’ve realized it’s never too late to be a student of anything, so Devon is sort of teaching me a little bit about score construction on guitar so I can at least have that skill set to help me express my art and get it out that way. I need to be increasingly self contained and be able to do more things myself. The blessing of being independent has given me a attitude of go forth and do. I also think the development I do with Dirty Debutante is a part of that too. Helping artists is something I also want to accomplish. Teaching, helping artists, cultivating talent goes with your legacy and your expression, it’s a way of paying it forward. Helping other people is increasingly more important to me, working with other artists who care about the craft.

- AP