Sugar, Spice, and all things Spandex

Words Whitney Summer Boyd

(Raye 6 performing with her Bubble Girls)

Interestingly enough, it had been a long time since I had seen a female take ownership of her sexuality during a performance without giving off the I would do your boyfriend vibe. After that night, I made note to track Raye Six down and expose her to the greater public, if not only for her funk and soul sound, but because, as I later discovered, she's a successful entrepreneur-- she has branded her own calendar of Bubble Girls (who perform on stage with her), and has also started her own bakery called Eat My Treats with her own custom designed cakes.

Raye says after being on tour with Dead Prez, she has learned to be more confident with her words and what she stands for and admits to only recently being comfortable with her image. She's releasing her first full album, Universal Lover, this spring and says, this album talks about what most women are afraid to talk about, "being okay with your sexual image." I went and interviewed Raye at her New York high rise apartment while her and her Bubble Girls were getting ready to attend an event by Dam Dash later that evening. Oh, I love girl world.

(Raye 6 and two of her Bubble Girls prepping for a night out)

What is the concept behind Raye 6?

It is a lifestyle and it's me expressing my lifestyle, as opposed to a trend or something that's right now or something that will get me exposure at the moment. It's who I am and how I live. So, I'm just sharing it.

And who is Raye 6 musically?

Freedom of speech, I milk that card a lot. I pretty much say what I want in my music, there is no set genre, I know people try to box you in all the time. Like, "she's soul, she's funk, she's that." I'm a little bit of everything.

(Photo by Van Helsing)

Your fashion is definetly a major staple of your look, who is your designer?

Her name is Tiffany Rhodes, she has a clothing company called Butch Diva. I don't shop, so I try to weed out the designers that are best for me, people who won't allow people to copy my look, people who are unique with their designs. And Butch Diva is, she can whip up some spandex. And spandex is this thing that people tend to stray away from sometimes, but she makes it look so damn good.

And shoes?

John Ashford. He's my new best friend. He only makes one of a kind items. I love shoes more than I love clothes.

I've heard you've been around the world with Dead Prez. You've worked with Ghostface Killah and Joe Budden. What were your experiences like with them?

It was cool. A lot of testosterone. It was a leanring experience because those are all people that pretty much control whatever aspects of the career that they have. With Dead Prez, I got to learn a lot about the business and how to book certain shows and pretty much speaking, too. His speaking game is retarded.

What do you feel you learned from Dead Prez's linguistically?

Pretty much, be free to say whatever you want because your music is going to be a reflection on you. The right now shit is not going to fly three months later when you are feeling totally different. So pretty much anything you record, anything you put out, be able to back it up.

Aside from Prez, who has influenced you musically?

Stephanie Mills, Michael McDonald...he is so fly, The Marshall Tucker Band, different producers, everyone in the disco era, I love disco.

Tell us about these beautiful Bubble Girls and what they do to enhance your performance?

Bubble Girls were my imaginary friends when I was little, because I really didn't connect with my peers on a child level, so I had my Bubble Girls that I would dress up in my head and play with tutus and glitter. Whatever girly things I would do with them, I would do as opposed to doing those things with girls my age because they were all so grown. The Bubble GIrls came into play about two and a half years ago and I just brought them to life. Made them sexy, they wear tutus, blow bubbles, give out roses during the show to all of the ladies, I make sure and cater to all of the women in the audience and they just have a really good time. They dance now, before they were more of just a visual staple, but now I make them work. They work hard, too.

How do audience members react to the girls?

Oh, they react. They love the Bubble Girls, let's just say that. They love what they wear and what they do. The Bubble Girls actually evoke all sorts of emotions. I kind of wanted to start them off as a doll at first, but then I thought, why not jut bring them to life.

So, say, I want to become a sexy Bubble Girl? What's the process like?

It's hard to become a Bubble Girl. I don't know, you have to carry yourself a certain kind of way. You have to have pizazz and you have to have a brain. You have to understand your sexuality and the power of it and how to use it. They pretty much have to be psychologist in order to be a Bubble Girl. I'm serious, because you have to know how to control yourself in situations and carry yourself a certain way without loosing yourself.

And you released a sort of natural beauty meets sex appeal calendar this year filled with Bubble Girls, right?

Yes, the Bubble Girls calendar was intended to brand the Bubble Girls seperately from myself. Not just in case this Raye Six thing didn't work out, but in the future just in case I want to get away from this whole Raye Six thing, I will have my calendars and I'll have my Bubble Girls. I wanted them to be visual staples in this industry. So I started a calendar, it was an idea first, and I was like I want to do a calendar for the girls, and everyone was like, no, you should do one for yourself first. But I have retarded pictures of myself everywhere, I have posters, I have all of that. The Bubble Girls didn't have anything, they only had their performance pictures that they had with me. So, it was time to dress them up, we did a legit shoot, I had two meetings with multiple different people, shot it with three amazing photographers. I did hair, styling, creative concepts, and shot it in a week. We did a half a million dollar job in a week with no budget. I didn't pay for shit.

How did you manage to not pay for anything?

I just used what I had. I wasn't sitting there putting my expectations all the way here, when I already had everything I needed right in front of me. I utilized the costumes that I had, the shoes that I had. Hair- I drove to Philly to get a 31 inch ponytail for $15 bucks. Seriously, I went in. That's says a lot with my whole career, period. I utilize what I have, which is why I say, this is my lifestyle, this isn't something that I am going out to chase or going out to front something that I'm not.

What's been the hardest part of being an independent artist?

Nothing, it's not hard. It's not hard at all. You just have to have a goal and you have to set a goal and just reach towards that. I mean, when I was doing work for other people on labels, that was more hard than being an independent artist. With this right here, it's mine, it's my full control. I don't have to please anybody but myself.

I heard you bake cakes.

Everybody knows that I bake. It's called Eat My Treats. It started off with me doing brownies and brunches. I deliver a retarded amount of cupcakes a week. I'm currently making a three tier cake for someone's 50th anniversary, it's going to feed like a hundred people. That's what I do on my off time because if I don't I'm going to go crazy.

A.D.D?

Yes, I am. But I focus on everything that I do, it might be a lot of shit that I'm doing, but I'm focused on it and completing it.

You're stranded on an island and you can only bring three things? What do you have packed?

Are we talking about legal substances also?

Whatever.

I would have some music, most likely dead artist, nothing of today, umm, some water, and some girls with me. Probably the Bubble Girls. And we would have a good time everyday until we died of starvation. I'd rather have company than food.

At what age did you discover your sexy?

Uh, maybe two yeas ago. You know it as a woman because you have female parts and everyone is telling you your ass is cute, tits are cute, face is cute, like me discovering my own sexy, two years ago. I just started living for no one else, but me. That's what helped me process it. Not living under an expectation, not doing something because you're associated with this individual, it was just like, fuck it. I have a couple of years left to live, we all do. So, I just started living me. That's where all these songs came from, two years ago.

And your album?

I have Universal Lover out right now, it's on Itunes. We just shot the video about a week ago so that will be coming out very, very, very, soon. The album itself is called Universal Lover also. It's a combination of explicit lyrics that mean something, ballads, pretty little kitty songs, I have one of those, that's the only one that kids can listen to, it's called, "I love who I am." The album is almost ready to come out, we are looking at July.

Where are you promoting the video?

Everywhere. MTVU, VH1, BET, international, especially if I can help it. I just got a new management team and they've been doing a really great job.

For all the geek chicks out there who want to up their sexy, but don't know how, what advice do you give them to feel more powerful?

-Buy some lip gloss.
-Get some fake eyelashes.
-Get a waist sincher so your booty can pop out and your waist look small.
-You have to do four inch heels, you can't do three.
-Get your damn hair done.

Unfortunately we are living in a materalistic world and not just with the outside world, but we are very materalistic in ourselves. You look good, you feel good.

What's next for Raye?

Next it touring and getting this Universal Lover out there. And getting the word out more than just New York and Australia. I want a global takeover. So, we'll be touring soon. Opening for some pretty hot people and then planning a Universise Six tour which would be myself, two artists. I'm just trying to start something as far as touring on an independent level, something really massive and independent that no one has ever done before, possibly all female.