Keyshia Cole Introduces Rising Star Amina

During World War II, Oakland's ports attracted many African Americans who migrated to the city to work in its vast shipbuilding industry. Ironically history shows that war is always good to a country's economy. Many of the African -Americans became affluent during this time, prospering through the thriving shipping industry.

After the war the city became desolate with the disappearance of jobs. Some who had prospered during the war quickly fled the city. Others who remained were left to witness a great transformation. Affected by the dynamics of poverty, Oakland became a crime ridden city whose painful struggles gave birth to social activism in the sixties and seventies. It also fertilized what Professor Cornel West has always identified as nihilism.

my soul was deleted i couldn't see it...
Singer Keyshia Cole and her childhood best friend Amina Harris are the product of what Oakland became. Nihilism in this sense is not to be looked at philosophically but to be defined as what Dr.West says is "experiences of coping with a life of horrifying meaninglessness, hopelessness and (most important) lovelessness."

Poverty and nihilism is the ammunition that triggers crime, violence, drugs and pain. It is a vicious cycle that residents of East Oakland know too well. Despite the odds, Amina and Keyshia refused to inherit the nihilistic threat of -"loss of hope and meaning" that corrupts the minds of many inner city youths. The two could have easily become part of the disturbing statistics of crime and drugs that plague inner city Oakland but they chose to take different paths.

they planted seeds & they hatched sparking the flame...
Keyshia Cole was blessed with a unique heartfelt soulful voice. Amina was blessed with a clever writing ability and an emotional hard-hitting edgy delivery. Growing up the two young girls promised each other that whoever made it big first would help the other.

Although their childhoods were not absent of all the aftermaths and effects of growing up in the struggle, the one thing that they held on to was hope.
After experiencing many trials including an emotional heartbreak, Keyshia Cole left Oakland for L.A.

Starting afresh, Keyshia Cole's obvious talent enabled her to get a record deal with Ron Fair's A&M Records. Cole became a star but managed to stay grounded and focused on the longterm outlook of her career.

With only two albums under her belt Keyshia Cole is already cementing her place in the music game. The spiritually driven songstress is thoughtful and business minded. Cole has already exploited different avenues of her brand with her explosively highly rated television show, The Way It Is and has appeared in ads and films as well.

More importantly Keyshia Cole kept her promise to her childhood friend. Cole formed her own label with manager Manny Halley. Imani Records is her joint venture with Geffen Records. Amina will be the first artist out from Imani Records. Amina is featured on the single, "Shoulda let you go."

"We both grown so lower your tone over the phone alright." Yup, thats Amina, the petite femme fatale with the innocent face. The one with the raspy voice layered with a grimy-styled delivery that would put some of these male MC's to shame. Her hard-hitting delivery is so impressive that it had listeners eager to hear more.With such a natural raw talent its evident that Amina will make an impact in hip hop.

and all i had to give her was my pipe dreams...
At heart, Amina is a poet. She learned how to write poetry when she was eight. Using her environment and life as her inspiration, Amina's poems transformed to heavy hitting rhymes.

"I developed a skill and stuck with it. It was something that I could do with my life other then being out on the streets and hustling to get what I could, " she explains. "Growing up where I'm from... that was really the most positive thing I could do. Its almost like I had no choice. I saw it as the only way for me to get out of the hood."

Motivated by the struggle and the harsh realities of life, Amina developed a winning attitude to be confident and pursue her dreams. She practiced and wrote all the time. "When I was fifteen people started asking me to get on their rhymes. Then around 1995 96' when (Tu) Pac' (Shakur) was at Deathrow we got that opportunity to be their."

Sometimes in music as one door opens another door closes. There were times when Amina thought she had gotten her big break only to have to back to the drawing board to try again.

its hard to be legit & still pay your rent...
"The amount of time I was putting into rap felt discouraging sometimes because I felt like I was making more money hustling then the music thing. It was taking so long. I felt like I wanted to quit. I just got disappointed a lot of times but my family and friends kept me going and so did my faith."

"I just kept thinking about providing a better life for myself and my family. My brother Chuck and enemy mother always reminded me that I had a gift that was gonna take me far. I was always my mother's star so that kept me motivated. I believe in the saying never say never."

inside my my brain like a match...such a dirty game...
Striving in the entertainment game for years has made Amina smarter then the average entertainer as well as humble. Amina is able to see through many of the facades that are part of the game.

"One thing I've learned is that people don't keep it all the way real. Like some people you idolize... like the ones that you probably shouldn't but you learn and its like any other hustle. I've worked with different artists and different producers and you gotta beat the track like you beat the block. Its all a hustle. My biggest inspiration is Tupac because of how truthful he was."

Tupac's songs were vivid images of his own photographs of life. He rapped about his life as it was and the music business just as it was, truthfully. He also rapped about his personal convictions about others without suger-coating the facts. He had the ability to see what we couldn't see then. This elevated Tupac to a level so high that he didn't have any peers in his era.

Like a G-5, he soared above everybody because he was one of the very few being very real. It wasn't about just selling records, money and fame for Tupac. It was about being unafriad of reaching deep within your soul by exposing every componet of your heart and mind -the good side and the bad side. That is what makes us human beings and not superheroes or Gods. Just human beings-faltered and imperfect trading our emotions as art. That is the type of rapper Amina strives to be; herself- not a follower.

"I'm rappin about whats going on in my life right now. I'm not just an image. Some female MC's might use sex as their platform but that might be their reality and what they know. I rap about what I know. "Pac was just fearless and real," she says. "I could feel him on all types of levels. I could relate to his pain and his emotions. Thats what I got out of Pac."

How many caskets can we witness before we see its hard to live this life without God?
Amina is concentrated on her goals and achieving her dreams. Her rhymes comes from her soul and her heart. She is focused on creating a great album. "You have to recognize the game for what it is whether people are keepin it real or not. You have to know that some people thrive off negativity, baseless gossip and drama and thats just how they are but you have to be yourself and know what you want. You have to overlook the hatin' and drama. If you wanna make it somewhere you have to fight for that."

Sure Oakland might be a city with two negatives; "crime and drugs" as Rand McNally and the Census Bureau describes, but by faith it is the most beautiful creations and creativity that develops out of those things that are so dark and negative. Like in algebra, sometimes two negatives equal a positive. Like Tupac, Too Short, MC Hammer, Digital Underground E-40 and Keyshia Cole, Amina is a positive light illuminating from the Bay area.