It’s all good, thank you for having me.

Kalenna you are best known to your fans from the work you did with group Dirty Money but you are also a very well-known songwriter in the industry. How has it been transitioning from being behind the scenes to being an actual artist yourself?

I think contrary to what people think they know about my career is that I was a solo artist prior to being in the group. A couple of years ago I did the introduction of Usher’s “Confessions” and so that had got a lot of radio spins and I was working on my solo project and I was in the Burger King Music Fest so I was doing so many things but then I found the love of my life and we decided to have a baby and I kind of stopped the artist thing to be a mom. Then as time passed I started thinking my baby need some pampers and Gucci shoes (laughs). You know he had to be Gucci and Gabbana out so I just said let me continue to write records for other artist just so that I will have a voice. So with that being said I was always an artist at heart and writing was a way for me to continue to have a voice and continue to be a business woman as well to make money to provide for my family. Going from now to being an artist before and then having a baby and having to make serious sacrifices it’s been a crazy transition. For the most part I feel so blessed to have been able to do things on the scale that I was able to do it because a lot of people can’t come out and learn on such a large scale. It’s like coming out of high school and learning to be a heart surgeon so it’s definitely been good and I wouldn’t change a thing. I love everything about being an artist and still being able to write my own music and being able to perform it to the world.

 

Speaking on your marriage and your son, it’s also my understanding that you have 7 step-children as well. How do you find time to balance your busy singing career and taking care of such a large family?

It’s definitely a humility that comes with what I do. I love my husband and I love my team so much that I am willing to make sure that whatever he needs is well taken care of and he has my support as well. I think that it was a situation where I come from a big family, I am the eldest of 6 and my biological father has 30 children so it was not that hard for me to transition and being able to say that you have an imprint on people that are in your life. People can see you grind and work hard which will only plant seeds for them to be better people for the world. That’s how I look at it…their inspiration to go hard. It’s a reason for me to get up every morning and for them to be able to look at you and say “Wow my step mom is the shit”, she’s going hard and she still loves us and she comes home and cleans and laughs with us and is there for us. I’m more of like a sister because I’m young compared to my husband but it is definitely a beautiful thing and I wouldn’t change it for the world. It’s the same as being an artist because their apart of what I love to do.

Now you also announced that Dirty Money will be put on the back burner so you can focus on your solo project. Was this always the plan for you to come out as a solo artist?

I mean for sure. Dirty Money was one of things that we went into without knowing how it was going to be received. With that being said me and Puff talked and he was like this is just a project like those projects you had to do in the 3^rd grade where you didn’t know if the teacher would give you an ‘A’ for this but let’s put all our effort in this and go beyond what we think we can do. Dirty Money is going to be a forever thing. It’s not necessarily on the back burner but it’s just one of those things that you completed. It’s at a level of completion and now it’s time to move on to the next level and moving on to the next level is definitely my project. Being in a group with someone like Diddy, he is a genius and I traveled the world with him and there’s not a lot of artist that can say they traveled on jets with Puff. I mean I won a B.E.T Award for being in this group with Puff so Dirty Money will always be apart of my life, like I said it’s just completed right now and its on to the next level.

Like you said Diddy said this a project and let’s see how it turns out but we can all see that the group was a huge success so you’re saying it was mutual decision to go off and do solo projects?

Most definitely, I think Puff saw my hustle and grind. There were nights that I had my baby in the studio and he was still clean and fed and amazingly happy and I still was able to create great music and I think it’s something that he respected. I’m sure he was hearing about me for a long time when I met him in 2005 at the Burger King Fest when I was opening up for him and T.I. and Andre 3000 so it’s just amazing how things come around full circle. And like I said I think Puff always knew that and he went into it like you can do your solo project after this but let me teach you how to be a heart surgeon (laughs). He was a great mentor and I don’t think I could be a better heart surgeon asking for a better mentor.

Puff is such a genius when it comes to this industry. I would definitely consider him a “passionate” boss but how was he as a member of the group?

 

Puff is kind; he’s very assertive, he’s sure of himself. I can say a whole list of things about Diddy or Uncle Sean as I call him. Uncle Sean is a quiet person but he is so loud at the same time. What you guys see on television is not him. He can be at the house and you wouldn’t even know he was there. He’ll be off into his own little world and when its time for him to come out he comes out. Like I said he’s just good at what he does and it was good learning from him. I think that I was closer to him than any other artist he has ever worked with and I was able to live at his house and see how he interacts with his kids and to see what kind of food he likes and walking in on him in the middle of the night with him in his underwear making an egg sandwich (laughs). So I got to know the man and not mogul and I will always forever thank him for that.

How would you describe your sound musically?

That question for me has always been one of those things where I say I’m not always so one-sided. I am one of those people that you meet and I have 30 different sides of me, country music, r&b, and pop….and so with the Dirty Money it was so crazy for Puff to only want one energy from me. That probably was the hardest task for him. It was an amazing learning lesson and I want to say that what people are going to get from me is going to be so dimensional and not in a box. You can hear a record and be like I didn’t even know she can do that. I have things influenced by Missy Elliott and Lauryn Hill or we can do some things that are more influenced by Mary J. Blige and it’s just not something watered down. People that I love and respect inspire me and one of my favorite writers is R. Kelly so the world is going to see who my inspirations are and the freedom of my speech, I can’t wait for that. It’s going to be exciting to let black girls know that you can do it all and don’t have to be stuck to the jeans and the heels walking down the street. You don’t have to be subjected to just that and we can go so many different places and to know that we are the standard.

Who in the industry haven’t you worked with that you are interested in working with for your future project?

You know what’s so weird is that I promised myself that I wouldn’t do a lot of features because I want people to know that I’m strong enough to hold it down and stand on my own two feet but if I really had to pick somebody to work with it would be Sade. And of course Missy Elliott and even Queen Latifah, these are people that I talk to from time to time and it would be really exciting to see what we could do together and even Lauryn Hill or me and Erykah Badu on a track would be dope. Me and whoever on the track with the right beat, I’m telling you right now it’s gone be dumb and I’m excited for the world to be able to see something new and different. I’m definitely in my own lane; I’m not trying to be like anybody else. I was born here Kalenna and that’s who I am.

The first single is called “Go To Work”, what inspired this song?

“Go to work” was inspired by watching the news and I was sitting in the bed one day reading blogs which I rarely do because even though it’s a great tool for artist like myself to reach out to our fans there is still a downside to those with no jobs who sit in front of a computer and dissect people and just talk about what another person isn’t doing or what they think you should do and it’s like hold on why don’t you take your ass to work and do something. I am being a voice for the people who are not me. I’m being a voice for the lady who gets up and goes to school and has three kids and two jobs. Be you and go hard or go home, stay off the facebook and twitter. Hate is so 1999, so why are we still hating on each other. I wanted to be the big sister in the streets and say you’re worried about the wrong thing so take your ass to work and you’ll be alright.

 

Are we expecting a 2012 release date for the new album?

You have to be the first person that asked that question right. It will be 2012, I can’t really give you a month or a day but it will be out in 2012. I’m really particular about what I sound like and how I want the people to see me. I want a very clear picture about what my mission is and I want the mission to be complete. I want to be able to set a standard for women that we got our independence and I want to bring back the unity in the family structure and show women we do have a place. It’s times that we cant step inside our man’s big timberland boot but to be the Queen you have to consider all those things, If you want to not be just the “bitch” but be the Queen, you have to consider that your mans works hard and to be able to do that in a dope ass Queenly way is something I want to show on the album. We need to stop hating each other as women and start learning from each other. I just want us to get our worth back together. I’m just so excited and so in love with my project and just can’t wait until later on in 2012 to present it to the world.

Kalenna we appreciate you so much for speaking with us and we loved Dirty Money and you just made us love Kalenna.

Make sure you let them know that hate is definitely so 1999 and I’m just encouraging every woman from light skin to white to purple to green, from Asia to India, Paris, London, Africa, China just everyone to be bold and be themselves and to understand that we have a place in this world and our place is reach high and learn how to work that power and I plan to show them.

Kalenna- GoToWork by K-diddybop