Do you remember Amil, the first lady of Roc A Fella Records? The female rapper who blazed Jay-Z tracks such as ‘Can I Get A..’ and ‘Jigga What Jigga Who’ is back after a long hiatus or should we say disappearance.
Amil is gearing up to release a new mixtape titled ‘Another Moment In Life’ and to coincide she has released a new single titled ‘Remember‘
Taking it back to the 90’s “Remember” samples Jay Z’s “Where I’m From” and the hook from Faith Evans‘ “You Used To Love Me.”
The rapper also did a recent interview with Billboard and cleared up the long standing rumors that she and Jay-Z had a relationship and the rumors that she was cut from their camp and blacklisted.
As fans of Amil, we loved her album ‘All Money Is Legal’ so we will definitely be checking out the new mixtape. Peep the track and the juicy details below of what all transpired between she and The Roc.
On Meeting Jay-Z
“I met Jay Z through the the girls. One particular girl (Leite) had that star quality. She was ready, maybe more ready than anybody else. To me, she was dope.”
“He had us both rap, and I ended up doing the verse for ‘Can I Get A…’ She appeared on Jay’s album (‘Vol. 2… Hard Knock Life’) too (on ‘It’s Like That’).”
“Jay wanted to sign me as a solo artist. I was excited but not really knowledgeable of what was ahead of me.”
Working With Jay Z
“I had no idea ‘Can I Get A…’ was going to be a hit. It [all] took off from there. He was looking for a female to say the verse and that’s where I came in at. Jay had already wrote ‘Can I Get A…’ before I got it. I wrote my rhymes around it.”
“Whenever me and Jay recorded it was a natural thing, it was always smooth. The way we sounded together, it was a good chemistry.”
“Jay had respect for my talent – writing and my voice – nothing more. Jay gave me the opportunity of a lifetime, and what I did with it was my own decision. That was my brother. There was never a relationship between me and Jay or anyone over there. He was like a brother; He was very protective over [me]. I’m never going to lose any love for Jay.”
Walking Away from Roc-A-Fella
“I wasn’t there mentally. I was in my own world. Was I prepared? No. Did I realize what was happening right before my eyes? No.”
“I started to rebel. I rebelled against the industry because it’s not what I wanted. I hated traveling. I wasn’t at after parties or the club. Also, at the time my son’s asthma, [who was] 5 [or] 6-years-old at the time, was getting worse and no one was there for him. I had to be there for him.”
“I didn’t think about the legalities of a lot of things. I never cared about the contracts. I could have been signing my life away… I was not a business woman at that time. I didn’t have a manager or the things that most artists have. I didn’t put my all into it. I didn’t give 100% of myself. I felt like it just wasn’t for me. That’s when I started rebelling. I started rebelling because I wanted out. It was easier for me to slip away. I faded myself. No one faded me. And, thats when everything seemed to go left.”
“I think they (Roc-A-Fella) knew through my actions that I wasn’t in it. I wasn’t the artist that was doing everything be No. 1. I wasn’t doing anything to make myself bigger than what I was. I wasn’t putting any effort in promotion. I wasn’t looking at it as a career. It’s not that I wasn’t doing it because I was stupid, it was because I didn’t want to be there anymore.”
“There was never a conversation. He (Jay Z) knew that that’s not where I wanted to be. I told him that I couldn’t do it for another year. I think he understood, overall. He thought that as time went on I’d be ready, but later realized I wasn’t. I know he knew, ‘She don’t give a fuck about this shit.'”
“I was fine being an around the way rapper. If I could go back in time and do it all over again, I wouldn’t have allowed myself to jump in the game. If I would have did it again, I would have left it alone. I wasn’t cut out for it. I probably would have stepped in as a writer.”
What’s Next?
“I’m wrapping up my mixtape, ‘A Moment In Life.’ It should be out late spring or early Summer. It’s a lot of R&B. I still love 90’s music so I wanted to stay in that zone. I miss the music of my era. People remember me from the late 90s, and that’s what I like to represent. So I’m doing a lot of songs off 90s beats and collaborating with 90s artists (Havoc, JT Money, Killah Priest). You’ll hear a much mature Amil.”
[Via Billboard]
