Tee Krispil in The 8 Playlist: 8 songs for remembering hip hop’s golden days

We got in touch with Canadian MC Tee Krispil to find out how she got into the crazy rap experiments. That updated and brought new life to the genre, and she tailored a sweet little classic rap playlist for y’all!

After quarks bunched up into neutrons and protons leading to the event known as the Horrendous Space Kablooie, the Earth was created out of exploding star-stuff. After being mostly covered in water, an atmosphere formed as volcanoes burped the planet’s melting core gases around, and from the melting pot of the oceans came the organic compounds that would shape the first tiny-ass little lifeforms on the planet.

That’s the way it goes. Growth. Evolution. Transformation. At first things might seem a little over the top: so thought many only-missionary-for-the-sake-of-procreation housewives, who rolled their eyes in disbelief at Beauvoir’s remark that one isn’t born a this or a that, but  rather made into a kinda something of a something. Luckily, the current feminist zeitgeist allows us to question and fool around with all that we’ve inherited from last millenium. Cars. Thongs. Rap music. Especially rap music.

This is exactly what Vancouver’s smart-mouthed MC Tee Krispil’s been doing from her days at The People North West. So when our finely tuned noses caught a whiff of her latest three tracks as a solo artist, we couldn’t resist. We thought to ourselves “now, this girl’s got it going on” and decided to ask her about how her stuff came into being. So we did:

“I was influenced by Guru, Erykah Badu, Outkast, and less obvious artists like Fleetwood Mac, Kate Bush, and Beenie Man. My first approach into music included tracking shitty freestyles on a USB mic and eventually evolved!”

It’s no surprise that her main influences are comprised by one of the most reflexive and humble rappers of the East Coast Hip-hop, a subversive Neo Soul diva and Outkast’s surrealist lyrical poet.

Add a couple of the world’s most prominent art-pop acts and the self-proclaimed, politically awkward, “King of Dancehall” and then her moxxi’d up, forthcoming delivery presents no mystery. The same goes for her pick of subject matter – when asked about the creative process of “Badangadang”, one of her most popular songs, she replies:

“This track came to me, it was effortless and really a natural response to the shitty misogynistic scene as it exists today.”

Cheers to that! Now we can say that feminism is firmly ingrained in public speech and artist’s worldviews. «Bitches ain’t shit but hoes and tricks», you say? Cool story, bro! There’s also quite a bit of that sweet academic vibe in her songs, and we really like that too . Notions of misogyny, empowerment and self-worth outside of what (heteropatriarchal) social standards dictate can be lifesavers in an age where compelled conformity to the norm is still… well, the norm. 

This further resonates as she explains how her upcoming album was produced and conceptualized:

“Moxsa produced the whole album! The theme of the album is oneness and connection to higher realms. My main inspiration was living life and relaying messages of truth through sound. I was inspired to make this album as I feel hiphop needs a stronger, empowered/intelligent presence from females. “

And it would appear as Canada’s is having a tip-of-the-spear-ish role in turning that desire into reality – not only for hip-hop, but nearly any other genre. On her local music scene, Tee Krispil comments:

Tee Krispil and her local music scene

“It’s alright, Canada is definitely better than the US. We still have a long way to go as far as keeping bills balanced and pushing strong intelligent women to the forefront of mainstream music. I really admire my best friend Jenny Lea of I M U R, she’s more than just an amazing musician but a full on BOSS who runs her career as a musician like a business owner would. It’s inspiring and a lot of sacrifice is required.”

Speaking of sacrifice, Tee Krispil is been real busy, as her album is about to drop on the 17th of July. We were kinda deluded that her «Tee» nickname was related to her current trade (a little herbal infusion business). Luckily, she was nice enough as to set us straight, and in doing so gave us a little context about the hard work that being independent artist demands:

“Haha! Actually, not true – I have gone by Tee since I was 11, it’s my nickname for Taraneh, my real name, which means “the song of life”. I work on FLEURS, my tea company every day, it’s my baby and my main source of income so I have to be grinding to stay afloat as a musician!”

So, there you have it. Here’s hoping both her projects bear fruit and that she escapes modern capitalism’s ever-turning wheel of Samsara, spreading her good vibes and claiming victories for empowered womyn! <3

Down below, you’ll find a nice little playlist of hip-hop classics put together by her, to bring us closer to her frame of mind and keep us busy as we wait for the release of One Way Ticket:

8 songs to remember the hip-hop’s golden days, from Tee Krispil: