Indie hip-hop rapper and producer K. Flay (Kristine Flaherty) released her sophomore album, Life as a Dog this past June. Raised in the Chicago suburbs, K. Flay moved to the Bay Area for college and currently resides in Brooklyn. She released her debut album, Suburban Rap Queen in 2005 while a student at Stanford University. Between her first album and now, she has graduated from Stanford and released a few EP's with the most recent one, What If It Is on RCA Records. K. Flay is currently touring with the Vans Warped Tour and toured with Icona Pop, Sirah, Ludacris, and Snoop Dogg in the past. Check out "Make Me Fade" from her most recent album, Life as a Dog and a live session of "Rawks" below.
Do you think female rappers can sing about things men can’t or won’t?
"That’s a really interesting question. I was talking with someone the other day about sort of this movement in more mainstream hip hop to be attuned to emotional issues, and that there’s an inner experience that’s getting tapped into. As a woman I think there’s pressure to be oversexualized and to make that a prime focus of not only the image but the music. That historically has been true. But there’s also been female artists, that I think by virtue of their gender, have been able to convey something a bit more emotional. I think it’s very polarized . . . the trouble is navigating that gray area instead of being shunted into an extreme on one edge of being hypersexualized or not at all, being superconscious. Like Trina vs. Queen Latifah, where it’s a very clear dichotomy. What I’m trying to do is approach that middle ground." -Back Beat Seattle.
Do you think female rappers can sing about things men can’t or won’t?
"That’s a really interesting question. I was talking with someone the other day about sort of this movement in more mainstream hip hop to be attuned to emotional issues, and that there’s an inner experience that’s getting tapped into. As a woman I think there’s pressure to be oversexualized and to make that a prime focus of not only the image but the music. That historically has been true. But there’s also been female artists, that I think by virtue of their gender, have been able to convey something a bit more emotional. I think it’s very polarized . . . the trouble is navigating that gray area instead of being shunted into an extreme on one edge of being hypersexualized or not at all, being superconscious. Like Trina vs. Queen Latifah, where it’s a very clear dichotomy. What I’m trying to do is approach that middle ground." -Back Beat Seattle.