I got a chance to interview and have a conversation with Chicago native rapper, Wonda. Stumbling upon Wonda's, "The Naked Girl From The Internet" mix-tape, at first listen I could tell that he was going for a different feel than most artist. The sampling throughout the whole tape had me somewhat attached and having to listen over and over again. This Chi Town rapper is trying to let the world feel his energy through his different sounds.
Born in Nigeria but raised in Chicago for the most part of his life, the north side of Chicago to be exact, something we don't hear a lot. Wonda says that he is Nigerian and African to the core but, Chicago is all he knows, "I know the weather here, I know how we act as people, what makes & drives us, I wouldn't trade it for anything." With the crime rate being so high in the city of Chicago, I wanted to ask Wonda what he thought about the violence, "It hurts most, it's like being close to somewhere and getting a text from a friend saying did you hear what happened in your backyard? I'm not in a violence area but I can look around and see it. The only thing you can do is just hope."
'Please Don't Listen'
Something that sets Wonda aside from most artist is that he has always had a passion for music but he also had a passion for baseball, a passion that landed him on a independent baseball team in New Mexico. During one summer game, he was up at bat with the team already down a few points, he hit a dribbler and explains that he had to stretch it out. While trying to stretch it out, he ended up pulling his hamstring and going out until the 7th inning where he hit a home run. This was his last game with his independent team, the coach gave him a week to recover which was not long enough. Wonda believes that this was somewhat of a sign from God letting him know that music is the correct path for him to be on, still never to forget his passion for baseball. He also says that it was always something he loved, "You natuarlly do what you love. Whenever a song comes on as a fan, you like it. As a artist it makes your mind tinker of why you like it so much and it makes you want to create." He also states that he is very inspired by Chicago native Kanye West.
To this date, Wonda has released two mixtapes, more of what he would name both as compilations, The Naked Girl From The Internet and The Pretty Girl From The Magazine. TNGFTM features the track, "Please Don't Listen To This Song" which he recently released visuals with very energetic representations. When asked about the visuals, he states "My partner Glassface and I both thought, lets do something crazy. If we're going to put a
car in it, why not the bat mobile? If we put Batman in it, lets make him dance.
Have fun with it, bring a different type of energy. The song has energy and we
wanted to show that visually." The Naked Girl From The Internet caught the attention of the owner of LiveMixtapes' attention so much that he moved it from the Indy section to the main page of the website. Being released around the same time as NY rapper Fabolous' Soul Tape 2, "It has that title, it has that cover so it attracted attention, I think it's really polarizing." The Pretty Girl From The Magazine was released to show that Wonda is not just one type of artist, it showed his ability to be versatile. "What i'm working on now is a mix of both, something you can play anytime anywhere."
'Please Don't Listen To This Song'
The artwork of both mix tapes are very creative but, The Naked Girl From The Internet makes you wonder where that name would come from. "When you think about essential needs today, you may think of the internet, depending on where you are. It has always been a main focus and connects me to a lot of people. It was around the time of someone's naked picture being leak and my partner said, "She's just going to end up another Naked Girl From The Internet, it automatically clicked and I told him I was going to use that, it's kind of other there and the other album has a karma side to it." Wonda is also a big fan of art and it has a big effect on his visuals and artwork.
'When The Drums Come In'
"Tell em Rah Rah we in here" heard in Wonda's "Tell Em Who We Are" coined the term Rah Rah usually used by Wonda in his songs and his fans saying it as well. "I was doing a series called Summertime Chi, just released from my baseball team and workin on music, I was a little down and needed to motivate myself, it gave me that energy, since then it stuck."
Urbane x Wonda 'Rah Rah'
Wonda is currently working on as he'd like to call his "introduction" Windy and he says that we can expect more visuals this month.
Connect With Wonda:
Keeping A Close Eye, UMG Halle' W
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