Interview: Jasmine Solano (11/16/09)

The Philly born “hip hopster,” and New York City club DJ, Jasmine Solano, is making a name for herself as a talented emcee.

Jasmine keeps herself busy by DJing and performing multiple times a week, and has built a strong following.

She performed at New York’s CMJ and, over the past few months, she has opened for Ghostface, The Clipse, Sean Kingston, and Rakim.  This work ethic is matched by her passion for music and hip hop culture, as she maintains that “you can’t lose the intensity of your passion in the process of your grind.”

Jasmine recently had a major breakthrough moment when she won the Budweiser Battle for the Crown competition in July, going up against 9 of New York’s best-unsigned emcees (all dudes) for an opening spot at Rock The Bells.

Jasmine shared this story with Memphitz on BET’s The Deal.

That’s a crazy story; I can’t believe it came down to a freestyle battle!  I wasn’t at the Budweiser event, but based on her live shows, I can only imagine how dope Jasmine’s freestyle was.

Back in December of 2008, Jasmine decided to fully pursue an emcee career and released “That’s Not It.”  She hasn’t looked back since.

“That’s Not It” is a funny, sexy song that shows Jasmine’s personality while she disses lames who are tryin to holler at her.

Here’s her first few lines:

“Butter soft, and he gone hit me off,
And we gone play the game,
Because he think I’m soft,
He say he got the chedder,
He say he make it wetter,
But I really couldn’t tell ya cause,
That’s not it!
Oochie Walley tricks be that 1990 jawn,
Treat me like a queen, but don’t treat me like a pawn,
I’m an educated super mate, you waitin for the dawn,
And showing me tricks, but you do it all wrong.”

The lyrics and her onstage presence really got the crowd into her style.

The other track Jasmine performed before getting into her DJ set was “CoCo Puff.”  The song was written about the Reggae/Dance party, Electric Punanny, that she runs alongside Roxy Cottontail and Melo-X.

If you’re interested in checking out one of NYC’s best parties, swing by Sway every last Monday, and see what “Coco Puff” is all about.

Outside of her music and club parties, Jasmine is also known for her style which she describes as a “combination of hippie vintage, 80’s retro and NYC street wear.”  She supports a number of emerging clothing companies, and one even made her a custom tote with “That’s Not It” lyrics printed on it!

Jasmine Solano stopped by the HipHopAtLunch.com offices to give us a background on her college DJ’ing days, share her views on Twitter, and talk about her upcoming music video directed by Va$htie.

I hadn’t realized she had worked with Va$htie, and produced videos for Kid Cudi and CRS!

Having spent some time in Boston myself, I can attest to WERS being more than your average college radio station.  A lot of Boston hip hop fans listen to it over the city’s commercial radio.

Since she’s often too busy to blog, Twitter is where you should go to really get a taste for Jasmine’s life.  She does a great job of using Twitter:@JasmineSolano, letting fans follow her on tour, giving updates throughout her DJ sets, and occasionally sharing interesting twitpics!

Big shout out to MindlessPhotos.com for the image used at the beginning for this article!

Jasmine is an artist that you need to keep an eye on, as the upcoming single with Chuck Inglish and video for “That’s Not It,” will surely increase her buzz!  In the meantime, catch her on tour with Chuck Inglish of The Cool Kids.