"Wayne’s commitment. No Doubt’s flavor. Jay’s swag. Madonna’s reinvention ability. Juve’s authentic flow. BG from Cash Money’s rawness. Alanis Morrisette’s emotion. 3000’s growth. Dream’s sick pen. The Peas’ international appeal. R. Kelly’s lyrical courage. Stevie Wonder’s heart for humanity. Kanye’s will. Timbaland’s attention to detail. Souljah Boy’s simple-genius. Sade’s power. Wyclef’s stage energy. I mean, I can keep going… Ya know, GaGa’s individuality, Will Smith’s humility and endurance. I know he don’t really do music anymore, but still. And. Neptunes’ innovation.”
These are some of the iconic qualities that the ideal recording artist possesses, according to new hip-popper, Sharaé Nikai. After living in New York while performing and writing, this Jersey City, New Jersey native relocated to Los Angeles in further pursuit of an acting and spoken word career. In one year, she managed to appear on networks from MTV to Fox, where she performed her most popular spoken word piece entitled “Hip Hop Won’t Stop!” on The Tyra Banks Show.
Months later, fate led Kanye West’s mentor and Chicago super-producer, No I.D. (Kanye West - “Heartless”, Jay-Z - “DOA ("Death of Auto-tunes") to listen to Sharaé's spoken word recordings on her MySpace page. He then inquired about her interest in being a songwriter. “I remember having no idea who he really was at that time besides some guy from the Chi who makes beats. I just responded back that I’d be interested in learning the craft if he’d be willing to teach me what I needed to know about song structure.”
From that moment forward, No I.D. took her under his wing and used popular songs to coach her in songwriting basics like harmony, melody, standard radio song-structure, etc. He also encouraged Sharaé to become a recording artist by using her songwriting as a vehicle into the music industry, just as he advised Kanye to use his production skills to "get on."
By late 2008, with more confidence and industry relationships, Sharaé began creating her music brand and freshman project. Her album, entitled “The Make-Up”, is a fusion of bold, funny, honest, self-written lyrics married to hip-hop and pop beats. With technical and creative contributions from No I.D. and new comers Abel Hernandez (29th of July Music) and Black Nile, "The Make-Up" is being created with the care, time and support Sharaé envisions. “I’m doing this project as a reminder to remove the “make-up” that I sometimes hide behind in everyday experiences and relationships”.
Sharaé’s thoroughly-conceptualized project gets listeners to consider taking off their “make-up” in ways that will even allow male audiences to relate. “In my song ‘Can’t Be Easy’, I’m being this chick who’s trying so hard not to seem interested in a guy I actually like because I don’t want him to judge me. The trip is that I’m the main one judging me! And the poor guy in the song --- he’s only tryin to get to know me. I’m just giving him a hard time because I’m scared,” she laughs. “We think playing hard to get is cute, but it’s wack and sometimes sets guys up to be confused about who we really are.”
Finally, listeners will realize that Sharaé Nikai is also “making up” for the time the world has gone without hearing a fun and introspective female voice… In addition, Sharaé actually loves make-up, fashion and pop-culture. “I totally enjoy make-up, high-end style and the whole shabang. I just know that my worth doesn’t come from those things. So I can wear make-up and fly clothes because it’s fun and I choose to, not to hide or because I think have to. Plus gettin all dolled up is just another form of creative self-expression, which is what I'm all about.”
Her ultimate goal? "To be a music icon and entrepreneurial entity. Period." And we’ve already gotten a peak at her vision on the formula for that.
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Click HERE to join Sharaé Nikai's Facebook Fan Page!
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