Raven Sorvino reflects on being courted by Dre

If you’re only a casual follower of Hip Hop, female emcees typically fall into two categories—the dolled up, sex kitten types like Nicki Minaj and the somewhat obscure types like Rah Digga and Bahamadia. Nevermind the fact that even the term “female emcee” is somewhat of a misnomer. After all, it’s not as if women and men don’t essentially perform the same functions as Rap artists. It’s easy and accurate to point at the lack of females in the industry that are truly in positions powerful enough to greenlight a project from someone with two X chromosomes to add some much needed diversity. But how many artists—male or female—are willing to take their careers into their own hands instead of waiting for a major label to do all the heavy lifting.

Self-described “paper girl” Raven Sorvino is in the midst of a run that has seen her perform, oversee and independently distribute her own material via Language Artz. You can find her at the same showcases and events performing alongside her major label counterparts with the large, recoupable cash advances. But when it’s time for another project she doesn’t answer to the stereotypical A&R GZA described as “a mountain climber who plays an electric guitar.” Along the way, Raven has earned nods of approval from Diddy, Dr. Dre and a steadily growing fan base. True power knows no gender lines.

Go See The Doctor: “[The experience with Dr. Dre] made me want to work harder. That probably just wasn’t my time, and I’m thankful that they were even interested in me enough to have the opportunity. Dre was calling my house, and he cared enough to keep in contact with me personally—not having his assistant or someone else make the call. And he’d tell me, ‘The contracts are getting worked on. Don’t worry; everything’s going through.’ We recently ran into him not too long ago, and he remembered me off top. And this is years later. So maybe one day something will happen with Raven Sorvino and Dr. Dre. When it didn’t materialize, I was never mad or angry like, ‘Ahhh, I don’t like these people anymore!’  It just wasn’t the right time, and I just needed to develop my skills more. To even have that opportunity was a good moment in my life. And when we saw him recently, Picaso was with me. He kinda liked Picaso’s name, and he was real cool. So that was dope…we had our little moment.”

source/full article  - http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/dxnext/id.242/title.raven-sorvino-reflects-on-being-courted-by-dr-dre-and-her-growth-as-an-emcee