2013 should have been a breakout year for Angel Haze. The previous year, the Detroit-born artist went from internet curiosity to potential notable after the release of her positively received mixtape Reservation. Featuring standout tracks “Werkin’ Girls” and “New York,” the project made several end-of-year list. Many appreciated her aggressive rhyming ability along with a fairly interesting androgynous aesthetic. Despite her status in 2013’s XXL Freshmen Class, the release of her Republic Records debut Dirty Gold was marred with controversy. That included Haze herself leaking the project herself after numerous push-backs. By the time of its official release, it became a bleep on Hip Hop’s radar.
Almost taking a full hiatus from the music industry following the aftermath, Haze is clearly in a better place. Today marks the release of her sophomore follow-up to Dirty Goldentitled Back To The Woods. The independent release serves as her emancipation statement. Free from the confines of the major label machine, she’s back with a project filled with a newfound level of honesty that’s always been a part of Haze if “Moonrise Kingdom” and “Impossible” have anything to say. Taking time to speak with DX, the artist talks cultural appropriation, the new beginning for her career and why Back To The Woods is her best work yet.
Angel Haze Explains Working With TK. Kayembe Exclusively For “Back To The Woods”
DX: Just finished listening to Back To The Woods. It comes almost been a couple of years since you dropped Dirty Gold. What’s life been like for you between dealing with the then controversy around that and now?
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Angel Haze: I don’t know man. I think Dirty Gold came out about a year ago now which is weird. Did you listen to Dirty Gold?
DX: Yeah.
Angel Haze: I think it sounds so different. You know what I’m saying? I think Dirty Gold to Back To The Woods feels like dealing with a completely different person. I love that shit. I think that what I’ve been doing throughout this time is just growing, experimenting, learning and becoming. I did Dirty Gold with like mad writers and mad other people. I did this one by myself. That’s why I think it’s a good chance to connect with me which is dope. Other than that, I’ve just been chilling, doing more crazy shit than I should. But, I’m good.
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DX: I did remember seeing you recently on an episode of Catfish this year?
Angel Haze: Yeah, it was a few months ago. That shit was funny as fuck.
[Laughter]
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DX: I’m a fan of the show and that episode was crazy. How do you feel about the popularity around it?
Angel Haze: You know what? I thought that shit was fake. It turns out that people really do be chilling on that real far end of dumb. I be like what the fuck? I spent all these days trying to figure out who a person was and this person spent two years talking to them. I’m like what are you doing with your life? I think that shit is funny. I don’t know what’s good to say about how people get Catfished on the internet. I think you should see people face to face in real life because that’s where connections happen anyway. The show is fucking amazing yo. I thought it was fake, but everything was real yo. The girls who had the attitudes toward me was completely real. I’m like no, I’m not spending six days trying to find you. I like the show, I think it needs to continue. I’m like people need to get Catfished.
DX: Wait, you want more people to get Catfished?
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Angel Haze: They do yo! If we didn’t see stuff like that show happening, we’d be bored as fuck on MTV.
DX: Something I noticed out the gate on Back To The Woods is how much of a departure it is from Dirty Gold musically. That’s because you work this time solely with TK. Kayembe who also did “Workin Girls.”
Angel Haze: You know what? We were both underdogs in our field of work. It happened very spontaneously and it wouldn’t like go anywhere. Then we went to Joshua Tree together for a little bit and we locked ourselves in my apartment for two months. We sat there and every emotion that we felt whether it was crazy or rage or sad. I just asked him to make a beat that reflected my emotions. When you listen to Back To The Woods and you hear some of the songs, you can hear the sadness, you can hear emotions I want you to feel. That shit was amazing. I couldn’t have done this record with anyone else. Not only does he have a very fluent understanding of instruments, this nigga understands emotions. He’s able to so perfectly encompass it and my music get better immediately after we started working together full time. I didn’t need writers in the room with me because I wrote every fucking song on that record by myself. Every melody, harmony and everything was done with TK. As artists, it was impeccable for us to work together. He’s the DJ on my tour. We don’t do anything apart; at all.
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DX: Was there any difficulties in putting the project together considering the fall-out with Republic over Dirty Gold? Were you able to reconcile with them?
Angel Haze: Nah, I didn’t. That whole situation was crazy, but it needed to happen because I needed an out. I needed to get out of my contract with my label. You know what? Surprisingly everything went over very well. They were understanding like they didn’t get it. They were like fine, we just don’t get it, if you don’t want to be here we won’t hold you up. This is the dopest thing that anyone can do because not only did I get to be free, I get to make the music that I want to make. The records I’m doing now are better than anything I’ve ever done. It’s one of the best projects I ever put out. That’s just truth. That’s fact. I think all of that shit that happened with Dirty Gold, the recording, the record label and all of that shit was a great lesson for me. I needed it to push me toward this. The relationship with that label is over. I’m moving into a new one and things that feel better for me. I’m an artist that you need to understand. The people who work with me need to understand me as well. It’s cool, it happens, but it’s over.
“I Think Cultural Appropriation And Racism Right Now In 2015 Is A Real Thing,” Says Angel Haze
DX: One of the tracks that caught me immediately was “Impossible.” You make a few bars references whitewashing and cultural appropriation. Reminds me of that editorial you wrote for Noisy some time ago. Why speak up so much about that now?
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Angel Haze: Aww man. You know what? I feel like over the past few years you couldn’t even tell me who you thought Angel Haze was. Was she a rapper? A fly girl who was almost white or like whatever. I’m being fucking real with you. You can’t tell and most of that in large part due to where I was and what I was under. I thought: Why do I care? When I left the label, I was like oh yes! I was like shit’s about to get crazy because I can say what I want and put out what I want. There’s nobody here to stop that. Everybody tries to tell me to find chill and then come with something but fuck that. Fuck chill. I want people to know the real shit. And yes, I have my middle finger up to white America for trying to whitewash my blackness. Do you want a cookie?
[Laughter]
That’s real. That’s all I can say about the past few years of my life. That’s the only way I can get it through to you clear enough to where you get it. I think cultural appropriation and racism right now in 2015 is a real thing. Slavery has been over for like some 200 or so years and it doesn’t feel a day past 19-fucking-40. You have to say something if you’re a rapper or black artist. It’s not really about appropriation of cultures but you have to respect the people you take shit from. I can’t go Japan and wear a Kimono and not know anything about the culture. I can’t even wear one because I don’t know where it fucking comes from.
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[Laughter]
For me, it’s important for black kids or kids of color because I’m half Native American need to know that they can become shit and that they’re allowed to feel on any emotional range they want. People like me, Kanye West, Chance The Rapper or Vic Mensa; everyone who says what they truly feel makes it OK for a little black kid in Detroit on Seven Mile to say I want to paint. I don’t care what you say about me, I’m not a faggot cause I want to paint. I’m allowed to feel. I had one of my exes come to my house recently in LA and he was just blown away he said, “I can’t believe you live this way, we met in a homeless shelter and you’re living beyond what I could imagine.” That just let me know that I could get to people. You have to let kids know that they can be something. Then you don’t have like one percent of blacks in the millionaire or billionaire circle. You have to push the generations behind you forward.
DX: Do you feel that Republic was trying to whitewash you?
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Angel Haze: Oh come on. Don’t make me say that. Don’t make me say it because you know I’m going to say fuck yes!
[Laughter]
I think that’s a given yo. If you met me right now, you wouldn’t understand my dimensions. I don’t know what people see me as. Some will be like, “What the fuck? I thought you were X, Y, and Z.”
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DX: I don’t know because as a black man myself, I’ve never been one to place someone’s blackness in a box.
Angel Haze: Yeah, I don’t think it’s about someone’s blackness but their personality. Whether it was people in a room telling me, “Hey, remember you went to college, remember you have a working knowledge of the English language.” Like I can’t fucking talk and all I say are swear words. I’m like nigga, I fully know fucking know how fully smart I am and I’m choosing to express myself the way that I want. That’s whitewashing blackness right there to sit here and tell me that I can’t talk past fuck, shit and damn. There are so many different intricacies to that shit. It’s bigger than who I am. It’s about how I present myself. You have to know what you’re getting into, even if it’s an artist. I am the shit but, you have to know me.
DX: Speaking of cultural appropriation. There have been a few artists who have become the poster child for the conversation. One includes your close friend Iggy Azalea. How did you feel about the situation considering your relationship with her?
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Angel Haze: To be honest, I don’t pay attention when artist do shit so it took me a while to get hip to was going on with Iggy and her situation. I don’t really have no comment. I know her as a girl and as a person and she’s a really sweet girl. At the same time, if you don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about and you don’t come from where everyone else comes from, you have to chill. You have to learn to tone it down. You’re going to either reject it or accept it and then everyone can hate. There’s true power in acceptance of shit. Damn, I don’t want to be mean because it’s not my place. I think acceptance is a thing you have to know. You have to take it as a lesson. You have to take that L. I’ve had to take mad L(s) in my life but, that’s life.
“Nobody can control Angel Haze”
DX: Do you feel as if the shackles are off?
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Angel Haze: It’s like, I was chained to a chair that was chained to nothing. I felt stuck by the weight of that chair. It’s the best that I can describe it. I get chills when I think about who I am now compared to who I was then. There’s an impeccable sigh of relief. You don’t know the type of devil I turn into when you tell me I can’t do something. You’re not going to tell me what I can and cannot do. Nobody can control Angel Haze. You have no fucking range here. That’s the happiest part of me. I have complete control. From the moment I felt it, I haven’t given it up. Art to me right now is a free place, a limitless place. The whole world is a canvas and I’m painting everywhere I go. I;m painting everywhere I go bro. I’m taking it in and taking the ugly shit and doing crazy shit that I shouldn’t do but I love my life. I love my artistry and the music I make. I’m so fucking proud of it I feel like I’ve been waiting so long to stand behind music or believe in something that has to do with me. Now, it feels so fucking natural. It’s like breathing. I have like 700 voice notes in my iPhone with verses, cadences, melodies and ideas. I’m just growing rapidly because I’m accepting is a problem. I’m a lot of different things but, I’m an artist. I was made this way for a reason. Everything that I do, I need to do from the perspective of an artist.
DX: Yeah, that level of honesty and freedom is totally apparent on “Moonrise Kingdom.”
Angel Haze: I have a really hard time with love. I didn’t see a married couple until I was twenty. My mom spent my entire childhood inside and out of abusive relationships. We were thrown out of a car on the freeway before. I’ve never known love to be anything but destructive or chaos. I had no one to help me understand that love wasn’t hostile and I was fucked up. I think it’s impossible for someone to love someone like me who is so damaged and fucked up. I wake up some days and I’m angry because I’m alive. I wake up some days and cry because I’m still in the world. It fucks me up. I was in love with someone and I didn’t know how to be in love. I don’t know shit about love. I don’t know how to be like you’re the most important thing to me in the world. How do I say that from my mouth that knows nothing about it. My heart is so afraid that everyone in my life wants to break me that I can’t really love you. I’m afraid of it. Then I started to realize. My issues prevent me from being that kind of person I want to be with anybody. It made me lose something so special. It made me lose something that was so beautiful. And, I wrote about it. I wrote about it a lot of times on my record. I can choose to be angry about romance. But there’s a purse significance to letting love go and be as beautiful as it was. I didn’t love a person for no reason. Just because you break up and not see eye-to-eye doesn’t mean they’re awful. This is just my way of letting go of it. I put it in song and I had to express myself. I love so fucking hard, it’s crazy. I’ll do anything in the world for the people that I love. I can’t say it. I’m so afraid. I’m like a little bitch. Even saying this is crazy to me. I love someone and now I don’t have them.
