Femcees of the Week: Nola Darling

They met during a summer program at NYU during high school. While studying the arts the group Nola Darling formed. The rappers and songstresses left the United States and traveled to places like South Africa, London, and Rome to produce a documentary on Hip Hop culture. It was during that inspiring experience that Nola Darling’s first song was developed. The two multitalented artists took some time out to tell Digiwaxx about how they met, their desire to take their music abroad, and how they don’t try to put a label on what they create.

What is a typical day like for Nola Darling?

Jaq: It really depends.

Alex: Both of us have side hustles. Some days we wake up early and go do that. It’s a hard question. Every day is different.

Jaq: It really depends. We don’t have a set schedule. It ranges from side hustles to session to session. We’re pretty regular, whatever that means. We work and watch True Blood re-runs all day.

That’s cool. I keep hearing a lot about that show but, I haven’t had a chance to check it out yet.


You two met at a summer program at NYU, right?

Jaq: That’s correct. We met at a high school summer program for acting.

Alex: It was pretty awesome. They had about 30 kids from all over the country and you come and just get it in for almost 6 weeks. You attend conservatory training and you just get to chill with really good artist from all over the country. It was there that we discovered that we had a lot in common and artistic energy. From there we both ended up going to NYU for undergrad. We started working on music there.

What did you both study?

Alex: We both are double majors. We’re acting majors and then I also studied journalism and Jaq studied dramatic writing.

When exactly did you form the group?

Jaq: We’ve been together about 2 years as a group roughly. Actually the group came about as a part of a project that we were working on called Word, a documentary film. We went to South Africa and across Europe to London, Rome, and Amsterdam documenting Hip Hop culture. From that the group formed because we realized, “oh we’re documenting all of these other people who are loving the culture, living it, and are creating it. Wait a minute. We do music too. Why aren’t we making our music right now?” So I wouldn’t call it a switch but, just a natural evolution.

Can you tell me about that experience?

Alex: It was incredible. We were basically in teams carrying around a big camera in our bags for six weeks straight hopping from country to country. It was my first time in Africa. It was incredible going to South Africa. I can’t really describe that feeling being home. It was amazing to make that connection. It reinforced the fact that people are people and we all are connected. We all basically want the same things. It was great to see that every where we went Hip Hop is still alive. It’s rooted in something that is community based and is for the good of the people in a lot of places. Even though it’s became mainstream and maybe washed out in some ways here in the United States we were able to find the real purity in these other places. That was refreshing and inspiring. It’s helped us to want to preserve that in the states.

What type of impact did that have on your creativity and music?

Jaq: The first song as Nola Darling, the seeds of that was developed while we were on the road. Being around the different creative people was very inspiring. To see the different styles and people rapping in their own dialect was very inspiring. For us as women we definitely felt like our niche wasn’t carved at that point. So that was part of the spring board. We didn’t see anything that sounded like what we sound like and who we are.

Because you’ve had a chance to see what the Hip Hop scene is abroad would you ever consider moving and pursuing your music careers outside of the U.S.?

Alex: Hell yea! Absolutely! We grew up in very pan-African conscious homes so we know that we are all connected. It’s important to learn how our history, ancestry, and culture changed from place to place but, it all stems from the same root. We’re really looking forward to experimenting and traveling more.

Jaq: We really love world music. That’s kind of the direction that we can easily go towards. We love all types of African music, South American sounds, and Caribbean sounds. So being not just U.S. based is something that spoke natural to us and it’s important to us. Especially because so many artists that we love aren’t from the U.S.

Alex: Also, because we’ve had the privilege of our parents exposing us and traveling we see how limiting the U.S. perspective can be. We’re pretty isolated. How many people in the U.S. can name an African Hip Hop artist? Or from anywhere in the world? Our music is broadcasted worldwide and everybody looks at what we’re doing. So we’re really looking forward to making those connections and bringing some of these amazing artists to life.

Where are you from?

Jaq: I’m originally from LA.

Alex: I’m originally from New York but, I’ve spent time in Miami and my family is 100 percent Haitian.

"That Nola D" by Nola Darling *Boom Boom Pow Remix" from Nola Darling on Vimeo.

What’s the story behind the name, Nola Darling?

Alex: Nola Darling is the lead character in the Spike Lee film called “She’s Gotta Have It”. One of the first songs that we wrote we used some of the audio from the movie. It just worked. Nola Darling is this character that’s young, bright, an artist, Black woman, living in Brooklyn. She’s all these things we’re suppose to identify with and look up to.

Jaq: And we do. She has definitely a lot of aspects like her outspokenness and her dreams.

Alex: At the same time she was this feminine hero but, her story was told through the eyes of her three suitors. In the end she’s essentially raped and it’s a giving up of her power. We have a problem with that. We love you Spike Lee and we love what you do but, basically we just wanted to give some new life and hopefully write the next chapter of Nola Darling.

Your music is very diverse. Your music has elements of Hip Hop, Soul, RnB, and Reggae. So how do you explain your style?

Jaq: I don’t think it’s something that we consciously can explain or summarize except for World Music. It’s pretty much the blanket of what we have. It definitely has strong Hip Hop elements with Reggae and a little bit of House here and there. Besides that ultimately we are Hip Hop and we are Soul. All of that stuff can’t really come to the label besides what we call it in the moment to have fun. We’ll call it “rude gal” music or its “teen witch rap”. We like to be silly and say fun things but, we don’t have a label. We don’t try to put any nice little wrappings around it to make it anything because it’s going to keep expanding and evolving.

Alex: We just really like to experiment with different sounds. It’s a mixed bag. We grew up with so many different types of music that appeals to us. We just hope to continue to experiment and see what else comes up.

Jaq: I don’t really think it’s our job to do [label]. Other people can do that but, in order for us create and really do what we need to do we can’t really do that.

Alex: It’s just what sounds hot to us.

When you get together and lay down tracks is it, “what comes up comes out”?

Alex: It depends. Every song is a little mini project. Each one has its own life and story. It might start with us having a conversation or us witnessing something. Or we might hear a track and that leads to something else. Or one of us will have a crazy idea and bring it to the other. That may open a whole other bag of things. It keeps shaping. We don’t have a set process or specific way that we work every time. We just try to keep it as organic and real as possible. We try not to force anything or seek concept work.

Right now you have “The Pritty Gritty Mixtape” out. Are you currently working on another project?

Alex: Yes we are. We’re really excited because we’re knee deep in it. It’s going to come out later this year. We’re not going to say too much about it but, it really shows how we’ve evolved. It’s going to have a nice mix of things that a lot of people can enjoy.

Jaq: The first single from that is called “Step to Me”. It drops September 7th. So be on the look out for that. We’re shooting a video shortly afterwards. So you’ll hear and see things from the upcoming EP soon.

You mentioned earlier that you both have side hustles. So what are they?

Alex: We both write. We actually both freelance. It just depends. We’ve had a lot of random jobs here and there.

Jaq: Club work and all sorts of stuff.

Where can we check out some of your writing?

Jaq: Sadie Magazine, internet based stuff, and it’s just really random. We also are bloggers for Wah Magazine. We’ve done that in the past and we’re looking forward to continuing that relationship.

You have an upcoming show at SOBs with Nina Sky.

Alex: Yea, September 9th!

You can learn more about Nola Darling at www.myspace.com/whoisnoladarling or www.Twitter.com/NolaDarling