Post by MyMyMy♥KyKaiKye on Jul 5, 2011 15:16:12 GMT -5
Taken from HipHopWeekly.com
“At the end of the day if you believe in yourself the world will too,” explained Dawn Richard, the flavorful songstress that helps complete the hip-hop group Dirty Money. Take a look at this exclusive conversation with Dawn Richard and writer Lathleen.
She shares the spotlight with her label head Sean “Diddy” Combs, “Its like working with an icon,” she says when talking about Combs. “It’s amazing, it’s brilliant, someone who knows the game so well, you’re learning the game so well. Honestly it’s the best thing I could’ve ever had, I just love what I do and I work extremely hard for it. Being around him {Combs} it feels good because it’s someone who shares the amount of drive and passion {as me}”
Interview/Reporting/Words by @lathleen
Bad Boy Records has a reputation where artists are short lived, but Dawn says she is not at all worried, “That’s every label not just Bad Boy but at the end of the day my destiny is with God.”
Dawn rose to fame after winning MTV’s Making the Band 3. She went on to perform with pop group Danity Kane, a five-woman group that was formed from the show. The group has since been dismantled. “I love them dearly and I wish the best for everybody,” says Dawn about her past group members. Going from Danity Kane to Dirty Money was quite interesting for Dawn. “The biggest difference was dealing with Puff, having him become group member after being boss. I went from being in a pop group to being in a hip hop group. I was already prepared {though} because I already been through so much with everything else. Also, the work ethic was similar, there was no sleep we all loved the same thing.”
Dirty Money released their debut album in December of 2010. Selling more copies than Billboard had predicted and shutting up a lot of naysayers. Dawn says she is use to negativity but has a special way of dealing with it. “I’ve been dealing with it since I came in, it feels like no one wants you to succeed. I’ve dealt with so many negative comments and it’s been from my own people, my own race. I think at the end of the day anything that’s new or anything that’s never been seen before is going to get scrutinized but it helped me grow.” Dawn is continuing to grow with her newly titled mix tape A Tell Tale Heart which contains powerful songs like “Let Love In” and “These Tears”.
She’s not stopping there, the songwriter has an album on the way slated for release in the Fall called A Golden Heart. “I’m telling people to put their armor on,” she explains “there’s a fight happening for change.” The singer describes her location to be “in a palace of dreams.” Most of her fans are itching to know if her relationship with Day 26 member Que is still alive “everybody wants to know, we never stopped, we just choose to be quiet, we gave the world enough. We’re trying to make this thing happen for the rest of our lives. I’ve always been private. It’s time for us to work on us now.”
Dawn has one last wish in regards to the industry, “I just wish we could all support each other a little bit more than we do now. I think in this business the power of the voice is so strong, I really want everybody to win and I want to win too but I think it comes with time.
Dawn’s advice for anyone struggling to achieve their goals:
“At the end of the day if you believe in yourself the world will too. After that it’s called active planning, you get ready for your dream to come true, you do everything in your power to know your craft, so when the opportunity presents itself, you won’t have to look back because your already ready for the dream.”
You can download Dawn Richard’s mixtape on her official website www.dawnrichardblog.com/