Rocky Rivera's album cover shot by Amanda Lopez

Krish aka EyeASage is not only the music editor here at M.I.S.S., but also a heavy-hitting female emcee on a mission to change the face of hip-hop. Now known as Rocky Rivera, this Bay Area artist dropped her debut self-titled album at the beginning of February after 2 years in the making. This 13-track album with production by 6Fingers, DexBeats, Nick James, Keelay & Zaire, CZA, and Fatgums is full of Cali flavor and West Coast vibes. The album is unforgettable with flawless transitions and songs that could fit into almost any genre of Hip-Hop. The world can never have enough female emcees and Rocky Rivera reminds us of how much we really miss them.

In the first single “MRSHMLO” produced by the Bay Area’s own 6Fingers, Rocky Rivera pretty much sets the tone for the entire album by combining confident, intelligent, and playful lyrics with hard hitting beats. The song is full of Bay Area bravado, as producer 6Fingers flips an E-40 sample using the lyrics, “Never been a marshmallow.” There’s nothing soft about this introductory track from Rocky Rivera. With lyrics like, “You can keep your soft ass beats for the rest of ‘em”, this pinay femcee is never letting you forget that she’s a young woman who is worthy of respect and won’t settle for anything less than the best.”  She remains true to this statement throughout the entire album; as you never find her rhyming over mediocre beats.

The third track on the album, “Girl Like Me” (also produced by 6Fingers) features Dun Dun of the Hip- Hop, Reggae, and Dancehall duo Los Rakas. In this song, Rocky Rivera uses auto-tune and a Caribbean-styled flow over a seductive reggae rhythm. This potential club banger is packed with intensity and definitely makes you want to get your dutty wine on. 6Fingers flips April March’s “Chick Habit” on track 4, as Rocky puts her own clever spin on this classic naming it “Trick Habit.” With exaggerated drawls and ad-libs, this track stands out because it displays Rocky Rivera’s ability to switch up her vocal style. The song feels heavily inspired by the drum and bass sound often found in house music and southern rap. In other words, it must be played loudly!

The fourth track on the album, “The Rundown” (produced by Fatgums) shows a harder side of Rocky Rivera as she reps Guerilla and gives the listener a glimpse into what life was like for her growing up. She gives the message that whatever you want to do or be in life, you should always give it your all. In the CZA produced songs “Go There” and “Ride Out”, Rocky’s feminine voice and perspective hit hard against the banging beats and tight production.

Although the entire album is really good, the stand out tracks to me are “Heart” and the Nick James produced joint “I Am Gone”. In “Heart”, Rocky’s raw lyrics and powerful delivery tell the stories of strong women enduring and conquering struggles throughout history.  ”I Am Gone” finds Rocky switching up her lyrical style once again with a mid-west type of flow similar to Twista.  These songs are completely different from one another but both speak to a certain originality, style, and dignity that only a female emcee can bring to the game.

Rocky Rivera’s debut album is lyrically heavy and melodically driven.  As a young San Francisco-raised woman of color, her story is unique and her devotion to “the truth” is something that’s been missing in Hip-Hop for awhile.   Her messages of female empowerment, respect, and dignity are reminiscent of female emcees Lauryn Hill, Bahamadia, and Sister Souljah.  This album is a testament to all the skeptics that true talent is blind to gender.  Her debut album proves what most of us knew all along:  Hip-Hop can only get stronger with the presence of female emcees.

You can purchase Rocky Rivera’s album on Itunes or at CD Baby.

To get your Rocky Rivera fix, be sure to visit the following links:
http://www.rockyrivera.com/
http://twitter.com/RockyRivera
http://guerillabusfare.blogspot.com/

In case you missed the M.I.S.S. Exclusive video for Rocky Rivera’s single “MRSHMLO”, don’t worry! Here it is again.  Check it out!

I came across the art of Mitsy Avila Ovalles via the wonderful world of MySpace a few years back and I’ve been wanting to do a feature on her ever since.

Before I get into her art, I want to let you all know that this lady seriously has one of the most amazing MySpace pages in the history of MySpace pages. If you have yet to see it, check it out. I guarantee you’re never seen anything like it before (and if you have they’re probably biting her style!).

Mitsy’s fine art pieces are amazing end products of growing up in a Mexican household cemented in California soil. Her work, is layered with elements of Mexican pop culture, with references to JuanGa [the Mexican Elton John—only a lot more talented], pan dulce, Menudo, the LA Dodgers and numerous icons from novelas.

Viewed online, Mitsy’s work appears grimy in texture yet feminine in essence—a nice balance for a M.I.S.S. girl’s taste!

In her digital work, Mitsy’s female subjects are portrayed in bold colors and they are heels & kicks, bamboos, lips and a whole lotta hips yet she can flip it and draw a hard lookin’ E-40 or Eazy-E.

Here’s what Mitsy had to say, in a recent email exchange we had, about her plans for the near future:

I’ll be spending some winter months in Mexicali to paint for a group show come next March at FIFTY24SF, catch some baseball Caribbean series games and Mexicali “Soles” basketball games, spoil my ahijados [godsons] and eat some delicious Chinese food and Mariscos [Mexican seafood...yum!]. Oh! A friend and rad artist Shizu Saldamando recently hit me up about designing a Poketo wallet. She was asked to curate a series from various artists. I’m psyched about that because I’m not very resourceful so I’ve never had ANYTHING mass produced (not even like prints…oh I did have buttons once) anyway…yeah, so buy one once they come out so I don’t end up in the sad clearance rack (I don’t know when they’ll be printed up).

In the past, Poketo’s artist series of wallets have featured the art of Hannah Stouffer, Andrew Jeffrey Wright and Greg Lamarche, just to name a few, so this is a pretty exciting step for Mitsy and fans of her work! We’ll have her keep us posted about when those drop.

For now, check out Mitsy’s hand-written interview below and take a step into this artist’s world, after the jump!

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