Teedra Moses is my girl. I am a for real-for real fan. I interviewed Teedra many moons ago, when I just started The Fly Girl Guide while at Howard University in 2007. Her interview is hands down one of my favorite moments. Teedra keeps in real in life and in her music. I often revisit her interview because it had so many gems.
Peep the highlights:
Teedra on life and how she made my favorite track, “Put It In the Wind”
Teedra: “I take to the track and I just kinda married my vocals and my melodies. When I heard, “Put It In The Wind,” I don’t toot horns but I had $15,000 worth of bills due every month and it was a lot. It was really heavy on me, I kept telling myself, ‘this ain’t shit girl, this is all material shit, let this shit fall apart if you have too, put this shit in the wind if you have to. Blow one and put it in the wind.’ ”
“That’s kinda my take on life. Don’t let life weigh you down. This is supposed to be a beautiful experience, when you die, you’re supposed to say, ‘I did that.’ And if you stay caught up with and consumed with pressure, you’re going to blow. And that’s what, “Put It In The Wind” was about and I know I wasn’t the only one going through what I was going through. And I know I’m still not the only one who finds peace in that song, cause it’s something that everyone goes through. You know, I got all these bills but I can’t pay you, sorry, whatever."
“I’m not saying being irresponsible, but don’t let being a grown up take away your youth. You’re only old when you replace your dreams and goals with regrets. I don’t regret nothing, and I don’t think I ever will because that’s just how I live my life, you don’t cry over spilled milk, what am I going to do? Try to lick it up off the ground?”
“It’s done. If I can’t handle it, then I admit to myself, ‘I can’t handle it’ and I give it to God. I try to give him the praise and I try to give Him the burden, that way, I don’t really have to deal with nothing.”
Teedra on Rihanna and being on the underground music scene:
Teedra: “I compete with Teedra. People have come up to me saying, ‘don’t you get upset with an artist like Rihanna being huge?’ Firstly, I’m not a music snob. I like Rihanna. “Disturbia” is my shit. Why you frontin’ on Rihanna? I like everything for what it is and maybe you don’t like it but someone likes it because people are buying it. If this is my role and if this is my position to be on the underground, then I’ll stay here and smash this shit forever. I don’t have to be as huge as Rihanna, if this is what God has for me. I’m not that kind of person; I don’t look at life like that. I appreciate everything that everybody does for what it is. Soulja Boy, 'wake up in the morning, turn my swag on,' I like that song. Why can’t I? Just because I make soul music? Why can’t I like rock music? I’m not a music snob, I like everything for what is it.”
Teedra on being confident:
Teedra: “My mother died and I learned that you have to live. And then my father died, like two or three years after that. My mother was my world; I just figured that you have to live because life is short. They are going to put on my tombstone, ‘she did that.’ I’m not going give my life to drama or competition, I love me, and I think I’m fresh. That’s all that matters to me. I’m a Sagittarius, I’m an artist, I’m seriously an artist, I live in my own world, sometimes it’s kinda messed up for others because I really live in my own world. Sometimes, I can go a whole month, without hearing anybody else’s music but my own. That’s just how I am.”
Teedra Moses on what makes a woman fly:
Teedra: “Confidence, security, doing you and doing no one else. Others can inspire you, but you should never emulate them. You should always do you. That’s what makes a girl fly.”
Just re-reading her interview gives me life.
As I stan for more Teedra Moses music, I peeped her on Rico Love’s new album, Even Kings Die. On a track titled, “Whole Lotta Sex” Teedra sings of makeup sex.
Listen to “Whole Lotta Sex” below: