Hip-Hop Wired: How would you describe your rap style?
Raven: It’s my own little thing, really. I like to take inspiration from everybody. In “Bad Little Bish” I obviously play around with it and take Busta Rhymes’ flow from “Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Can See.” I just like to have fun with it.
HHW: Which rappers have inspired you the most and what about their lives have impacted you?
Raven: I think growing up in the West coast, it’s easy to be influenced by Hip-Hop music. Snoop and 2Pac are some of my favorite artists. But the first person I really got into, because I wasn’t really raised on rap music, was Nicki Minaj. When I first heard her, was really my first time hearing a female do what she was doing. And that really turned me on. I loved her power, her confidence. She’s someone I want to be like someday.
HHW: You’re huge rock fan. Has the genre influenced you in anyway?
Raven: Sometimes. I think Hip-Hop and punk music sometimes can be very similar in the way that they’re oriented toward their fan bases and what not. But I haven’t really added the rock aspect just yet. Sometimes my lyrics touch on it, but it’ll definitely play a bigger role down the line.
HHW: You dropped out of high school at 16, correct? What pushed you to do that?
Raven: When I was 16, my mom lost her job and she was simultaneously going through a divorce with my stepfather. It was just a really rocky time and my mom also had serious back problems, so she could never work for too long. So I took on the role of working, because I knew that she needed it. I got a job and I dropped out of school because I didn’t have time. And I just worked, I just felt like it was my responsibility to take care of the people around me.
HHW: Do you regret it?
Raven: Not at all. Honestly, I think our school systems are kinda sh*tty anyways [laughs]. At times I think yea, I love school and wonder what it would be like if I’d gone to college, but at the same time I never paid attention in class. I ditched constantly. And college was never really an option for me. I was just not going to put myself in that much debt, my family never had that kind of money to put me through. Plus, I probably never would have gotten into music, had I gone to school, so there’s that.
