New Music by Sonya Teclai!

An extremely creative Hip Hop and R&B songstress and previous Friday Feature here on Pumps and Lipstick, Sonya Teclai is everything that you don’t expect…and I love that! She has such a confident style aesthetic, unafraid to mix and match eras and prints. Sonya is such a driven individual and you can not only see it, but hear it in her music and lyrics where true poetry floods your mind– something that you don’t hear on the radio.

Just a few days ago, she released a new single titled “Detached” and an interlude named “Kick My Game” from her upcoming solo project dropping next month. I encourage you to check her out! Click here for her new promo page. Ready to hear the beats? Then click here to play her newest tracks. I promise you’ll fall in love!

Friday Feature: SOL Spoken’s Karega Bailey and Felicia Gangloff-Bailey

I find that power couples are rare. No really, I mean it. Rare. SOL Spoken’s Karega Bailey and Felicia Gangloff-Bailey are a power couple– for real. Hard work doesn’t scare these D.C. newlyweds. The two California-raised individuals have strong backgrounds in education and music and the dynamic duo are nonstop working in the careers and passions. SOL Spoken, SOL meaning: source of light, was established in 2010 by Karega Bailey to combine the arts of poetry and song that positively motivates and inspires the community. They are amazing artists with incredible talent and drive where any member of the audience can truly experience and feel an amazing performance poetically, intellectually, and musically.

The married couple have an amazing style and flair that is true to themselves. They are unafraid of trying new styles and eras, mixing vibrant colors and patterns and can still put a unique stamp on any look.

It is an honor and a privilege to feature such a motivational couple, a personal inspiration of mine, and what is even better is to call them my friends.

Scroll down for shots of Karega and Felicia and get the scoop on SOL Spoken with an exclusive Friday Feature interview with Pumps and Lipstick:

Xiomara: What is your mission for establishing SOL Spoken?

Karega & Felicia: SOL spoken was established so that we could use the art of poetry and song to amplify our academic interest to impact humanity, particularly with the youth.

Xiomara: What are your backgrounds in music and writing?

Karega & Felicia: Felicia holds a degree in music education from Hampton University and is a classically trained pianist. Karega is a poet who uses his sociology and education background to address the needs of his students, his community and his people in general. Felicia is currently pursuing her PhD in Educational Psychology with a research interest on African American students, hip hop music, and achievement motivation at Howard University in Washington, DC.

Xiomara: Since the beginning of SOL Spoken, what are a few major accomplishments you have achieved?

Karega & Felicia: Well SOL Spoken is the brand identity for the art that we produce, but all of Karega’s oratory presentations and literature fall under SOL SPOKEN as well. Since its establishment in 2010,

• We’ve won the Love From the Soundstage Award for Best Collaboration 2011.
• Karega won the NUSPA ( National Underground Spoken Word Poetry Award) for best male poet of the year 2012.
• Us along with rapper/poet Common were selected to perform for Dr.Maya Angelou at the Maya Angelou Public Charter School annual fundraiser.
• We released a double album titled Surrender and completed a six city tour and we have been featured on a number of entertainment blogs and magazines.
• Launched our clothing line available on www.solspoken.com
• Filmed our first music documentary titled Surrender, based on our recent tour in California. 

Xiomara: Describe what someone would experience watching your performance?

Karega & Felicia: We have been told that our performances are powerful and dynamic. Show-goers often report that the passion we display in our work is heart-touching.  A SOL SPOKEN production is going to include poetry, vocal song inspired by hip hop, Roots Reggae, Negro Spirituals, Contemporary Gospel and live musicianship. It has often been recognized as ‘Truth Music’.

Xiomara: What are your goals for SOL Spoken this year?

Karega & Felicia: This year, we will get a national distribution deal, make television appearances on major television networks and hold a scholarship banquet in which we provide scholarships to a number of deserving high school students.

Xiomara: What is your style influenced by? Music? Trends?

Karega & Felicia: As artists, our style is inspired by minimalism, comfort, and color. Minimalism referring to cost, we are not after the brand with the biggest most expensive name. We do not represent that. Comfort refers to our ability to perform freely, vibe with our people and when possible, our clothes contain messages that uphold our philosophy. Color refers to just that; color. We like to blend, compliment, contrast and invite new colors into a wardrobe. It is not at all about always matching.  

Xiomara: Got any style icons? If so, who and why?

Karega & Felicia: No style icons in particular, however, Felicia enjoys trends and style from the 70’s. It’s her favorite era of fashion because of its burst of vibrant colors that can be paired with anything. Felicia is also admirable of anything edgy accompanied care free attitude and a dash of sexy.

Xiomara: Felicia, what are a few of your beauty regimens that are a must? 

Felicia: I wouldn’t say I have any particular regimens that are a must. I am an advocate of washing my face in the morning and before bed and all around keeping my face clean, that is essential. I’ve noticed lately, however, lipstick is a must! Especially for performances. MAC preferred and usually reds, pinks, purples, corals, oranges….you get the point. I love lipstick. Ruby Woo by MAC is definitely a favorite and most recently I have been rocking Schiap by NARS with Cherry Lip Liner from MAC.  Additionally, because of my fair complexion, I always make sure I am wearing a bronzer. Not something to heavy, but enough to give me a little tone. (Refined Golden, MAC Bronzer).

Xiomara: How has starting and growing SOL Spoken molded you into the person you are today? 10 years from now, where do you see yourselves in your careers?

Karega & Felicia: Since starting SOL SPOKEN, our belief in touching lives through art has been strengthened. We understand that there is much more work to be done and we have accepted the calling to serving. This means that soon we will have to launch a world tour and touch millions of lives with SOL SPOKEN. And in ten years our tours will be more than music, it will be inspiration tours in which we use our academic training Dr. Felicia G.Bailey Educational Psychology Ph. D and Karega Bailey, M.Ed.

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For more on the dynamic duo, visit www.solspoken.com for upcoming event dates, blog, and shop SOL Spoken tees and sweatshirts. Stream amazing performances on your computer or mobile via SOL Spoken’s YouTube channel. And be sure to stalk them via Twitter and Facebook!

Photos courtesy of Karega Bailey and Felicia Gangloff-Bailey.

Friday Feature: Sonya Teclai of OZ

Very rarely you actually meet someone who does what they actually set out to do. Many often start, but fail to actually finish because of the guaranteed ‘bumps’ in the road and listen to meaningless comments from naysayers. Not Sonya Teclai. She is what I call an inspiration. With a nursing degree in her back pocket, she up and left her West Coast roots, jetted across the country and is successfully establishing her music career in New York City. An all-natural, East African beauty stays true to her roots and embraces her lush, flowing, voluminous curls. Along with her personal, unique style blending in 90s retro with all things current, she’s one you can’t miss.

Get more on Sonya, her style, and music below with an exclusive interview and photos:

Xiomara: When did you discover your passion for singing and writing?

Sonya: When I was about 3 years old, I got on stage with my favorite Eritrean singer at a show and sang one of his songs to his audience.  All I would do was sing as a kid.  I guess I fell in love with it before I knew what love was.  I had been in choir from the third grade until I was 18.  My writing started when I was in middle school.  I’d write poetry when I was bored in class, which was all the time.  It developed over time when I was a part of a girl group based out of Oakland called Delyte in high school where we all wrote our songs collectively.  I picked up on format and learned to write verses, catchy hooks, and bridges.  Adding the feeling behind poetry and experiences is what really developed my passion for it.  The ability to use wordplay to convey an emotion as close as I possibly could mixed with the feeling behind a voice became everything to me.

Xiomara: How would you describe your singing style?

Sonya: My singing style is a mix between r&b and neo soul.  I pick up soul in my voice from time to time and I hear that it’s sultry a lot.  It really depends on the feel of the track and the emotion I’m conveying.   

Xiomara: Favorite music artist? Style icon?

Sonya: Favorite musician?  That’s a hard.  I can’t just pick one, I don’t want to leave anyone out.  I will say that I really idolize Lauryn Hill and how she went about her “Miseducation of Lauryn Hill” and “Unplugged” albums.  She rapped and sang and kept that balance throughout the albums while being honest in her music.  That’s pretty much my goal in my career.  As far as style goes, I’ve always appreciated Aaliyah’s style.  It also resembled TLC’s style.  Loose pants, a fitted top, and some kicks.  Comfortable, yet fly.  

Xiomara: Top 3 beauty rules? Hair rules?

Sonya: I’m a fan of eyeliner, might be the Egyptian in me.  A shampoo and conditioner without sulfate is a must.  The alcohol dries my hair out.  I love leave-in conditioner for my curls, or any curl moisturizer (Aveda’s line works really well).  I’m not too big on putting too much product in my hair.  I like to air dry it, but in the winter it’s too cold for that so I just use a hair dryer.    

Xiomara: Does music influence your style? If so, how?

 

Sonya: Always has, always will.  Music invokes feeling, and in turn style.  I was a tomboy as a kid and wanted to be the first lady of wu-tang so bad so, I was on my sweatpants and oversized tees for the longest.  It didn’t help that TLC, Total, Aaliyah, etc. were a bit on the tomboy side with their style and I loved their music too.  I’m pressed over the 90’s and it’s style to this day.  Everything retro from Jordans to Timbs and crop tops with door knockers.  I love it all.  It represents an era of music that makes me feel good.  It might be because everything from ’91-’05 is still in heavy rotation on a daily basis. 

Xiomara: When was the inception of Oz and what’s the meaning behind the name?

Sonya: OZ was formed two years ago.  Alexander and I got close and had both been music lovers all of our lives.  Being hip hop heads, we got in the booth and would just spit for fun.  One day, we put a song together called “Princess” (on our first mixtape called “IVL Presents: OZ”) and were just impressed with the chemistry and how well we sounded together.  We decided to put together a compilation and then we decided on the name of the duo.  Alex actually thought of OZ first.  It reflects the movie “The Wizard of OZ” and how OZ was where they were all going to fill a void.  We felt as though there was a void in hip hop/r&b.  I was tired of listening to what’s out now and hearing wack shit.  It just didn’t feel the same anymore, and we wanted to bring the feeling back.  I think we’ve been pretty successful with the content of the music so far.

Xiomara: Biggest accomplishments in your career so far?

Sonya: Man, it’s between being able to perform/have a song with Phife Dawg from “A Tribe Called Quest” and interviewing Nas.  I’ve been a fan of both of them since I was a kid.  Shit, “Illmatic” is my favorite hip hop album so I was like a kid in a candy store.  Other than that, it’s being able to make music that means something and having the opportunity to share it.  I don’t really listen to our music very often because we’re so meticulous about it in the process of making it so by the time we release it I’ve heard the songs a billion times, but when it does randomly pop up it feels so good.

Xiomara: Describe a day in your life as a musician?

Sonya: What no one knows is that Alex and I do everything ourselves from the pictures to the writing to the marketing to the publicity work.  An average full day of music would consist of checking the numbers of listens, responding to emails, listening to new tracks, writing to those tracks, and if there’s time available to go to the studio and lay the work down we do.  

Xiomara: Biggest hurdles you’ve had to face in your career?

Sonya: As a woman, it’s hard to decipher what a man in a higher position in the industry’s intentions are.  And even if their intentions are to pursue me personally, would they be able to control their emotions so that it doesn’t interfere with business.  I’m a stickler about respect and even though this industry is different from a professional setting, I still feel like there’s an aspect of professionalism when it comes to pursuit that needs to be upheld.  I’m really chill and down to earth so I can see where the comfort level is adapted but there’s still a line that’s drawn.  I’m also in a relationship so dealing with that is twice as hard.

Xiomara: Where do you see yourself 10 years in the game?

Sonya: Hopefully, I’ll have a couple of grammys and will still be making music.  I also want to start a production/songwriting company, kind of like what Ne-yo has going on with “Compound”.  

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Keep an ear out for OZ and get a taste for more via the links below:

Sonya Twitter: www.twitter.com/sonyateclai

Sonya Tumblr: http://sonyateclai.tumblr.com/

OZ official site: www.ivlpresentsoz.com

OZ soundcloud: http://soundcloud.com/ivlpresentsoz/sets

OZ Tumblr: http://ivlpresentsoz.tumblr.com/

Alex Twitter: www.twitter.com/iveyalexander