Last year Concetta Kirschner, alias Princess Superstar, was finally able to give up her day job and concentrate on her music career. After eight years and three albums of ironic and frequently outrageous hip-hop, the independently minded rapper decided it was time to sign to a bigger label.
This should result in the kind of mainstream recognition that has so far eluded her. With the release of her fourth album, Is (Rapster), to critical acclaim last year, Kirschner offered a much-needed humorous antidote to the ostentation of current R&B.
Her stock is also high among her peers: Jarvis Cocker is a fan and occasionally DJs at her gigs, and Beth Orton tracked her down to New York and ended up guesting on the album.
Despite her trailer-park fashion sense and top-shelf lyrics, Kirschner’s trashy sexpot alter ego is more than a novelty act. She provides an intelligent critique of hip-hop’s increasingly boorish attitudes and imagery and appeals to both traditional hip-hop fans and a leftfield pop audience turned off by the genre’s excesses.
“If people think I’m doing the hip-hop braggadocio thing they aren’t getting the whole picture,” she says. “When I started rapping I wanted to create a character who was over the top and ridiculous, and that also could make a comment on the whole culture of celebrity.”
In person, Kirschner, who is dressed down in faded jeans and retro T-shirt, doesn’t look much like her flashy stage persona. She is also disarmingly polite, breaking off from a long-distance phone call to her parents to start this interview.
The New York-born rapper began making music at college, where she joined an all-girl psychedelic-rock band. In her spare time she wrote songs and recorded solo demo tapes. Those tapes brought her to the attention of a handful of major labels. They recommended an image makeover; she refused.
“I didn’t want to become a puppet,” she says. “One guy said: ‘We’re going to call you Cream. Then we’re going to dress you in furs and jewellery …'”
Rather than become the female Vanilla Ice, Kirschner formed her own independent record label to release her records and manage her career.
She developed the Princess Superstar character as a reaction to her own shyness. During her first gig she was gripped by stage fright and could not move. The pouty Princess emerged to compensate for her bashfulness.
By 1996, when she released her first album, Strictly Platinum, she had a full-time time job as a web designer, conducting interviews with music magazines and booking her gigs from her desk.
“I only quit last year but I’ve been waiting years to be able to live solely off my music,” she says. “When people describe me as an overnight sensation I just laugh. It’s been the happiest year of my life; all the hard work of running my own label and staying independent has paid off.”
However, some things haven’t changed for the white rapper. In the beginning she was compared to the Beastie Boys — now it’s Eminem.
She doesn’t think much of the scourge of middle America. On Welcome to my World she cracks: “I wish I had a Dr Dre and had sold-out shows to one million white faces in Dayton.”
Ironically, like Eminem she’s likely to benefit from the attention given to a transgressive white rapper. Unlike Eminem, her musical ambitions are expansive, her collaborations are eclectic. In addition to Orton, the cult rapper Kool Keith appears on a bawdy, hilarious track aptly titled Keith ‘N Me.
Like many New York musicians, Kirschner has thought about how her work should respond to September 11. She lives in East Village, two miles from Ground Zero. For weeks after the tragedy she could smell the smouldering rubble from her apartment.
While she says she doesn’t want to record “the Princess Superstar Is Depressed album” next, she wants to write more serious songs.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do yet. I’d like to become the hip-hop John Lennon,” she says, then laughs loudly.
Backed by a major independent label, her new single, Bad Babysitter, boasts a funny video in which Kirschner plays the world’s worst childminder, in pigtails and a mini-skirt.
It deserves to become an MTV fixture. If not, Kirschner is unlikely to complain. Relative success appears to have softened her attitude to the record industry.
“I used to have a lot of bitterness. You can really hear it on my second album [1997’s CEO]. Then, I criticised lots of A&R men and music-business people. This album is less bitter, probably because I’m making money. Why should I be mad at the industry when I’ve made four records and I’m still here?”/
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Antique fair. The Parkhurst Antique and Collectables Fair will be held on June 23 from 9am to 3pm at Parkhurst Primary, 13th Street, Parkhurst. Tel: (011) 447 2375.
Camera club meeting. The slide section of the Camera Club of Johannesburg meets on June 21 at 7.30pm in the Auditorium at the Gordon Institute of Business Science, 26 Melville Road, Illovo. Visitors are welcome to submit slides for discussion. Entrance is R10 a person. Tel: (011) 888 4752.
Charity golf day. The fifth annual Zoo Lake Charity Golf Day will be held at the Parkview Golf Club, corner of Emmarentia and Wicklow avenues, Parkview, on August 15. All proceeds will go to the repair and renovation of the historic fountain in the centre of the lake. Players, sponsors, donors and prizes are needed. Tel: (011) 726 2784 or e-mail: [email protected].
Holiday art special. A Food Art Holiday Class for Children will be held at The Art Place, 144 Milner Avenue, Roosevelt Park, on the mornings of June 26, July 3 and July 10. The course is aimed at children between the ages of eight and 12 years. Booking is essential. Tel: (011) 888 9120.
Support group. Wo+men Against Child Abuse, in association with The Morris Centre in San Francisco, is facilitating an Adult Survivor of Child Abuse support group every Wednesday evening from 7pm to 8.30pm at 6 June Avenue, Bordeaux, Randburg. For more information, contact Rana on Tel: (011) 789 8815 or 082 826 1189 or e-mail: [email protected].
Transcendental meditation. Free introductory lectures are held every Wednesday at 6pm at the Houghton TM Centre, 19 3rd Street, Houghton. For more information: Tel: (011) 483 0684 or e-mail: [email protected].
Video screening. Jungian analyst Fernand Schaub will present Joseph Campbell’s The First Storytellers on June 22 from 1.30pm to 5pm at 12 Gayre Road, Sandown. Admission is R40 for members and R50 for non-members. Tel: (011) 708 1982.
Walk the Talk. The 702/FNB Walk the Talk event will take place at the Wanderers Cricket Stadium on July 28. There is a 7km and 14km fun walk and a 21km half marathon and 42km marathon. Entries close on June 28. Entry forms are available from First National Bank outlets, Dis-Chem pharmacies or on the website: www.702.co.za. Tel: (011) 463 2743.
Youth festival. The Rand Water Creative Arts for Youth Festival will take place at the Alberton Civic Centre from June 25 to 29. The festival aims to encourage kids aged between three and 15 to discover the diversity of art and let it transform and enrich their lives. Categories in this year’s performing arts section include music, drama and dance. There will also be workshops and exhibitions of clay, paintings, drawings, collage and sculpture. Other activities — such as cooking, ceramic painting and fabric painting workshops — are scheduled for selected libraries and other venues. For more information, contact Hanli Erasmus on Tel: (011) 861 2183 or e-mail: [email protected].
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Free health scan. Body IQ will provide free health scans (blood pressure, weight and percentage body fat) to members of the public on Saturday June 22 at Sportsman’s Warehouse in Rondebosch, Cape Town. Sports science advisers will be on hand to provide training and exercise advice. Tel: (021) 680 6040.
Public sculpture competition. The Association for Visual Arts is launching the third public sculpture competition for the city of Cape Town. Entry forms are available from the association’s offices, 35 Church Street, Cape Town, or on the website: www.ava.co.za. The closing date for entries is June 29. Maquettes must be submitted for exhibition on August 15 and 16. R80000 will be made available for the installation and execution of the winning piece. The winner will also receive R40 000 in prize money.
Winter school. The annual Winter School programme is taking place at the South African Museum from June 24 to July 4. The programme includes lectures and behind-the-scenes visits with a focus on natural history, social history and art. For more information or for a detailed brochure, contact Sandra Saven or Medeé Rall on Tel: (021) 481 3800 between 9am and 1pm.
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House and garden show. The NBS House and Garden Show takes place at the Durban Exhibition Centre from June 28 to July 7. “The Essence of Good Living” is this year’s theme and features interior inspirations, with the garden as an essential “room” of the home. There will also be a strong focus on easy, fun DIY solutions for home enhancement. The latest hi-tech and electronic items for the home will be on show. In between shopping visitors can relax at the Bean Bag Bohemia restaurant at the show or enjoy an alfresco cup of coffee at Café Pronto on the North Plaza. Tickets cost R25 for adults and R14 for students, scholars and pensioners. Children under 12 get in free. Tel: (031) 202 7622 (office hours).
Prayer weekend. People of all faiths are invited to a special weekend of prayer, healing and reconciliation in Durban from June 21 to 23. The main site of activities is the grounds of Shree Mariammen Temple, Mount Edgecombe, northwest of the Ethekwini municipality. World Peace and Prayer Day will be launched with a horse ride ceremony at 7am on June 21. For more information: Tel: (031) 332 7216 or (031) 502 1621 or 072 2727 669.