SHE IS DAZZLING, A LYRICAL MAESTRO,
LADIES AND I PRESENT: Omid Khanzadeh Photos Courtney Mannion When I met up w it h 2l-year
old Vre ni Miche lin i, I thought to myself, "How come there aren't more Mexican f emale hip- hop ar t ists?" Artist ical ly, Vren i is simply o ne of the best Richmond has righ t now. Musical ly. she is simply f lawless. Vreni's passion and her soul fu l approac h remind me of a young Lauryn Hill, while her beautiful voice is reminiscent of Gonjasufi. And with th e abilities to make wonderfu l beats and to hype
up any aud ience, Vreni ha s found herself one of the top m usicia ns in Richmond. Vren i
Richmond, she's worked with
My name is Vreni Michelini.
Where did the name Chhoti Maa come from, and was it your first choice as your stage name?
the likes of Marble Mummy,
and I am a senior in the PA &
Chhoti Maa is Hindi for "little
PR department at VCU. I am
mother," or in Spanish, mamacita.
has already co ll aborated with
Richmond's Ann u, Rasul. Mill z, and Ch ino, and outs ide of
Sparkz and Valone
Listen to music and stay up to date with future performances by Chhoti Maa at www.myspace.com/ chhotimaa .
Can you introduce yourself, and tell everyone how you got into making music?
ink
Pachamama.
orig inally from Guanajuato,
It has multip le meanings. It wasn't
Mexico, [but I've lived in] EI
my first stage name. I've gone
Who in particular influenced you in making music and rapping? Who are you currently listening to? I listen to a lot. so it's hard for
Paso and Dallas, Texas; Albany,
through a couple of really bad
Georgia; Harrisonburg, Virginia
ones: Vren imaa and Tryptich,
me to tell you that only a certain
and now Richmond. I got into
for example.
artist or a sty le influ enced me.
are my grandma Abi, Lauryn
they were students I got to take
What are the topics you mostly talk about in your music?
Orishas, Erykah Badu, Oscar Chavez, the Roots, Bjork, Billie
The artists that come to mind
music when I was pretty young. Both my parents were finishing school in Mexico, and because
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identity and cultures, who I am, and reconnecting with
Hill, Mala Rodriguez, Princesa,
piano, wooden flute lessons
The pieces in Spanish are like
and chorus all for free. Later,
the ones in English. They dea l
Holiday, Portishead , Destiny's
when I moved to Georgia,
with a range of subjects, like the
Child, RL Burnside, Clara Smith, Maria Dolores Pradera, Chopin ,
I was in the high school chorus.
corruption in the government
Three years ago, I started
and politics, the m istreatment
the Moldy Peaches, Manu Chao,
rapping, so the mixture of all
between human beings,
Jedi Mind Tricks, Caetano Veloso,
those experiences developed
specifically towards children
Georgia Anne Muldrow, Mary J.
into th e sounds I do now.
and women, faulty educational
Blige, Intocab le, Chavela Vargas
system[sJ, the complexity of
and many others. Right now
