PRODG Entertainment Promotions

Other Prodgz

Hertz Nazaire

Aurelie Veronique Saint_Pierre

Mr. Reo

Nathalie Guillaume

Prodgz Spotlight: Nathalie Guillaume

Name:
Nathalie Guillaume (1984)
A.K.A Nati Drèd

Born:
Port-Au-Prince attended an all girls private school; through extracurricular activities managed to come out of my shell and mingle among new acquaintances despite all the unconventional traditions and discipline that were imposed on me. My parents thought it was very important to be well-rounded so they introduced me to music, dance and art at a very young age. A lot of my identity comes from that cultural interaction…

Continued...

Inspiration:
Love, life, love, pain, love, faith, love, nature, love, smiles, love, honesty, love, past, love, future, love, Africa, love, Haiti, love family, love red, love, black, love, green, in a word LOVE. When you open your heart to love, you can hear your soul speak. It is easy for me to substitute LOVE with LIFE because it is the same in my mind… As a yogi, I believe in spirituality and mediation. I listen to my cells moving, my heart beating, and the goddess in me driving my natural energies. I can write about anything… I usually love to write about conscious subjects, about reparation, about self mastery, pain and struggle intertwined with uncontrollable emotions… wow… just LOVE!

Future:
Only time will tell. I am only a simple human. I cannot predict the future; I work towards it but welcome all the changes that come with. In the moment, I am working with Strings (Haitian tropical jazz band) on their 5th album. I had a chance to gig on several occasions with them. It was awesome. Now they have shifted towards a more contemporary form of music where I will be contributing lyrics and arrangements to the project. I am also working with a multitalented brother whose passion for love & life is similar to mine. His name is Dener Ceide (co-producer and writer on Nickenson Prud Homme's album) and he is putting together his first LP at this moment. I have written lyrics for him and had a chance to co-produce a couple of hot tracks as well. Stay tuned for that as it will be OUT OF THIS WORLD! On the poetry tip, I have a track (Imajine) with Sista Flo on Mecca AKA Grimo's new album called "Boat People". This album right there is OFFICIAL. I'm talking produced by Kouvan, featuring cats like Danny Glover, the Last Poets, Wyclef Jean and so forth… as for me, I'm just chilling! I have 3 books of rhymes/illustrations/songs and I'm currently arranging my pieces on piano to come up with something very acoustic and soulful. When the goddess in me says I'm ready, I will release it to the globe. At this moment, I'm enjoying the interaction with these beautiful humans I look up to with such humility and grace.

Musical influence:
too many. Too many! Ok, let me give you a couple. Apart from my family, I can say nina simone, robertha flack, ella friztgerald, diane reeves, Bill Evans, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Sergio Mendez, john legend, dr dre, snoop dog, N.E.R.D, nas, jay z, ludacris, missy elliot, tweet, Anthony Hamilton, timbaland, nelly frutado, mc janik, mc solar, celine dion, alejandro sanz, shakira, zion I, the Spooks, prince, billie holiday, diggable planets, the fugees (especially Lauryn), little brother, eryka badu, jill scott, dead prez, cody chestnut, mos def, talib kweli, the roots, de la soul, Madonna, les Nubians, zap mama, Angelique kodjo, morcheeba, red hot chilli peppers, sugar ray, Richard bona, pat metheny, george benson, BOB MARLEY (and each of his sons), Alicia keys, nora jones, dianna krall, sade, elliane elias, mushi and joel widmaer, azor, septentrional (I know u didn't expect that), manno Charlemagne, juan luis Guerra, ginette reno, patricia kas, jazzyfatnastees, amel larrieux, orlane, Sonya dersion, eric virgal… so many! I mean, my life is a soundtrack and there are 365 days in a year… so you can imagine how much of a music junkie I am. I travel in time with it, that is my only jet plane to get where I wanna go at any particular moment.

Reason why people should listen:
To go to a place that is forbidden. To let your soul travel at the speed of your mind. To fall in LOVE with LIFE. to get away from the ordinary, to take it back to 1789 (bois caiman), just because you deserve that respect to your ancestors…

How I got discovered:
? hum… well, I did a little bit of open mic here and there in south Florida for a while. I was a motivational speaker for many events in the Haitian community and hosted culture shows at my school where I always performed… but I can say it all started at this gig the Maroons proposed me for a Valentines Day event. As activists in the Haitian community, they know me and are aware that I spit in French and Creole. They needed a woman to take part in their event and couldn't think of anyone who could write in French but me. So I accepted. It wasn't even about the money; it was going to be the first time my name was going to be in a program as an ARTIST not a pianist… (Which is very different because "artist" means any and everything)

So I produced this track with a couple of loops from the Spooks and wrote a French piece called "En Amants On S'aimait". It was a heartbreaking story on lost love and lust, I had a hook to it and it was very melancholic, I scatted a little… it was VERY urban for the bill, but the audience loved the style that they couldn't really breakdown at the time. I mean, I had just cut my hair which was bright auburn, I was dressed a la bohemienne, flat sandals--- I was being myself, a little scared of what the older Haitian crowd would think… later that night, they called me out for an encore with Reginald Policard, Richard Barbot and Joel Widmaer… I was so shocked I couldn't speak for a couple of seconds. This is people I grew up listening to in Haiti. My dad used to jam with them and here they were asking ME in what key I wanted to sing 'My Funny Valentine' (which's lyrics I didn't even know to the tee). So we jammed, I sang, I bluesed, I spoke, I LOVEd and got a standing ovation!!!! It was a holy moment! I will never forget it. I thank Makendal for thinking of me that night and giving people a chance to discover my talent. From there I met a multitude of artists, producers and agents that created a buzz about this little marabou who goes by the name of Nati Dred!!!

Diversity in music:
With me… it's always a surprise. I can sing a jazzy song or get on the drums and flip it GUEDE style… calling spirits and all type of stuff. I can spit a love piece, talk about the revolution between my eyes, between my thighs, or get in a sentimental mood on a baby grand piano… it all depends on the vibes I get from the crowd. If I'm into it, you might get a little bit of everything!

Listening to my music will:
Make you wonder why hip hop is what it is right now. Although my genre is world beat, I am very hip hop… I LOVE hip hop. I am hip hop. I breathe hip hop. It's the jazz, the poetry, the art, the dance, the mc in me… all the elements of hip hop are in my music and style. So I think when you listen to me, you wonder why more young artist don't try to bring the only thing we have as blacks in America to the level that only a couple of us are striving to reach.

My ultimate goal is to:
Create intelligent music… scientific music… something that relates to your life in a numerical manner. That touches your soul not because it's music but because of how it is delivered. I want to create an empire with my passion for art and science in order to continue the philosophy of unity--- ONE. All we need is ONE LOVE! Respect what you bring to this earth and if you are blessed enough to have several feathers at your hat, than master each feather and expose it to the ones who are still asleep. We are all spheres… we must rotate at a harmonic pace with each other and compliment one another. That is my goal… to master myself and rotate freely among other spheres!

Music is my:
Oxygen. My legs, my arms! The blood of my Nubian ancestors rushing through my vein, the flashbacks of lost soldiers jumping off the deck because of lack of human respect, the real black girls in the back of the ship giving birth to rebels who would never forget that under the conditions of blood flowing and feces throwing, today I would become who I am… MUSIC is my TOOL my LOVE my LIFE.

My epitaph:
Bèl Nati
Bèl Kreyati
Kounya Ou Ap Jwi Lavi
Voye On Ti Manje Pou Lespri Yo Kap Domi

Final Thoughts:
Shout out to my boy Jose who baptized me Nati Dred. It is the symbol of NATURE ( in Creole) and DREAD the Rasta man in Africa ( again in Creole). As a Haitian artist, that is what I represent. I give thanks to those that appreciate all the things my little self brings to the table and if you are down to rotate in the atmosphere with me… holla at me. I don't do this for the pride or the fame; I do it because it makes an 8 year old girl in Jacmel smile, because it makes an 80 year old man in North Miami think of his mother, because it is genuine and unplugged. I don't have a band, I am my own band simply because I love the flexibility of grabbing anyone who's on my frequency to me.

So if you are there and willing contact me via www.myspace.com/natidred and drop me line. I love to jam and talk about philosophy, politics, Haiti, LOVE! I thank you for the opportunity to express myself through this newsletter and hope that all Haitians will one day wake up and stop assimilating. We have so much work to do in this world… I and I are the chosen ones so we just need to be about it… we have no time to lose. So study, focus, create and let them know why Dessalines inspired all the great ones you look up to in America today.