Hazel Rose on Planting Seeds and Changing the World
An interview with Hazel Rose, from The Write Stuff series over at SF Weekly:
Hazel Rose is an artist/singer/emcee from San Francisco. Formerly the front woman of hip-hop group 40Love, she is now on her solo journey, performing and recording with her live cross-genre electronic band. Look out for her unique sound and strong message in her upcoming debut solo album “The Seed” releasing early 2015.
“Miss Haze (aka Hazel Rose) is a San Francisco Bay Area based performer, artist and activist…Her raw lyricism combined with her love of the mystic and spirituality makes her a standout artist. Moreover, the feminist themes found in her work makes her an inspiration to hip-hop artists and fans alike.” –Feministing.com, Anna Sterling
When people ask what do you do, you tell them…?
I’m an aspiring artist, expressing and learning.
What’s your biggest struggle — work or otherwise?
Time and Love.
If someone said I want to do what you do, what advice would you have for them?
Seek to make peace with yourself by critically observing your mind and transforming your negative functions; be thankful for every being that enters your life; follow your inner light.
Do you consider yourself successful? Why?
Every time I see a seed I planted bloom, it feels like a moment of success. I feel that success is a process and is measured through the causes we make to rise to the potential of each moment.
Who did you admire when you were 10 years old? What did you want to be?
Tupac, Joni Mitchell and The Spice Girls.
Would you ever perform a striptease? Describe some of your moves. Feel free to set the mood.
“My Pony” is playing lol.
How much money do you have in your checking account?
My checks flow in and out like water.
What’s wrong with society today?
Seeing Self as Separate/False Divisions, Illusion of Bondage, Self Hate, Misinformation, Greed, Structural Inequality, racism and domination unchecked and without Justice.
Are you using any medications? If so, which ones?
What is your fondest memory?
Singing “Down in the River to Pray” with my Grandfather.
How many times do you fall in love each day?
Countless.
What would you like to see happen in your lifetime?
The energy shift of our culture towards positive understanding and mutual love.
What is art? Is it necessary? Why?
I feel like art is healing and vision, it’s a way of exploring the many realities that operate within our shared existence, a form of communication, history telling, understanding the world, changing it.
What are you working on right now?
We just put out a new music video “Dalai Lama“. I also just finished my first solo album, The Seed, which releases early 2015. Now we are recording the next album 9 Lives and other new material. In the planning and final stages of a couple videos. Honored to be working with the team of artists and musicians from BQM and collaborate in new ways.
What kind of work would you like to do? Or: what kind of writing do you most admire?
I admire brave political writers and artists like Arundhati Roy and Naomi Klein. I like to do work that can help empower, and reach into the collective consciousness, and my personal road to that I believe is through music.
A night on the town: what does that mean to you?
Live music, surprise encounters, cyphers, latenight Vallarta, homies that are family.
What’s the strangest thing you’ve ever seen?
Strangest/most beautiful — a cave full of giant sea turtles in a restricted beach in Kauai, their energy was so strong, receptive, and sacred.
If you got an all expenses paid life experience of your choice, what would it be?
I would create teleporting, and then go with Terry Taplin on his trip to all the Earth’s sacred sites:)