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| Tara Ellis - The First Lady Of Club Rock Tara Ellis, a high voltage singer will release her new EP, Live & Die In LA, produced by Benny Cassette, (Crimson World) on Tuesday, December 16, 2008. For the last year Ellis has been hard at work infiltrating the LA music scene with her new brand of club rock. Her new EP Live & Die In LA has emerged as a tribute to some of the greatest hip-hop artists of this generation. Ellis's sound, influenced by everyone from Gwen Stefani, Pink! and Joan Jett to lyrics of Biggie Smalls, reaches across the pop/rock and hip-hop divide. "One day I'm sitting in my living room and Biggie Smalls video comes on…Big Poppa. I remember saying out loud "I miss this guy, and I miss when lyric writing was an art. What's happened to the life that words use to have?" So I began some research on some of my favorite old school Hip-Hop songs and read through the lyrics. Inspired through melody, I sat down with my guitar and wrote my own version of these songs. This is my way of reminding the world of how great some of these artists are, and on the flip side how much the art has gone down hill, backwards and completely out of touch. You decide which one is which." – Tara Ellis The songs from Live & Die In LA depict emotions and imagery that define a generation and tell the stories of ordinary people gone awry. In "Big Poppa, I see some ladies who should be having my babies" Ellis, challenges the question of what about marriage…what about being a dad? As much as she loves the music of hip hop and respects the artist, she's not afraid to ask the question "are we empowering people to be the best that they can be?" Ellis makes a stand for women with the 2008 hit, Lollipop stating, "You can keep your wrapper…we don't need another Lollipop." Each song is unique in itself as well as working with the other songs. What Ellis has done is, with a woman's touch, added a special element to each song that pays tribute to the rappers. She has created a work whose voice is as original as any of the greats named above. The sound and style is big and rich, yet simple and straight up. Live & Die In LA is going to make you sing, dance and even pick up a guitar! write your comments about the article :: © 2008 Jazz News :: home page |