Jemeni

Gem (n) a precious stone valued for its beauty, character and worth; as in this female hard rock who accepts the great weight of past earth mothers because she knows that the pressure will one day expose her inner diamond.  

Gemini (n)  1) the astrological 3rd    2) the sign of the twins  3) A space and date in time

QueenDom: FLOW935.Com

HerStory: Jemeni is a brown skinned lady-earth-mother-sun-goddess-word-warrior-girlfriend-sistah-child whisper of potential with the loud-mouthed confidence of a Black girl.  She is and was a storyteller by birth and by birthright. A Caribbean girl raised on coconut milk and Anansi stories, her parents cushioned her early move to Canada with Saturday morning back-home tales, they fought flurries with Brango and cold snaps with old-talk.  

Every storyteller needs a soundtrack. And though there were elements from every genre, Hip-Hop became the main theme in her story. As a teen, she earned her stripes as the only female member of the country’s most popular Hip-Hop show, The Powermove, on CKLN 88.1 FM, eventually co-hosting and co-producing the show with DJX. At 19, she was the Music Director of the entire station and moved on to create a female fronted Hip-Hop show, Droppin Dimez. All the while, she continued her storytelling, doing radio and print interviews with Hip-Hop artists like the late Notorious B.I.G., A Tribe Called Quest, WuTang Clan, De La Soul, L'il Kim and Redman. At this same time, she was also becoming one of the city’s most  popular Spoken-Word artists and performance poets. She has blessed stages here, in North America , and internationally – both as a headliner and opening-act  for the likes of Erykah Badu, Jill Scott, Angie Stone, Michael Franti and Les Nubiens. Her poetry has been published in various anthologies and periodicals; one of her most critically acclaimed poems, the politically charged America Eats Its Young, was published in the Def Jam anthology Bumrush the Page: A Def Poetry Jam (she is the only Canadian included in the book). And in the realm of Canadian publishing, she was recently included in Revival: An Anthology of the Best Black Canadian Writing –with her piece, The Black Speaker.

Her work has also been committed to music and featured on the Word Life: Tales of the Underground Griots CD (a collection of Canada ’s top urban poets).  America Eats Its Young was featured on Nick Holder's CD, UNDERGROUND ALTERNATIVES – running up the international charts and winning a UMAC award for Best Electronica Track.  In France , her track with Kojak, entitled Art To Breathe, explored the line between art and commerce. Her follow-up hit with Nick Holder, No More Dating DJ’s (currently nominated for a UMAC award) is also a DJ and mix-show favourite that caught the attention of one of her childhood heroes: legendary DJ and producer Pete Rock, who released two official remixes of the song. She has 3 Spoken-Word pieces on the new Esthero album, Wikked Lil' Girls. She was also featured in Canada ’s biggest Anti Racism Campaign, with a 30-second national television spot, which featured her performing a commissioned piece dealing with race and racism in Canada .

She has also delved into acting as a way of telling her stories. She has appeared on CBC's Drop the Beat, Showcase's Queer As Folk, starred in a successful run of The Vagina Monologues. She played a recurring role on Showtime's Soul Food series, and recently wrapped up a role with Ving Rhames and Chazz Palminteri in the remake of Kojak.  She has performed her poetry on Book TV, MuchMusic TV, CBC's Zed as well as the poet laureate for CBC’s Play. Most recently, she was chosen to be featured in Literature Alive, a Bravo! documentary series that highlights the life and work of West-Indian writers; Jemeni in the City was an instant fan favourite. She is also a regular fixture on MuchMusic TV's Video On Trial, as a pop critic on the show. Somehow (in the midst of all of this), she made history as one of the original on-air personalities on Canada’s first urban station, FLOW 93.5, as the voice of the Morning Rush Show – where she has interviewed artists like India.Arie, Bow Wow, Mos Def, Justin Timberlake, Janet Jackson, Talib Kweli, and 50 Cent. In her role on FLOW 93.5, she wakes the city up each and every morning, telling the stories of the city and the music that drives it. The venue that allows her to be so public is the private work that she does – working with developmentally-challenged children, speaking to young women, speaking with young adults on panels and in schools...and trying to make a difference in the lives of the young people who look up to her. She is currently putting together a collection of her work and working on her first novel...as well as making music and breathing and loving and living.

© 2006

I.S.I.S. CIRCLE celebrates Jemeni – whose sultry voice serenaded the mic at LYRICIST LINKUP: 360 Degrees of Elevation (10.23.05), AFRIKAN QUEENS REIGN SUPREME: Lessons In Womb-New-Versal Law (4.3.05), LYRICIST LINKUP 2: A Night of Spoken-Word and Musical Enlightenment (11.9.04) and RISE, WOMBAN, RISE (3.11.06)!