Teedra Moses is quite possibly the most underrated singer-songwriter to integrate R&B and rap in the new millennium. According to Teedra, she weathered one hell of a storm through the abrupt death of TVT Records and managed to stay highly appreciated within the foreign tour circuit. When most would have given up, she decided to stick it out, which undoubtedly strengthened her artistic thirst. No stranger to the pen, Teedra has written for some of the best in the game, including legends Mary J. Blige, and Raphael Saadiq. While producing her own sound, her dedication landed her with a new, unique opportunity to become the first lady of Maybach Music Group’s (MMG) label, under the expertise of Rick Ross. Now, it seems that Teedra’s moment is finally near, as she works on her debut release under MMG, and fans wait with great anticipation. Teedra never bites her tongue in expressing her music or her interviews. Take a moment to reflect on her wisdom as she talks to AllHipHop.com: AllHipHop.com: Teedra, I know your mother was a singer in gospel. How much of her work influenced the powerful voice that you have today? Teedra Moses: Initially, I didn’t think that I was influenced by it much because I didn’t hear gospel in my voice very much. The more that I’ve developed my instrument, my mother comes out a lot, and I think that her influence starts to come out more so during my stage performance. Before my album, I didn’t do many stage performances, but since my album, that’s pretty much all I’ve been doing. The gospel side of me, the powerfulness of my voice, definitely comes on stage. AllHipHop.com: I read that after you broke your leg you had the “light bulb moment” where you decided to pursue your music. What’s the story with that? Teedra Moses: Yes, because I was a wardrobe stylist. As much as I enjoyed hanging with my friends and traveling around the world and working around music, it wasn’t my passion. It was something I was doing because it was there at the time. You get to an age where you’re trying to figure out what it is you want to do. You’re trying to figure out what your purpose is. I think when I broke my leg on the video shoot, I was sitting there on workman’s comp and just couldn’t move, I started thinking about what it is that I really wanted to do. I love music. My children’s father was a rapper, and he would bring beats home, and I would freestyle songs over them all the time. So, I just decided to pursue something that was a little more passionate to me, and really more so because I needed to figure out a way to make money for me and my kids. My children’s father and I weren’t together anymore, and that was my way to make money. And it became something that I fell in love with, and it became less and less about the money. It was more about me finding something that was my purpose. AllHipHop.com: Your last album, Complex Simplicity, was amazing, but it may not have achieved the same amount of commercial success as some of the other R&B starlets’ albums. Looking back on that situation, what would you say that you’ve learned from that musically? Teedra Moses: Keep doing what you want to do. It doesn’t matter if they like it or not, as long as you love it. I think what I learned from not selling records is that you can have a really great product and it still not mean anything. I really feel like it was a wonderful album. I didn’t know then how to hustle my music; now I’ve learned more about that. I didn’t know then how much you can’t rely on a label; now I’ve learned more about that. It’s less of what I should change about how I make music, but more of what I should incorporate or how I hustle my music. I really don’t feel like we made a bad product. I feel it was a really good product; a little bit before it’s time, and it was also on a label that didn’t understand it. I learned that I have to be more than an artist that writes, sings, and chooses my tracks. I have to really see a vision for the entire process of my career and kind of tell people what I’m looking to do so we can work from that – to not have someone dictate to me what’s going to happen. AllHipHop.com: I know that you’re not just an artist. You’ve had a lot of success as a songwriter. I’m sure you love them both, but do you fancy one over the other? Teedra Moses: I definitely like writing for myself more. I definitely like being an artist. I like writing period, before singing or performing or anything. I like writing for myself more, because you have to strip yourself down a lot when you write for other people. At this point, I just write songs. If someone happens to like a song that I write, then that’s great. Or, if they see a resemblance of themselves or can relate to it, that’s great. I stopped writing for other people two to three years ago, because I saw that it was taking away from my chops. As the individual that I am as an artist, it was taking away from that. So, I really would have to lean towards being an artist, because initially that’s what I wanted to be. I started writing for other people because they liked the songs; not really because that’s what I wanted to be – a writer for other people. AllHipHop.com: Your writing style and lyricism is like the perfect cross of beauty and gangsta. How is it that you can go back and forth between two opposing styles with such ease? Teedra Moses: That’s […]