Published: Monday - May 22, 2006
Words by Tika Milan
Penelope (Photo: Universal)
Trials, tribulations and a three year federal prison bid didn't stop Penelope Jones from being the first Midwest female MC to make her mark on the industry. She's feminine, but can hang with the boys, as her rugged rhyme style can prove. With a new single ("Miss Me With That Foolishness") heating up the airwaves, the Midwest representer is poised to make the summer even hotter.
Through her St. Louis twang, Ms. Jones speaks passionately and candidly about street life and the snakes in them. No stranger to hard times, the once lone woman in the St. Lunatics camp, was dealt a devastating blow -- her path to stardom was cut short by a federal indictment handed down just months after her deal was signed to Fo' Real/Universal Records (who also boasts a roster that includes Nelly). However, whether by fate, luck or prime opportunity, a second deal by Universal followed after her release.
With new found hope and a focused hustle, Penelope now counts her blessings. This time, the rapper is on her legal hustle to capitalize on a second opportunity that most aspiring MC's don't get once.
BallerStatus.com: So, I hear that you are the next best thing out of St. Louis?
Penelope: Yeah, that's what's up. I would pray so.
BallerStatus.com: How long have you been rhyming?
Penelope: Oh my goodness, since I was like 11, 12 years old, but seriously, since I was like 16.
BallerStatus.com: And how old are you now if you don't mind me asking?
Penelope: 24.
BallerStatus.com: Cool. So, how was it growing up in St. Louie?
Penelope: It was lovely. I love St. Louis. Everybody like, "Are you gonna move?" Hell no. But, like I said, I was raised by my aunts, uncles, my granny and my mom. They was hustlers. They was in the streets doing they thing. It was just how it went, it was what I saw. And I can't even say nothing about being raised like that or growing up like that, because it put me on to a lot of things. You know, hustlin' can mean a lot. It ain't necessarily have to mean drugs; there's hustlers everywhere. There's hustlers in this damn music industry, and I'm learning.
BallerStatus.com: You feel that there are similarities between the street life and the industry?
Penelope: Oh my God, it's the same difference. You still got that mutherf---ers tryin' to get over. You still got haters that's tryin' to kill you because they feel like you hotter than them. It's all of that sh--. This ain't nothin' but the dope game.
BallerStatus.com: Same sh--, different name right?
Penelope: Same sh-- different name. Exactly.
BallerStatus.com: You were locked up for three years?
Penelope: Yeah, I was locked up in Federal prison.
BallerStatus.com: How did that affect your career?
Penelope: First of all, I had a deal. Through the same label as Nelly and The Lunatics (Fo' Real). I was already signed. I had signed this big deal with Fo' Real/Universal. So, I was like on Universal back then. And I got the deal in October and was indicted two months after that. I'm like, "Get the f--- outta here." All this time I've been working for sh--, you know what I'm sayin'? And doing this and hustlin' and grindin' and tryin' to make it happen and bam! Soon as it come, I'm going to prison at 19 years old. It was crazy. I really didn't think there was any hope for me after that, as far as the rap game. I was there, locked up in prison, so I got my GED. I was like, "I gotta get me another hustle." I wasn't stupid. I was smart, but I was just fast as hell, trying to get money fast and run with the crowd... you know all that type of sh--. So now, I'm like, "I'm gonna utilize my talents and see what else life has to offer me." In prison, they had all kinds of programs -- college programs, cosmetology. So I was like, as long as I'm here, I'm going to do something. I got my degree in business and was a [certified] personal trainer. I did that kinda sh-- because I felt there was no hope for the rap game.
BallerStatus.com: It's good that when you got there, you used your time wisely.
Penelope: Oh yeah. Hell yeah. You have to in there or you f--- around and hurt somebody [laughs].
BallerStatus.com: So how did you get put back on when you came home? That second chance don't come easy...
Penelope: That was just confirmation from God for real and I'm grateful. But the thing about it is, is that when I was [in prison], I basically said to myself that I wasn't going to rap unless it presented itself to me. My brother, who got killed three months before, said when it was time for me to go home, he [wanted me to rap]. He was just on my head. He was just like, "You gotta rap, this is for you." He was like, "Look Penelope, ain't no female rappers out there right now. You been gone for how long? And there's still a lane wide open for you. You gotta do it." I said, "Ok, if it presented itself to me, then bam, I'll do it. But if it don't, it ain't meant for me to do."
I get home and I'm working as a personal trainer in the gym right around corner. Bam, I get a phone call from a chick that use to manage me when I was with Fo' Real. She was with this guy by the name of Tubby. He brought me up from out the blue because he remembered the sh-- I did with Nelly and the St. Lunatics and it's history from there. He sent me a track with 50 [Cent] and Lloyd Banks on it called "Get that Money." I put a 16 on ther and from there, they had me sneaking out of the halfway house [laughs]. I wasn't in the halfway house at the time, but I was on home confinement, but still in a halfway house. I'm supposed to be home at 9 p.m., sayin', "Yeah, this is Penelope....blah, blah, blah," giving my name and number and sh--. And bam in the studio, trying to make it happen.
BallerStatus.com: Word, grindin' hard.
Penelope: Yes sir, all day long.
BallerStatus.com: What makes you stand out from the other female MC?
Penelope: My thing is this, the only thing that makes me stand out is that I'm from the Midwest. My name is Penelope and my story is different from everyone else. A lot of people in the industry tell you to say something and make it look like this to make you sell and sh--. And what's different about me is the sh-- I'm telling you is real. When you hear me say that sh-- on my record, you can look back and say the bitch is talking some real sh--. She done did that sh--. That's how I'm coming. I was just telling you're boy Jay (BallerStatus.com) that a lot of woman don't represent for woman. What the f--- is up with that? Because it ain't just the n----s that don't respect woman in the game, it's like females don't respect other females either because they don't buy they sh--.
BallerStatus.com: Yeah, that's f---ed up.
Penelope: That's real f---ed up! How we ever gonna get our point across if we ain't even representin'. You ain't even giving me a chance. It's too much jealousy and all that bullsh--. Get the f--- outta here with that bullsh--. Let's build some sh--, try to have our own sh-- or it's going to remain the way it is. If we don't make a change who is?
BallerStatus.com: When is the album dropping?
Penelope: We don't yet. I would say the end of July [or] the beginning of August. I'm hoping. I'm praying. I'm about to get out here and get on my grind, and get to these radio stations. It ain't nothing but politics in this sh--, but I'm about to get political on they ass and be up in everybody's face because I want them to hear my sh-- and at least give me a chance. So, hopefully like I said, the end of July [or] beginning of August.
BallerStatus.com: So who you got on the album? I know that Jazze Pha did the M"iss Me With That Foolishness" single...
Penelope: Jazze Pha did the "Miss Me" joint and actually, Lil Wayne is on the remix for that joint...Lil Wayne and Jody Breeze. I got a remix with both of them on there. Murphy Lee is gonna be on the "Louie Louie" joint. I got Chingy on the remix to that. I did a song with Mannie Fresh and I'm still working on the collabos, so I don't wanna give out anymore names in case it don't happen. Bu,t for the most part, it's Penelope.
BallerStatus.com: I wanna take it back to the whole incarceration situation. I want your opinion on the Lil Kim thing, being that you're a woman in the industry who's been in a similar situation.
Penelope: That Lil Kim sh--! It's the same sh--. It's like this -- and n----s might be at me for this sh--, but I gotta keep it real -- there's a lot of n----s that are bitches. And we seeing that with the whole Lil Kim sh--. You hearing that through my whole sh--. My own f---ing relative, a man couldn't take his own sh-- (refering to a case she caught when she took the wrap for a boyfriend in a drug related charge). What the f--- is up with that sh--? To me, with the whole Lil Kim thing...God bless her heart that she had to even go through this sh-- it ain't gonna do nothing, but make her stronger. Women are loyal. I'm telling you, I was locked down with chicks doing 16 years on 20 year sentence.
BallerStatus.com: Damn.
Penelope: Come on now. It don't get no f---ing realer than that. Check out some of these prisons and talk to some of these chicks and hear how bogus and whack these n----s are. So, let's just keep it real. And that's all. Big ups to Lil Kim. Damn right.
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