Afrobella of the Month – Amanda Diva

My question is, is there anything Amanda Diva can’t do?

She can rap. She can sing. She can spit a mean spoken word verse. She’s a blogger and a cable television personality, and an internet television personality and an artist. She’s a hip hop diva with Caribbean roots who isn’t afraid to blaze her own trail.

To say she’s bold and ambitious is an understatement. She’s exactly the kind of role model I’m looking to in my own time of transition.

All this and more makes her a perfect Afrobella of the Month for these ever-changing times.

I interviewed Amanda forever ago, in like mid-2008. But I saved a stash of awesome interviews for the time when I could bring them to life in a fuller fashion.

Thanks to the incredible skill of my video editor Gisele Parson, we’re finally able to make that happen.

Bellas, I present to you the tour-de-force that is Amanda Diva.

I know I’m biased, but I need to shout about it — I love what Gisele is doing with the images! Please show her some love if you feel the same. And my next task is to work on getting better quality audio for my interviews. Apologies for the volume level and clarity there.

For those of you at work who can’t peep the video, we chat about the cookie cutter image of women in hip hop, being asked to alter your image in the music industry, and defining yourself when you do so many things so well.

Amanda Diva is an inspiration to me as a Caribbean woman, as a writer making her way in an everchanging media landscape, and as a bella with a head for good music.

Peep her style in Q-Tip’s video for ManWomanBoogie.

LOVE her hair in that video. Amanda cited one hair product as her absolute favorite — Let’s Jam!, and when I interviewed her, she declared her video for Windows Over Harlem as her absolute favorite. HOW much fun must that video shoot have been?

Diva is the definition of a hustler, and nobody can knock that. By carrying herself as an intelligent, beautiful, outspoken MC in the ever-shrinking female rap spotlight, she’s automatically set herself apart from the pack.

Thanks to her Twitter, blog, DivaSpeakTV, her YouTube channel, and her MySpace page, fans can stay in the loop with all things Amanda Diva. She’s a multi-talented media master, for real.

Click here to download her latest “freEP”, Spandex, Rhymes & Soul, and click here to buy her album, Life Experience.

Dynamic, talented, and going places. Amanda Diva is proof that it’s possible to do it all. Thanks for the interview, Amanda — congratulations, you’re Afrobella of the Month! Keep on doing big things and making us proud!