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Yo! Majesty has been through many changes since it was started many years ago – now you are representing Yo! Majesty by yourself, minus the sometimes topless performer, Jwl B– how are you finding it now, being a solo artist?

Yo! Majesty started with me, you know, I created Yo! Majesty as a solo artist. I met the other two girls – who are now former members – you know, two and three years later. I was already Yo! Majesty. I can’t take all the credit, because those girls helped to get Yo! Majesty to a certain point, but as far as the vision and who’s going to keep it moving, and make it happen worldwide, that’d be Shunda K. 

Will Yo! Majesty ever be a duo or trio again?

No, I don’t see me ever wanting to be a part of Yo! Majesty, if I have to be dealing with the other two girls. I mean, the first girl, she pretty much just walked away. We were having such difficulties at our first time ever going out of the country, out of the United States. It was like the fifth time we’d been trying to get out of the country that day, and then a valve broke in the plane, so we couldn’t fly on that one. Shon B got freaked out. She was like, “Man, I’m not going to die for nobody.” So, she just walked away. The last thing that I saw of her was her back, with her backpack on and her little stocking cap on, and a cigarette. She couldn’t wait to just blow that stress into the air. She never looked back. I re-booked the flights, but she didn’t show up to the airport. It was a tough reality, it was emotional and it was hard. Then we had to prove that we were Yo! Majesty – just the two of us - because everybody had this three-girl image in their heads.

With Jwl B, I mean, there were so many issues with her. I’ve moved on. I have closure about it. I hope that she gets herself together. But I can’t see myself dealing with her ever again. She really did some fucked up shit, but it’s all good. I thank god for forgiveness, and my ability to do that and keep it moving. I just don’t see myself ever trying to do anything with these two females. Maybe in 30 years, if Yo! Majesty has to do like a Jackson Five reunion, or something. Right now, I’m doing Shunda K. 

When I first heard of Yo! Majesty, the press focussed quite a bit on the fact that you were Christian lesbians – How do you feel about people focussing on things like that, rather than the music?

I’m glad that they do, because they can bear witness to my life. When people see me travelling all over the world, they know that it’s nothing but god who is making the way for me. I come from the hood. So, when I’m able to be in Australia, chilling for two months with my wife and it feels like we’re at home and we’re just doing us. I mean, damn, that’s what’s up! We’re not meant to be judging, and all that, we’re meant to be living in harmony and peace.

You've been to Australia a few times – and are in Sydney at the moment – have you had much down time to look around?

The only thing I’ve done since I’ve been here, is I went to Bondi Beach. It’s the most beautiful beach I’ve ever seen. It’s something that you see on the travel channel, when they talk about paradise and shit. Just to see it, it was just so beautiful. They let the women go topless, and you can walk around with your titties all out. I was just like, “Damn!” Australia keeps it real! You don’t try to hide away nature and what’s natural. You don’t freak out about a set of titties being out. I really appreciate being here in Australia and I appreciate the food and the fact that it doesn’t have all of these additives in it. It’s natural and pure. My body is being cleansed. God put Australia in my heart to come back to. Because Yo! Majesty did split up, and when it did, everybody turned their back on me. I was the one doing the tour by myself, when I find out that my band member was locked up the night before, and I was getting ready to go on the tour. I had to put together a show for the next month and a half. Nobody celebrated that. Nobody said thank you, Shunda K, for keeping it moving. For continuing to do these shows so that their company could make money off of me. For continuing to do these interviews when all this shit was going on in my life and I was dealing with this drama. I still did what was on the itinerary to do. I’m finished trying to please people, I’m just going to do me. It’s going to be all about the people now. I’m not going to worry about trying to fit into the industry anymore. I’m just going to do what I was created to do. 

At the start of this year, I saw Yo! Majesty perform at Days Like This, which was when Yo! Majesty was a duo. Jwl B did her topless performance, which had gained a bit of notoriety. Now that Jwl B’s shock element is gone, what can we expect from a Shunda K live performance?

We’re definitely going to keep it sexy. I’ve made my wife a part of the show. I didn’t do that because I was trying to fill a void. When we go out to the club ourselves, we just love to dance with each other. We’ve just got this vibe, you know, this energy. We be all in each other’s universe. To the point where we always have a crowd around us, watching us dance! So I thought, let’s put this in the show. I’ve got some banging ass tracks. As far as I’m concerned, I am Yo! Majesty. I even have a track entitled that shit. We’re going to bring the sexy still, but we’re just going to grow it up. Not that we can’t still appeal to the kids, ‘cos last night they were eating that shit up! They loved it. They appreciate the lyrics. I haven’t lost anything, I’m just gaining. 

Right now, you’re married to your wife, but at one point you were married to a man. Quite a few of your tracks about women get sexually explicit. Were you always writing those kinds of explicit tracks, even before you came out? Did you just switch rapping about males to females? 

I talked about love when I was dating guys and stuff. I never really put myself out there like a Trina though. I never really enjoyed a dick. That wasn’t nothing that I wanted. It was something that my Grandma said I had to do. My thing was, I wanted to please my Grandmother, because my grand-parents raised me. My mom is gay. I saw the trials and tribulations she went through at the hand of my Grandma, and still goes through to this day. I didn’t want to have to deal with that negativity and all those harsh words, so I just decided to fake it to make it. Even though I’ve been a little boy in my heart, since I was born [laughs]. We were three and four years old, playing house, and I was always the daddy! I was walking around with my shirt off. That was something I always wanted to do; not have to wear a shirt. But I’m not going to put myself out there like that. We all feel free in different ways. 

Before I dated that guy, I was dating women, and my lyrics talking about women have always been explicit. It’s always been raunchy, like golly! I’m going to give you all the hot and steamy details. I’m going to make you feel like you’re all up in some pussy, because I love it! But I have love for all my brothers out there. I want to be able to reach men too. I have songs that I talk about how a man should love a woman. I’m comfortable with myself, so I can talk about it all. My mixtape called The Best Eva Written...Outkast talks about male-female relations. 

I have like over 40 songs available for download. I’ve got two mixtapes. One is called The Best Eva Written...Outkast. I used all Outkast instrumentals, so I knew that this would be more attractive to the black community. A lot of black people are into Outkast. The tracks that I used were from back in the day, not just new stuff. Tracks that I listened to growing up in the hood. It really focuses on male-female relationships, not just black, but male-female relationships, period. I also have Shunda K Kollaborations. I collaborated with so many people, but I featured about 15 artists on this project. There’s about 22 songs on that project. I also have another EP, which is called Le Passion, Yo! EP. I did that with a Brooklyn-based producer called, Kotchy. All this stuff is available at shundak.com. I love to give, and I just hope the people will enjoy my music and what I do. I have to keep it real, I can’t fake it to make it. I have to be real and genuine. 

One of the collaborations you did was with Melbourne’s own Lady Lash, tell me about that.  

That’s something new, and it’s called Chasing That Sound. It’s a beautiful track. We definitely want to release that track. It’s going to be a big tune. It’s a spiritual song. I come from a spiritual perspective, and I appreciate being able to work with people who I respect what they do, and they respect what I do. I sent her some tracks, because I wanted to be inspired by other artists. She hit me back with a hook, and it’s definitely very motivational. I think it’s got a little lesson in there too, for the people to learn from. I’m honoured to be working with her too. 

Every show that you do is really energetic and the lyrics are fast-paced, how do you get into the zone before a show?

When I was going through all the drama with Yo! Majesty, I wasn’t really myself. I used to not have to think about it, I just got up there and did what I do. Once the tension started rising with Yo! Majesty, I felt like I had to watch my back, because I was dealing with a maniac. I had to make sure I didn’t get busted upside the head while I was performing, because someone was jealous and envious and having all these other personal issues inside themselves. I never really stood up to it. Now though, even last night when I did the sound check, my wife just told me, “Wow, you did such a great job!” And I just feel so different. I feel like I’m being restored. Now I’m not going to have to think about it and be struggling to remember my words because I’m distracted with all this negativity. Now, I don’t think about it. I just know that I have to do this. I just have to get up there and give the people the message, so they can latch onto it. 

Not only are you touring, collaborating, recording, but you also manage some other artists! 

I do, I do. It is hard. They don’t know the work that you have to put into this. All they see is the aftermath. Once you done did all the work behind the scenes, they just see you shining on stage. You look good, you smell good; they want that, but they want to skip over all this other shit. They think I’m pulling their leg when I tell them what you have to do to get that! I might be in magazines and stuff, but I’m still struggling to pay my bills. I don’t have management, so I still have to get online and market myself, and reach out to promoters and bookers. It’s not easy; ain’t nobody bowing down to Shunda K. To me it’s like, new level, new devil. The higher I rise, I’m still going to have the same amount of bullshit to deal with. These artists, I try to work with them and show them the ropes. Because you can have a hit, but you ain’t making no money, you’re like TLC, because you didn’t know the business. I’m trying to make them the total package now. These days, labels aren’t developing artists, you have to come ready. You’ve got to be handing them the masters! They want you to have already written the record and everything. I’ve found that a lot of people are in a hurry to get rich quick, and think that the music industry is going to be that thing, and it’s not. Most of the artists that are poppin’, they’ve been doing it a long-ass time. I’ve been doing this since 1998; I didn’t just start back in 2006. I’ve been doing this for a long time, and it’s taken me that long to get where I’m at. I’m finally here and I want to keep it. 

Yeah, people may not realise that you have been doing it since the 90s. So, you would’ve seen the shift to more online-based marketing and promotion. Have you seen that shift as a blessing or a hindrance?

I think it’s great! Now, you don’t have to depend on nobody. If you are that independent artist, you don’t have to wait around. You can do everything online. I mean, if I need a place to stay, I just send out a Tweet, and people hit me up. You’re just accessible to everybody and everything. As long as you’ve got the right motives and agendas, the internet is definitely the way to go. But if you’re still a little baby, trying to find yourself in this cold, cold world, then you might need to stick to the pen and paper, I guess [laughs]. There are pros and cons to everything. To me, I see it as a benefit, because I’ve pretty much perfected my whole system of doing things and how I get down. For example, the collaboration that I did with Peaches, that was done online, pretty much. They sent me the beat in an email. I recorded my parts and sent them all the parts back in an email. And now we’ve got a hit on our hands! We just recorded the video a couple of weeks ago. So, y’all stay tuned for that too – Buck You Like a Billionaire! 

You’ll be performing with Peaches whilst in Australia in January. What is it like to perform with her?

She is comfortable with who she is. She is not intimidated by me, and I love that. I am very inspired by her. I look forward to being around her and interacting with her. I see it as a blessing every time I'm given the opportunity to perform with her. I mean, damn! She is doing the damn thing! She is not afraid – she must have listened to that Yo! Majesty album, I'm telling you [laughs]. 

The costumes are going to be off the chain! I never know what to expect with her. I'm even trying to do some wardrobe changes in my shows too. Me and my wife have been working on that shit too. [laughs] I want to be like Peaches!

Do you find that people are sometimes intimidated by you?

Very much so. From men to women. But I'm just a teddy bear. I do put in 100% every single time. And if you step to the table, you just bring your 100%. We're supposed to be coming up together, but if they ain't going to put in the work, I'm no hoe, and you ain't going to be pimping me. 

I'm just looking to the future. Every day is a blessing. I mean, this trip, Australia has really been good for my soul. I really feel like I'm going through a cleansing and this place is blessed. And you're going to know that you're with Yo! Majesty, when you come to the show. There'll be some ass shaking. It's going to be all to the good. 

Shunda K is about to kick off an epic tour of Australia starting from Melbourne on Friday the 15th of January and will also be supporting Peaches through out her Big Day Out dates, featuring on the hit Billionaire. For more info on Shunda K's solo dates head over to MySpace. To download her mixtapes make sure you head over to shundak.com.