See, this is what I love, when the supposed underdog comes out to play and has a brand new game nobody has ever even heard of.
Solange Knowles continuously dances to the beat of her own band. And with a sound, aesthetic and lifestyle all her own, it’s hard not to pay attention to the model, mommy, Dj, singer, oh, and little sister to the biggest R&B star in the world, Beyonce. But the latter is moot, because her star power needs no additive.
After taking the stage at the Sweetlife Music festival this weekend, Solange was back in Brooklyn getting ready to let this week be full of surprises.
The first? Her spread with Complex magazine that has to be the sexiest we’ve seen her to date, and the second is Solange’s announcement via Twitter that she will be starting her own label, Saint Records.
The free spirit has encountered her fair share of quarrels with the music industry, which she opened up about in her new Complex spread:
“I wanted to make all of the creative artistic decisions but I wasn’t the one paying for it. And they didn’t fully trust me to make them,” she says. “Every decision was a battle. It was exhausting. I wanted to be in a position where not only was the music fully my body of work, but everything thereafter was also my body of work. I knew that meant I had to leave and that I had to struggle.” She split with the label and later that year leaked a song called “Fuck the Industry (Signed Sincerely).”
Under Solange’s new label, she will have full creative and artistic control, so we can bank on it being all types of retro-inspired printed goodness that makes us want to dance.
Check out Solange’s sex appeal in her full Complex spread below.
On her liberation days exploring hip-hop:
“Houston’s hip-hop scene was in the forefront. I remember going to all of these shows: Paul Wall, Bun B, Mike Jones, Slim Thug. I enjoyed the freedom and the newness of experiencing people and a world that I had not had much access to.”
On shooting her “Losing You” video:
“It’s an independent label, so with that creative independence comes some financial independence,” she says, laughing. “I had to get very creative with how I was gonna pull it all together. Having an intimate team makes you much more resourceful. It comes out the way you want it to, and there’s not a committee of thinkers and observers.”
“I have a mother who never took no for an answer when it came to her creative pursuits. She started a hair salon in her spare bedroom and four years later had 30 employees.”
“I have a father who was the first black student at his junior high and high school and had to do a lot to get to that point. So it’s really in my bloodline when it comes to having an idea and making it happen.”
On her working relationship with Dev Hynes:
“When you think back in history about producers and artists or writers who’ve had good synergy, a lot of times they date or they’re married or there’s a friendship and a kinship,” she says. “I was looking for it.”
“It’s just about putting the music out when it’s ready. When I wake up in the morning, I get dressed for myself, I listen to what I wanna listen to, I make decisions for me. It’s been interesting to navigate that from such a young age so publicly. But life is short and you have to live for you. I would never wanna look back on my life and feel like I missed out on any of that.”
And for the record, Solange has the SEXIEST legs in the game right now. It’s really indisputable.
