HIPHOSSIP'S AFTERNOON CHAT WITH THE DYNAMIC R&B ARTIST ESTELLE.

Like I said on Sunday's post, we really had fun at the sound check session at the Estelle, Gym Class Heroes and The Roots concert. I arrived with my pumpkin KJ, my PA Gilly and my intern Prince Young both upcoming local artists as well.

Ken Green from Warner Music welcomed us at the door and as we were waiting for our turn to meet Estelle, in comes Travis McCoy and then he runs out and all I could hear KJ saying was "mom, that's the guy from GCH." When Travis passed by again, KJ went to hi-five him and suddenly Travis grabbed KJ above his neck. See, KJ likes that neck thing. Rapper Kid Famous carried him on the neck too at the Flow 93.5FM breakfast birthday back in the Summer.....

Later, Estelle arrived and she was doing her different mini interviews with magazines and online publications but when she got to our area, KJ was so starstruck that he turned frozen and shy. Look at the difference in the video. He didn't believe his eyes! It was really Estelle. They both spoke softly and I had to amplify their voices to the best I could do.

KJ's questions were as follows

1. Estelle, am I the first kid in the world to interview you?--Estelle says YES you are!
   
2. Tell me about Boris Johnson, the London U.K Mayor who called black kids picaninnies!--Estelle told KJ that the Mayor was not very clever when he said that. Picaninnies is a derogatory term used for African children.
   
3. Will you wait outside if you see Mary J Blige go into a store?--Estelle laughed and told KJ that she met Mary J at a club already. KJ asked that as he read on Wikipedia that Estelle would love to work with Mary J and being that Estelle was discovered thru her persistence by waiting outside a restaurant that Kanye West just went into. Their paths crossed and the rest is history.

Later on I asked her about that Kanye path crossing experience and that you have to hear on the video. My interview format was very casual, KJ with me and a simple chat which I was content with along with our nice photo session which KJ stole all of the show with. He later presented Estelle with gifts. Two thank you cards, a key ring telling her they were the keys to Canada and of course a copy of our Canadian themed scarves since Estelle really loves scarves.

While we were there we bumped into the dynamic and wonderful President of UMAC, the Urban Music Association of Canada, Will Strickland above. Strickland even did a drop for HipHossip loving the site you know. That's like Russell Simmons or Kevin Lyles telling you they love HipHossip. Will's Canada's Hip-hop Godfather! LOL! Oh BTW, those drops are coming from the BET awards. Wait till you see what they said about HipHossip.

Above is Toronto SuperMedia guru Andrew Ross Geladaris of GelMedia.net Andy and Will were also doing a project with Estelle on a TV show. What a wonderful day! I wanna personally thank the man below Ken Green at Warner Music Canada and the lovely Joanna Dine at Warner's Media Relations and Publicity who both made this all possible for my HipHossip readers.

The $20 Canadian bill is KJ's paycheck in cash. He earns $20/hr as HipHossip Kid Reporter. He couldn't wait for the payroll office the next payday. Hey kid, better explain that cash to Canada Revenue (Our IRS) Looks like Ken's trying to compete on who's got the larger bill. He made KJ just feel good! BTW, Ken's was a $5 bill. We need to call Warner Music to give him a raise. He TRULY DESERVES IT! Hope you enjoyed the story. E-mail me at hiphossip@rogers.com

NOW LISTEN TO KJ'S ENTIRE INTERVIEW!!!