Vibe.com, August 6th, 2003
With no major label or video support, the single took over play lists across the city this spring, sparking a bidding war between Arista's LA Reid and Universal's Kedar Massenburg for the unknown singer/rapper from Spanish Harlem. Now, 10 days after signing with Massenburg, Lumidee is spending most of her waking hours in the studio-she has less than a week to complete her debut, Almost Famous.
Fortunately, Lumidee was prepared for this moment. Since spitting a freestyle on a neighborhood stoop two years ago for DJ Ted Smooth, she has recorded more than 20 songs for the producer's Straight Face Records-half smooth singing, half gritty raps. "We were just making records for the clubs, we weren't looking for a deal," says Lumidee. It wasn't until Smooth reworked the red-hot Diwali riddim to remix a Lumidee track (written for her longtime boyfriend) that the pint-size teenager became a radio star. "It's crazy, because we're here off a song we didn't really put any effort into," she says.
Not everything in Lumidee's life has come so painlessly, though. Her mother wasn't around much, and her father passed away in 1995, so from age 12, Lumi, along with her maternal grand-parents, played a major role in looking after her three younger siblings. Her past provided fodder for song lyrics and poems, and with no musical background, her sweet soprano has a raw, unpolished sound. "It felt untainted to me," says Busta of "Never Leave You."
Moments after the famed rapper leaves the studio, Lumidee's initial giddiness has subsided. "Sometimes you don't want to get too excited, especially if you're used to getting let down," she says quietly, then adds, "When I was younger, I had so much anger in me. But I've never been so calm in my life like now."
