You've called and called and she never picks up. It's hard to get a hold of her - she might as well have moved to Siberia or completely fallen off the face of the planet. It's starting to feel like you've slipped off her friend list. People in the Toronto and international hip hop scene are begging to know: Where the hell is Eternia?
Toronto rap artist Eternia provides the answer to that question with her most recent release Where I Been - The Collection. The compilation is a collection of tracks she's been creating over the past year and a half. Eternia says that her newest release is the reason why she's been missing in action for over a year. Her latest project is a mix of unreleased, newly mixed tracks and comical phone messages from friends annoyed by her extended absences and the beeping sound of her answering machine greeting.
Eternia is an artist focused on her goals, and whether she's in between studio recording sets, talking on her phone headset, or granting an interview, the dedication she has towards her craft is palpable.
"I've been doing [this] for a while now, it's my passion and I love every aspect of it. I want to be in this industry," she says. "I'm a rapper but also a business-woman and I have to stay on top of things."
Today, producer and deejay Tech12 is assembling a beat for a collaboration track with Eternia and East Coast artists JBrew and Classified. Eternia is constantly networking and promoting and working on projects. With her wavy light-brown hair pulled back in a loosely-tied ponytail, and clad in a fitted army patterned t-shirt and green cargos, natural beauty Eternia is a bit groggy, tired from starting an early-morning shift at work and a long night of tweaking the e-newsletters she designs herself. Somehow, Eternia still managed to squeeze in the studio time along with our interview.
"I'm trying to find a way to not look tired all the time," she laughs, "So far, I don't think it's working."
Eternia sits on a small beige loveseat in Tech's comfortable studio apartment and quietly recites the lyrics she only had time to write an hour before her session. Feeling confident, she slips into the recording booth, which is really a makeshift Asian-inspired screen with foam padding attached. Tech plays the beat for her and she steps up to the mike to record what she calls "an ego battle rap", her own 16 bars of female bravado. Although she prefers to record music that holds meaning for her audience, Eternia is one artist that scarcely turns down an opportunity to expand her music portfolio.
As she took a five minute break to catch her breath, I was able to grab her attention as she quickly caught me up on her hip hop career.
Eternia has been honing her craft for about a decade. Born Silk Semiramis Kaya in Ottawa to a poor single parent family, Eternia spent much of her younger years moving from place to place, and moved out on her own when she was 15. At the age of eight, Eternia fell in love with hip hop culture and was driven towards music. Her Assyrian Canadian heritage and her underprivileged childhood is something that has affected her in a huge way.
"Being poor put me with people I normally wouldn't have been around. I met a lot of people that shaped me and affected my music," she says. Her green eyes sparkle as she speaks about the friends that she's met, many who she still keeps in touch with.
"Friendships are important to me when they're lengthy. Moving around never gave me that luxury."
As Eternia grew and traveled internationally, so did her talent. From ciphers on the New York street corners of her youth to live performances such as Baltimore's (Planet Asia), Toronto's 2005 North By Northeast festival and more recently the Vans Warped Tour 2005.
At age 15, a move to Connecticut and then New Jersey kick started her transformation. Eternia moved to the US with former boyfriend and now Universal recording rapper Apathy. There she found other like-minded young rappers in the group Alien Nation and began ciphering under the name MuthaShip.
"We rapped about the supernatural and mystical philosophies and stuff. We were kids and we were into alien rap. It was crazy," she laughs. "After a while it just wasn't me anymore."
At 20, Eternia thought it was time for change. Jaded by her former rap crew and weary from a break-up with Apathy, Eternia moved to Toronto to start life anew and reinvent herself. In 2000, she quickly dropped her cipher name Muthaship and adopted another name. With a smooth name like Silk one would think it would be her number one choice. Instead she was inspired by He-Man comic character Eternia, and after taking the advice of fans and friends who thought the name worked, she finally settled. Even after all of the name switching she says she wouldn't mind another modification, but is sticking with Eternia for now:
"I think Silk Kaya is a hot rap name, one day maybe my government name and the one I have now will just go hand in hand." Along with her new name she got herself a one-bedroom apartment, started studying journalism at Ryerson University, and began to work on her hip hop career in Toronto and embark on some new stability in her life.
Her dedication and help from her manager Lyn Thoman (and former manager Tamara Dawit), allowed her rub shoulders with large international names. She has opened shows for illustrious emcees such as Jurassic 5, Planet Asia, Common, Blackalicious, D-12, and many others. In 2001, Eternia released her solo promotional track "Work It Out" on commercial station FLOW 93.5FM and Toronto campus radio stations across the city. In the summer of 2002, Universal Music Canada and Phem Phat Productions released her track "Sorrow Song" and the video has circulated on Much Music, and US and Australian television stations. Then in the summer of 2004 the music video "Understand If I" featuring Freestyle of the Arsonists also received play on MuchMusic and MTV Canada.
Back at the studio, Eternia gets Tech12 to refine her vocal feature for the East Coast track. With every take, she wants her verse to be flawless. As Tech12 fiddles with levels and they debate between recordings and track arrangement, Tech's appropriately named fluffy cockapoodle Akai nips at her heels. Eternia continued to gush about what inspires her music.
Growing up listening to her mother play Kenny Rogers and pianist Frank Mills, Eternia is driven by a variety of music styles and as well as her life experiences.
"I write life music. Sometimes I'm criticized for being too negative or too dark. I'm inspired by my family and personal relationships, and that stuff isn't always happy at times," she says. "It's amazing when you see your fans in the crowd react to the lyrics, like 'That was exactly how I was feeling.' That's why I make music, I want to affect people."
The hip hop scene has toughened up this ambitious young talent. From the beginning of her career she had to be ready for lots of hard work and some rejection as well. Eternia counts her blessings, and believes her achievements are a result to her ambition and hard work. "You have to be cocky and humble all at the same time. If you think it's glamorous, well think again. It's a 24 hour job and you need to be on call all the time."
It takes a lot of work, time and money for a poor girl from Ottawa to make a name for herself in hip hop in the US or in Canada. Using her writing talents and industry savvy she used all of her contacts to try and get grants, studio time and branded products to help shop her work around and promote her talent. Music promoters took the bait, and the resources she needed started to trickle in. Although the money from organizations like FACTOR, VideoFACT, Promofact and many others offered financial salvation, the emcee is still using her own funds and pulling favours from friends to make up for the expenses that the grants can't cover. Where I Been was released without the help of large grants.
The music industry has not always dealt Eternia a fair hand with finance or life, and she had dealt with discrimination in her career. "In the States they still think I'm crazy. They don't understand the concept of other cultures chillin' together and being raised together. It annoys me when people focus on race or the fact that I'm a female rapper. Life experience is something that everyone can relate to. Life is universal."
Although Eternia has gained respect and popularity for her talent in Toronto's underground scene, she wants more. Although she's reminiscent and proud of the career she's had in the Toronto hip hop scene, she feels that that it's time to move her talent elsewhere and this ambitious emcee doesn't want to wait much longer. Eternia is going international.
"I respect the promoters and people that book me because I have talent. A lot of [promoters] only think of me when female events come around. They're just not willing to take risks and I need people to believe in me. In the United States and Europe, artists like me make a lot more money, and I'm all about survival right now."
For those who are still wondering what Eternia's doing, her newest project will definitely provide the answers. Her debut album It's Called Life, is set to release in September 2005 with the help of URBNET Communications. Rumour has it that her debut is being mixed by Toronto upstart music producer and artist KrisBlaiR.
It seems that before Toronto could latch on to this ambitious emcee for too long, she's kept her proverbial suitcase packed, just in case of emergency. For this determined young rapper there's always a Plan B, and fans in Toronto and around the world will have to watch and wait for Eternia's next move.