Join me as I unravel the world of the self-made hip hop artist Amber Smoke. Her story is a tale of resilience, determination, and girl power as we follow her journey from the streets of Houston to becoming a music industry powerhouse. We delve into the competitive terrain of the music industry, particularly from a female artist’s perspective, and explore how Amber manages to stand out and stay true to herself amidst the fierce competition.
In the latter part of our dialogue, Amber lets us in on her recent music projects, including the creation of "Money Orders" amidst the global pandemic. We also get to hear about her dream collaborations, hints of her future plans, and the exciting road leading up to the "Money Orders" video. The conversation also surfed the waves of Amber's digital presence, her social media links, and the launch of her latest venture, shoptheambersmoke.com. If you’re an aspiring artist or a music enthusiast, this chat is an absolute treat for your ears!
This episode of In the Field Radio is brought to you by Misses Kisses Pies, the Capitol Region's go-to bakery for all your sweet treat needs. Visit Misses Kisses Pies in Albany and on Facebook.
Join me as I unravel the world of the self-made hip hop artist Amber Smoke. Her story is a tale of resilience, determination, and girl power as we follow her journey from the streets of Houston to becoming a music industry powerhouse. We delve into the competitive terrain of the music industry, particularly from a female artist’s perspective, and explore how Amber manages to stand out and stay true to herself amidst the fierce competition.
In the latter part of our dialogue, Amber lets us in on her recent music projects, including the creation of "Money Orders" amidst the global pandemic. We also get to hear about her dream collaborations, hints of her future plans, and the exciting road leading up to the "Money Orders" video. The conversation also surfed the waves of Amber's digital presence, her social media links, and the launch of her latest venture, shoptheambersmoke.com. If you’re an aspiring artist or a music enthusiast, this chat is an absolute treat for your ears!
This episode of In the Field Radio is brought to you by Misses Kisses Pies, the Capitol Region's go-to bakery for all your sweet treat needs. Visit Misses Kisses Pies in Albany and on Facebook.
This segment of In the Field Radio is brought to you by Tatoo Shop Radio, Culture Shock, WAPTER Music FM, powered by Zenofm, with additional monitoring through online radio box. All right, welcome back to In the Field Radio. I'm Erin Boogie. I'm here. We have Miss Amber Smoke in the building. Thank you so much for taking the time out. So for those that don't know who is Amber ? ? I am a singer, rapper, dancer, writer.
Amber Smoke:
I'm a creator. I'm an artist and music artist out of Houston, texas. I now live in the MA and, yeah, I'm making moves.
Erin Boogie:
So I read your bio and your whole bio just screams self-made girl power, super inspirational.
Amber Smoke:
I'm so happy that you said that, because you watch on my own and I do have a team for so long. I edit my own videos, I build my own website, I come up with tutorials and outfits, I shoot myself with video and pictures and write my own music. So it's amazing that you said that. I really appreciate it.
Erin Boogie:
Yeah, no, our show, one of our things, is we aim to educate and we aim to uplift women. So as I was reading your bio, I thought, wow, this is such a perfect fit for us because you embody all of that. Thank you so much. I'm going to have to say that. So how did you get into making music?
Amber Smoke:
Oh my god. So when I was eight years old I wrote my first song. It was rapping and singing and I put a little choreo to it and I performed it for my family in Houston. And ever since then I just knew that I wanted to be a music artist. And I just kept going from there different competitions, meeting people, getting to the studio, and one thing led to another and then it just kind of kept flourishing from there. You know, I've had my peaks in my valleys. It kept flourishing from there.
Erin Boogie:
And what was it like growing up in Houston, Texas?
Amber Smoke:
You know what I would say growing up in Houston is great, but I left because it's a little bit slower than LA and New York and stuff like that. But growing up there is amazing because of the principles and the values and the way people treat each other. Everybody is so nice and, like you know, doing anything. I love that. So, growing up there was bomb but not enough opportunity. No, not me personally. I feel like I just wanted to go kind of like where I felt the people were.
Erin Boogie:
And my sound.
Amber Smoke:
Houston has a very distinct sound and my sounds a little bit different, and so I just wanted to go to a different space, a different place, and I went several different places and I landed here in LA, and I love LA.
Erin Boogie:
And so, after you left Houston, you went to Atlanta.
Amber Smoke:
Yeah, so I left Houston, I went to Atlanta, from Atlanta to New York.
Erin Boogie:
Oh wow, you tracked in New York too.
Amber Smoke:
I went to New York, From New York to Atlanta to Atlanta, from Atlanta to LA.
Erin Boogie:
Out of all those cities, what was your favorite city? La, really.
Amber Smoke:
Yeah, la is my favorite, New York to my second favorite.
Erin Boogie:
I have to say New York is the greatest city in the world.
Amber Smoke:
You know, I was born in New York, not New York, new York, but I was born in Buffalo.
Erin Boogie:
New York Okay, upstate, upstate.
Amber Smoke:
Yeah, I have a lot of family out still living in New York, but I I think I dropped my finger or something, but I I grew up in Houston, so but New York was fun. It was fun. I liked walking everywhere.
Erin Boogie:
Is LA more expensive to live in or New York?
Amber Smoke:
Well, I wasn't really paying too much when I lived in New York. I live by myself in LA, and so I'm paying a lot more.
Erin Boogie:
Yeah.
Amber Smoke:
For me LA is more expensive, but I've seen prices in New York that have been outrageous for sure.
Erin Boogie:
I think those cities like to. They like to compete to see who can be the most expensive to live in.
Amber Smoke:
No, I think they're like let's throw people to their end.
Erin Boogie:
And so, as a, so as a female artist, hip hop, especially for female artists, can be very competitive. Yes, and they pick females against each other. And why do you think that is? Why do you think that the industry prefers that? Because they don't do the same thing with male artists?
Amber Smoke:
No, I think they pick all female artists against each other, whether it be hip hop, r&b, pop, girls you know that Brittany, christina Aguilera be from long, long, long ago. I mean, they tried to make it a cat fight all the time and I don't know why. That is because they leave a lot of room for there to be a variety of men and you know, you can kind of just like pick and choose. Okay, you know, I have, you know, this person over here. If I want to get knowledge, I have this person over here if I want to turn up. As far as women is like one or two slot, who's going to be the queen? You know, I don't get that. I don't understand why they do that. It's unfortunate.
Erin Boogie:
And do find that behind the scenes it's not really like that between female artists. It's more of like a, like a manufactured beef.
Amber Smoke:
Um, I think it depends. I mean, some people really just don't get along and that's just the nature of like life every day. Like you don't get along with people. And then some people it is more manufactured, is more of the height of the people around them, even you know creating the animosity because you know they'll be like, you know so and so all day you're not messing with, so you got to take so and so out. You know what I mean. And and it's maybe not even necessarily the woman that wants to do that, but she's hyped up.
Erin Boogie:
What do you think is something that we can do as females to alleviate that?
Amber Smoke:
You gotta be your own person regardless. You know what I mean. You can't follow the path always. You gotta have your own mind. You gotta be your own person and you make your own decisions. At the end of the day, you know, we all have our own paths and our own lives. So I think what makes a difference is being your own person, but I also think not being so manufactured makes a difference, Because when you're an artist, a true artist that you know is very creative, you have a different respect level for other artists because you understand what it takes, you know to create something dope, what it takes to get to a certain space. You know, in music and to be successful, it's not easy, and so you. It's a respect thing Like, oh okay, I see what you're doing, I respect that Versus. I think when you don't have that same kind of background, it's easier for you to do things because you don't understand the plight of another person, that another person has won. You know what I'm saying. Yeah, that's a really good outlook.
Erin Boogie:
Yeah, I think, I think that's. I think that's where a lot of things come from.
Amber Smoke:
You know, I think creative is a really good outlook. I think that's where a lot of things come from. You know, I think creatives natural creatives do have their own kind of like saying going on.
Erin Boogie:
No, I agree with that 100%. So taking it back a little bit. Talk about landing paycheck on Rapalatz 25th anniversary album. How did that come about?
Amber Smoke:
You know it was so funny. I was a kid, I was like a teenager and and it's really hilarious because like you hear me on there, it's like like a grown woman.
Amber Smoke:
I was a teenager, you know, and so I was a teenager and around high school time I was over there at Rapalatz a lot heavily affiliated shout out to my and everybody, the princes and the people I was over there working with my and and they needed, they needed a girl to be on it and it was one. I'm the only girl on the album, I think in total, and I'm the only. I was the youngest person to have a whole entire song by themselves and I was an unknown. Yes, I noticed that. Yeah, I was an unknown and it's like little Wayne on there and I was like Amber's smoke, I was like what? And there was another girl in the studio and we both rapped. We both did our own rap to wrote our rap and we did our rap and they pitched me. So I was really happy Because I was like boom, I was really happy about that. But there goes again one slide. It was one slide.
Erin Boogie:
Yeah, yeah, one. Of course you can put you both on there, right? I mean, yeah, I think it was really cool, though What'd you say? I thought that was really cool, though, that you had your own record. It was like all these videos that were 2, 3 on the record, and then here's Amber's smoke with her own.
Amber Smoke:
I know, I know I still have the little box and I've never opened it. I just left it there because I just thought it was so cool how it was just like maybe one day later I'll open it, but I just thought it was really cool how it was on there by myself, like that. It was like who is this person?
Erin Boogie:
And then from there you spun that into competing on BET's Next Big Music Star I did.
Amber Smoke:
I did. I did that. I met some thug. It was so nice and it was really really cool doing that. I did my little rap. I forget what I did, but I just stopped. I just stopped, I was out and it was fun. I had a good time. It was hot that day, but it was really fun.
Erin Boogie:
And from there. That's how you put together your own tour.
Amber Smoke:
Yes, so I kept going from city to city and performing all over the place and I got a lot of fans from doing that, but it was. You know, when you have kind of like a, I'm so like in my own space of creativity, like I write my own music, I come up with choreo, I do all that kind of stuff, so it's really kind of easy for me to be able to hop on stage and do what I need to do. You know, it's just more so like finding the venues and the cities and stuff like that. That's difficult, but the performing is like second nature.
Erin Boogie:
So on our show, one of the other things we like to do is educate, so what advice would you give to artists that are trying to put together their own tour?
Amber Smoke:
Oh, I would definitely say A be resilient. B have a really great show put together. See, you know, just try to find really poppin' spots. It doesn't have to be, you, don't have to be in a stadium. You know what I mean. A start Everybody starts from somewhere. You know what I mean. And so, yeah, I would say, just try to find a place that's poppin'. Get out there. It really helps you kind of be able to interact with people more, because sometimes it's so much easier to be in the studio writing, you know, or recording, but then when you get out with the people, you have to be able to hold your own and talk, be personable and you know. So I would definitely say all those things and make sure you talk to the people after the show, because that's how they find out more about you and follow you and stuff.
Erin Boogie:
I think that's great advice. Let's talk money orders. That's student, is it out or is it not out?
Amber Smoke:
So OK, so "Money Order" is technically out, but it's not out. So we were going to put money orders out. Due to the pandemic and everything that was going on with that, we pulled back on going heavy on money orders. But that is the single, the first single. Everything else I've been doing has been like soft releases, just to kind of keep you know my online presence, you know there and stuff like that. But money orders is not technically out, but it's out, meaning you can get the song but it's not out yet. So it's about to be out. And can I tell you this, the video is so dope. I'm so excited for this video. Like you haven't seen me like that. So I'm excited for people to be able to see me kind of like in a different space, which I've been kind of like leaning towards different spaces. But the video is really going to take me there.
Erin Boogie:
Do you have a release date for the video yet?
Amber Smoke:
It's going to be next month.
Erin Boogie:
Oh, ok, perfect. Definitely make sure you send it over when we are, when you drop it, so that way we could feature it.
Amber Smoke:
I absolutely would. I would be excited to send it over.
Erin Boogie:
And how was the recording process for you during the pandemic?
Amber Smoke:
It was great. Oh my God, it was so great because, you know, I moved to LA on my own, with just my vehicle. Oh my God, really, oh my God, I had no savings. I was just like I'm going to, I just went for it.
Amber Smoke:
I just went for it. And so I came to LA like, okay, what you gonna do, you know, and I started working. And I started working two jobs and I was going from place to place to place as far as, like you know, living and everything like that. I was all over the place and I made it happen. I worked two jobs and stuff. So I was really, really busy and I didn't have enough time to give to my music because I was trying to get stable here in California.
Amber Smoke:
And when I finally did get stable, the pandemic happened and I was just like what? At first I was like wine, you know, cookies, like oh God, the world is ending. Oh fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck. And then, and then I was like, okay, this is a great opportunity to sit and get some work done which I hadn't been able to do. So I actually, at the time now I have my own home studio, but at the time I actually had a I still have this friend of mine who gave me a key to their studio and so during the pandemic, that's all I was doing was staying at home, writing and then going to the studio and I we did my entire. It wasn't EP. Now it's an album Because it was so much music that I got finished. During that time it was just all bottled up, ready to come out. It was able to come out and I was. The album was gonna be crazy.
Erin Boogie:
So now we're gonna get into some of the more fun questions.
Amber Smoke:
Oh no.
Erin Boogie:
Dream collab. And if you could collab with anyone, dead or alive, who would it be?
Amber Smoke:
Dead or alive.
Erin Boogie:
Yeah, literally anyone.
Amber Smoke:
Oh my God, that's so heavy. You know what I'm gonna say alive would be great, because I just love his versatility and I've always been a fan of the fact that he sings and he raps and he's like so cool to me and then dead. Oh my God, there's so many dope people that are no longer here. Rit, Ooh, I don't know, It'd be like Marvin Gaye or it would be like ooh or Tupac or somebody like that, I don't know. Just because I'm just I just love both of those eras. I love the 90s music and I love, you know, that Motown era. Those are my two favorite musical eras.
Erin Boogie:
I think those are really good choices.
Amber Smoke:
Thank you.
Erin Boogie:
Who's a producer that you haven't gotten to work with yet that you would like to work with?
Amber Smoke:
So many. Are you serious? I do my own stuff. I mean, listen really any and everybody. At this point I'm a fan of so many different producers. Anybody, mike Will, anybody, to be honest, and anyone.
Erin Boogie:
Who's on your current playlist?
Amber Smoke:
Y'all would think I was like. You're like. What personality do you have? Cause my playlist is all over the place. I mean, I have old music, I got new music. You know, I have Lil Baby. I'm a fan of Lil Baby. I think Lil Baby is hard.
Lady D:
Lil.
Amber Smoke:
Baby I have. Then Marvin Gaye will come on, drake is gonna come on. Beyonce is gonna come on I'm from Houston, it's like duh. Then it's gonna get like Teen Tings are gonna come on the Teen Tings this sounds funny, but like Coldplay is gonna come on. Maroon 5, old and New will come on. Born Heal is gonna come on. Eve is gonna come on.
Erin Boogie:
This is a really awesome playlist. My playlist is all over the place.
Amber Smoke:
My playlist is just literally everywhere. It's like one song will be completely different from the next, and I don't even skip. It's a lot of good artists though. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yeah. I'm a fan of a lot of people Like I study music, so and what can we expect next?
Erin Boogie:
You got the video coming out next week or next month, I mean.
Amber Smoke:
I have a lot coming out, actually because I have some new music, some soft releases that will be leading up to almost like an unveiling of the Money Waters video. I have a couple records that are going to start being shown, if I get them expect, today, today, if not tomorrow, and then another one and then Money Waters video. So people can look forward to that. They can look forward to the album Keep Smoke coming out.
Erin Boogie:
It's going to be Do you have a release date for that?
Amber Smoke:
No, I don't. I don't have a release date because we need to see what Money Waters does with the video and then I'll know when we're going to release it. It's a lot of songs on there, really, really great songs, singing and rapping songs, awesome music, and I'm ready to performance. I want to get out and performance.
Erin Boogie:
Do you have any upcoming performances or not yet?
Amber Smoke:
Maybe I'll put it like that Today we discussed a really good one in September and I'm just waiting on confirmation from them, and once they confirm, confirm, then I will be at that one. I was very afraid of COVID.
Erin Boogie:
So in fact Understandable.
Amber Smoke:
Yes, very afraid of COVID. I think I got it before. It was a thing in the US and ever since then I can't get that singing. So I just have been kind of scared. But now, that thing, I feel like I'm a little less nervous to get out and go do my thing.
Erin Boogie:
And what are some goals for yourself over the next year or so, now that the world is starting to open back up?
Amber Smoke:
You know what I'm ready to take over the world. I'm so excited.
Erin Boogie:
I feel like you're on your way.
Amber Smoke:
Oh my god, I feel like my music. I have been and people don't understand. I've been doing this for a long time, so I've never been at this level of my game, meaning I'm super confident about the music that's coming out. I'm super excited about performing and everything, and I can't wait for people to be a part of the way. And, yeah, so this year I'm ready to be heard and to be seen, if that makes any sense. That's my answer. I'm ready for people to hear the music, to see the visuals, to get the style, to get all of that. All of that.
Erin Boogie:
All right, and let the people know where they can find you on social media.
Amber Smoke:
I think in Queens you can find me the Amber Smoke at TheAmberSmoke T-H-E-A-M-B-E-R-S-M-O-K. And then that's for all social media. You can check out my website, wwwtheambersmokecom, and you can shop my looks at shoptheambersmokecom and I haven't really formally announced it yet, but I'm going to do it. I'm just building the page for the style. But two stuff on there. Go check it out and keep up with me, because it's about to get popular. Show me how you care?
Lady D:
Hey boo, it's the Lady D. I need to know how much you care. Follow at inthefieldradio on Instagram and Facebook and anywhere you stream podcast for raw, unedited content From me and E-Boogey. Or you could tell me how much you care? Send an email to info at inthefieldradiocom. I want to know what's on your mind.
Erin Boogie:
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