Paid Dues Recording artist and CEO Veto Ali is focused. I dont think you understand what focused truly means until you hear her talk about her album 'Chicago Hope'. "This album is my heart, soul, my pride and joy. Its like my first born. I've done many albums before, but this is the first one that i will be releasing to the public." This album has been five years in the making for the SouthSide Chicago girl BORN WITH MUSIC COLOR SYNESTHESIA (individuals experience colors in response to tones or other aspects of musical stimuli). From her grandmothers basement on Chicago's tough South-East side, she recorded three LPs on only $800 worth of equipment. "Me and my boy Reggie used to go in there and just rap our asses off. I did all of the beats. Every beat on my albums,and his were all me." By the time she enrolled at Columbia College Chicago in 2003, on a full academic scholarship, she was armed with two solo LPs and a duo album of her and Reggie aka Frost. "My first album was called 'Hace Muchos Anos', my second was "Le Morte De Katalyst' kuz i was calling myself Katalyst at the time. Then me and Frost dropped 'Shut Up-Shut Down(The Game)'. By 2002 he had 'Street Structure', then we graduated, and fell apart." That lost was anothers gain. During her 4 year stint at Luther High School South, she met Murrda Ace. "Me and Ace immediately liked each other. We used to write shit and tell each other to read it. Always competition." Soon, Veto joined Ace's rap group, the now defunct L.A.W(Love.Amongst.Warriors). She and L.A.W split and had an ongoing beef for 2 years until 2003 when they called a truce. "I didnt wanna see it go beyond rapping. It was sorta getting too personal. They talked about me, Reggies facial features..he and I talked about their personal lives. I had a child so i wasnt tryna be dead over some high school bullshit. I said fuck it, lets just get money." Many people on the South Side of Chicago know of Veto Ali's fierce flow and un-apologetic style. Her rhymes are filled with the pain and anger of a child who grew up fatherless, but watched that father take care of other girlfriends children. "It's all on the album, the mixtapes, i dont hide how i feel about my father. I dont like his ass, i love him, but i dont like him. I could never respect a man who does that to his family." Aside from family quarrels, she also manages to sprinkle in the hardships of hustling. Veto has come from a middle class family, but yet she chose to sell drugs from the time she was 9 until 17 years old."I think the guys feel me because i go through the same things that they go through as well. The baby mama drama, the issues with having to feed your child, messing with the women, all of that." The hype surrounding 'Chicago Hope' is astounding, considering, Veto Ali hasnt even dropped a mixtape to let herself be known city-wide. "Kiss The Girls is like my introduction. Im repping for all of the butch lesbians out there who wanna say these things but cant rap ya dig? I do it for them, i do it for the entire Rainbow community because nobody is repping for us out there hard enough. Im not saying im gonna wear rainbows all over my clothes, but i let it be known what i stand for and what im into." In 2006 Veto and long time buddy Murrda Ace teamed up to form the crew South Side Paper Brigade, hence the name of the label Paid Dues. "Im not tryna change the game, i just wanna let folks know females can rap, and im one that do it damn good. I want people to listen." Despite the love from her fans, Veto feels an emptiness now. On May 9, 2007, her biggest fan/supporter and only sibling, Roy, died from heart failure. "I didnt wanna rap anymore, i didnt have anyone to cheer me on, so i felt like fuck it. But everyone kept telling me, 'Roy wouldnt want you to stop rapping, he would want you to keep it up.' So i didnt want all of his word of mouth about me to go unnoticed, so i'm prepping for my second mixtape, and im dedicating it to him." Despite the loss of her brother, Veto Ali is setting the streets of Chicago on fire for the summer with her single "Hey Girl", which has already been played on Power 92.3 Chicago. Expect to hear big things soon about this southside girl with the boyish good looks
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