Kid Sister

Last updated
Kid Sister
Kid Sister.jpg
Kid Sister in 2008
Background information
Birth nameMelissa Lauren Young [1]
Born (1980-07-03) July 3, 1980 (age 43)
Markham, Illinois, U.S.
Origin Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Genres
Occupation(s)Rapper, singer, songwriter
Years active2007–present
Labels Fool's Gold, Downtown, Universal Republic
Member of Sault
Website www.foolsgoldrecs.com/kidsister/

Melissa Lauren Young (born July 3, 1980), known professionally as Kid Sister, is an American rapper and singer based in Chicago. She is known for her single "Pro Nails", which features Kanye West, and for her covert work as a member of the British music collective Sault.

Contents

Biography

Kid Sister was born Melissa Lauren Young on July 3, 1980, in Markham, Illinois. [2] She started to rap in October 2006, becoming an MC at monthly dance parties hosted by DJ duo Flosstradamus (Josh Young, of Flosstradamus, is Melisa's brother), who were featured in MTV's My Block that same year. [3] She made URB's "The Next 1000" cover in April 2007, [4] and was signed to DJ A-Trak's label, Fool's Gold, who released her first single "Pro Nails", which features Kanye West. Kid Sister later signed with Downtown Records, [5] who re-released "Pro Nails" to critical acclaim.

Kid Sister also appears on Tittsworth's "WTF", from his debut album 12 Steps, with Pase Rock. [6] She had also finished a mixtape with A-Trak. [3] In Fall 2009, Kid Sister finished recording her debut studio album. The title was changed from Dream Date to Ultraviolet . The album was produced by the likes of Rusko, The Count & Sinden, XXXChange, and Brian Kennedy, and includes a collaboration with English singer Estelle titled "First Ladies", which is a remake of Queen Latifah's 1989 acclaimed track "Ladies First" from her debut album All Hail the Queen . [7]

Her single "Control" is featured in the 2009 music video game DJ Hero , combined with Rihanna's "Disturbia". The album's lead single was "Right Hand Hi", produced by Steve Angello and Sebastian Ingrosso of house DJ group Swedish House Mafia. [8]

"I think a lot of people are going to be surprised with the fact that there's a bunch of raw hip-hop records on there," said A-Trak. "It's not all up tempo clubby stuff. I think a lot of people are going to be impressed with her growth also because when she made a lot of the records that people have heard by now, she was just starting to rap." [9]

In late 2010, Kid Sister released a mixtape titled Kiss Kiss Kiss and in 2014 she released a second mixtape, Dusk2Dawn: The Diary of Jane Jupiter in which she tackled more serious, personal subjects. In 2016, she began working on her second album with British producer Inflo. Kid Sister is a member of the British music collective Sault, along with Inflo and British singer-songwriter Cleo Sol. [10]

Personal life

Kid Sister's ethnic background includes African American, Native American, and Caucasian. [11] In numerous interviews and magazine articles, she has revealed that she has struggled financially for years before becoming West's protégé. [12] [13] She has also admitted to being 215 pounds at one point in her life. She continued in the same interview to state that she has been "thick" her whole life, but explained that this has had no bearing on her self-esteem, because at her core she is not a passive person. [14]

Kid Sister has a degree in film from Columbia College Chicago and worked on two independent feature films during her studies: 9/11 drama The Guys (2002) starring Sigourney Weaver and Anthony LaPaglia; and Best Thief in the World (2003) starring Mary-Louise Parker and Audra McDonald.[ citation needed ] Kid Sister for a time concurrently worked for the retail chain Bath & Body Works, Little Threads, a children's clothing store, and Wild Hare, a reggae bar in Wrigleyville. [15]

Discography

Albums

Mixtapes

EPs

Singles

Solo

YearTitlePeak chart positionsAlbum
US US sales UK [16] UK dance UK
R&B
2007"Control"Ultraviolet
2008"Pro Nails" (featuring Kanye West)21
2009"Get Fresh"
"Right Hand Hi"9731 [17]
2010"Daydreaming" (featuring CeeLo Green)132 [18] 14 [19]
"Big 'n Bad"
2011"Look Out Weekend" (featuring Nina Sky)Kiss Kiss Kiss
"Kiss Kiss Kiss"
2019"Long Way Back"
YearTitlePeak chart positionsAlbum
US US sales UK [16] UK dance UK
R&B
2008"Beeper" (The Count & Sinden featuring Kid Sister)691Non-album single
2010"Do Do! Do!" (Carte Blanche featuring Kid Sister)Black Billionaires
2010"Im'ma Get It" (Paul Wall featuring Kid Sister and Bun B) Heart of a Champion

Awards and nominations

Related Research Articles

Simone Johnson, better known by her stage name Monie Love, is a British rapper, actress, and radio personality known for her singles during the late 1980s and the 1990s. Love is a radio personality for urban adult contemporary station KISS 104.1 WALR-FM in Atlanta, Georgia. Love is a pioneer female emcee, a two-time Grammy Award nominee, the first British female hip hop artist to hold that distinction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">G-Unit</span> American hip hop group

G-Unit was an American hip hop group formed by longtime friends and East Coast rappers 50 Cent, Tony Yayo, and Lloyd Banks. After amassing a string of self-released mixtapes in the early 2000s, the group released their debut album Beg for Mercy in 2003, which went on to ship over four million copies in the US and was certified quadruple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jim Jones (rapper)</span> American rapper (born 1976)

Joseph Guillermo Jones II, better known by his stage name Jim Jones, is an American rapper and record executive. He is a founding member of the hip hop collective the Diplomats alongside longtime friend and fellow Harlem native Cam'ron.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Olivia (singer)</span> American R&B singer

Olivia Theresa Longott is an American R&B singer. She is best known for performing with the hip hop group G-Unit and also known as a cast member on the VH1 reality television series Love & Hip Hop: New York.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">A-Trak</span> Musical artist

Alain Macklovitch, known by his stage name A-Trak, is a Canadian DJ, record producer, and record executive. He came to prominence in the late 2000s as an international club DJ and remix artist, known for incorporating highly technical turntable skills and scratching into his genre-spanning work. He is also president of the record label Fool's Gold, which was founded in 2007, and is credited for developing the careers of artists such as Kid Cudi, Danny Brown, and Flosstradamus. Among other collaborative projects, he is part of the DJ duo Duck Sauce with Armand Van Helden and was nominated for a Grammy in 2012 for their song "Barbra Streisand".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flosstradamus</span> American DJ and musician

Flosstradamus is the stage name of American DJ and musician Curt Cameruci. From 2007 until 2016, Flosstradamus consisted of Cameruci and Josh Young from Chicago. The duo announced they would both be pursuing solo careers, with Cameruci to continue using Flosstradamus as a stage name. Cameruci is also known as Autobot and Young is also known as J2K and YehMe2. Flosstradamus is known for being one of the early pioneers of the trap genre, made popular by their remix of Major Lazer's hit single "Original Don".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Cool Kids</span> American hip hop duo

The Cool Kids are an American hip hop duo composed of rappers Sir Michael Rocks and Chuck Inglish. The Cool Kids' music had been released primarily to the independent Chocolate Industries via their own label C.A.K.E. Recordings. Reed and Ingersoll have made appearances in numerous forms of media, as well as in collaborations with other artists such as Freddie Gibbs, The Alchemist, Mac Miller, Boldy James, The Neptunes, Curren$y, Dom Kennedy, Larry June, Pac Div, Travis Barker, Lil Wayne, King Chip, Asher Roth, Ab-Soul, and Chance The Rapper. The Cool Kids are also members of the hip hop collectives All City Chess Club and P.O.C. founded in 2010–2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chester French</span> American indie pop band

Chester French was an American indie pop band consisting of lead vocalist and songwriter David-Andrew 'D.A.' Wallach and multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Maxwell Drummey. They met as college students at Harvard University, naming their band after sculptor Daniel Chester French, who designed the statue at the Lincoln Memorial, the John Harvard statue, as well as the Minuteman statue at the Lexington/Concord battlegrounds in Massachusetts. Milwaukee-raised Wallach and Boston native Drummey quickly found a lot of shared ground in musical tastes and philosophies and before long formed a band with three other classmates, playing various campus functions, eventually moving in a direction heavily influenced by classic British Northern Soul. Over the summer both stayed in Cambridge, working hard at songwriting. But when school resumed, they realized that the material went way beyond the basic guitar-bass-drums-piano format of the band, and the duo continued the work themselves, Wallach handling most of the vocals, Drummey performing much of the music on multiple instruments, supplemented with the occasional special guest – and both taking production and engineering duties for recordings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pro Nails</span> Kid Sister song

"Pro Nails" is the second single by American hip hop artist Kid Sister from her debut album Ultraviolet. The song is better known for its remix, which features a verse by Kanye West. The single was originally released in 2007 and reissued in 2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Control (Kid Sister song)</span> 2007 single by Kid Sister

"Control" is the debut single by American hip hop artist Kid Sister from her album Ultraviolet. The song was released via Fool's Gold Records in 2007 and is included in the Android operating system for mobile devices.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Asher Roth</span> American rapper from Pennsylvania

Asher Paul Roth is an American rapper. He is best known for his debut single "I Love College". Roth released his debut studio album Asleep in the Bread Aisle, on April 20, 2009, by Universal Motown, SRC, and School Boy Records; the latter of which was launched by Roth's former manager Scooter Braun. Roth later left Schoolboy Records in late 2012, due to creative differences with Braun. In 2013, Roth signed with indie record label Federal Prism, on which he released his second studio album, RetroHash.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chuck Inglish</span> American rapper

Evan Ingersoll, better known by his stage name Chuck Inglish, is an American rapper, producer and songwriter most known for being part of the hip hop duo The Cool Kids with Sir Michael Rocks. His debut album Convertibles was released on April 8, 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">40 Glocc</span> American rapper

Lawrence Carl Demetrious White,(born 16 December 1979) better known by his stage name 40 Glocc, is an American rapper.

<i>Ultraviolet</i> (Kid Sister album) 2009 studio album by Kid Sister

Ultraviolet is the debut studio album by American rapper and singer Kid Sister, released on November 17, 2009 by Universal Republic Records. It was initially to be titled Dream Date but was changed during the recording process, along with the removal of three tracks and addition of five new ones. DJ A-Trak serves as the executive producer and the album includes production by XXXChange, Sinden, DJ Gant-Man, Hervé, Yuksek, and others. The album garnered a positive reception but critics were divided over the repetitive party content and Kid Sister's talents as a performer. Ultraviolet debuted at numbers 11 and 20 on the Billboard Top Heatseekers and Top Rap Albums charts, respectively. It spawned six singles: "Control", "Pro Nails", "Get Fresh", "Right Hand Hi", "Daydreaming", and "Big N Bad".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Termanology</span> American rapper

Daniel Domingo Carrillo, better known by his stage name Termanology, is an American rapper and record producer. He first gained major attention with the 2006 single "Watch How It Go Down". A solo album, Politics as Usual, was released in 2008. He has made a number of collaborative albums, such as 1982 and is known also for his prolific mixtape output. He is of Puerto Rican and French descent.

<i>Ms. G.O.A.T.</i> 2008 mixtape by Lil Kim

Ms. G.O.A.T., an acronym for "Greatest Of All Time", is the debut mixtape by American rapper Lil' Kim. It was officially released on June 3, 2008 and was produced by Mister Cee and DJ Whoo Kid, DJs from New York City. The title references the 2000 album G.O.A.T. by American rapper LL Cool J.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tittsworth</span> American DJ

Jesse Tittsworth, better known under his stage name Tittsworth, is an American DJ, producer, nightclub owner, and record label owner. He has worked on projects with Q-Tip, Theophilus London, Pitbull, Kid Sister and Alvin Risk. He co-founded T&A Records, Hermanito Label, and U Street Music Hall.

Antoine Amari Reed is an American rapper better known by his stage name Sir Michael Rocks. He started his music career in 2005 as a member of the hip hop duo The Cool Kids, and later joined the groups All City Chess Club, the "super group" P.O.C., and The Toothpick Clique. The Cool Kids released their debut album When Fish Ride Bicycles in 2011, which features production by The Neptunes and artists such as Ghostface Killah. The album peaked at No. 76 on the Billboard 200, and No. 9 on Top Rap Albums.

Quincy Lamont Williams, known by his stage name Peewee Longway, is an American rapper. He best known for his mixtape The Blue M&M (2019) and his 2014 single, "Loaded". He was also a member of the rap group "Felix Brothers", alongside Gucci Mane and Young Dolph.

David Villegas, better known professionally as Dave Nada, is an Ecuadorian-American DJ and producer credited with creating the fusion-genre moombahton. He is a member of the production and DJ duo Nadastrom and co-founder of Hermanito Label along with Jesse Tittsworth.

References

  1. "BIG N BAD". ASCAP. American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. Retrieved May 3, 2023.
  2. downtown (November 5, 2009). "Kid Sister's Ultraviolet Out November 17th – Just Day's Away!!". RCRD LBL. Archived from the original on June 4, 2011. Retrieved November 5, 2009.
  3. 1 2 Hopper, Jessica (August 4, 2006). "Social Mixers". Chicago Reader . Creative Loafing . Retrieved January 21, 2008.
  4. Tankboy (March 15, 2007). "Chicago Kids Do Big Things". Chicagoist. Gothamist. Archived from the original on September 19, 2008. Retrieved January 21, 2008.
  5. Bolden, Janeé (February 28, 2008). "Kid Sister Signs With Downtown Records". SOHH. Archived from the original on June 16, 2008. Retrieved February 28, 2008.
  6. Queen, Neil (August 8, 2008). "WTF feat Pase Rock and Kid Sister by Tittsworth". The Times . Times Newspapers . Retrieved September 1, 2008.
  7. "Kid Sister & Estelle Pay Homage to Hip-Hop's First Ladies". Rap-Up . October 20, 2008. Retrieved July 10, 2009.
  8. Dombal, Ryan (July 10, 2009). "Kid Sister Talks Album Delay, New Single". Pitchfork Media . Retrieved July 10, 2009.
  9. Dow, Danica (August 31, 2008). "SOHH EXCLUSIVE: A-Trak Plans "Dream Date" W/ Kid Sister, Strikes Gold In New Label". SOHH. Archived from the original on September 11, 2008. Retrieved September 1, 2008.
  10. "Sault Untitled Rise". The New Yorker .
  11. Cruz, Richard (March 8, 2009). "Kid Sister". Format Magazine. Retrieved July 6, 2009.
  12. Mr Goldbar (July 7, 2008). "Kid Sister URB Photoshoot on Vimby". Fool's Gold Records . Retrieved July 11, 2008.
  13. "article in press album on myspace page". Myspace . Retrieved July 11, 2008.
  14. "Complex Women Kid Sister". Complex . Archived from the original on 2008-07-11.
  15. Schroeder, Amy (September 1, 2008). "How does a Catholic school girl become a hip-hop star?". Venus Zine . Archived from the original on December 25, 2010. Retrieved October 5, 2010.
  16. 1 2 "Kid Sister". Official Charts Company . Retrieved 2012-03-26.
  17. "2009-12-12 Top 40 R&B Singles Archive". Official Charts Company. 2009-12-12. Retrieved 2012-03-26.
  18. Retrieved May 3, 2010.
  19. "2010-05-01 Top 40 Dance Singles Archive". Official Charts Company. 2010-05-01. Retrieved 2012-03-26.