FSD Feature: Catching up with Ravyn Lenae on the Telefone Tour

When discussing her current listening rotation, I ask about Ravyn top 5 albums of all time. “Five? Ooo why would you spring that on me?” she says, still ready to take the task. “Speakerboxxx/The Love Below,” this one comes easy, and she takes a pause after it. “Mama’s Gun, uhhh, 808’s [& Heartbreak],” I remind her we’re at three so far, “Crap!” she’s starting to realize she’s running out of slots. “Stereolab’s Not Music. What was that, four? I’m doing good!” and she is, as I’ve seen people restart their list a couple of times while going through it. “And uhhhh. I had one in my head. Hold on,” she takes out her phone to go through her library. This one is crucial. “Maybe… What’s that N.E.R.D. album? Seeing Sounds!” Mama’s Gun seemed like a no brainer for her, as Erykah Badu’s influence is clear in her work, but I have to mention I was surprised Miseducation didn’t make it to her top 5. “Really? Why does everyone assume those things about me?”

Our conversation finds its way back to her writing style, and I bring up the idea that a writer will always be, in some way, speaking from their own experiences, as a disguise is ultimately just a self-portrait. “[The characters are] elements of me. Yes, definitely,” she tells me. “I mean, it’s coming from me, so there’s obviously a piece of Ravyn there. And the fact that I can even make it up shows it comes from Ravyn’s experiences.” Those experiences obviously being largely due to the women she was raised around.

The entire time we’ve been talking, Mama Angie has been zipping back and forth. Occasionally, she’s made sure Ravyn had anything she needed, but mostly she’s been speaking with her manager and going to an alcove in the back to handle some business-appearing activity. “I wouldn’t have been as into myself and starting a career in music if my family didn’t support me the way they do,” Ravyn explains, as we notice Mama Angie moving past us. “You want that support, you know? I think a lot of artists get discouraged when they don’t have that from the people they’re closest to. I think it’s played a major role in the artist I’ve become.”

When asked about what her mother does specifically, and if she can be said to be part of Ravyn’s “team,” she thinks on it for a bit, given more room now that her makeup artist has left to grab something. “Um. Are you a part of my team? Yeah, she manages things for me. Makes sure I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing. And everyone else. She ‘takes role.’ She’s a mom.” This last comment reminds me of when I entered the building, and had some difficulty with the venue getting to the green room. Mama Angie quickly came and fairly politely, yet firmly told the venue operators that I had to be backstage, in a way that only a mother running out of patience could.

Despite this tendency to step outside of herself in her music, Ravyn explains that the closest she’s come to writing about herself is her song “Sleep Talking.” “That’s why it was the hardest song to write.” she says. “Yeah. I was so nervous when I released it. And I’m sure people don’t think of it like that. ‘Oh, this is Ravyn’s life story.’”