Rapping About Tarot With Kellee Maize

Tarot reading, yoga and rap music…does that sound like a strange combination to you? It’s not strange in Kellee Maize’s world.

Kellee deftly combines heavy rap beats with pop, spiritual grooves and inspirational lyrics – and she does all of this with a sense of fun. (Her music has shades of Lady Sovereign.) The music is infectious and spirited – it certainly caught my attention. But what really grabbed me were the tarot inspired images of Kellee on her website. Intrigued, I decided to learn more about her. I discovered that Kellee was a yogi like myself and she was very socially conscious. This young woman isn’t doing frivolous stuff – she really wants to affect the world in a positive way. And get this – you can download her album Aligned Archetypes on Amazon for FREE. This generosity and talent makes Kellee one to watch.

So naturally, I was dying to chat with Kellee and pick her brains to find out what a rapper/yogi/artist/entrepreneur thought about tarot. Kellee graciously put aside time from her busy schedule for an interview. Check out her answers below:

1. How has the tarot influenced your music?

Well, I have been getting my cards read for over 10 years and music has come up many times during a reading. I have very often been told that I was sort of putting my creative expression on the back burner due to fear, which was very true. I started reading my own cards and found that I was consistently being shown something I wasn’t taking into account. It has also been a part of my spiritual journey which is certainly the foundation of my music. I also use Goddess Cards often and seem to always pull Sarasvati, the Goddess of the arts and music! 🙂

2. What have been your personal experiences with tarot?

My first reading was really powerful. I was somewhat skeptical about if it was a valid thing to do at first as I really didn’t grow up in an area where this was a prevalent practice. I showed up in a suit after an interview….keep in mind I almost never did or ever wanted to wear a suit in life! So, I thought it was interesting that she would be reading me with this totally different look and feel going on! So, among many other things she said that I would be getting a job where I was expressive and in front of lots of people wearing fun bright trendy clothing. I thought that was so funny given what I was wearing and a week later I took the job as a promotions coordinator at the Alternative newsweekly in Pittsburgh which required me to be in front of a ton of people, wearing bright trendy clothes!! 🙂

3. I see you are also a fan of yoga. How does a yogi become a rapper? Isn’t that a contradiction?

Well, I don’t think so. Some rap is really hard and not well balanced in terms of content but, I feel that I touch on all sort of topics and really work on being centered in performance and recording, which is an important part of yoga.

4. Your interests are very spiritually oriented. What kind of message do you hope to bring to the world through your music?

My message in a few sentences is that, it is important to be aware of the world around you while accepting everything and everyone with complete compassion and love. Most importantly I emphasize that we, as humans, have the power to create anything, within ourselves. My hope is that this message will inspire people to move forward and make an impact in the world that is so needed. The biggest area of need, is LOVE, genuine, unconditional love of the planet and its people, animals and plants.

5. Tell me about the “tarot” cards on your site. They’re clever and funny.

Haha, well, they each represent an Archetype I chose and worked with local designers and my photographer Laura Petrilla (http://www.missLphotography.com) to develop visually. They each represent a different side of myself and I feel we all have different energies within us. When I put my album together, I did a theoretical 5 card spread to figure out the order I would put the songs. Each card or Archetype seemed to fall perfectly inline with a group of songs. So, I put the General theme of the reading, which was the “Nakturnal Lady” first, then the past still having an influence, which was the “Princess of Pittsburgh”, then, the future, which was “Miss Apocalypse” followed by the reason for the question or “Mellee Kaize” and the potential within the situation, “Inner Planetary Fairy”. So, the songs all answered the question based on the card they resonated with. The question was regarding how I could align all the energies within my being to be of service to the planet.

6. If you could educate your music fans about the magic of tarot, what would you tell them?

I would tell them that there are always things in our blind spots that need to be discovered and analyzed. Tarot always seems to bring forth exactly what I need to consider at that moment in life. I have almost never had a tarot card reading, or read myself that didn’t have some benefit!

7. Why should tarot lovers check out your music?

I think that people who are open to this sort of intuition and link to the universe through tarot, then it is likely that what I discuss in my music will resonate with them. 🙂

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Learn more about Kellee Maize at her website: http://www.kelleemaize.com and make sure you check out her fun tarot inspired Archetypes images! LOVE THOSE!

And check out this video to get an idea of the cool stuff she’s producing:

Kellee Maize – Start None