CHARLOTTE MISHELL

So…..

I just got off the phone with the next “SoSoon Woman of the Month,” miss Charlotte Mishell. And to be honest prior to our talk, I wouldn’t have needed a better reason to write about Charlotte beyond saying “She’s my number one Queens sister.” However, I learned that she and I share some very interesting common bonds. Would you like to hear it, well here it go……..

If you’ve ever read Superman comics or graphic novels, you may be familiar with a character by the name of Bizarro. He is in a word, Superman’s opposite. During our conversation, Charlotte and I realized that we are each others Bizarro versions of one another! Charlotte is to the New York City Hip-Hop scene what I am to the New York City Spoken Word scene; one of the few fairly respected in our “opposite crafts;” kind of a big deal considering you don’t see many emcees at Spoken Word venues and visa versa. If you’ve ever been to some of the more revered Hip-Hop venues in New York, you’ve likely seen the large personality that personality fits into the compact physical frame that is Charlotte. You’ve probably even seen her rock a Spoken Word piece in that same Hip-Hop dominated venue. And I’d be remiss if I didn’t say that Charlotte is well respected and appreciated in the Hip-Hop scene of New York.

On the converse, I remember earlier in my performance career when I would much rather be at Spoken Word venues over Hip-Hop venues. As a result I think it’s safe to say that I’ve garnered my fair share of respect within the New York City Spoken Word poetry scene.

Interestingly enough in both of our respective scenes, neither of us sit at the nerd table, but we’re definitely not sitting with the cool people either (think Bizarro!) Neither of us like competing; we’d much rather go to a space where it’s more about sharing our talents with other artists and fans alike. But put the battery in either one of our backs and we may do it. Individually we both put Queens on our backs when we’re on and off the scene (with all due respect to ALL Queens emcees and poets.) Here’s another for ya; ask either of us about the best moment ever in our respective lives and we’d both say our respective birthday parties, which were also CD releases featuring performances from our peers in and around the scene. But if all of this isn’t enough, Charlotte currently stands in the building where I once called my elementary school, in the capacity of an 8^th grade teacher. What a bizarre world we live in!

The story of Charlotte’s life is in my opinion is even more interesting than the parallels between her and me. A five year old Charlotte used her creative talents to make a book for her mom. Birthday’s and Christmas’ were opportunities for Charlotte to custom make cards for her mom (mom would NEVER accept Hallmark.) Mom wanted Charlotte to be a writer, largely based off of her early realization of her daughters creativity. But young Charlotte couldn’t understand the concept of writing as a career.

Let’s go deeper; mom wanted to be a teacher. A Syracuse University bound Charlotte flirted with education as a major, but didn’t do so well and concluded “not for me.”  The Syracuse University graduate Charlotte worked for some time in the broadcast communications, but quickly noticed the bills were not getting paid. She’s been teaching ever since. Bizarre? Charlotte’s take on the matter; “Everything that's supposed to happen always does, no matter how much you try to screw it up."

Adult Charlotte has bigger aspirations though. She doesn’t like working in a system where she and her peers are being used as tools to manufacture complacent human robots, which are provided with just enough education to eventually mold them into worker bees for our hive of a society. It’s to the point where she rendered herself jealous when one of her closest colleagues recently quit.

Charlotte’s role in this artistic realm we live in is to go against the grain. She refuses to accept the barriers that many Hip-Hop and Spoken Word artists choose to embrace, be it proactively or inadvertently. The self proclaimed “Daughter of Hip-Hop” is working on a video. Books are not quite her forte. Her 1^st project being the release of the “Love, Charlotte” CD is concrete evidence of aforementioned endeavors. According to Charlotte, “CM (Charlotte Mishell) is not an emcee.” But if you ask me, she does a good job riding the fine line between Spoken Word Poet and Hip-Hop artist. That’s why Charlotte is a SoSoon Woman of the month.

 -Soon