"SHE LOOKS like the girl next door but she sounds like she'd knock your teeth out. Quick-tongued hip-hop artist Silk Kaya, who performs as Eternia, has a knack for rhymes and said she found a home in Astoria four years ago after responding to a craiglist ad. Since then she has earned a record deal and recently filmed a series of short music videos titled "Queens Chronicles" in which she offers a glimpse into the neighborhood she fell in love with. "It picked me, I didn't pick it. It was kind of fate," Kaya said. "What it's become to me is a family, a neighborhood, a home, and a place that I don't want to leave." But what makes Kaya so compelling it that she doesn't fit many rapper stereotypes, even though she has shared a stage with the likes of Snoop Dogg and Common."
"Her posse is the middle-aged Italians from her neighborhood whom she calls her family. She packs heat in the form of a Bible and an aqua blue marble notebook that she has filled with verses about deeply personal subjects like domestic violence and abuse. She takes pride in her thrift store wardrobe and jokes that she rifles through the racks in search of her next name-brand bargain every day. "A lot of rappers don't want to be vulnerable. I like being vulnerable," Kaya said. "My music is really life-based, so everything I write about is a diary entry," she added. But Kaya swears she isn't baring her soul for the sake of fortune or fame. "Money is not really the ulterior goal for me. It's just cool to be admired by people I admire," Kaya said. She has already earned that respect of her neighbors, who were awed by her makeshift "Queens Chronicles" performance, which she admits "could have easily gotten shut down." Roberto Merendino, who is featured in the second installment of the three-part series, thinks Kaya is destined for big things. "I think she's going to make it to Hollywood one day," Merendino, 47, said." Cont'd below + the Queens Chronicles, parts 2 and 3...
"Her posse is the middle-aged Italians from her neighborhood whom she calls her family. She packs heat in the form of a Bible and an aqua blue marble notebook that she has filled with verses about deeply personal subjects like domestic violence and abuse. She takes pride in her thrift store wardrobe and jokes that she rifles through the racks in search of her next name-brand bargain every day. "A lot of rappers don't want to be vulnerable. I like being vulnerable," Kaya said. "My music is really life-based, so everything I write about is a diary entry," she added. But Kaya swears she isn't baring her soul for the sake of fortune or fame. "Money is not really the ulterior goal for me. It's just cool to be admired by people I admire," Kaya said. She has already earned that respect of her neighbors, who were awed by her makeshift "Queens Chronicles" performance, which she admits "could have easily gotten shut down." Roberto Merendino, who is featured in the second installment of the three-part series, thinks Kaya is destined for big things. "I think she's going to make it to Hollywood one day," Merendino, 47, said." Cont'd below + the Queens Chronicles, parts 2 and 3...
"Others just hope she doesn't forget her roots if her talents as a rapper catapult her to stardom. "I hope she doesn't forget us when she gets big," said life-long Astoria resident Bill Anastassatos. Next week Kaya departs for a European tour through Italy, France, and Germany that will run through the middle of December. Once she's back in the US, you can bet she'll be back to chatting with her neighbors, sifting through piles of bargain basement clothes and chronicling life in Astoria with her sharp tongue and blue-collar approach to hip hop." - New York Daily News, 2010.
Printed in the New York Daily News on November 23, 2010 (5 yrs ago today).
