Proving Her Metal

Queen Jada

Proving her metal

By SONIA MURRAY

Cox News Service

Friday, January 27, 2006

ATLANTA — Jada Pinkett Smith: The TV star ("A Different World") turned movie-theater draw ("The Matrix" sequels, "Collateral," "Set It Off") turned almost scary, throaty, horrorcore frontwoman for five-member metal band Wicked Wisdom.

You read that right — metal.

And yet on her warm, huge bus scented with Mainstays candles — Fresh Petals, to be exact — the diminutive Pinkett Smith hardly seems like one of the head-thrashing opening acts on Atlanta band Sevendust's tour; singing songs like "Yesterday Don't Mean [Expletive] Today" and "Bleed All Over Me." Except for the all-black ensemble. And the sweat pants. Oh — and then there's the Mastodon T-shirt (a nod to the Atlanta band she toured with during Ozzfest.)

Before she joined drummer Phillip "Fish" Fisher (formerly of the band Fishbone), lead guitarist Pocket Honore, bass guitarist Rio Lawrence and rhythm guitarist/keyboardist Cameron Graves on stage at the Tabernacle, Pinkett Smith and her bandmates shared their thoughts on:

Why there are so few metal bands with women, blacks — much less black women — leading: "There are so many different reasons," said Pinkett Smith, whose band's debut CD hits stores Feb. 21. "But what the real deal is is that there are a lot of black people that listen to all types of stuff. It's just about us putting forth the effort to expand those boundaries that have been created around us. We just have to broaden that image. You'd be surprised how many black folks are hip to metal. "Even here," continues Fisher. "As far as my history and coming to this place, I remember a band called Follow for Now. They carried metal. And that was in the '80s. I know about Whild Peach ... If you're always looking to the mainstream to expose you to everything, then that's what you're going to find. But there are always people of color playing just about every genre of music.

Phillip "Fish" Fisher


What Wicked Wisdom aspires to be: "Just putting out some real good music and opening up some ears," said Honore. "That's the whole thing: Pushing music to the limit again. Taking chances. Music is art. It's sonic art. And if you look at music, every song is like a white canvas. And you get a fresh set of colors each time. So you should try to create something fresh every time. Try different colors. Different textures. Like Slipknot, God Forbid and John Scofield."

"Kanye West is doing a little something," Pinkett Smith continued. "Meshell Ndegéocello — she pushes. And Ani DiFranco always pushes. She will flip it [on] every CD."

What Wicked Wisdom means: "Ahhhh, Wicked Wisdom," said Pinkett Smith. "OK. Wicked: West Indian term. Bad meaning good. Wisdom meaning woman. So 'one bad woman' is one version of it. Then Wicked Wisdom [also means], no matter your economic background, color, education, what-have-you, we all are pawns in the game of Wicked Wisdom ... Just the idea of the certain ways that things are set up, ways that we're educated, ways that we're taught to perceive things in the world, to me, is part of the Wicked Wisdom idea. And how we as individuals have to evolve and break those boundaries that are created for us so that we can become individual thinkers. So that we can be free thinkers. So I wanted the band to be called Wicked Wisdom in order to keep that in the consciousness of the audience."

Who they figured Pinkett Smith was before they met her: "I've always thought that she was very talented and that she had a lot of integrity in everything that she does in terms of what I saw on the screen," said Fisher. "Me being the last member to join the band, I had an opportunity to watch them play over the years so I've watched them grow; and at a particular point, I saw that she was dead serious about doing this. And she was performing with a particular kind of professional intensity that made me want to be a part of it ... Where she is now isn't where she started." "I remember seeing her on some TV show and I just knew at some point I would have some kind of connection to her," said Lawrence. "It just seemed like a destined thing."

Jada Whooping On Pocket Honore


"Did I have an impression of her before I started [in this band]?' Honore began. "No. Then when I first met her she like put me in the headlock. [Laughs] I thought she was very sweet. Showed big heart. Big intent. A little scared."

"A lot of scared," interjected Pinkett Smith.

"She had more heart than anybody I know," Honore added. "I didn't really have an impression of Jada beforehand," said Graves. "I just always think of Jada as the girl from [the movie] 'Inkwell.'"

"With the big eyebrows!" added Pinkett Smith.


Sonia Murray writes for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.