Two Sides Of Jada

Jada Koren

Two sides of Jada
Glamorous red carpet actress meets heavy metal rocker
By David Friedman
NEWS-TIMES MUSIC WRITER

"While I was on Ozzfest, people were like, 'I'll never look at you on the red carpet the same way again.' And I said, 'Good.'Ÿ"

— Jada Pinkett Smith

Wicked Wisdom vocalist


For many, up until last summer, the name Jada Pinkett Smith was tied entirely to her film roles in "The Matrix Reloaded," "Collateral," "Ali," "Scream 2" and "The Nutty Professor," to name a few.

Older fans may have seen her in her 1993 film debut, "Menace II Society," or on the '90s TV series "A Different World." Offscreen, they saw her photos in magazines as she walked the red carpet, often with her husband, rapper-actor Will Smith.

So upon learning that Pinkett Smith was moonlighting as a singer and songwriter, fans may have figured she'd be glammed out onstage, singing pop-infused R&B like Beyonce.

That isn't the case.

Instead, Pinkett Smith and her band, Wicked Wisdom, play hard rock/heavy metal. The group, which played Ozzfest last summer, is hitting the road opening for Sevendust on a tour that stops Jan. 26 at Toad's Place in New Haven.

Jada and Cameron Graves

The band's self-titled debut, due out Feb. 21 on 100% Womon/Suburban Noize, includes the song "Set Me Free," which is about misogyny in music; and "You Can't Handle This," which appears on the Ozzfest DVD.

The lead single, "Something Inside Of Me," was inspired by the 2002 kidnapping and murder of 5-year-old Samantha Runyon in Stanton, Calif.

"She was found in the woods, just completely ravaged and left there like some kind of rag doll," Pinkett Smith recalled in a Jan. 6 interview from her Los Angeles home. "This was somebody's child. I remember being so broken up about it. I remember having to go to an event that day and being on the red carpet. I had to keep my composure. That wasn't a place that I was supposed to talk about that. It really upset me that we're in a society now that was so desensitized from such traumatic events. We are supposed to go on with our day and act like nothing happened.

"When I heard the track, her face came into my mind," she added. "That rage and that anger and all that hurt came about. I came up with the title 'Something Inside Of Me' — just all of those feelings that were inside of me that I couldn't talk about that day, or I wouldn't talk about. That track gave me a place to express it. This music and the stage gives me a place to talk about all of the things I want to talk about that might not be so P.C. on the red carpet, which is why I love doing this."



Born Sept. 18, 1971, Pinkett Smith grew up in Baltimore, Md. Father Robert Pinkett Jr. worked as a contractor; mother Adrienne Banfield was a nurse. But the couple got divorced and Jada's life was far from easy.

Pinkett Smith said her father was addicted to crack. Her mother, now 15 years clean, was a heroin addict. Growing up with such obstacles kept Pinkett Smith grounded and in touch with the challenges common people face each day.

"My drive and my motivation in life is to always help people to overcome obstacles," said Pinkett Smith, whose grandmother was a social worker. "That's what connects us as human beings and it's why we live in communities and not by ourselves — because we need one another for survival.

"Any time you disconnect yourself from the community, you die, period," she added. "You just die, whether it's spiritually or whatever. You have to stay connected to that substance that makes us who we are and that connects all of us, no matter what your color, economic background, neighborhood you live in — it doesn't matter. We're all made of the same substance."

After attending Baltimore School for the Arts for high school, Pinkett Smith attended college at North Carolina School for the Arts for a year before moving to L.A. to pursue acting. To date, her favorite role is playing one of four bank robbers with Queen Latifah, Vivica A. Fox and Kimberly Elise in the 1996 crime thriller "Set It Off."

In terms of songwriting influences, Pinkett Smith, who married Will Smith in 1997, looks up to Ani DiFranco, Sting and Seal.

Pocket Honore

She started Wicked Wisdom in 2002 with lead guitarist Pocket Honore. After recording soul-rock songs, the pair decided to go for a harder sound. The band's lineup evolved to include bassist Rio Lawrence, rhythm guitarist-keyboardist Cameron Graves and drummer Phillip "Fish" Fisher.

A founding member of Fishbone — which fused funk, ska, reggae, punk and metal — Fisher, 38, played in that band from 1979-98. He performed on the Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Mother's Milk" LP in '89 and played on Fishbone's tours with Biohazard, Soundgarden and Stone Temple Pilots.

Mr. Fisher


Fisher, a fan of newer metal bands that include Meshuggah, Killswitch Engage and Black Dahlia Murder, was touring with Les Claypool's Frog Brigade when Wicked Wisdom got started. He knew Pinkett Smith and her band mates, though, and attended their early shows.

"At a certain point, it clicked to me that she was real serious about doing something," Fisher said in a Jan. 6 interview from his L.A. home. "I decided I would approach them about being a part of it. I understood they wanted to be a lot harder than they were at the time and I was down for that. She impressed me and that's why I'm part of this project.

"(Rio and I), we've played together on other projects, but this one is different for the genre of music," said Fisher, who is no longer married and has two daughters, ages 4 and 3. "A lot of parts are played extremely tight. We're trying to bring that precision and also a feel that we don't think has really existed in the genre of music that we're pursuing."

Rio

While an early version of Wicked Wisdom opened for Britney Spears on her "Onyx Hotel" tour, the new lineup performed on 2005's Ozzfest.

Though she wears makeup onscreen and at film premieres, Pinkett Smith doesn't enhance her look for concerts.

"I take my hair out of braids and I put on some clean clothes and I go onstage — and that's it," said Pinkett Smith, who has a stepson, Trey, 13, a son, Jaden, 7, and a daughter, Willow, 5. "It's just raw Jada. I hate when I have to (dress up) for the red carpet and I love having the freedom with this music to just be me, man. These kids, they don't care about what I have on. All they care about is, 'What are you coming with tonight?' That's it. They don't care about all that (other stuff). As long as I'm coming with something that they want to hear and I'm up on that stage making it happen for them, that's all that matters."


The show begins at 6:30 p.m., with Nonpoint and One also on the bill. The venue is at 300 York St. Tickets are $25. Call etix.com at (919) 782-5010.

For more info on Jada Koren Pinkett Smith, visit www.thejadapages.com