Interview With Jada Pinkett Smith and Cameron Graves

Jada Koren Pinkett Smith

Wicked Wisdom - Jada Pinkett Smith and Cameron Graves
By:Patrick


Your debut album comes out on the 21st of this month...
Jada: Yeah!
....A lot of kids may not even have heard the band yet. So for those kids that read this what would you tell them they can expect from Wicked Wisdom?
Jada: Cam (Cameron Graves)..

Cam: Man, just a lot of craziness. You can expect a lot of craziness in the music and in the lyrics and some heartfelt spiritual stuff. Everybody in the band is pretty spiritual so we write from that place all the time. Yeah, a lot of that definitely. A lot of that mosh-pitting, a lot of hard riffs.

Jada: Where we are right now its like a collaboration of many different musical styles and I think you’d be kind of surprised with the musicianship and the musical idea’s that we have. This is different....really different.
Your album was set to be released on the 31st right? Why did it get pushed back further?
Jada: Yeah, it was definitely the 31st and our partners that we have at our label....we have our own label but then we’re partners with Suburban Noize. They just felt like it wouldn’t be enough time to promote it so we were like "Ok". It was set for January. They really wanted to have time to promote the album and set the album up and it totally made sense.

Cam: Yeah, it made perfect sense.
Now that ya mentioned Suburban Noize I’ll skip a few questions here..... When it came time to chose a label did it make you more comfortable to know you had hard working musicians as your label heads?
Jada: Kevin heard the stuff and said "Well, I wanna be down". What’s great about Suburban Noize is that they are pretty much in the same pocket as we are...as far as breaking boundaries of music. If you look at the Suburban Noize artists you have all kinds of bands that into different kinds of stuff and you have those people that are really pushing the edge so it was a great family for us to become apart of.


You’ve been on tour for awhile now... Has it been ruff touring with virtually nothing released yet minus the single from the record?
Jada: You know what? Interesting enough it hasn’t been bad, ya know what I mean? It hasn’t been bad at all. It has been really good. Going out on Ozzfest was hard, people didn’t know we were a band and that I had a band and all that kind of stuff. Now...the great thing about this particular genre is that people just come to hear music. I mean if you got material out it makes it easier because people will know your songs and stuff but what the crazy thing is is that people come to hear music so if you’ve got something to offer they’ll get into it. So that’s been a really good experience. After a couple songs into the set people are like "OK"... So its been really good.


Ten tracks made the album....how many were written for it?
Cam: Oh, that’s crazy.

Jada: *Laughs*

Cam: 13 actually.

Jada: Yeah, 13.

Cam: Two of those three we never really touched on, like never really learned. They’ll actually end up just going on the next album.

Jada: Right. With this one it was mainly Cameron [Cam] and Pocket basically write the music. They’re constantly writing and the music is constantly growing and expanding. The other tracks they had were so much heavier and they put this particular ten songs together because it works well for this experience and for the next experience we have a whole nother get down right there. *starts laughing*


To Jada: You write all the lyrics to the bands music right?
Jada: Yeah.
Which song holds the deepest meaning to you lyrically and what’s the meaning to that song to you?
Jada: I’d have to say my favorite one is "Bleed All Over Me" and "Bleed All Over Me" is about codependency and people that are attracted to pain *starts coughing* and people who like to face each other people’s pain. To me when I heard that track it was instant "Bleed All Over Me". I knew exactly what the content would be and I just wrote it.
To Cameron: I think everyone can relate their own special meaning to other peoples songs when they listen to them so which track off the new record holds the deepest meaning to you lyrically and what’s that track mean to you?
Cam: Oh man....Shoot. I’d have to say "Yesterday Don’t Mean Shit".....

Jada: Oh, of course Cam *laughing*

Cam: .....because I like that. It’s so real if you think about it.... "Yesterday Don’t Mean Shit Today". Just think about that statement man. You’ve always got these cats always trying to talk about... "I did this and I did that" and that try to act all stupid and most people turn into assholes because of what they did. So this is a straight-out statement saying *raises voice* "What are you doing today?"

Jada: *Laughs hysterically.* What are you doing today? You are funny with that.

Cam: *Laughs*

The albums first single "Something Inside of Me" is out now and the video is in rotation on Headbangers Ball and Google released it on their search engine page.... What’d do you two think of the video’s outcome?
Jada: Um, just the fact that Cam’s not in it makes it weird... He’ll be in the next one.

Cam: Yeah, man.

Jada: I love Paul Brown so I thought it was cool. I loved the concept for it.
Do you have any idea yet what the next single from the record may be?
Jada: We’re thinking about "Bleed All Over Me"
"Bleed All Over Me" huh? Do you have any idea when that will be released yet? Jada: In March.
Oh, that’s coming up quick.....
Jada: Yeah, we have pretty good video content for it too...I think.
Oh really? Tell me about it.
Jada: *Laughs* Noooooooo, I can’t, I can’t. The only reason I can’t is because we’re still working on it. We just kind of have a ruff concept on it. Its gonna be dope though.
Excellent, well I look forward to checking it out.



The cover art to the album is rather odd... what’s the concept behind the snake on the cover?
Jada: Do you want to answer that over there Cam? Your over there just nodding your head... *laughs*

Cam: Nah, nah, nah...well I mean yeah, there’s definitely a serpent aspect throughout the whole vibe imagery because of what we represent.

Jada: Yeah, what we represent as far as coming from the underworld to Earth. Just like coming from that underground where like people now will make a realization of Wicked Wisdom. Ya know the serpent is a symbol of renewal, a serpent sheds their skin and for us its symbolic for our music and our band. We’re in constant renewal.....

Cam: It doesn’t mean the devil.

Jada: *Laughs* Yeah, it doesn’t mean the devil at all. I mean that’s how it got turned into that whole freakin’ idea is when the monotheistic religions came in and took the power and they took all the goddess and made them evil. Even this *Jada throws up the horns* . This was a goddess symbol too. This meant Mother of the World and it still does today in India. You didn’t know that did you?
No, I actually didn’t. It’s true you do learn something new everyday.
Jada: Then along came the people and they turned it into devil horns. So when I put it up, that’s what it represents.

Cam: That’s real.....


After this tour ends what’s the band going to be up to for the rest of the year?
Jada: Another tour.
Another tour huh?
Jada: Hell yeah.
Back to Wisconsin?
Jada: Oh hell yeah, we always gotta come back to Wisconsin. Especially after the way you guys put it down tonight and the way you guys put it down on Ozzfest.... We’re definitely coming back to Wisconsin for sure. We got love here when we came through on Ozzfest and we got love here tonight. We have to return.


This one of those questions I always ask everyone... If you could punch one person in the face and get off clean who would it be and why them?
Jada: Goddamn, that’d be a lot of cats.

Cam: Now, you’ve got me trying to start some controversy.

Jada: *Laughs* Don’t start no controversy Cam but yeah there are so many people. I’ve had to work very hard on myself to move out of that particular mentality because that was definitely my mentality back in the day but damn, one person.... god. Shit.

Cam: Yeah, one person I could punch in the face....

Jada: And get away with it. So just one punch them once or could I beat the living shit out of them?
Well if they don’t go down after one I guess you could throw as many as ya need to in order to knock them out.
Jada: *Starts Laughing* For me its a laundry list of jokers man. A laundry list. What about you Cam?

Cam: Ya know, really the same thing here man.

Jada: *Laughs*

Cam: Its a list though. I dunno if I want to call out names because I could start some real...I could start some shit. I’ll just leave it at that. There is a very important person on that list though *laughs*.

Jada: Yeah, I’d say there is some really important people on mine too.


Alright, now thanks for doing this and I’m sorry for a few of these basic questions I’m sure you’ve answered many times.... Is there anything else you’d like to say?
Jada: It was very nice meeting you.
Thanks, it was very nice meeting you as well.
Jada: Thanks for waiting around for us too.
Oh, its totally cool. I’m a patient guy.
Jada: I know you are.
My phone was pretty much dead and wasn’t able to answer half of your calls but it worked in the end so thanks so much.
Jada: I’m glad.
I’ve seen Sevendust so many times so I don’t mind missing a few songs from their set.
Jada: I love them. I love being out here with them. Their one of my favorite bands. I never thought in a million years I’d be on tour with them. You have no idea, I’m in my own world right now. I get to go see Sevendust every night and I’ll never get sick of it either.


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