The Deadbolt Interview - Getting 'Delirious' with Taylah P. and Kelci of the Vistoso Bosses

Getting 'Delirious' with Taylah P. and Kelci of the Vistoso Bosses
by Troy Rogers

Vistoso Bosses Delirious What does it mean to be Vistoso? For Taylah P. and Kelci of the new Interscope/Collipark duo, Vistoso Bosses, it means bright, colorful, and spectacular not only in a fresh new R&B, hip-hop sound but also a unique image that sends out a positive vibe. In the musical world that Taylah and Kelci live in, Vistoso also means giving yourself the freedom to be who you really are from the inside out.

After finding online success with their homemade videos for "Delirious" and "Boy Crazy", the Vistoso Bosses caught the attention of music industry vet, Michael "Mr. Collipark" Coombs, who snapped up Taylah and Kelci to get them started on a career beyond the internet. Collipark quickly brought in top selling rapper, Soulja Boy to add rhymes on their single, "Delirious", and the Vistoso Bosses soon found themselves on an upward trajectory through the melodic, lyrical skies of today's music scene.

Now, with the distinction of being the first female artists to sign with Collipark Music under their belts, the Vistoso Bosses are joining forces with Soulja Boy for a second time to film their new music video for "Delirious", which begins shooting before the end of May.

With the "Delirious" shoot only days away and their forthcoming debut album, "Confetti", due out before 2009 comes to a Vistoso close, we tracked down Taylah P. and Kelci of the Vistoso Bosses to find out just how boy crazy they really are, how they're approaching the new video shoot for "Delirious", more about the sound and style of "Confetti", what it's like to be positive role models, and how they define their own sense of sound and style while singing and rapping in a male dominated rap and R&B scene.

Vee.eye.es.tee.oh.es.oh have the whole world screaming out Vistoso!

THE DEADBOLT: So how "boy crazy" are you guys?

TAYLAH P.: We’re really boy crazy.

KELCI: Boy Crazy, boy crazy!

TAYLAH P.: [laughs] That’s why we made the song.

THE DEADBOLT: With the video shoot coming up, how will the new "Delirious" look as compared to the first video?

TAYLAH P.: I think it’s going to look a lot different. I can’t really tell you how, but it’s going to look a lot different, and it’s really going to show us and the true Vistosoness.

THE DEADBOLT: How is Soulja Boy to work with?

KELCI: We haven’t really got to work with Soulja Boy yet; he just put his verse on there. But at the video shoot we will be working with him. So, when we make our Youtube video, then we'll know about it then.

THE DEADBOLT: I'll flip the usual question on you guys and ask: What do you think Soulja Boy will learn from you guys?

TAYLAH P.: I’m not sure. We’re just going to have to find out and see. It’s going to be our first time together interacting with each other on a project like this, so we’ll have to see. We'll ask him when we get done.

KELCI: It sounds kind of weird, because he’s a guy and we’re girls and you know how that goes.

THE DEADBOLT: I love "Confetti". There's this cool, old style dancing vibe to it. What was the approach to the music?

TAYLAH P.: Oh, cool. All of our music is a sound that we created with our producer STJAMES, and also we worked with Billy Hume, and this is just like our own sound. So I really don’t know what to describe it as. All I have to say is it’s Vistoso. We made it up ourselves. It’s really different and kind of fresh and new.

THE DEADBOLT: How do your own senses of style contribute to the sound of the Vistoso Bosses?

KELCI: Well, we’re sisters, or you could call us sisters, but we’re actually cousins. We actually grew up around each other, so we kind of have sort of the same style. It’s been put together into our music.

TAYLAH P.: I guess our individual style would be; my girliness that comes out and she gives it more of that hip-hop feel because she raps. And I just sing in a different way sometimes to make my voice sound different, or something like that.

KELCI: And when Taylah sings, it’s kind of like one of those, "when you close your eyes and just imagine ..." Really, our album is kind of like just closing your eyes and imagining.

THE DEADBOLT: How do you guys approach being different with your image and fashion?

TAYLAH P.: It’s not like something we tried to do, it’s kind of the way we are. It’s really the way we dress and it’s a way of life for us. It’s not just our style, everything we do is Vistoso. Like we have our own language. I can understand Kelci and she can understand me. But if we talk in our language, you won’t be able to understand, and that’s Vistoso. So it’s kind of like we didn't go into it and say, "Let’s try to figure out a way to be different." People said, "Oh, you guys are different," and that’s really the way we are. So I guess it kind of works a lot better when you don’t have to try as hard to be something, or try to find a way to be different, and you’re just already different.

KELCI: [laughs] Most people call us weird.

THE DEADBOLT: So, Kelci, how difficult is to be different and unique with rap as a female?

KELCI: It’s actually not that difficult. But us being, right now, the only duo pop/hip-hop girls out there, it’s kind of a big thing because we want to be role models, or we are role models, as I speak, and we are ourselves. Taylah also raps, too. So when you hear a song, Taylah is on there.

THE DEADBOLT: Who were the biggest personal influences on your sound? There's a cool and new TLC in there somewhere.

TAYLAH P.: We’re not influenced by anyone, because, like I said, this is a sound we’ve created. So it’s kind of like when we started we weren’t really thinking about who we could be like. We’re influenced by things that go around everyday life and each other. But as far as anyone, we’re not influenced by anyone.

THE DEADBOLT: How has Mr. Collipark continued to have a positive effect on the two of you and the music?

TAYLAH P.: He’s had a lot of positive impact on us, because he’s really a nice guy and he gives us a lot of say-so and a lot of creative freedom on our project. Like this whole time, that’s why it was weird for us, because people were saying, "You know, it’s your first album and you might not have as much input as you want." But we’ve had input every step of the way, on every single song, everything. He asks our opinion about whatever, from the stuff we do in the studio to the videos to just anything we want to do, like the interviews or if we want to do a show here.

It’s really been great working with him because we are such creative people. So it’s kind of like we’re not limited to anything because he lets us be involved a lot and as far as the music. He helps us with that. We ask him for advice or we ask him to do this and he’s onboard 100%. He really takes what we say and puts it to use. He really cares about how we feel about certain stuff when it comes to our project and we really do appreciate that.

THE DEADBOLT: Before all of this really got going for you, what was your approach to getting the music out on the internet?

KELCI: Our approach was basically working really hard with STJAMES. We were before we got on Myspace, really. We were out there kind of on the streets, going to a lot of events and just getting our name out there on MySpace just promoting ourselves, posting bulletins, making videos. Then that’s when YouTube came about and we put videos up on there. And then Twitter, we have Twitter, so we’ve just been pushing it really hard and just getting our name out there.

THE DEADBOLT: How did you approach "Confetti" from your own unique style and perspective?

TAYLAH P.: We did approach it in our own way, but we did not write "Confetti", Rock City wrote Confetti for us. We wrote Kelci’s verse, her rapping part, both of them, but they wrote the singing part. Rock City, they’re sound is like really, really crazy. So we had to Vistosoize it to the maximum in the way that we worded certain things and we just put our own feeling into it. But yeah, the song was really crazy. We just took it and Vistosoized it like everything else.

THE DEADBOLT: How does that compare to the rest of the album?

TAYLAH P.: Compared to the rest of the album, it’s really hype and it’s true. A lot of the songs are based off of real life situations and stuff that we go through. It’s so true because we feel like we’re about to drop. Well, we are about to drop, like our album is going out and we’re coming out to the world. We’re dropping like confetti.

THE DEADBOLT: How hard is it to be positive role models with so many negative images of young girls out there?

TAYLAH P.: I don’t think it’s hard at all if that’s who you are. Right now that’s who we are. People are like, "You guys are so positive!" We really want to let people our age and younger know. Especially girls, because I think a lot of girls have pressure to be something they’re not and it’s okay to be yourself, whoever you are. People used to call us weird, and they still do. But it’s okay, we’re fine with that, we can’t change. Well, we can, but we don’t want to change who we are and it’s okay to be yourself.

It’s not so much preaching to little girls the right thing to do, or don’t do this and don’t do that, but just being yourself and finding who you are. That’s a really hard process to try to figure out who you are. Right now, even at our age and going through the things we’re going through with our friends and everything, it’s really hard to find out who you want to be and find out who you actually are.

THE DEADBOLT: How hard is it to just be young within an adult driven industry?

KELCI: We’re actually just experiencing this, so it’s a little new to us. I mean, we’re just watching as we’re going and trying not to make too many mistakes, and just watching what they do and go from there. It’s just an experience right now. We’re new, so we’re just watching everything right now.

-- Troy Rogers