*Fan favorite battle rapper Lady Luck stood at the George Washington Bridge on October 11, 2018, in New York planning to jump and end it all.
When the police stopped her and asked where she was going, she told them “I’m going home” and she meant forever.
“I had hit rock bottom I was dealing, with insecurity, self-esteem issues, and things of that nature, she shares with Radio/TV personality Jazmym Summers for EURweb.com.
“The police said the bridge is closed but the bridge wasn’t closed. They could tell by the way my face looked that I wasn’t talking about home in New York.”
Born Shanell Jones, 43, the battle rapper’s career began early.
“Some unbelievable things were happening even before I was 16. My family is the Sugar Hill gang, My mom is the one who promoted ‘Rappers Delight.’ Redman heard me on the radio, he called Erick Sermon and he called Kevin Liles.”
Lady Luck signed a five-album record deal with Def Jam at 17, was featured in Jay Z’s 2000 documentary “Backstage” and in Bravo’s 2017 “First Family of Hip Hop.” She was featured in the New Yorker and a series of monthly stories in the Source. She was winning.
And then came the darkness.
“I was dealing with depression. I was doing a lot of cocaine, weed, and drinking to numb the pain. Hanging around the wrong people, making the wrong decisions. I did gangster rap, so I thought I was a gangster, I started doing gangster stuff. I was charged with first-degree armed robbery and at the last minute when I was in court, they offered a plea bargain and I ended up doing 110 days. Compare me to Kim (Lil Kim), or Remy Ma that’s a slap on the wrist. I’m extremely thankful for that.”
“I haven’t done any armed robberies or anything since then,” she laughs. “But life was not going the way that I expected, hoped, or wanted it to.“
So there she was at the George Washington Bridge thwarted by the police from committing suicide.
“It wasn’t the police that stopped me. It was God. A piece of me did die that day,I decided to stop accepting darkness and run towards the light and run towards healing and healing others. When you hit rock bottom, you have two decisions. You stay there, and let it consume you or you rise.”
Her new single “Praise” reflects her decision.
“I count the blessings when I wake up … it’s not where I’ve been, its where I’m going” she raps in the single. It’s a dramatic departure from her signature hard lyrical pen game that eviscerated rap opponents. Instead “Praise” encourages listeners to pause for a moment, look within, reflect, and remember that we have much to be grateful for.
“I’m in a different space musically like I am in my life. It took a lot for me to do meditation and just separate from darkness. So I ran toward light and learned about frequencies, energy, and vibrations. You just don’t want to continue to put out the same poison. Everybody is doing the same music. When I listen to the radio I’m hearing about how much money people have, what they b*tches do to them, I can do this to your girl and it’s like it’s the same subject. I want to uplift people.”
A few years earlier in her quest for the positive, she buried her beef and with fellow rapper Remy Ma that goes back to 2004 by giving her a nod in a freestyle rap she recorded. Remy noted the act of kindness and the pair ended up having a conversation on the phone but Luck continues to have issues with some of her own family who she says have betrayed her.
Many of them didn’t show up for her mother’s funeral who recently passed away.
“I lost my song last year. I love my mother more than life itself. It’s rough, it’s rough,” reveals Lady Luck.
“All these years of tithes from my mom to their church, all these years of serving. All of these years of making decorations and performing for the church and all of that. And when my mom passed, none of them showed up. None of them sent a card. Not a flower. That made me go on a rampage. Cause I feel like my mom is such a huge force. Don’t treat her or me like that.”
She says the betrayal by her cousin LeA Robinson who she was particularly close to when she was young is particularly hurtful:
“That’s another person who didn’t show up, who didn’t text. Nothing. And you look at my mother’s cash app. And she just sent her money for her birthday. Somebody that tell you nobody owes you nothing, I don’t agree with that. I felt like Nicki Minaj ain’t owe me nothing. If I get a verse or I don’t get a verse. I still appreciate the love . Other people like LeA who I’ve poured into, supported and been there for, nah you owe me.”
Lady Luck was recently recognized by “MTV’s Unplugged, 50 Years of Hip Hop Jersey Edition”, along with Redman, Wycliffe Jean, and Queen Latifah.
“It meant a lot. I thought I had been forgotten,” discloses Lady Luck.
In addition to her musical comeback, Lady Luck is making waves in the business world with the recent launch of her lavish sunglass line – Sundai Wear. Alongside her CBD company, Lucki CBD, and her custom crown designs – Lucki Crowns.
She has created crowns for some of the industry legends such as Slick Rick, Fetty Wap, Wendy Williams, reality TV personalities, and many others.
She continues to inspire and motivate others by leading “Free Ministry,” a non-profit prayer group in honor of her late mother, Donna Lee.
This humanitarian venture acts as a platform for community support and nurturing, mirroring her loving mother’s values and legacy.
She has been doing music placement for TV and film including the Emmy award-winning “Watch Out for the Big Girls with Lizzo.“
“My heart is focused on the fight for our legacy,” Lady Luck emphasizes. “Before, I just wanted to rap and just be the dopest, but now I gotta stake my claim. I got to go hard. My mom is the inspiration and the motivation.”
Praise is streaming on all platforms. Check out the whole convo in the video above.
Interview/article by Jazmyn Summers. Follow her @jaztalk1 on Instagram, and Facebook. And please don’t forget to subscribe to Jazmyn Summers’ YouTube.
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