EBONY: Do you feel like you get the respect from the artists but not the record executives?
AS: I think a lot of it has to do with the whole neo-soul movement and the closeness and breaking up of myself and [former boyfriend] D’Angelo. It’s like if you’re my friend, you can’t be his friend and my friend. So I’ve kind of been left swinging on my own.
EBONY: The funny thing is that you have only said positive things about D’Angelo in the public and vice versa. So it’s like if you two don’t have an issue then why should others?
AS: I think it is important people know I learned an immense amount of things from D’Angelo. They say he got it from me but we worked very well together. Together we were a threat because they know two heads are better than one. At the end of the day I would keep it 100 and he trusted me with that. But I never get positive feedback from any of [the others.] I never even received a plaque for the work I’ve done. So I am out here doing me and it’s proof that I can take care of my own.
EBONY: I want to talk about Sylvia Robinson. When you were part of The Sequence you were signed to Sugar Hill Records. Did you have a relationship with Sylvia prior to her passing?
AS: Sylvia Robinson was a mentor for us all. We learned every trick of the trade from her. I was clueless when I first moved up north on how to deal with the world and the industry. I was 16 turning 17 and still in high school. I listened to everything she said. She taught me to go out and get what it is I wanted because I had the talent. When my group did break up she had already positioned me to stretch out because I had a gift and she acknowledged the gift a long time ago. I think we were close as long as she was in control of me. The minute she lost control she stopped trusting and the separation happened. But she always respected me and that’s the difference because I never spoke out against her or the label. The honor came when the sons asked me to sing at their mother’s funeral. I knew not only did she love and respect me, but that this day would come and I would be the one to hold her down.