Photo credit: Samer Ghani
Milwaukee rapper Shle Berry
Shle Berry knows from firsthand experience that persistence pays off, big time. In a quiet, dimly lit café at the edge of a bustling intersection in Bay View, the Milwaukee rapper recounts going from (in her own words) not knowing how to get a show to save her life some 10 years ago to eventually landing her first-ever set at Summerfest last month.
“Around last year, I started getting asked to do all these shows and I just said yes to everything. If it paid, I said I’d do it. Free? I said I’d do it. I needed the practice and wanted to gain new fans,” Berry tells the Shepherd Express. “This year has been... now I can’t say yes to all of [the shows],” she jokes.
Berry started making music in high school around the age of 16 after a friend obtained some recording software following a downloading splurge. But for her, it soon turned into much more than dabbling in the roles of artist and producer. “I really fell in love with being able to express myself without being judged,” she says.
On her Tampons EP released last May, nothing is off-limits. “I hate that tampons are still such a taboo. I feel like up until recently, I’ve been embarrassed to have them in my bag or pockets,” she says.
From the EP’s cover shot with Berry’s unabashed, piercing gaze obscuring a band of uncomfortable men clad in all-white encircling her to the valorous opening verse in “Breakdown”—“I’m at war with a girl that I know so well / Never been sure but I sure won’t tell”—inspired by the highpoint of Jordan Peele’s film, Us (the central character, attempts to finish off her “tether,” despite the doppelgänger being able to predict every one of her moves), the intentions are obvious at first listen. Berry is here to confront doubters and her inner demons alike over a backdrop of dense, heavy-hitting beats.
Running with the momentum from 2018’s Parallels (which won her the Shepherd Express’ Best Rap/Hip-Hop Artist award and 88Nine Radio Milwaukee’s Independent Release of the Year), Berry was eager to deliver a follow-up that was strikingly different from its pop-tinted predecessor, that spotlighted her skills as a rapper and started a conversation on the way women are often pushed into the background in hip-hop.
“The scene is already so male-dominated and I was like… ‘OK, I’m going to be very honest and I’m not going to apologize for the way that I feel about this.’ When people are pushing boundaries, they’re bound to get backlash. I’ve dealt with backlash my whole life—being gay, being a woman, being biracial. I’m OK with being that person who rocks the boat a little bit.”
Being a queer woman emerging from a genre that’s notorious for being laden with homophobia and misogyny makes the EP’s mission statement of wanting to break down that ceiling (“I went and built myself a throne, don’t need no seat at the table”) and being the change you’re trying to see, along with the playful proclamations of how “women really love it when she talks that shit,” all the more crucial.
Berry is fully aware of the importance of leading by example. It’s her steadfast determination to beat the odds and say, “I’m here,” despite the obstacles laid out in front of her, that makes her stand out in a sea of copycat Soundcloud rappers.
“We’ve heard a lot of the same stories in rap. I’m not about it. I’m ready to change that up.”
Shle Berry performs at 88Nine Radio Milwaukee’s 414 Live on Thursday, Aug. 8, at 5:30 p.m.
