Cindy Levin has a lot of energy... a whole lot of energy.
In her latest video, watch her bounce and twist to every last beat of the song. No matter if she hands the mike to the rapper on the song, Fabolous, more time for her to get her groove on. Bounce. Bounce. Twist.
"People can always tell it's me when they see me, because every riff I do, every song I sing, I act it out. I think you have to show people what you're saying. I can't wait until I perform on tour because I'm gonna be jumping on the speakers."
Her father was in the Army, so growing up she found herself setting up shop all over the country: North Carolina, New Jersey, Georgia, Texas, Maryland.. but she mainly grew up in Long Island, NY.
Like many singers, her roots lie in the church. At the age of five she joined the choir, but when she entered junior high school, she decided she wanted to rap. Her friends use to call her Monie Levin (after the rapper Monie Love.) Then they shortened it to Mo. She didn't mind though, because as she says "I'm always asking for a little more of something.. Can I have a little more juice? Can I have a little more reverb?"
At four feet eleven inches tall, she could have looked Lil Kim in the eyes, but she decided to go back to singing because of the glut of female rappers out there and looking at making a career out of her talents she notes "There's more longevity in singing. Rappers they die out."
All she really wanted, was to be a star. The bright lights, paparazzi, videos, the things associated with success in the music business. She entered local talent shows whenever they popped up, which gave her creative energy an outlet and kept her motivated and she also began to pick up a pen, writing songs every day. When writing she would think about what other artists could be performing the songs. This thinking led her to eventually pen songs for a number of artists: Coko "Sorry", Changing Faces "Ladies Man", Groove Theory "All These Years", Chante Moore "Straight Up" and co-writing credit on Blackstreet's "Boyfriend, Girlfriend."
She even wrote a song for the movie "Stuart Little", you know, the movie about a mouse. "It's about how people laugh at him because he's short and doesn't fit in. Something I could relate to."
She got a deal with Elektra records East-West division about two years ago, but you have to understand the mechanics of the music industry, it's a slow burn, but when the heat gets turned up, you better be ready to spark that flame.
Lil Mo's temperature began to rise, late one night when Jay-Z paged her and said he needed her to sing the chorus for "Parking Lot Pimpin." It rose a little higher when Ja Rule's "Put It One Me" video was released. Soon everybody was singing the hook, a hook that has helped Ja Rule to sell more than 3 million albums.
"I just said, 'Where would I be without you, what you're saying is true, I need someone to hold me, I will, I will, I will,' but just the way that I said it, people felt it. I like dealing with things that people are gonna feel. Not so much like, 'that song made me dance', but I want people to be like - I wanna fall in love!"
The heat is on. And the girl with the S on her chest is ready for her time in the spotlight. Her first album "Based On A True Story" will be released in June and you've seen the first video. There she goes, peep her boucing, twisting, singing her way to success.
