Introducing Karina Nistal

Posted Tuesday, February 19, 2008 @ 11:24 in Music by Maya Lohith

From Houston, Karina Nistal paved her way through the nation with her electric and jazzy sound that she fuses so seamlessly together with a Latin flair picked up from her Mexican-Cuban heritage. With her 2006 album, NISTYLE, Karina’s popularity grew along with being a part of The Rebel Crew. Succeeding in a predominantly male group, Karina makes a mark for herself, winning the 2007 Houston Press Awards for “Best Local Rap.” As a singer/songwriter and former club dancer, Karina Nistal has definitely shown everyone that she is so much more, channeling her energy in everything she does and lighting up her audience with her enigmatic voice and crazy talent. She talks about her start as a Starlight dancer, her music and recording her sophomore album, all the while dropping little messages that she lives by.

URB: Did your background have anything to do with your music?
Karina Nistal:  Oh yeah, it definitely influenced my music. Since my dad is Cuban, we listened to a lot of salsa, and merengue and mariachi. We didn’t really get into that whole Tejano think or Norteno thing, but a lot of classic music like old ‘50s and ‘60s doo-wop. Since my sister was into rock ‘n’ roll, we listened to bands like The Doors and Led Zeppelin, and then since my brother was into hip-hop, we got into that. I was the youngest. Being the youngest I was able to just learn from them and kind of develop a style from there.

Oh that’s cool, so how do you categorize Karina Nistal’s music?
Actually, with this last album, we coined it Reggetron, which is like electronic Reggaeton, but I actually love hip-hop soul, so I would call my style like electronic, hip-hop reggae soul (laughing)….

How did you get into the music? How did you start and where did things like Rebel Crew come into the picture?
I started singing when I was in junior high. I love singing; like when I sing, I feel every emotion in my body and I was about 11 or 12 when I became enlightened with that. So when I was graduating high school, I started pursuing producers to work with.

You just went straight for it then.
Oh yeah, because my parents were like, “We came into this country to give you a better opportunity and here you are, you’re going to screw up your school and go learn music.” I went to junior college for a while but it wasn’t for me. I started looking for producers, and was a club kid and I was already starting to tap into the right scenes, but I still had to find the right people. So I met this guy that took me to a producer and he became my manager for a while, and then he introduced me to Rebel Crew and then I hooked up with Joe B. This was in like 1998, ’99, and they were already doing it and they had that fusion that I wanted, which was like a Latin Electro kind of fusion and since I’m a soulful singer I would apply my soul, and we started working on really soulful breaks. I was like 19. I took a few years to mold myself and learn more music and just study it as much as I could so that I can go to any party and emcee over anybody’s set. So that’s how I met Rebel Crew and how they started molding me and working on production with me. I’m proud to say that I’m the female voice of Rebel Crew because there are a handful of female DJs at Rebel Crew that I collaborate with but you know they have been very good to me and I’m very loyal to them and very grateful that they took me.

Are you going to maintain those different sounds that you had on your first album or are you planning to narrow it down…
I might do more English stuff on this album because I did more Latin stuff on Nistyle…even though it was a nice progression, and a good variety. I’ll probably do a little more English stuff on this next album and it may or may not be less clubby. I’m not sure what direction I’m going with it, but it will definitely be more soulful because I love soul, and it’s all about the soul for me. I mean it’s definitely going to have its fusion and flair. It will be soulful and it will be nostalgic.

Is there a message that you want people to take away from your music?
My message is love, and I’ve been writing “L-O-V-E” for the past three years and people ask me what does it stands for. I haven’t told anybody yet, but I’m going to tell you now. L.O.V.E. stands for Living on Various Elements. And that’s my message to everyone, L.O.V.E. Love each other, love yourself, love your life, love everything around you because it’s all about love and if you don’t have love you don’t have anything.

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