With 2014 winding down, you’ll have a few good things to look forward to going into 2015: trips to the gym to melt the holiday weight that you’ve accumulated, exclusive sneaker releases going into effect in February and ahh yes VH1’s Black Ink Crew returning to your television set for a new season beginning in February.
The VH1 reality television show is more than just a tattoo parlor in Harlem, but a lifestyle. Speaking of lifestyle, Dutchess Lattimore, one of the lead roles in the show (yes, yes the lady in the bikini by the headline and the reason why you clicked on this story) is seriously pursuing a career in rapping.
So where did the love of music come from? The classical piano trained Dutchess got bit by the music bug early singing in the church choir back home in North Carolina with her brother. Although His Eye Is On The Sparrow was her favorite church hymn, she stepped away from music.. “I probably stopped because it wasn’t the cool thing to do,” Dutchess tells The Source. “But it’s still something that’s very close to me. I used to perform in recitals and play the piano while reading sheet music.”
The tattoo artist/ humming bird is not just eye candy and the North Carolina A&T alum with a degree in marketing forecasts that you should take her musical career quite seriously. “Music has been in my life all of my life,” she said. “Now I’m getting to the point where I want to do everything a diversify my portfolio to the point where people really understand that.”
While balancing the arduous task of filming new episodes of Black Ink Crew, spending time with her beau Ceaser and every darn thing else, quietly Dutchess has been in the lab recording tracks with folks like Jay Rich.
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In addition to enhancing her body of work professionally, Dutchess admits that her music is also therapeutic. Folks that follow her on Twitter and Instagram may notice that she does go toe-to-toe with her fans. Laying tracks down is in fact a good way for her to ease her mind. “Sometimes I might be in the worst of moods and it’ll take me a lot further than my anger will,” she said.
Look out for an all-new season of Black Ink In 2015 and be looking out for a budding singing career by Dutchess as well.
