Kid Sister Talks UK Collabs, Kanye West and Her Nails

You can be forgiven if the name Kid Sister makes you think of long, wildly embellished and bedazzled talons. The Chicago rapper, born Melisa Young, made her first music industry splash with 2007's 'Pro Nails,' a video featuring wacky nail art, dancing fingers and a guest rap by her early champion, Kanye West. After a number of delays that threatened to derail her initial buzz, her A-Trak-produced album 'Ultraviolet' finally dropped in the fall of 2009. But a couple singles later (the anthemic 'Right Hand Hi' and softer 'Daydreaming'), she's keeping the momentum going with a club and festival tour this summer. First up is NXNE, where she'll take the main stage at Yonge-Dundas Square just ahead of De La Soul on Sunday, and with a headlining gig at Wrongbar later that night.

UK producers and collaborators are all over your album -- Rusko, Sinden, Estelle. Do you harbour a secret love of the Brits?

I have a lot of friends in England so I guess that's why they pop up. I do love England and I love everything English. We were stuck in London during the volcanic ash thing, which was crazy in itself. We were stuck there for many, many extra days. It was so long, and what else are you going to do? So we went out and it was so much fun. It reminded me of when me and Flosstradamus did our thing here in Chicago and it was just a real community and everyone was really excited about what they were doing. I'm moving to another city fairly soon, but London is where I'd ultimately like to end up.

Where are you moving to?

I can't say.

Your latest video 'Daydreaming' once again features some fabulous nails. You seem to love the costume aspect of performance...

I have a background in theatre, so I love the make-believe element to all of it. It's not real, none of it's real -- the funky eyelashes and the weird nails. I mean, it is a part of me, but a part I get to amplify maybe in a video or on stage that otherwise I wouldn't be able to.

XXL recently put Nicki Minaj on the cover and ran a piece about the difficulties many female MCs have to face. What's your take on that?

It's a non-issue to me. I'm not out there being like, "We need a thousand female MCs! We'll crumble without female MCs!" Like, whatever man. There's an oil spill out there, I could care less if there's a thousand or if there's one -- I think that there are bigger issues. It's great it's seeing an upswing, but it's not a crazy crusade I'm on.

I don't like using the word MC. I don't see myself as an MC, or "Femme-C," I'm just a female musician and I make music that I like to listen to and my friends like to listen to.

Who were your rap heroes growing up?

Nas, Kool G Rap, Capone-N-Noreaga, 2Pac, Biggie, that's what I listened to. Even Too Short -- I know that sounds terrible but Too Short had some funny-ass songs.

Kanye West has recently emerged with a single from his long hiatus after the incident with Taylor Swift at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards. How do you think what happened will affect his new album?

I didn't really care about it, I thought it was kind of funny actually. Come on, everyone makes silly decisions. It was a silly decision and that was the extent of it. I think the music speaks louder than anything, so as long as you make really good, visionary, forward-thinking music then it doesn't matter what you do. I mean, he's not Chris Brown! I think he's all right.

Kid Sister will open for De La Soul at Yonge-Dundas Square on Sun. June 20 before headlining a showcase at Wrongbar on the same night, both as part of NXNE.