D. Woods talks about Danity Kane Reunion

“I just really think that whatever my presence at the time they did not want anymore”

D. Woods has continued to make moves since her departure from the girl group Danity Kane. D. Woods is now currently working on her new mixtape series “Independence Day”. She is also expanding her career by working on some other new ventures. D took some time out to give us an update on her career and to give her side of her departure from Danity Kane.

INTRO: I understand that you are working on a new project. Can you tell us a little more about it.

D. Woods: I working on a mixtape series called Independence Day. It will be a series of mixtapes online. I am a very creative person. I do some rapping and singing on the album. I really am not one particular genre because I don not compartmentalize myself.

INTRO: What producers have you worked with on the new album?

D. Woods: Kwame, Stroud (affiliated with Grand Hustle), Jay-Lac he did Lloyd’s get it shorty, Keyes and the Apple Juice Kid. I am working with a lot of younger producers. I want to create my own sound instead of someone trying to stamp me with their sound. I love going to beat battles. I find some people during that battles and I run up to them and be like “You were hot, you should have won, give ya number” (laugh). That is how I met the Apple Juice Kid.

INTRO: I know that many people want to know what happened with the break up?

D. Woods: I am saying this with the up-most respect. The break-up was on its way before it the group even started. It was on very shaky ground from the beginning. I applaud each girl for trying to make things work but there were too many odds and ends and to many people in each girls ear with divide and conquer tactics and a lot of bad business. I you don’t handle your business right no matter how talented you are its not gonna work. There many to many variables working against us especially for us having to compete against each other and then having to get on the same team. We didn’t have that foundation. I did my best. It was really, really hard.

INTRO: Why didn’t you show up to the reunion.

D. Woods: For one I showed up to quite a few meetings, “lets get it together” situations and the meeting where I was ultimately fired from when I had no idea even that was what the meeting was for. After being fired (laugh) I showed up to the Christmas Party and was told and I quote “Get out I don’t want you here. As the Chief Executive of this company I am making this executive decision and I don’t want you here. You after someone tells you that to you face and you ask them if they are sure and they say yes then that is ground one. What can you say to that? You just have to bow out gracefully and move on with you life. After time went by and they wanted everyone to come back fro the reunion show and I basically said I would love to be there and say my piece however I have moved on with my life and I have do have a prior commitment and I am not going to cancel the commitments that I had already made to walk into something especially after being fired and not knowing what I was going to be walking into. That is the situation with reality tv. You never know what you are going to walk into. I just had to make a decision for my well being and I decided to go to London and do host The Music of Black Origin Awards with Reverend Run and Mel B of the Spice Girls than to go to MTV and be humiliated. I definitely offer many different solutions. I asked could we do it via phone or satellite and Badboy declined on both options.

INTRO: How is it working for Diddy?

D.Woods: Its everything that you could imagine it to be. Its one big emotional roller coaster.

INTRO: What was the situation that brought him to take you out of the group?

D. Woods: Really, I don’t know. I just really think that whatever my presence at the time they did not want anymore. I know that he was going forward with Dawn’s solo project and maybe he wanted to disband the group so that he could focus on her.

INTRO: How do you feel about the solo project that Dawn is working on and Diddy’s relationship with her?

D. Woods: I definitely feel that I had a lot to offer that I had to down play almost make myself smaller. In my last conversation with Puff I told him congratulations with and that I am glad that he wanted to move forward with Dawn’s project. He had always voiced that she was his favorite in the group. I never really expected for him to see that in me because I never really got a chance to show it because I was pretty much downplayed but I did my best in the situation. Once you do your best you can’t be mad at yourself you can’t be mad at someone else. You can’t be mad if you did your best. You have to know that there is a place where you can go to ultimately be your best instead of just doing your best and that is what I did.

INTRO: What is the single that you are currently pushing?

D. Woods: The new song is called “On My Side”. It is produced by soundz. That is the main single that I am pushing. The other songs on the album are re-mixes of other people’s joints. I like to put a whole new spin on songs so that it is just not a remix but a whole new song. (A lot support from the Future Star DJs)

INTRO: What other projects are you working on right now?

D. Woods: Right now I am working on a work out dvd it is currently in pre-production. We are still working on all the nuts and bolts of what we are going to film. We definitely want to have it out late summer early fall in 09. My schedule is crazy.

INTRO: I heard that you had an interesting story on how Lil Wayne got the “Milli” beat. Can you share that with us?

D. Woods: I can definitely say that Wayne is like a brother figure to me. We really have been cool since 2006-2007. Girls Club member Shanell passed him some beats from other producers that we know like Bangladesh and Mystro and those were the producers that we have had a good relationship with for a very long time. It was just like friends helping out friends. That’s also how he got “Prom Queen” (laugh). Wayne and Shanell have been in this Kurt Cobain rock star world and Prom Queen was the result. Anyone that did not get the prom date that they wanted can relate. Please go to the website and support my brother Wayne and Shanell.

INTRO: What is the Girls Club and who are the members?

D. Woods: The Girls Club consist of Mika Means, Shanell and myself. We are a group of women that are writers, dancers, choreographers, singers, and rappers. We do a lot of writing for other artists and groups.

INTRO: How is your relationship with the other group members?

D. Woods: I talk to some of the girls. The relationships are pretty much the same.

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MAR/APR 2009