The youngest member of the legendary Jackson family, Janet Damita Jo Jackson grew up a shy introverted little girl. After finding success in television, Janet’s father asked that she try her hand at music. Her first two albums were met with mediocre sales. By 1985, Janet ended her contract with Fame and chose to try her hands at music once again, but her way. Collaborating with The Time’s Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, Janet released the critically acclaimed LP Control in 1986. The album went on to sell 14 million copies worldwide. Signature tracks such as “Nasty” solidified Janet’s spot in mainstream pop. Three years later, Janet sought to deal with a troubled world with 1989’s Rhythm Nation 1814. She pleaded for unity and an end to racism. The album also went on to sell 14 million copies worldwide. Follow up albums Janet. in 1993 made Janet a sex symbol selling nearly 20 million copies, and the introspective The Velvet Rope in 1997 displayed her vulnerability. She followed up her success with 2001’s All For You. It was smooth sailing for Janet until the now infamous “wardrobe malfunction” at the 2004 Superbowl. Subsequent albums Damita Jo
Unfortunately, Janet Jackson declined our interview was unable to meet with us. However, we were forced able to interview Damita Jo.
[Damita Jo arrived to the interview an hour and forty-five minutes late. We could hear her and her friends conversing at a high volume as they walked down the hallway. She walks in. Her hair is done up like the pillars at the Taj Mahal. Her fingernails are painted a rich gold, four inches long, with rhinestones on each nail. She’s wearing the summer’s hottest outfit, a powder-orange latex pant-suit from CitiTrends. In her hand is a to-go plate of catfish, hot water cornbread, collard greens, macaroni-n-cheese, and a cup of red kool-aid, as she describes it, from Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles. A plate of food that would set the Surgeon General back 200 years. She sits down and begins to eat.]
Me: Good afternoon Damita Jo. How are you today?
Damita Jo: Oh hey chile, how you durrin?
Me: I’m well thank you. I see you had a little trouble getting her on time. [chuckles]
Damita Jo: Oh yeah gurl. You see what had happen was, they aint had no catfish ready at Roscoe’s over on Martin Luther King Boulevard. So we had to get on the bus and go to the Roscoe’s over on Washington Avenue on the Souf side. [she sprinkles Tabasco sauce on her catfish]
Me: Well that must be some good food. [chuckles ]
Damita Jo: Oh yeah gurl you aint get you none yet? Guuuurl I’ma take you over there after we get done with this. They smothered fried chicken be ON PERNT gurl okay! [snaps three times]
Me: I’ll consider it. So, 2009, it’s a new year. Any plans?
Damita Jo: Well it’s been a rough year for me already. I had to go to court last week because I’ve been missing payments on my living room set from Rent-A-Center. And when they tried to come repo it, they claimed I assaulted the repo man. Gurl I aint sweatin’ them because Aaron’s got this love seat that I want.
Me: Oh well I hope that all works itself out. So let’s start with your breakout album Control. It was 1986, you just broke onto the scene with this massively successful album. How was that like? How did you feel?
Damita Jo: I was happy. I was finally able to get rid of them peep-toe Candies and got some Merona’s. I upgraded my weave from Outré Premium to Yaki. I wasn’t leeching off Mike to pay my bills like everyone else in the family. I had to give my father the pink slip because I knew he was trying make money off of me. I wasn’t having that. Who the hell he think he is…Matthew Knowles? I mean I was happy with the album. I was helping the chillun in the ghettos, and validating white people’s decision to listen to R&B music. It was just me and homegurl Whitney representin’ for the sistas.
Me: You had just gotten out of a marriage at that time. How did you feel?
Damita Jo: I did what? [she pauses for a moment and puts her catfish down] …oh James DeBarge. Him. Oh he was cool. He liked to drink. I was cool with that because daddy was a drunk anyway. But I had to let James go because he didn’t understand the concept of "puff, puff, pass."
Me: Puff, puff, pass?
Damita Jo: Yeah gurl. It’s something you learn down over on East 14th.
Me: Okay, I guess. Anyway, Rhythm Nation 1814. What brought that on? What made you want to put out an album that was so socially conscious?
Damita Jo: Well, me and my girl Starkiesha was at Montgomery Ward over on East 12th one day, and I was looking at the hot pink sling backs in the shoe section. And I looked up and there was this woman with her child at the register and she didn’t have enough money to pay for his LA Gears. And I thought that was so depressing. The little boy cried. So being the Good Samaritan that I am, I paid for the little boy’s shows. The mother just asked me for an autograph. The bitch took it too far when she started asking about my weave. I had to go be with the Lord for a minute before I lost my religion in that store. So after that we left the store, there was this teenage boy outside the store asking for money. So I gave him some cash for some food, and a dime bag of weed. I didn’t mind give out money because I was still getting my WIC checks from the government because of that secret child I had with James.
Me: Where is the child now?
Damita Jo: With Rebbie, I think. I don’t know. We pass the child around the family like currency. Anywho, I didn’t mind giving the boy money. So I felt like, I should do an album about this. So I told Jimmy and Terry about it and there was Rhythm Nation 1814. Please don’t ask me about the title hun, because I don’t feel like explaining. [she licks her fingers dry of the catfish]
Me: Okay I wont. [laughs] The album was a huge success.
Damita Jo: Yeah I was stomping over bitches left and right with every single and video I put out. Madonna was hella mad. But I wasn’t sweatin’ her. She was just jealous. Around that time some this white Whitney Houston came out.
Me: A white Whitney Houston?
Damita Jo: Yeah, you know the girl that can hit them high ass notes. Mertle, or something like that?
Me: You mean Mariah Carey?
Damita Jo: Yeah I guess. Whatever her name is. You know Whitney is my gurl so I called Whitney, but the bitch aint put no minutes on her phone, so I had to tell her at the Billboard Awards that year about Mariah. Let me tell you about Ms. Whitney. That heffa…is ghetto. She was bout ready to pull out her blade and cut some Mariah up!
Me: Wow. I didn’t know. So talk to me about Janet. and The Velvet Rope. What was the story behind these albums?
Damita Jo: Damn you ask a lotta questions. Anywho, [she begins eating her collard greens] the Janet. album was in 1993. I was feeling cute about myself because I was finally making that Oprah money. I had to close my credit card account with CitiTrends, and got an account at Neiman Marcus. I was tryna get classy. I got me some new weave and some new shit they called lacefronts. I guess I was the first black bitch in the game to have one. So we made the Janet. album, and it was another huge success. You seen the Rolling Stone cover right? That was my idea. And for some reason that heffa Madonna was still all up in my shit because her album and her movie flopped, and neither of mine did. So me, Whitney, and Starkiesha saw her behind the Shrine Auditorium, and lets just say we read Madonna her rights, and did a few other illegalities.
Me: Well, don’t you think that’s kind of harsh?
Damita Jo: Hell naw! She shouldn’t have been poppin’ off at the mouth.
[she begins eating her mac-n-cheese]
Me: Well tell me about The Velvet Rope.
Damita Jo: Well me, Whitney, and Starkiesha, because you know them my ace boon coons, was at the Magic Johnson phinna see The Lion King. We was celebrating the successes of the Janet. album, and The Bodyguard. We was slaying the girls left and right with them albums. So we watching the movie, and the part where Mufasa dies brought back so many repressed memories from my childhood. I started getting teary eyed. But I had to stop because my Revlon started running. Anywho, I told Jimmy and Terry about it, and then came The Velvet Rope. I wrote about domestic violence. I wrote about AIDS. I wrote about loneliness. I even wrote about the cashier at Popeye’s who didn’t honor my 10-piece for $8.99 coupon because it was expired. Now, when we finished the album, we took it to the label. They listened to it, and said I needed to change some of the lyrics, and remove some songs. I was like to hell with that. I put in hours making them songs. Plus, I still gotta finish paying off my love seat from Aaron’s. Because you know I gave Rent-A-Center the axe after that little incident. [she begins to eat her hot water cornbread…smacking loudly] So, I had to call Big Mama because the label just weren’t seeing eye-to-eye. I told them my mama was coming and they best leave the album as is. So my mama came into the office, and the record exec said something sideways. Me, Jimmy, and Terry promptly left the boardroom for a minute because we knew shit was about to go down. Now, I’m under contract, so I can’t say what I heard, but Mama Katherine came out minutes later and let us know to come back in. The label decided to put out the album as it was, sponsor the tour, and they even paid off my love seat. They even bought me a Kia Sephia as a gift.
Me: Wow, seemed like a big…hoopla of events [laughs] So, it’s 2001. All For You, the René divorce, MTV Icon, meeting Jermaine. Tell me about it.
Damita Jo: Well René, I talked about him on the album. Just listen to it. Truth, Son Of A Gun, it’s all there. Album debuted at #1, got my 10th #1 on the Hot 100. You know the typical stuff I had been doing since 1986. MTV Icon, they just had hella people show up that I had influenced. It was a big deal for me because I saw the impact I had made on the new generation. And I got a chance to see what they would be stealing from me in the future. I felt good about myself. I was winning awards, my album was selling, the tour was going well, and I got my new lacefronts in the mail. You know the good life. I was riding high. Jermaine came along around that time. I was wondering who let the trolls out, but he actually pretty nice.
Me: Until 2004 right? [laughs] Let’s talk Superbowl.
Damita Jo: Well long story short, we all know what happened. The media came down on me because I’m a black, I’m a woman, and I’m a Jackson. I found it odd that my white counterparts can nearly drop their children on the sidewalk, snort coke during a performance, and kiss girls half their age on stage and they get no media backlash. I guess violence is more acceptable than sex here in the United States.
[she shows me a blog to visit]
Read this blog. It talks about everything I have to say about the situation. Homegurl was speaking the truth.
[Damita Jo’s friend bursts into the room]
Friend: Damita!
Damita Jo: What’s wrong Escalade!?
Escalade: Chile they out here phinna take the Nissan Sentra! C’mon!
[Damita Jo hastily licks her fingers and puts her to-go plate on the table]
[they run out of the room]
I peer out the window to see Damita Jo and Escalade arguing with the repo man. Whitney jumps in the Sentra and drives off. The remaining two run around the block and meet Whitney on the corner. They drive off and find a secure place to park.
[they return 10 minutes later.]
Escalade: gurl that was close.
Whitney: Chile who you tellin’? [she wipes her forehead]
Escalade: Oooooh gurl they got the nice cameras up in here! Let’s take pictures.
They insist on having an impromptu photo shoot. Here are a few pictures from the shoot:
[they take a minute to get themselves together]
Me: Welcome back, and welcome Escalade and Whitney. Now, Damita Jo, you briefly spoke about artists you’ve influenced. I’m going to name a few artists and tell me what you think about them.
Damita Jo: Okay.
Me: Ciara.
Damita Jo: I’m sorry I don’t know a Cedric.
Me: Oh no I said Ciara
Damita Jo: Oh, her. She aight. I mean she aint the best singer, but the shim can move. She aint no Janet, but she aight.
Me: Britney Spears
Damita Jo: Who?
Me: Britney Spears.
Damita Jo: I’m not following you.
Whitney: Yeah I don’t know who she’s talking about either.
Me: Britney Spears. You know [sings] “hit me baby one more time.”
Damita Jo: I’m sorry, are you asking for the number to Child Protective Services?
Me: Uh, [scratches head] let’s just move on. Beyoncé.
Damita Jo: [confused look] Who?
Whitney: Oh girl she talkin’ bout Beysus.
Damita Jo: Oh Beysus. Oh that’s my girl. We was just at the flea market the other day. She aint the most original artist. She stay stealing from folk. She can perform her ass off. I see a generic version of me when I look at people like Ciara and Beysus. That’s my other ace boon coon though.
Whitney: Girlfriend hair be on point.
Damita Jo: Yes gurl, we get our lacefronts from the same place.
Whitney: From Shaniqua’s over on 33rd?
Damita Jo: Yes, girlfriend be hooking us up. We’ve been loyal customers for 10 years and we still can’t get a discount. The customer comes first.
Me: Mariah. How do you feel about her?
Damita Jo: Mertle? Well she could sing. Not better than Nippy of course. I saw her perform at the Inaugural Ball. And I’m like, “girl how the hell do you fuck up your own classic?” Jesus, take the wheel.
Me: Well how does the future look for you?
Damita Jo: Well, I’m working on a new album. I’m back with Jimmy and Terry again. It’s the least I can do since I fucked over my fans with my last tour. I had to cancel a few dates. I’m sorry but my feet was hurtin’.
Me: Well Damita Jo I’d like to thank you for your time, and I hope to see you again.
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