Roc Nation's, Rita Ora is a cover girl again. This time Rita's covering the August/September issue of Complex Magazine. The photo spread is amazing and shows off Rita's Roc Girl side. They're cute & quirky.
Complex caught up with Rita when she was touring with Coldplay earlier this summer --she opened for them during the European Leg of their tour. In the mag she talks fashion, being singed to Roc Nation, music, Jay-Z and more.
Check out a few quotes from the interview below. Also check out Rita getting her photo shoot fresh on.
Signing to Roc Nation:
That same year she was spotted at a Lykke Li gig where she connected with Jay Brown, who co-founded Roc Nation with Jay-Z in 2008. Before she knew it she was catching her first flight to NYC, where she met Jay, Ty-Ty, and the rest of la familia. Now she’s Roc Nation’s next big thing, joining a roster that includes J. Cole, Willow Smith, and Jay Electronica. Roc Nation also manages Rihanna, M.I.A., Santigold, and Shakira.
Signing with the Roc has opened all kinds of doors—like this gig on the Coldplay tour. And then there was the time Jay-Z walked Rita into Z-100, the biggest pop radio station in America, for what was supposed to be a meeting and ended up getting “How We Do” played, plus an on-air interview on the spot. In September Rita will perform in Philadelphia at Jay’s Made in America festival. “It’s my first festival, so we’re gonna bring it all out. I might get, like, a Biggie hologram,” she jokes.
“Rita is the kind of artist who’s going to win by just being herself,” says Tyran “Ty-Ty” Smith, a partner in Roc Nation. The hard part, he says, is simply establishing her identity. “
On Jay-Z:
“When I first got signed I was this random girl from London,” she recalls. “I was thinking my whole world was going to be turned around. I thought I was gonna be on Oprah next week with a new single. Three years later I’m just starting to come out. I wanted to release everything I’d ever recorded, but I was lucky enough to have someone like Jay to say, ‘This isn’t good enough. You have to find yourself.’ It was the best advice he could have given me—to be patient.”
“I get nervous before shows and then I’m just like, OK—let’s go,” she explains later. “It’s like, you can’t fuck it up now ’cause everybody’s watching you. It’s more of a rush—like an adrenaline high.”
You want scary? Scary is when Jay-Z and Beyoncé pop into your dressing room 10 minutes before showtime. But Rita shook off the butterflies and nailed that performance a few months ago in New York—even singing a Destiny’s Child cover, much to B’s delight. So rocking the biggest stadium she’s ever set foot in should be no sweat. After that, all she has to do is translate her UK success to the States and head up Roc Nation’s British Invasion.
She’s so good at getting everyone involved and emotionally invested in her performance,” says Elena, who’s been watching the action from the opposite end of the stadium. “They have a good time ’cause she’s having so much fun.”
Her sister & road manager Elena talks of her (Rita's) new found fame:
“Rita always performs better under pressure,” says her older sister and road manager, Elena, a stunning brunette who still lives in the same three-bedroom flat in the West London counsel estates (a.k.a. the projects) where their family grew up. Rita had to move to her own place because ever since she racked up her second No. 1 hit in the UK—“R.I.P.” featuring Tinie Tempah topped the charts in May, following DJ Fresh’s “Hot Right Now,” on which Rita sings the hook—random people started ringing the doorbell asking for photos and dropping off CDs. “Nothing scary,” Elena adds coolly.
She luvs roc'n Jordans:
“Jordans are my favorite. I wear them all the time for shows. I can get girly-girly when I want to, but I can’t perform in heels. I would bust my face open on stage and we don’t want that.”On her music:
You can add as much production as you want but if the music is shit no one is gonna listen to it,” she says. “It’s important that you know yourself musically. I was always that girl who loved music and thought of music as an escape route.”Pick up your copy or head over to Complex.com to read the full interview.
--Princess Carter
Source: Complex Magazine
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