Lena Chanel sets out to conquer Grand Rapids, the country

Lena Chanel is from the Washington, D.C. area and enrolled at school at Full Sail in Orlando, Florida.  Full Sail is a professional school for aspiring artists of all kinds. Chanel is a frequent collaborator of fellow Full Sail student The VIIth, an artist from Grand Rapids I interviewed last year. Chanel is a member of Clergy, a group of artists she co-founded with the VIIth and about a half-dozen other Full Sail students that work together to further each of their respective musical careers. They move as a team. They are investing in Orlando, New York, Chicago, Miami, Washington D.C. and Grand Rapids, seeking to make a name for their hiphop group. Clergy is their way of extending the members of the group's reach beyond Full Sail. 

On one of her recent trips to Grand Rapids, I sat down with Chanel to discuss her musical background and what she is working on today.  In nearly  thirty-minutes, we talked about everything from her earliest start in music to the direction she is taking her current work. We touched on her favorite albums and artists, the state of underground hip hop, and the story behind the formation of Clergy. A key takeaway from the interview was her desire to build up enough material for her to make plans to tour. With the music industry being assaulted by free downloads, one of the primary ways to both make money and make a name for themself is to get on the road and perform at venues across the country.

With the focus of Clergy it would not be a surprise to see Chanel perform in Grand Rapids in the very near future. To introduce yourself to her  recent work and to keep up on future releases, anticipated toward the end-of-the-year, check her out on BandCamp.