While many can claim that they were conceived while their parents made love listening to classic soul singers such as Roberta Flack, Betty Wright, and Sam Cooke, few can truly state that they are indeed a child of soul music in the same way as Lalah Hathaway.

As the daughter of the legendary soul singer, Donny Hathaway, Lalah is one of those few true soul children.  The Chicago native recorded her self-titled debut in 1990, which spawned the hits “Baby Don’t Cry,” “Heaven Only Knows” and “I’m Coming Back.”

By 2004, she’d deliver her fourth album, Outrun the Sky, garnering Hathaway her first number one single, the Rex Rideout-produced cover of Luther Vandross’ “Forever, For Always, For Love.”  Now four years later she returns to the musical scene with her new album, Self-Portrait. 

Sixshot connected with the laid-back singer and talked her new deal with the legendary record label Stax, “Black woman drama,” being a hoarder, and more.

If you were to create your own portrait what colors would best represent you and why?

Maybe yellow, purple, blue, orange, and green.  Part of what I wanted to do was make the packaging and record really colorful and vibrant.  I'm feeling vibrant right now and the record feels fresh to me.  It’s like the way that I felt when I was making my first record.  So it’d be like a whole landscape of color in there.  I wouldn’t just pick one.

It’s been four years since your last release.  I read that during that time you were trying to find a place to land to give you the opportunity to make something artful.  Where did you land when you began this album?

That answer is in response to people asking, “So you took four years to a do a record.  What were you doing in all that time?  Were you chilling out?”  Usually the answer to that is no.  I'm trying to find the right deal, the right amount of money, or the right place.  In my case I got lucky and Stax called, and this has been so far a really good marriage.

What’s different about Stax than other labels that you’ve dealt with?

Well, in a big way a label, is a label, is a label.  In a large way being on a record label is like dating.  It’s like you’re hanging out with a guy, he’s really nice in the beginning, and then something goes terribly wrong.  Then you have to break-up and that’s what being in a record label is usually.  The thing that sets Stax apart is that they’re so synonymous with the word and concept of soul music all over the world.  I thought it would be really cool to be even thought of in that same way, and to be in the same place as so many of my father’s contemporaries.  So far it’s been a very blessed event and they’ve been really cool, and have allowed me to make the record that I always wanted to make.

Is there anyplace in your personal life you landed at that allowed you to begin this album?

Absolutely!  People ask, “What's the difference between this and your first record?”  I realize sometimes the questions are simple because how else can you ask them.  The biggest difference is time in a large way.  It’s just the process of maturing and kind of figuring out who I am as an artist, what that looks like, and what it sounds like.  I'm landing at these different places and trying to move forward.  I'm definitely in a place right now with this record where I feel like it’s already a successful effort for me because it is what I intended.

What were your intentions when making this record?

To make a great record of original songs that were sung well.  I really was involved from the beginning to the end as far as production, writing, where we recorded, which musicians we used, and how we put the packaging together.  So I feel like it is absolutely a portrait of me right now.

I read that you see the woman you want to be and are almost there.  Along that journey there’s always obstacles.  So what obstacles do you see left ahead that you need to traverse?

Well I got everything that everybody has—I got all the human drama, woman drama, and all the black woman drama.  I got all the same things that everybody has which is why I feel so blessed to be able to translate my experiences into music for people.  The greatest gratification is when people say, “I relate to that song.”  That’s really the point—to make something that people get because we all go through the same thing.  It just so happens that I get to be on the phone and you get to ask me what my thing is, but it's probably a lot like what you’re going though right now.  We all travel the same road in a way.

Did you say Black woman drama?

Sure.

Can you elaborate on that?

I don’t mean that in any other way than all of these things—when you come into the world you get to compound.  You start as a fetus and I'm sure that’s hella dramatic, then you’re born and you’re a baby and you got baby drama.  Then you’re a kid and you got kid drama; and then you’re a female kid or male kid and you got that drama; and then you’re Black, Polish, or Greek and you got that.  It has nothing to do with anything specifically other than we start so simple, and as we grow all these other things complicate what was at some point simple.

So how did recognizing that you’re a Black woman complicate things for you?

It didn’t complicate—let me extract that part ‘cause it probably sounds like Black woman drama!  It's not meant to be like that.  It’s not a straightening comb or my man thing at all.  It’s just that growing in this world there are different things that make me, me.  The fact that I don’t wear shoes on stage is a piece of me; the fact that I like sweets is a piece of me; the fact that I'm an African-American woman—the fact that there’s a lot of things about me that makes me, me.  When I say drama I don’t mean like “no more drama,” no more tears.  I mean all of that life drama is in just living and it makes me who I am, and that contributes to the artist that I am.

The first single is “Let Go.”  So what’s been one of the hardest things for you to let go of in life?

I don’t know.  I’m pretty much a hoarder.  I hold onto everything.  I have a spring 1986 Berklee College of Music catalog so I can look at what classes I was thinking of taking in 1986.  I have a lot of stuff that I probably should let go of and on that basic level.  I have a lot of clutter and I need to let go a lot of it.  I'm learning.

I was reading your MySpace blog and you wrote that 2007 was your worst and best year.  What did you mean by that?

I meant that of all my years I had more highs and more lows in that one year than I could remember having.

What were the highs and lows?

Well some of the highs were—can I even remember 2007?  What was that forty years ago?  2007 was a good year cause I was working on my record.  I was really kind of learning my craft, listening to it, and allowing myself to trust it.  In that way it was a really great year. 

What were the lows?

Yeah I had some real lows.  I don’t really talk about that low stuff in my life because I would never want to burden anyone with that.  But I definitely experienced the polar opposite end of the spectrum in that year.  One of the hardest things is talking about myself.  It’s really odd for me cause making a record—I'm doing extreme talking about myself.  When I'm making a record I'm so vulnerable, and really trying to be truthful and honest in a way that I could never sit and talk about myself.  So I would hope that anything anyone needs to know about me they can get from my record.  I'm maybe not so great with words in talking.  I'm a much better singer and communicator through music.

For more information please visit:
http://lalahhathaway.com
http://myspace.com/lalahspace