As Bitches Go? Sophia Chang? The Baddest.

And clearly nothing to fuck with.

You’re probably not going to last a MINUTE in her world.[Photo by Sophia Chang]

So…the 2007 Grammys. Had never been before and have never been back. But if your producer is nominated for Best Producer of the Year, and Joe Chiccarelli had been for producing OXBOW’s The Narcotic Story (and The Shins and Kurt Elling), why blow your first and very possibly last chance to know, very specifically, why you’ve hated it all of these years?

And why would any musician hate it? For money-changers in the temple reasons. Or the idea that you could take all of that Dionysiac energy and package it like pudding in a deal with the devil where it doesn’t matter what the pudding tastes like just as long as you sell a lot of it.

But we were glad to be there even if it was to eventually lose to Mark Ronson and Amy Winehouse. And even if we were, in the full blush of an egotism that would make you blush, surprised to have lost, fugue stating around like we were post-loss, things struck us clearly in a way that they wouldn’t have had we won.

To wit: the horror that is modern music.

Because people perform at the Grammys. Not just what you see on TV but on stages strewn about the place. And to a performance there was not a single one that was not…perfect. The hair? Perfect. The outfits? Perfect. The sound and songs? Stellar and perfect.

And it was all also soulless and, not surprisingly, boring. Categorically so. In 2007 no less. How was this even possible 15 years post-WTC?

World Trade Center? Try again: Wu-Tang Clan. Music fueled by phlegm, discordant pastiches of kung fu flicks and a steadfast resistance to easily understand reason, if not rhyme. Fifteen years after all of that shit happened, Hollywood was still being/doing Hollywood. And if you want to add 2021 to the picture darkly, things have gotten no better.

I am crystal clear that I have very specific needs and desires that would preclude me from fucking, never mind dating, someone whose ass I could kick…

Come to think of it, things were no better before. So in the interregnum, the briefest of musical moments something happened and we want to call that something Sophia Chang.

When she got to New York from Vancouver, with a degree in French literature no less, sure, she worked with Paul Simon, but as soon as taste and tides allowed? She was managing not only A Tribe Called Quest but maybe more significantly GZA, Ol’ Dirty Bastard and unarguably the prime mover of all things Wu-Tang, the RZA.

The 5’4.5” Chang heard, in the dirty deconstructed sounds out of Staten Island, something folks at the vast majority of record labels were not: sounds actually big enough to change how we listened to sound. Though she later moved on to books — this year’s Wavy Award winning The Baddest Bitch in the Room — she’s also doing TV, mentorship programs and fighting back against “extortionate demands” from the largely collapsed once OZY empire where her latest TV venture is caught up in an ownership imbroglio.

“If you want to fuck with me,” she laughed in a phone call, “know that, for sure, you will be eviscerated.” She drew that last word out as far as it would go, enunciating every syllable. Just in case you missed the point.

So because, or maybe in spite of, all of that, we thought of Chang for one of first FIVE EASY PIECES in awhile. Five questions, five answers. None (sort of) about what the person is noted for.

Enjoy.

[ONE] This cuts to world view I am sure but how is it making sense to you to care whether or not people in your orbit are empowered? And is it fatalism to assume that there are those who will actively reject being empowered?

SOPHIA: I don't know how not to care whether or not my folks are empowered. I am empathetic both by nature and nurture. My parents modeled empathy for me. I believe God put us here to be in service of others and that's an extension of empathy. If I am able to share others' feelings, then it only stands to reason that I would both want to augment their joy or mitigate their pain. I founded UNLOCK HER POTENTIAL to provide free mentorship for women of color 18 years and older in the US and PR because I was a woman of color who benefitted tremendously from mentorship. I see the struggles we go through navigating white patriarchy and I know how helpful and meaningful mentorship was for me.

And I wouldn't call it fatalism, I would call it realism. It is manifestly apparent to me that not everyone is ready to step into their power. That doesn't mean they won't get there, but they might not be ready when I am. And when they are, perhaps I won't be there anymore. I always say “do not pour your love into a broken vessel.” This doesn't mean the person is bad or flawed, simply that they are not ready. Another Sophia Changism: “timing trumps love.”

[TWO] Are you monolingual and if not, what other languages are you fluent in?

SOPHIA: I used to be fluent in French and now I'm fluent in English with a French accent, which is so much more fun. I speak a little Korean and Mandarin as well.

[THREE] As a martial artist, when was the last time in marshalling your powers in the service of good that you struck someone? Or even had to threaten to do so?

SOPHIA: I've never physically struck someone and I hope I never do. I think I would feel very badly if I did. That said, kung fu is not merely physical to me and I use it every damn day. Everything is kung fu: sleeping, eating, drinking water, training, walking, talking, fucking, etc. As for the martial part of the art? They say the pen is mightier than the sword. What if my pen is my sword? And my tongue? Definitely a lethal weapon. I have verbally eviscerated many in my day. 

[FOUR] Three of my four daughters are also accomplished martial artists and I've asked them like I'm going to ask you: how does it feel to date people whose asses you can kick should the mood strike you? Also does having kids proscribe how comfortable you feel discussing the sexual like you might in your memoir?

SOPHIA: While I hope the mood never strikes me to strike someone, particularly a lover, at the age of 56, I am crystal clear that I have very specific needs and desires that would preclude me from fucking, never mind dating, someone whose ass I could kick. My children, though, know exactly who their mother is and they are not ashamed of me in any way. I raised my kids to be open minded, progressive, empathetic, and just. I would be shocked if they judged me for my dick index. When I told them before it was published in my memoir, they practically laughed as if to say they could care less. 

[FIVE] And finally...Do you think America's relationship to race is fundamentally dishonest or is it painfully honest?

SOPHIA: Who's America? If, when you say “America” you mean “white America,” then I would say, broadly speaking, that America's relationship to race is painfully dishonest.