Lashunda Nicole Flowers, better known as Shunda K, is an American rapper whose songs are noted both for their use of spiritual and sexually explicit lyrics.
Current
With her release of "The Return of Shunda K" EP in 2019, Shunda K is set to drop her sophomore album "Return of The Dragon / Rise of The Divine Feminine" June 6, 2022. The double album features 26 tracks featuring producers such as Thunderbird Juiceboxx, Tori Fixx aka DJ Naughtboyy, Koax The Droid and newcomer DJ Ambs. Her new label GMEQCA/Matriarch Records is finding success in the digital market, where Shunda K will release "soul stirring" tunes, featuring top producers worldwide.
Yo Majesty 1998–Current
Shunda K started her career with Shon B as a duo named Ya Majesty before they were rounded out circa 2001 by gospel-raised vocalist Jwl B. They started collaborating with London-based electronica duo HardfeelingsUK (David Alexander and Richard Winstanley), who supplied the newly named Yo! Majesty with their electro-rap club beats, in 2002.
Once they established a name for themselves on the underground club circuit, both in the US and the UK,
Yo Majesty self-released their first official release, the Yo EP, in 2006.
They "made a splash" at
SXSW
South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...
in 2007
and that year toured alongside
CSS and
the Gossip. The group signed with
Domino Records in 2007, and the label released an EP and full-length record by the band in 2008, which included a track produced by
Basement Jaxx.
Shon B left in 2008, soon after the group was signed, leaving Shunda and Jwl to tour as
Yo Majesty. However, during January 2009
Shunda K was forced to finish the
Yo Majesty tour solo as Jwl B was incarcerated as she assaulted a family member. When Jwl B was released, Domino forced Shunda to tour with her, so Shunda left the group and pursued solo interests.
Solo career
After leaving Yo Majesty, Shunda has gone on to work with
Peaches
The peach (''Prunus persica'') is a deciduous tree first domesticated and cultivated in China. It bears edible juicy fruits with various characteristics, most called peaches and the glossy-skinned, non-fuzzy varieties called nectarines. Peac ...
on her ''
I Feel Cream'', collaborating on the track and starring in the music video for Billionaire, and released a series of EPs with French producer Flore
and Damp Heat all the while steadily working on her album which is set for release under Fanatic Records on January 11, 2011. She began 2010 by touring in Australia, performing at the roving
Big Day Out
The Big Day Out (BDO) was an annual music festival that was held in five Australian cities: Sydney, Melbourne, Gold Coast, Queensland, Gold Coast, Adelaide, and Perth, as well as Auckland, New Zealand. The festival was held during summer, typi ...
festival, headlining club gigs and opening shows for friend Peaches.
Shunda's first maxi-single off her new album "The Most Wanted" was released on July 27, 2010 and is called "Here I Am To Save The World". It was co-producedby French
electronic dance music
Electronic dance music (EDM), also referred to as dance music or club music, is a broad range of percussive electronic music genres originally made for nightclubs, raves, and List of electronic dance music festivals, festivals. It is generally ...
producer
Electrosexual and Chicago based label owner Chrissy Murderbot. It features remixes of the album version by several up and coming producers.
The second maxi-single from "The Most Wanted" is "I'm da Best" and was released on October 25, 2010. The song is the reunion on record with original Yo! Majesty member Shon B, notable for the fact that it was Shunda K and Shon B that appear on the original version of "Club Action" that brought Yo! Majesty its initial round of attention. The maxi-single again features multiple remixes by many new producers from around the world.
Also of note is Shunda's collaboration with musician/producer
Snax, "It's Time To Get Paid."
The video for "Paid", directed by Robin Thompson, quickly garnered hundreds of thousands of views on YouTube (686,722 as of this writing), prompting positive comments as well as many homophobic and racist ones.
Snax responded to the reaction in an article in the ''
Huffington Post
''HuffPost'' (''The Huffington Post'' until 2017, itself often abbreviated as ''HPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and covers ...
''.
Discography
Albums
* ''Futuristically Speaking...Never Be Afraid'' (as
Yo Majesty) (2008), Domino Records
* ''The Most Wanted'' (as Shunda K) (2011), Fanatic Records
* ''Return of The Dragon / Rise of The Divine Feminine'' (as Shunda K) (2022), GMEQCA/Matriarch Records
EP
* "The Return of Shunda K" (2019, GMEQCA/Matriarch Records)
Singles
* "Here I Am to Save the World" (2010, Fanatic Records)
* "I'm da Best" (2010, Fanatic Records)
Collaborations
* Shunda K (
Yo Majesty) and
Electrosexual collaborated on the track "Screaming and Crying" alongside Scream Club which features on Electrosexual's 12" vinyl "Break You Nice/Screaming and Crying".
* Shunda K (Yo Majesty) collaborated with Snax
on the track "It's Time to Get Paid"
released on Shunda's LP ''The Most Wanted''.
* Shunda K (Yo Majesty) and
Peaches
The peach (''Prunus persica'') is a deciduous tree first domesticated and cultivated in China. It bears edible juicy fruits with various characteristics, most called peaches and the glossy-skinned, non-fuzzy varieties called nectarines. Peac ...
collaborated on the track "Billionaire" which features on Peaches' album ''I Feel Cream''.
* Shunda K and Flore worked together on each other's album with Flore's album ''Raw''. Two singles have been released preceding the album, both featuring Shunda K's vocals.
* Shunda K and Damp Heat released an EP together to round out 2009.
* Yo Majesty and Neon Neon worked on the track "Sweat Shop" for their album ''Stainless Style''.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shunda K
21st-century American women rappers
African-American women rappers
Living people
1980 births
Musicians from Tampa, Florida
Place of birth missing (living people)
21st-century American rappers
21st-century African-American women
21st-century African-American musicians
20th-century African-American musicians
20th-century African-American women