About Ayana Soyini
Ayana Soyini (born Ayana Soyini Gooden, 22 November 1973 in New York City) is an American musician. She has received acclaim for her unique songwriting and musical talents as an artist, DJ and producer.
Ayana Soyini was born to an African-American mother and a father of Jamaican descent in the Washington Heights section of New York City. Like her parents, Ayana grew up with a strong love and appreciation for music and art and studied Graphic Communications at Brooklyn Technical High School.
The 1970’s witnessed the birth of Hip Hop and by the mid 1980’s the music had developed into a decidedly positive afro-centric lifestyle. Ayana was inspired by songs from artists like Public Enemy, Queen Latifah, Big Daddy Kane, KRS One and Tribe called Qwest while attending high school. She was simultaneously studying philosophies from Malcolm X, Marcus Garvey and strong woman leaders.
Ayana began to develop her own style while attending Northeastern University and living in Boston, Massachusetts. She began to focus on learning to DJ and write music. Deciding to pursue music full time she left Boston and moved back to New York in the early 1990’s where she found work in a recording studio as an engineer and session producer.
While listening to The Underground Railroad Show on WBAI 99.5FM one night, she decided to call in and auditioned over the airwaves when a Hip Hop collective called Natural Elements announced they were looking for a female rapper. From there she created a working relationship with the producer, Charlemagne, and his label Fortress Records based in the Bronx, New York. After recording with Charlemagne for awhile, she was featured on a vinyl 12 inch single from artist Mr. Voodoo, released by Fortress Records in 1995. The single was called “Lyrical Tactics” and featured a group record on the b-side featuring Ayana (then known as Essence) and Natural Elements members L-Swift and A-Butta. The single was an underground success and garnered acclaim in The Source magazine and other Hip Hop publications.
During the time she was collaborating with Charlemagne and Fortress records, Ayana landed an industry job as an A&R for indie label Robbins Entertainment. Founded by one of the owners of Profile Records, Robbins Entertainment was started by Cory Robbins and distributed by BMG. She was featured in Sister 2 Sister magazine and received press as an executive in Billboard and other publications. Ayana followed up her recording debut by participating in an all female rapper collaboration called “Estragen”. The song featured Ayana Soyini, Apani B. Fly, Jean Grae, Pri Da Honeydark, Lyric, Helixx C and Yejide the Night Queen with production by DJ Spinna. Released as a vinyl 12 inch on Apani B. Fly’s indie label Q-Boro records in 1996, the song is considered one of the best female group recordings in Hip Hop history. Ayana then recorded “Ya Gotta Know” in 1997 with Kool Kim from the UMC’s featuring production by Haas G. Released as an indie record by Kool Kim, the vinyl 12 inch sold over 10,000 units and garnered more press for Ayana in The Source magazine and other Hip Hop publications.
Ayana’s growing business savvy led her to start Goldeneyes Entertainment and build a home recording studio in 1997. She was featured along with Eminem, Kool Keith, M.O.P. and others in a film documentary about New York City underground Hip Hop called “Word. In 2000 she pressed up 500 copies of the first release from the newly formed Khamouflage Productions, a vinyl 12 inch with self produced demo recordings of the songs “Nighttime” and “Rock Steady”. In 2001, she released the first CD from Khamouflage Productions, a self produced EP called “The Khamouflage Project EP”. Ayana independently sold over 5,000 CD’s of “The Khamouflage Project EP” and the raw mix version of the tune “Rock Steady” was an underground hit. Ayana started to get more international exposure, particularly from the London, England UK media, as well as other countries. She stayed active by touring the Northeast & the South regions of the United States, promoting events, DJ’ing parties, and writing for her community based website, www.Goldeneyesonline.com
After releasing a mixtape called “Double Duty” in 2003, in 2005 Ayana released her second self produced CD called “Remix Sessions”. As a follow up to “The Khamouflage Project EP”, “Remix Sessions” showcased Ayana’s continuing growth as a lyricist and producer who is able to blend multiple genres of music into her own fresh and original style and sound. Ayana released additional songs to further promote “Remix Sessions”, including a YouTube only video for “Nighttime Dub”. She also toured the Northeast and South regions of the United States promoting the newly created www.Khamouflage.com. One of her social awareness songs called “A.I.D.S. a tune of consciousness” was an online success. In 2008, the tune garnered Ayana an appearance on the longest running Hip Hop radio show in Hip Hop history, “The World Famous Wake Up Show with Sway & Tech” in Los Angeles, CA. She also garnered success with an unreleased remix she did for Erykah Badu called “Real Thing (Jump Bad Remix)”. In 2009, “Remix Sessions” was further released as a digital album to iTunes along with the “The Khamouflage Project EP”.
Not one to neglect her community, over the years Ayana has been active as a peer counselor while working for after school programs in the Bed Stuy and Brownsville neighborhoods in Brooklyn. She also has organized voter registration campaigns and “get out the vote” campaigns in the Lower East Side neighborhood of New York. She also organized and/or performed at fundraisers for the Hurricane Katrina victims and for the victims of the recent earthquake in Haiti. Utilizing her website www.Khamouflage.com for the better, she has published articles on disaster preparedness, music industry activism and spiritual awareness while also highlighting the current musical and artistic endeavors of herself and her community.
Ayana Soyini’s latest self produced musical effort called “Rivers” will be released in 2010.
