Rated Z - Toronto's newest drink mixer

Are you down with Rated Z?

In late June I attended a private party hosted by Kardinal Offishall for the launch of a new drink mixer—Rated Z. The party took place in one of my favourite spots in the city—Harlem Underground, so you know your girl had to be there!

I arrived at the venue and the vibe was cool; not pretentious.  I saw hip hop legend Maestro bobbing his head to some classic hip hop tunes (courtesy of DJ Starting from Scratch) while Kardi emceed and kept the party people happy.

A few minutes after I reached I was able to sample the new drink.   I sipped it...liked it... and then ravenously savoured each and every rum infused drop.  It’s a smooth, island-y type of drink that evokes images of up tropical vacations, palm trees and steel pans.

As the party progressed, I happened to bump into a guy I went to high school with.  We started to talk and during our convo I told him that I was interested in writing about the event. He immediately told me to follow him and introduced me to Solitair—hip hop producer, artist, friend of Kardi and V.P. of Multi-media Relations for Rated Z.  (Thanks, Lloyd!) Solitair and I spoke for a few, and I casually asked him if I could interview him for my blog. He gave me his business card and told me to contact him.

After a series of emails, we settled on a day and time to meet at his studio. 

When I walked into his studio he was in the middle of working with R&B artist, Lisa Michelle, but he graciously asked me to take a seat and get comfy.  We all chit chatted about random things - like Kanye being Kanye and then dove right into the interview.  Check out the deets.

What is Rated Z?

It’s a drink mixer that can go with any type of alcohol. It’s very versatile. It has all natural ingredients that you can read and pronounce. 

How did Rated Z come about?

The recipe was passed down in Zamani Thomas’ family (he is the president of the company) for a few generations now. When we would have BBQs back in the day, his dad would make the syrup for us and we’d make rum punch from it.  Every single year, that would be the first drink to go.  We didn’t have a name for it, it was just rum punch.  It’s just a syrup that his dad brewed up and it smelled delicious.

Why did you decide to create a drink mixer?

One day we were sitting in Zamani’s basement and I was like, “It’s the syrup.  That’s a product that we can sell!” As a mixer, there’s no liquor in it – it’s so versatile on what you can do with it.  The flavour is so unique and so tasty.

We did our own market research.... we had it at BBQs and parties, and it just went. When we decided that we wanted to sell it, we would do tastings here and there because we wanted to make sure that we had a balanced perspective on what people thought of the flavour. So we tried to hit different demographics.

How would you describe the taste?

Some people have compared it to sorrel.  West Indian people would say to me, “C’mon bredren, it’s sorrel!”  I’m like, “Actually, no!  It’s comparable to it, but there are spicy notes.  I like to describe it as a spicy lollipop.  It’s like the Caribbean flavours in a syrup.

I saw different drinks online.  How did you come up with the different flavours?

Those have been concoctions that we’ve come up for different events. Every time we do a different event we give the client a specific drink. We’ve partnered up with some pretty diverse clients—Nella Bella, Orbit Room among others.

Where can you buy Rated Z?

We’re working on increasing our manufacturing capacity.  For now we are giving Harlem restaurant the exclusive. It’s also in two restaurants in Miami. 

You can order it from the website- www.ratezonline.com.  We take credit cards and you can pay by PayPal.

Besides Rate Z, what other projects are working on?

I’ve been working since January on this project called The City T.O., which is an idea that me and Zamani Thomas came up with to bring together talented artists from Toronto to work on one cohesive project about Toronto. It’s more a matter of the artists from the city getting together in the spirit of collaboration.  There are artists from the current crop of young artists representing the city—Rich Kidd, Lotus, May Marcourt, Adria Kain among others. Lisa Michelle is on the project as well. 

I have a single out right now. It’s called “Can’t Break My Stride" featuring Rich Kidd, Lotus and May Marcourt. I also recently produced an EP for Lisa Michelle called “This Moment” which is out now!

I also want to mention that the newest single “City Love” featuring Adria Kain and Dwayne Morgan was also released (the singles were released on soundcloud.com/solitairmusic).

After that last question we got a little off topic and started talking about the Canadian music industry (very interesting convo!), Rihanna on Twitter and the necessity of social media.  I had sooo much fun talking to Solitair. Our interview was brief, but it was definitely time well spent. Thanks, Solitair!

You can find more info on Rated Z at:

 www.ratedzonline.com

You can find Solitair’s music at:

www.soundcloud.com/solitairmusic

www.solitairmusic.com

Michelle

I Heart My Hair

Interview with Anya Grant – Natural hair blogger

 

I met Anya from I Heart My Hair on a balmy Saturday afternoon at a midtown coffee shop.  She originally wanted me to email her the questions or Skype the interview, but I was pretty insistent on meeting up.   Meeting face to face with the people I interview not only allows for a more authentic interview, but it allows me to gain rapport with the interviewee. Plus I really wanted to meet the ingenious girl that started a blog devoted to one of my passions—natural hair.

Anya walked into the coffee shop wearing one of her cute I Heart My Hair t-shirts and offered me a warm smile and gave me an even warmer hug.  We immediately chitchatted like adolescent school girls. 

This diminutive entrepreneur who has been running her blog for the past 5 years, is super soft spoken and her kind nature comes through with each barely audible word.  In the first 15 minutes that we met we started chatting so much that I almost forgot to ask any of my interview questions.  Before the official interview started, she did inform me that in a few short weeks she would be moving to Brazil for school (she has been living there on and off for years), so I am eternally grateful that I got the chance to meet her before she left Toronto.

Here’s a bit of our girl talk.

Why did you decide to go natural?

Believe it or not, I did hair all throughout high school and university.  And while I was in university I would do my friend’s weaves.  At the same time I was pushing them to go natural even though I had a bit of chemicals in my hair.  The reason why is because I could see the damage in their hair. You can’t see what’s going on in your scalp—you can only see your hair.  I would show them, tell them things about their scalp.  You’re constantly pulling and putting in weaves. I did hair for my friends and then converted them to go natural.  It helped me to go natural because people around me were natural.

Why did you start I Heart My Hair?

My hair was burnt off (pssst….Anya’s hair got caught on fire at a Christmas party and had to cut everything off), and it was 2 months before I went to Brazil, so of course I was going through self esteem issues -  “ Am I pretty?” 

In Brazil I started trial and error with my hair.  I went to YouTube, did my own videos and got feedback from people.  And then I realized there is a community that is starting to emerge.  I said to myself, “Why don’t I start video blogging?” So I started video blogging before I started I Heart My Hair.

When I came back [to Canada] from Brazil, I watched the Tyra Banks talk show with the episode on “Good Hair.”  There were 5 little black girls that were saying how much they hated themselves, and how they wished their hair were different and pointed out what they thought was “good hair.” It really, really bothered me.   I said to myself I’m going to start a site that will empower little girls to love their hair from early on so they don’t have to go through what I went through.

What was the experience like going natural in Brazil?

It was difficult in Brazil.  Short hair is not a good look [there].  The longer the hair, the more beautiful you are supposed to be.  I realized that I was not doing it for me; I was doing it for other people as well. I had a boyfriend at the time, and he was very supportive.

What is the natural movement like in other cities?

It’s picking up in France, Dominican Republic, The UK, Spain, of course Brazil. Also in Angola and Nigeria.  The movement is more about embracing natural curls, embracing information and having events and meet ups in various communities.

How did you learn to care for your hair?

Doing research….. being frustrated. I thought that there had to be other people out there going through the same situation.  At the time there weren’t a lot of videos.  I also went to books.  There was quite a bit of books on African hair—how to style, trim, moisturize.  It really, really helped me….not just for myself but to give out information. 

What do you think about the idea that the return to natural hair is just a fad?

I don’t think it is.  Back in the 1970s the Afro represented a movement outside of hair.  It represented a movement for black people.  Now, going natural is a movement specifically around hair, specifically around ourselves, around our individuality. It’s what makes us beautiful.  It’s not a fad, it’s here to stay!

What did you think of Chris Rock’s “documentary” Good Hair?

I loved it. It finally allowed for open dialogue about black hair.  Yes, it was comical, yes he did not even touch natural hair, but he allowed people to talk openly and stop hiding behind weaves.  I think what he was really trying to say is “We crazy!”  We spend too much time and money and what we really need to do is focus on our own hair.  I recommend the movie to someone who’s not sure if natural is for them.  

What do you want to accomplish with your blog?

To inspire one girl at a time to love their hair. I want to go into schools, educate, go into the community and at the same time make a living.

I attended your Curly Soiree event last year on promoting healthy, natural hair. Will you be organizing another one this year?

I would love to.  I plan on doing events wherever I am. 

With that last question, the interview was over and Anya was off to meet some friends. It was so amazing meeting the woman whose blog I was following. It’s sad that she is moving to Brazil to start a new life (her blog will still be updated), but I’m glad that I made a new friend. Good luck, Anya!

Michelle

Ask Michelle

Having boyfriend/girlfriend issues? Boss getting on your damn nerve? Send your questions to michelle[at]happygrrls.com and  I will try to include it in the next installment of Ask Michelle

The latest question comes from someone who’s bumped into a high school crush and wonders if she should still pursue him.



Ask Michelle,

I recently bumped into my old crush from high school.  I’ve been out of high school for 5 years now, but seeing him totally made me melt.  He’s tall, has a six pack and has the same cute smile I fell in love with from back in the day.

He told me his life story in about 5 minutes- he’s in university studying kinesiology, he plans to move to the US,  and oh yeah, he’s got a girlfriend : (

He did mention that they were having problems and he was thinking of breaking up with her soon.

 

A few days passed and he sent me a message on Facebook asking to friend him.  Shortly after I friended him, he sent me a message saying that he really, really, really wanted to see me.  I thought it was funny because I just saw him last week!

The weird thing is that when I went on his Facebook page he has tons of pics of his girlfriend and his status still reads that he’s in a relationship. I don’t know if he’s still in a relationship or if he plans to break up with her soon.  He also told me that he has been thinking about me since we bumped into each other.

 

I’m not sure what to do.  I still have feelings for him, but I’m not sure if he’s single. What should I do?

Signed,

Not trying to be a home wrecker

Dear Not trying to be a home wrecker,

Hmmm, something doesn’t sound right. It’s cool that he’s interested in you, but is he single? He said that he and his girlfriend were having some problems, but did he say that they were breaking up for sure? He still has pictures of her on Facebook and he hasn’t changed his status??? Sounds a little suspect to me.

I say be careful. Not sure if he’s looking for a relationship—perhaps just a booty call. As long as you know what he wants up front, you can make your decision.

Good luck!

Michelle

App of the month: Duolingo

Wanna learn Spanish, German, Italian or even French but don’t have the funds or the time to enroll in a class? Then download the Duolingo app.

Duolingo is an awesomely interactive free app that allows you to learn the basics in a few languages.

I recently added it to my growing roster of apps because I’ve always wanted to master the Spanish language, and I'm also interested in picking up some Italian (pssst….I tutored an Italian couple in English last summer and my love for the language was born).

This app is one of my faves because it teaches you vocabulary (nouns, adjectives etc), grammar as well as the proper pronunciation (this app seriously gets bonus marks for having amazing audio content). Even though I have failed a few tests I love that I can easily go back and re-test myself.
 

The beauty of this app is that once you’ve completed the lessons for one language, you can simply move on to the next language. Isn’t that cool?!

Do you have this app? What do you think about it?

Michelle