By: Todd “DG” Davis
Rapindustry.com
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There are moments in hip-hop when a city produces an artist who doesn’t just represent where they’re from—they become part of the evidence that their city belongs in the conversation. For St. Louis, Ebony Eyez was one of those moments. Before the headlines, the major-label deal and the records found in record stores and spinning through radio, there was Ebony Williams, a St. Louis woman with a microphone, a personality and something to prove. 

Coming up in a city with its own distinct musical DNA, Ebony Eyez carved out her lane at a time when female MCs were still having to kick the door open and make room for themselves. Her early connection with the TrackBoyz—Mark Williams and Joe Kent—helped put that St. Louis sound into motion, and her appearance on J-Kwon’s Hood Hop in 2004 gave listeners outside the city their first real introduction to what she could do. Then came “Tipsy,” J-Kwon’s undeniable smash, and suddenly the door wasn’t just cracked—it was wide open. 

Ebony walked through it. 

Her Capitol Records signing carried weight beyond a contract. She became the first female rapper from St. Louis to sign with a major label, putting her name into a piece of the city’s music history that can’t be erased. In 2005, she stepped into the spotlight with 7 Day Cycle, bringing a combination of attitude, femininity, street sensibility and St. Louis flavor to a national audience. “In Ya Face” made noise in the clubs, the Trina remix expanded the record’s reach, “Take Me Back” showed another side of her with 112, and “Get XXX’d,” alongside J-Kwon, landed on the XXX: State of the Union soundtrack. 

But sometimes the industry moves faster than the history it creates. 

The major-label chapter didn’t last nearly as long as the talent behind it deserved. Yet Ebony Eyez didn’t disappear—and that may be the part of her story worth revisiting now. Because careers in hip-hop aren’t always measured by how long the machine keeps your name in rotation. Sometimes they’re measured by what you opened up for yourself, what you represented when the opportunity arrived, and whether you still have something to say after the lights change.  And Ebony does.

Still connected to music, still representing St. Louis and still documenting her journey on her own terms, Ebony Eyez has lived through an era that younger artists can only hear about secondhand. She experienced the climb, the major-label machine, the records, the recognition and the inevitable shift that comes when the industry moves on to its next thing. 

Now, it’s time to move the conversation back to the beginning—and let Ebony Eyez tell the story in her own voice. 

Because before there was the deal, there was the dream. Before there was 7 Day Cycle, there was St. Louis. And before history could call her the first, Ebony had to become the woman willing to kick that door open.

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Q. Before the major-label deal and the records, there was Ebony Williams growing up in St. Louis. What first pulled you toward hip-hop, and when did you realize you had something to say through the mic? 

My connection to hip-hop started pretty naturally. Growing up in St. Louis, I was hanging out with my neighborhood friends, watching music videos and trying to emulate what we saw. At some point, we started saying, “Let’s do our own raps and routines,” and that became our thing. I was performing, dancing and rapping in a girl group (G.G.B. — Girls Get Busy) around nine years old, so I got comfortable with being onstage pretty early. 

One of the girls from that group actually gave me the name Ebony Eyez when we were kids. She got the name from the Rick James song. LOL. So the name I’ve carried throughout my career actually goes all the way back to my childhood. And what’s crazy is that she later ended up doing my hair for my “In Ya Face” video, my “Take Me Back” video and even my 7 Day Cycle album cover. So she’s been part of my story in more ways than she probably ever realized. 

By high school, I was freestyle rapping on the school bus, but I wasn’t necessarily thinking, “This is what I’m going to do for a career.” I went to college at FAMU, where I picked the music back up, and when I came back to St. Louis, that’s when I really decided I was going to pick up the mic and let people see what I could do. 

There were definitely women who inspired me. Salt-N-Pepa, MC Lyte, Lil’ Kim, Foxy Brown and Lauryn Hill were all artists I looked up to. They each brought something different to the mic, and seeing women command that space helped me understand that I could have my own voice in it too. 

Q. St. Louis has always had its own hip-hop identity, but you became the first female rapper from the city to sign with a major label. What did that moment mean to you personally—and what did it mean for the women coming behind you? 

Being one of the first female rappers from St. Louis to sign a major-label deal meant a lot to me because I knew how much history and talent our city had, and I knew I was representing more than just myself. 

At the same time, I was young and taking it all in, so I don’t think I fully understood the weight of what it meant until later. For the women coming behind me, I hope they saw that there was a place for them at the table. You didn’t have to fit somebody else’s idea of what a female rapper from St. Louis was supposed to look or sound like. You could come from here, have your own personality and your own voice, and take that to a national level. 

Opening a door doesn’t mean the work stops, though. You still have to learn the business, protect your work, understand your value and keep evolving. 

Q. Your first major look came on J-Kwon’s “Hood Hop” with “Show Your Ass.” What do you remember about that moment, and how did being around the energy of the St. Louis movement change your trajectory? 

“Show Your Ass” actually started out as my song. I remember being in the studio working on it, and the original plan was to put J-Kwon on the record. At that point, it was supposed to be my second single following “In Ya Face.” Then, at the last minute, the idea came up to give the record to Kwon. The plan was for it to follow “Hood Hop” as his next single and introduce me to an even bigger audience. His label situation changed before that whole plan could really play out, so it didn’t happen the way we originally envisioned it. 

But being a woman in the middle of what was happening in St. Louis at that time was dope. The city had so much energy, and I was rocking stages with some of the best of them, representing St. Louis from a woman’s point of view. And I’m not gonna lie, the boys’ club of the Lou didn’t exactly roll out the red carpet for me. I had to hold my own and make sure people knew I belonged in those spaces too. 

The attention St. Louis was getting nationally definitely helped when I was outside the city. People were starting to pay attention to where we were from, so when I showed up in other markets, I was coming from a city that was having a real moment, and I was part of that movement. 

Q. Then “Tipsy” became a massive record, and suddenly St. Louis was impossible to ignore. What was it like watching your hometown have that national moment while you were preparing to step into your own? 

By the time “Tipsy” took off, I was already signed with the Trackboyz and just starting to work on 7 Day Cycle. St. Louis had already been getting national attention through Nelly and the St. Lunatics and then Chingy, so we knew the city had something special happening. But “Tipsy” really blew the door open even wider. 

 

That success created a lot of opportunities, and one of those for me was being able to go on tour with J-Kwon and perform “Show Your Ass.” I was the only woman on the road with all these guys, so I definitely had to hold my own. But I knew I was in good hands. We also shared the same management at the time. 

I was also in the “Tipsy” video, which was actually my first time being on a major video set. I remember being there with Da Brat and other celebrities and athletes and just taking it all in. 

And you have to remember what St. Louis was like at that time. The Rams were winning Super Bowls, the Cardinals were doing their thing, the music scene was moving, and there were real movers and shakers all over the city. You couldn’t just say you were from St. Louis and expect people to notice you; you had to put in real work. 

So watching “Tipsy” take that St. Louis energy even further was exciting, especially because I was already preparing to step into my own lane with 7 Day Cycle. 

Q. Signing with Capitol Records in that era was a major accomplishment. What did getting that deal feel like, and what did you learn about the music business once the dream became a real contract? 

Signing with Capitol was a huge deal to me. I had just recently come out of being in a female duo for about five years, so I was really learning how to write whole songs by myself. And back then, we were doing three 16-bar verses, too! I was constantly writing, recording and making noise, and the labels were taking notice. 

Capitol wasn’t the only label we went to, but they were the ones that bit and were ready to rock, so to speak. Getting that deal was a big deal not just for me, but for St. Louis. A female was finally stepping up to the plate and getting her turn. 

I feel like my city showed me love, but at the time I didn’t always feel like they got behind me the way they had gotten behind some of the guys who came before me. Looking back, though, I think I may have been wrong about that. My city loves me; at least it feels like it today!

What I learned from that experience is that getting the opportunity is only the beginning. I was young and focused on making music and building my career, and there was still a lot about the business I had to learn along the way. That experience definitely helped shape the artist and businesswoman I became. 

Q. You reunited with J-Kwon for “Get XXX’d” on XXX: State of the Union. How did that opportunity come together, and what did it mean to see your music crossing from hip-hop into film? 

One of our producers at the time, Trackboyz, had me come to the studio and write a verse for the record. A few days later, I went back and found out Petey Pablo was getting on it, so they took my verse off and put me on the hook instead. I knocked the hook out, and we had another hit on our hands. 

Next thing I know, we’re going to L.A. to shoot the video. That was actually my first video where I got to be in it and have vocals on the record, so you know I was ready! 

I had just cut my hair super short, too, and I was nervous about coming out like that on camera. Looking back, though, it was a good move. It was also my first time getting the full glam treatment. I hated the makeup part, LOL, but I loved the clothes! 

Benny Boom directed the video, and I would end up working with him again later on my “Take Me Back” video. I got to meet a lot of people during that whole experience, and Petey Pablo was hella cool. 

We also got to perform the record on Soul Train. That’s where I found out we had to lip-sync, which was hard as hell for me because I was used to actually performing. Then we performed it live at the Soul Train Awards, and we killed it. 

We did all the St. Louis dances like the Nina Pop, Chicken Head, all of that across that stage. I remember looking over and seeing Usher and Ice Cube looking at me from the audience like, “Who is this chick?” They looked entertained, too. 

The funniest part is, when the performance was over, everybody else was already walking off the stage, and I looked up and realized I was still out there dancing! Can’t take a chick from the hood nowhere! I was just caught up in the moment. 

Q. 7 Day Cycle arrived in 2005 with the Trackboyz heavily involved in the production. What were you trying to capture about Ebony Eyez on that album that listeners might not have understood from the singles alone? 

I feel like 7 Day Cycle did a good job of capturing me as the artist I was at that time. I was still finding myself not just as an artist, but as a woman. But I wasn’t brand new to making music or putting out a project. I had already released an album with my group NAZIR before the Trackboyz/Capitol chapter, so I had experience creating music and being involved in that process. 

I would have loved to have worked with some other producers and included some of the songs I had already created, but my production deal limited some of those choices. I also didn’t get to really spearhead 7 Day Cycle the way I was used to, so that was an adjustment for me creatively. 

Even with those limitations, I still feel like we created something special. There were so many different topics on that album that women were dealing with, and that’s one reason I feel like you can still listen to 7 Day Cycle today and it doesn’t sound dated. I made sure to rap my ass off on every record. 

I do feel like the album didn’t get the push it needed or deserved, and because of that, people never really got the opportunity to fully see who I was or what I was capable of bringing to the table. 

But 7 Day Cycle is my baby. It always will be my first.

Q. “In Ya Face” became your signature statement, and the remix brought Trina into the mix. What was behind the attitude of that record, and what did you want people to know about you when you stepped into that space? 

“In Ya Face” was definitely me saying, “Fuck y’all.” To everybody who had doubted me, underestimated me or thought I couldn’t do it, well, kiss my ass, here I go. And honestly, I think anybody who’s ever felt underestimated can relate to that energy. 

The funny thing is, the record wasn’t even supposed to be my first single. It was originally supposed to create some buzz in the strip clubs before we dropped the official single. But we worked that record so well that it started catching on, and the label decided they wanted to run with it. 

The idea actually came from us joking around in the studio about having a big derrière and how guys always want women to turn around, dance and bend over. Next thing you know, “Would you let me put my ass in your face?” became the hook. My producer was like, “It’s gonna work. Watch. That’s shock value.” And I remember thinking, okay, if I’m going to give them a hook like that, I’m damn sure going to show them I can RAP on the verses. 

And I did. My verses weren’t raunchy at all. I gave bars, lyrics, jokes, wit, humor, sass and that boss energy. 

At the time, though, radio had a harder time with a woman being that direct. Records with men saying things just as explicit were getting played, but my lyrics in the chorus had people clutching their pearls. C’mon. That contrast was frustrating because the record had so much more to it than the shock value. 

Then, when the label wanted a remix, Lil’ Kim and Trina were both names that came up, and we ultimately went with Trina. She absolutely smashed it. Working with her felt like the right collaboration for that record. 

At the end of the day, “In Ya Face” wasn’t just about the hook. It was me announcing that I was here, I could rap, and I wasn’t going to let anybody else’s expectations of what a woman in hip-hop was supposed to be keep me from taking my space. 

 

 

Q. Then you showed another side with “Take Me Back” featuring 112. How important was it for you to show that Ebony Eyez could go beyond the hard-edged records and tell a different kind of story? 

Absolutely. I wanted people to see all the sides of Ebony Eyez, or at least the sides I wanted to share. “Take Me Back” was important because I didn’t want people to think I was only the woman from “In Ya Face.” I could give you the hard records, but I could also be vulnerable, emotional and tell a completely different kind of story. 

The whole concept of 7 Day Cycle had layers to it. It’s a seven-day week, but it’s also a woman’s cycle, and women can go through so many different emotions and experiences during that time. 

One of my producers brought me the song with the hook already there, and I loved it. I wrote my verses while I was actually going through some things with my guy at the time, so once I started writing, my pen just went crazy. The emotions and thoughts were flowing out—things that I knew a lot of women could relate to. 

We were considering either Jagged Edge or 112 for the hook, and Q and Slim came in and absolutely laced it. They took the record somewhere else vocally and helped turn it into something special. 

We met in Atlanta for the video shoot, which was directed by Benny Boom. We’d already worked together on the “Get XXX’d” video, so we knew each other by then. Everybody was cool and down to earth, and we had a lot of fun making it. 

Q. You entered the industry during a powerful period for women in hip-hop, but the road to longevity has never been easy. What did that era teach you about being a woman, an artist and a businesswoman in an industry that could change overnight? 

That era taught me that being talented wasn’t always enough, especially as a woman coming out of St. Louis. I watched my fellow rappers who had made it get embraced by each other, and I saw other women in the industry building camaraderie. I didn’t really get the opportunity to build those kinds of relationships in the game, and for a long time I took that personally. 

I also watched other artists from my city who came around that same time get their respect and have people say, “Yeah, you’re here. You made it. You’re one of us.” I don’t always feel like I received that same recognition for being the woman holding it down for our city among the guys. 

There was also a huge focus on album sales back then. Because 7 Day Cycle didn’t go platinum, I felt like some people tried to play me or minimize what I had accomplished. What they didn’t know were all the things happening behind the scenes that affected the project—things that were outside of my control and, honestly, things I didn’t even fully understand at the time. I was young, and I wasn’t protected within the industry in the way I should have been. 

That taught me a hard lesson: you can’t let one number define your value as an artist. You have to understand the business, protect yourself, know what’s happening around your career and not assume that everybody sitting at the table is looking out for you. 

And I’ve learned something else with age: while it was and still is personal because this is my life and my art, it’s also business. I had to learn not to take every business decision or every missed opportunity as a personal rejection. 

Q. Your major-label chapter was brief, but you kept moving independently through Lady Lion Entertainment. Looking back, what did walking away from—or moving beyond—the major-label system teach you about ownership, independence and controlling your own story? 

Moving beyond the major-label system taught me that having a deal and having control aren’t necessarily the same thing. But I’d already experienced independent music before Capitol through NAZIR, so I wasn’t completely new to creating and releasing music outside of a major-label system. 

After 7 Day Cycle, I continued putting music out independently. I released Fuck How Many Mics I Get and Nice Girlz Finish Last mixtapes through Lady Lion Entertainment. That period taught me that there were different ways to keep creating and connecting with people without waiting for somebody else to give you permission. 

 

 

That’s a big reason Lady Lion Entertainment became so important to me. I wanted something that belonged to me. Something I could continue building beyond one record, one album or one company. 

I’ve learned a lot since those early days about ownership, publishing, contracts, relationships and protecting the work I’ve created. Some of those lessons came from experience, and some came from learning things I wish I’d known back then. 

But I don’t look at that younger version of myself and blame her. She was doing the best she could with what she knew at the time. 

Today, controlling my own story means more than just owning a company. It means knowing what’s attached to my name, understanding my rights, deciding how I want my music and my brand represented, and being involved in those decisions. I’m still building, but I’m building with a much clearer understanding of what ownership really means. 

Q. From St. Louis to Capitol, 7 Day Cycle, “In Ya Face,” 112 and everything that came after, what do you believe is the real Ebony Eyez legacy—and what do you want the next generation to understand about the woman who helped open that door? 

I think the real Ebony Eyez legacy is bigger than one album, one record deal or one moment in time. I’m proud of what I accomplished coming out of St. Louis, especially as a woman in a male-dominated scene, but I’m even more proud of the fact that I found my way back to the music. 

 

There was actually a period where I stepped away for years. But I never stopped writing, and I never stopped loving music. Somehow, music found its way back to me. 

Since then, I’ve continued performing and representing St. Louis. I’ve continued creating with artists from different generations, recently appearing on Bates’ “Ring Around The Rose” and KayyLayy’s “Nonsense” SHEmix. I also appeared on Cadillac Chronicles. I’ve also been recognized as part of St. Louis musical history through an art exhibit featuring great artists from the city. 

Life kept happening, too. I became a mother, I lost both of my parents, and I went through things that changed me. But here I am, still creating. I’m putting together a youth organization, preparing new music and figuring out what this next chapter looks like. 

So for me, longevity isn’t about pretending the journey was a straight line. It wasn’t. There were stops, starts, losses, changes and different versions of me along the way. The fact that I found my way back to the music is part of my legacy, too. 

What I want the next generation, especially young women, to understand is that you don’t have to let one chapter define you. A record deal doesn’t define you. Album sales don’t define you. A setback doesn’t define you. And even the mistakes you make while you’re learning don’t have to define you. 

You have to keep learning, keep creating and keep finding your way back to yourself. 

I was one of the women who helped open a door in St. Louis, but I don’t want to just be remembered as somebody who opened the door. I want to be somebody who kept walking through it and eventually helped hold that door open for somebody else.