Black Pearl remembers the day well. "I was a very quiet child. I remember in church a lot of people thought I was this quiet person who would not speak at all and then I came on stage and did this fantastic speech and I was so intrigued by that, I liked the fact that I could say something good to people and they would actually listen to me" she says. "I don't ask for anybody's attention. I'm a very humble, quiet person. But I like attention at the same time and I like being able to convey a message and getting it out there." Realizing the power of words resonated with that young girl that day and had a lasting impression. Years later Black Pearl utilizes that same power to weave honest intelligent messages into her rhymes.

Anyone who had the chance to hear "Quest 4 Love", a track featured on PhemPhat's 2002 Honey Drops compilation album, can attest this to be true. Building on a chance encounter on the street with someone who triggered the memory of a past relationship, she uses this event to compellingly outline her hopes, dreams and expectations in an ideal union. "When I write I can't speak about anything I don't know," she says. "I get very emotional and compassionate and it comes from a very deep place within me. It's very personal and if I have something to say I'll say it." This principle seems to apply to other music circulating from this Montreal native. On "K.W.O. (Knowledge Wisdom Overstanding)", Black Pearl, along with veteran MC Motion, balances battle-ready lyrics with a wizened perspective on life. She has also been more direct with messages in her music on songs like "Still Motion" that goes from describing personal frustration to the Pan-African struggle against injustice. It ends with Black Pearl shouting out important historical figures that have fought against injustice.

Having strong messages in music however can be a turn-off for some, but Black Pearl is conscious of this and builds this consideration into her rhymes. "I don't think anything's too heavy for a song," she says. "I think the same way when you know your friend's about to go and do something stupid. You really want to cuss them out, but then you're like if you did that they'd run away. You'd have to be creative about the way you break it to them. I think it's the same way in a song, it's just realizing the people you are talking to are people dear to you and you want people to listen to you. You don't want to scare them off and go heavy on them. You want it to be a love song, you want to get to them. But you don't want it to be so mushy."

Black Pearl obviously has a lot on her mind and knows how she wants to convey it. The songs represent her thoughts being put to music, a process she would like to have a more hands-on involvement in. So far, much of the assistance on the musical end has come from Manchilde, lead MC for Montreal hip-hop crew the Butta Babees. "It came to the point where I had a whole lot to say but I didn't have any beats, and Manchilde was supporting, like right behind me," says Black Pearl. It turns out Manchilde lives very nearby Black Pearl in Montreal and he produced "Quest 4 Love", "KWO" and "Still Motion". While it was a positive experience working with Manchilde on these tracks, it's clear Black Pearl would like to take a different approach to the new music she is working on. Although she has contacts with many producers who could hook her up with beats, she is looking to align her words and music in a much more organic way than listening to beat tapes trying to filter out tracks she might want to flow over. "I want to learn at the same time," she says. "I don't wanna depend on people always making my beats. You can spend a lot of time waiting for that perfect beat but I already know what's going on in my head. I want to be like, 'These are the instruments that I'm feelin right now and this is how I want it to sound. Can you help me get there?' I want the song and the music and the instruments to be born at the same time."

An artist who Black Pearl is keen to discuss is Common. The Chicago MC's fifth boundary pushing album, Electric Circus, encapsulates ideas that Black Pearl would like to achieve in her music and his career inspires her. "He's doing now what I've always wanted to do", she enthuses. "He's really just switched it. You could tell he grew. He didn't say let me change it up today 'cos that's what's selling. He learned more, grew and put it into his music." Inspired by artists like Common, Black Pearl is ready to grow and move on from her early beginnings.

Back in the day as a youth in Montreal she got her break rapping by entering talent shows. "I'm like eleven years old, it's ten o clock at night and my crew are coming to get me out of the house," she recalls laughing, "and my parents they're African so they're like 'what are you doing',"she says impersonating her parents accents. "It was so funny, it was so bad, I used to sneak out and go to clubs and perform all the time." While hip-hop represented her performance beginnings, it didn't represent her first musical memories, which she now truly appreciates. 'I didn't start off listening to hip-hop. I started listening to reggae music and African music has always been there. I was into things like Shabba Ranks and Supercat. Then afterwards I got into Queen Latifah, Monie Love and a whole bunch of artists I can't even remember, she says. " I think right now I'm going back to where I came from. I was listening to African music I got strayed by this reggae and this hip-hop and R&B and now I want to go back home. When you're young you do what's cool and when you get more mature you start to do what you feel and I feel I was doing the whole hip-hop and reggae thing 'cos that's what everyone else was doing around me. But now I'm trying to find myself again."

Even though home in the musical sense for Black Pearl means Africa, in the physical sense it is Montreal. The city's unique creative musical vibrancy and rising hip-hop profile serves as an inspiration to Black Pearl, who wouldn't rather be anywhere else. "Hip-hop is still big here," she says assessing hip-hop culture in the city. "But people were not coming to Montreal looking for hip-hop acts. Now there was a time when people did come looking for hip-hop but they were more interested in what people had to say in French. It's like damn we waited so many years to get your attention but now you guys don't even want to hear what we have to say in English." Black Pearl is quick to point out the camaraderie between English and French speaking hip-hoppers, but makes a succinct point about English-speaking hip-hoppers in the city. "You have to think about it. Any place where you have people who are who are suppressed you're gonna have some powerful messages. I think people here have a lot to say and a lot of talent and are just waiting for the right time to showcase it." Undoubtedly this attitude is prevalent in her music and Black Pearl is determined to showcase her talent on her own terms.

"I know what I want to be seen as and I already know how I define myself and I don't want to be taken another way. And I know if I'm coming the way I'm coming right now or if I just go with people because they've got beats for me, people are not gonna really see what it's about and I don't wanna be doing something a year after that and have people saying that I'm changing." Instead she favours her own independent vision that she'll funnel through her own Bonafide Records venture, an approach that's worked well for her so far, as she's learned that when she speaks people are continuing to listen. "I've found that with just a few tracks people have heard and me not really being out there, I've still covered a lot of ground and the name Black Pearl always sticks in people's heads. I don't want to spoil what I've started. People always pressure you by saying: what's going on, when are coming out with something? But you know, the day you do come out the silence is cleared. So why waste it? I'd rather not do it, than do it the wrong way."