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Who: Vanessa Tello.
Sounds like: An R&B singer suddenly jumping into a freestyle session—and totally holding her own.
For fans of: Dej Loaf, Gifted Gab, the Last Artful Dodgr.
Vytell's history is in Oregon, but her heart is in Los Angeles. And now, the rest of her is there as well.
"I'm happy here," says the 27-year-old MC born Vanessa Tello, the sound of beach wind whipping through her phone. "The sun, the palm trees, the sand, the food, the culture—everything about it appeases my soul."
Please, hold your anti-California rage: She was born there, and relocated only late last year. In September, Tello gathered together three other female artists from Portland—Alia Zin, Karma and Blossom—for an artfully shot cipher session, which she punctuated with a verse showing off her punchy, agile flow. The video spread far enough that people outside the city began to whisper about her future. "The cipher got a couple people to turn around, and they were like, 'You can't be in Portland truly pursuing music,'" Tello says. "'All the opportunities we can offer you are here.'"
Don't get it twisted, though: She's still got a lot of love for Portland. Born in Artesia, Calif., to teenage parents, Tello spent most of her life in McMinnville—not exactly a bastion of hip-hop culture. But she grew up surrounded by music, from deep-cut soul and Latin jazz to her father's Tupac records, and absorbed it all. Her younger brother picked up the mic first, then dared her to follow suit. "Being that I'm the only girl with two brothers, I'm pretty competitive," she says. "He was like, 'If it's so easy, why don't you do it?' I started writing, and it did come pretty naturally."
Around age 21, she began to develop her style, delivering nimble rhymes with deceptive R&B softness (and a little singing). But it wasn't until recently that Tello began thinking of music as an actual career option. "I didn't believe in myself," she admits. "If you would've asked me when I was 18, all the way up to 20, even 21, I never would have said I'd be rapping. I guess I questioned God a lot until last year, when clearly, God was putting things into my life and I need to stop being ignorant and scared, and you need to do what he's given you."
After the all-female cipher video—which she conceived and funded—hit YouTube, more opportunities began to open up. Compton rapper Ill Camille invited Tello to participate in a battle down in L.A., and encouraged her to stay. "It was a bunch of people in my ear saying, 'Creatively, we'll back you if you move here,'" Tello says. She still comes back to Portland often—her family is here, after all—and this week, she'll reunite the crew from the cipher at Holocene. But for now, Tello's future, as she sees it, remains under the California sun.
"As far as my music career, I'm aligning myself with people who are going to help my creativity," she says, "and help finish polishing off the diamond." .
SEE IT: Vytell plays Holocene, 1001 SE Morrison St., with Alia Zin, Blossom and Karma, on Wednesday, May 25. 9 pm. $8 advance, $10 day of show. 21+.
Willamette Week