Following allegations of abuse against multiple members of the Minneapolis hip hop scene -- including Prof and Dem Atlas, who have now been dropped by their label Rhymesayers -- a 2015 CityPages interview with Psalm One has gone newly viral on social media. Psalm One -- who became the first female solo artist signed to Rhymesayers 20 years into the label's existence -- had this to say about her negative experiences with the label at the time:
Since I signed in 2006, maybe around 2008, is when I started feeling kind of the cold shoulder. Not sure why or how or what or when, but I never felt — other than a few members, a few artists — I never felt completely comfortable over there. I never felt completely comfortable to be myself. When you see some of the artists that have been touted on Rhymesayers ... Atmosphere, Ali, P.O.S, Eyedea, all these artists, they exude an image and a confidence of being very self-aware, and being unapologetically them. And I don't think that that's what was desired for me.
I was almost apologetically me. You know when the little sister is hanging out with all the big brothers, and just wants to kind of be down and be accepted, almost like the girl in West Side Story who was always around, they would never let her fight.
[...] In the office, I've been called a "dyke," you know what I'm saying? That word to me is offensive. You haven't really heard me say it ever in my lyrics. I don't refer to myself as one. So for me, as a younger rapper, that word was really offensive to me, and being called that word early in my career over at Rhymesayers, it kind of quieted me a little bit about that part of myself. Which was okay at the time, 'cause I wasn't really trying to reveal all that anyway.