Liz Suwandi is no stranger to Strangers out there. Known for her spots on Tech N9ne’s “Poisonous”, “Cult Leader”, and “The Real Thing”, she has even been called by fans “The First Lady of Strange Music.” While the title has never been official, she’s always been there to provide her infectious, original and startling talent for the hooks of many a Strange Music artist.

With her work on CES Cru’s Constant Energy Struggles, she has provided arguably her best work to date: “Smoke” features her most creative chorus yet and is one of the most original songs on Strange Music’s long catalogue. “Daydream” sees her channeling the warmth of a love song, but with a soulful sultriness that is all her own.

We talked to the beautiful songstress to get the story behind her two features on Constant Energy Struggles and her thoughts on CES Cru’s Strange Music debut album.

And all that has led up to these two spots on Constant Energy Struggles, how did that whole thing come to get arranged?

Ubi called me and told me about this beat. I’m a huge Portishead fan and really into that sort of electronica/jazz/rock sound and it was basically what I’ve been looking for in a track. It was perfect for what I like to write about. That’s how “Smoke” came about. It was natural.

The song “Smoke”, what is that song about to you?

It’s kind of a “break up song,” but I wanted to approach it differently with sort of a different concept and I didn’t want it to just be like a cliche kind of thing. I wanted to think of something to where you’re involved with somebody and you care about them a lot, but it just doesn’t work and you’re actually just really terrible for each other. I kind of had experienced something like that recently. I had a lot of emotion about it. Ubi and Godemis kind of understand too. It’s sort of the whole musician’s curse where it’s just such a different kind of lifestyle that it’s just hard to find people can move along with you and go along with that whole thing. It’s just such a different mindset and can be very, very frustrating for someone that you’re dating, especially if you’re a woman in the industry. That was really my thinking behind it but I wanted to approach it in sort of a different way. It just kind of came to me, just not being able to understand each other or see eye to eye.

Did you have an idea what the song was going to be about before you listened to the beat? Did you guys talk about that?

No. They just sent me the beat and I was going to listen to it and get back to them, but I instantly started writing to it as soon as I heard it and had a melody and an idea that just came to me. It’s usually the way that things come to me. It shouldn’t be forced and I usually talk about whatever it is that I’m going through. There isn’t a huge process to it other than I just do it. If I can’t think of anything when I hear a beat, if it doesn’t pull any specific emotions out of me when I hear it, then I can’t write to it. I just have to move on.

Speaking of that, when we talked to Seven about the beat, he said he tailored it specifically with you in mind upon hearing from CES that they wanted you on a song. What was the effect that it had on you when you first heard it?

After hearing the final product, how do you think that song turned out?

The next song is actually the last one on the album and it’s called “Daydream”. I heard this one was kind of a happy accident. How did it happen that you landed on this track as well?

I was there recording “Smoke” and Godi was listening to some tracks and I think I started humming along to a melody that I liked from hearing the beat and I just kind of wrote it in the studio. It made sense to all of us and we had all been going through something like that so, you know, it’s nice. It’s a very relaxing song. It’s a different kind of song for me because it’s probably more R&B than what I would usually do but it made sense.

What’s that song about to you?

After hearing the final product what do you think of that song?

I think it’s great. It’s a really chill song. It has a different meaning for all of us which is what I think is great about it. It’s kind of one of those songs that you can sit back and just smoke to and ride around in your car and relax.

I don’t know how much of the album that you’ve heard but from what you have heard, what do you think about it?

I think this album is, for them to do what they did as far as their debut album being on Strange, I think it’s incredible. I think they killed it, that’s all I can really say about that. It’s not very often that you hear a debut album like that coming from a hip hop artist or any artist. They’re both super talented and they got it.

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• What’s your favorite chorus from Liz Suwandi?

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