Vanessa Tha Finessa
Meet the Rising L.A. Based Rapper
Introducing a fresh face in the music business, Vanessa Tha Finessa exudes the confidence and presence of a seasoned professional, asserting her place among the elite. Hailing from the East Coast, spending most of her time in New York, and starting her career on the West Coast, this Ghanaian talent initially entered the creative world as a fashion model. After achieving success as a model, working with prominent brands such as Nike, Milk, and Coach, the LA-based artist was encouraged by numerous friends to explore the idea of pursuing a career in music.
Given the motivation to pursue music, Vanessa Tha Finessa debuted in 2022 with the single “Run It.” She has since released several singles, “Talk Tha Talk,” “Bad Bitch Steppin’,” and “Top Notch,” and has now released her debut EP, Current, available now on all platforms.
Meet and Get To Know Vanessa Tha Finessa
Kulture Vulturez: Looking back on your life growing up, where do you feel your artistic creativity comes from?
Vanessa Tha Finessa: I have always been creative. Since a kid, I have been painting, sewing, and drawing. But I don’t know, I would say it’s in me naturally. Also, my uncles were a big influence. But life as a whole, I think I am generally a creative person, and have a pretty creative mind.
Kulture Vulturez: When did you discover music to a point where it was something that you came in love with?
Vanessa Tha Finessa: Music always been around me. I’ve always loved music, as a consumer and a listener. I wouldn’t say I’ve always been like I’m going to make music. I was the person that you would bring your iPod to. I would download all the music and all the latest stuff off of LimeWire. I was always downloading music and finding new music. I’ve always been super curious.
I grew up in Ghana and a lot of our music that I started listening to was hiplife, which is like a genre of Afrobeats in Ghana. There was also always a crossover where we would get [the latest] pop, hip-hop and R&B music. So, I grew up listening to Beyonce, Destiny’s Child, Nelly, and all of the early 2000s hip-hop and R&B. Then when I moved here, I seen it was so much more. So, from a listener’s perspective, I’ve always just loved music and always been consumed by it.
Vanessa Tha Finessa – Bad Bitch Steppin’ (Lyric Video)
Kulture Vulturez: How was it transitioning from Ghana to moving here in America for you?
Vanessa Tha Finessa: It was cool. There was definitely a culture shock in terms of just almost everything outside of pop culture, music, and stuff like that. For me, I would consume that stuff on TV. If you were privileged enough to be able to have a satellite dish TV in Ghana, you got the MTVs, BETs, and things like that.
The stations and the channels that are here, you would get them over there in Ghana also. So, that was an easy transition. But as far as everything else, it was just a culture shock and a shift. But I came here when I was like ten years old. It’s a good balance of still remembering Ghana and then being able to adjust as a kid into adulthood over here.
Kulture Vulturez: So, years later, what led you to decide to become an artist in music?
Vanessa Tha Finessa: I’ve always been in the creative industry and the entertainment industry as a model. I started modeling outside of college. In that world, you just meet different kinds of people, different kinds of creatives. I moved to L.A. from New York after college to pursue modeling, but also to change of scenery from the East Coast to the West Coast and come into L.A.
I just literally ran into so many musicians. All my friends are DJs, producers, and some of them are artists. I would say 60 to 70% of my core, maybe even 80%, friends are in the music industry. One of my closest friends, who’s like my most frequent collaborator and the person that I dropped my first song with, and my producer Smiles I met her at a party called Shaba. We just party to like 5 a.m. She was like, I should make music.
I never thought about it until she made me comfortable because she’s also a black woman who has done a lot of things in the music industry. If she can encourage me, then I can do it. She had a studio in her house, and we would just be in there every single day, literally six months until the pandemic.
That’s when we recorded my first song, “Run It.” We just sat on it for a while because the pandemic happened. I was anxious about it, but wasn’t even sure if I was going to pursue being an artist. Then time went by, I mustered up the courage and I was like I’m going to fully lean in. I dropped “Run It,” and it went really well. So I was like, ‘Okay, I can do this.’
Vanessa Tha Finessa – Run It (Official Video)
Kulture Vulturez: Your experience in modeling, how do you think that can translate into music?
Vanessa Tha Finessa: My experience in modeling helps me in the music industry because modeling helps you build tough skin. In modeling, you get rejected a lot, especially when you look like me. When you’re dark skinned and you’re a black woman, you get rejected a lot. I carry that into music where I’m not really looking for anyone to like and love me.
If they do, they do. If they love the music, they love it. And I 100% appreciate that. But I can also deal with the fact that not everyone will like it. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea and people are going to say no, and people are going to tear you down about it. I think I’m okay with that. That’s something that I think I got from modeling for sure because you just have to keep it pushing in modeling.
Kulture Vulturez: How important is it for you to implement your Ghanaian heritage and your African roots into your artistry?
Vanessa Tha Finessa: It’s important for me. It is who I am. To know me is just to know that I am Ghanaian, and it oozes out of me in certain aspects. In general, it’s important for me to highlight my culture in my music. It’s not like I’m making Afrobeats. I want to make music that is 100% me and I think I am a melting pot of different things. I come from Ghana, but I also was in New York, and then I lived in Pittsburgh for a very long time. That also influences me a lot.
I’ve just been around a lot of different demographics and a lot of different cultural things, places, and people. You hear all of that in my music, whether it’s in my beat selection and the instruments that we sample, or in my lyrics. The new music that I’m going to drop, I wouldn’t call it Afro beat, but it could be Afro fusion. I just do what I feel. Some days I might want to make Afrobeats inspired music. And some days it might just be rap.
Vanessa Tha Finessa – It’s You (Official Video)
Kulture Vulturez: And finally, your EP Current is set to be released. What can people expect from that?
Vanessa Tha Finessa: I’m really excited about it. I think it’s just like a taste of who I am as an artist right now and kind of like where I want to go. It’s a five track EP and I think that all the tracks on there are kind of an inclination of what’s to come. Two of the tracks on there have heavily melodic sounds, which not everyone hasn’t heard from me just yet.
It’s just me experimenting and showing people the kind of music that I make, which I personally think is not out there just yet. I haven’t heard anything that sounds like it. I haven’t heard anyone that sounds like it at all. I just think it’s just a cool lane of music for “Baddies” to bump to. I make music for everyone if everyone relates to it. But really, I make music for the “Baddies,” so I’m excited for everyone to hear it.
Kulture Vulturez: Just getting your feet off the ground, what do you look forward to accomplishing?
Vanessa Tha Finessa: I look forward to just honestly having fun. I just really want to have fun with it. I don’t want my journey in music to be this super complex journey. I’m around a lot of musicians and a lot of people in the industry and I realize they start out loving it and then they get to the place where it becomes so business and so politic.
There’s a lot of politics that goes on that leads them to either hating it, resenting it, or getting overwhelmed by it. I just don’t want to be in that lane. I want to always have fun. I understand that eventually it’s going to get hectic and it’s going to get overwhelming. But in all of that, I still want to be able to be like I’m having fun and I also have creative freedom. I just want to make fire music with people that I like to make music with.
Kulture Vulturez: That is about it. Is there anything else you would like to share?
Vanessa Tha Finessa: Bumped the music. I can’t wait to just drop more music. My music is to awaken the inner “Bad Bitch” in everyone, and just make everyone feel really confident. When they listen to my music, just keep that in mind, to remain a bad bitch and be confident.