MotherGoat

If you peep Sareal’s IG or tune in to her discography, you get LAYERS of excellent content. She’s certainly more than immediately meets the eye and the ear – Sareal is west coast thru and thru, but her sound is universal. You just can’t tie her to one type of performance – she crosses subgenres as effortlessly as her freestyle flows.

It’s not often you come across someone who meshes dope lyrical content, especially amidst all the shallow lyricism out there today, so seamlessly with quality beats and visuals, as well as strong messages that resonate with us, the fans. That’s how I knew after listening to just a few bars that Sareal is most definitely a powerful female force to be reckoned with on the scene.

I was lucky enough to get a few minutes to sit down with Sareal, AKA Mother Goat, between her performances, recording, video shoots, and Coachella weekend. We talked about her hits, her influences, why women are already dominating the hip-hop world, and her forthcoming work. Sareal is not one to be slept on – get to know her, show her love, and keep an ear out for Channel Goat to be released in June.



Q: Tell us about your name – Sareal. I love it. I know you changed your stage name when you relocated to L.A. from The Bay. Was it a rebirth, or was there other reasoning behind it? Is MOTHERGOAT an alter ego?

S: My name Sareal was created by my mother, Ms. Cherry Belle. At the time I was being signed by the executive producer of the Black Eye Peas, and they felt my previous name wasn’t as marketable as the normal stage name, so we started brainstorming, searching for something that would fit me. So me and my mom were talking on the phone and she was like, “you need a name that fits your music, something that rings bells and says, everything you say is real… soreal, sayreal, Sareal…” And at that time we caught it and chose out a way to spell it. Mother Goat is definitely my Alter Ego.

Q: It is very clear in both your freestyles and studio tracks that your music is message-centered. However, you are not one to be pigeon-holed as a “conscious” rapper – your work spans various subgenres within the realm of hip-hop, and it’s unique to see such seamless transitions. For example, it’s rare to find an artist whose message doesn’t get lost in the beats or other aspects of production – usually one is sacrificed for the other. How do you do it?! How do you keep the messages you want to get across at the forefront while also balancing such diverse stylistic components?

S: LOL! Thank you! That’s a super secret recipe right there, but over all it takes a lot of focus. I’ve disciplined myself to taking my time and working on one song for weeks, even months until it’s right. It takes a lot of concentration and focus. Making sure bar for bar you don’t jump subjects or release a bar that won’t give people goosebumps. As an artist we have to be willing to sit down and really focus on the song and make sure before we put it out it’s something that will last forever. As far as the stories, it’s about getting it off your chest. Majority of the time an artist is telling stories that they’ve actually experienced and gone through. That’s how you separate lyricists from modern day rappers….. or bubble gum rappers! lol

Q: Tell us a little about your creative process. “PEACE to release the beast” is a quote from your bio that really resonates with me. Care to elaborate on that?

S: That’s where Mother Goat comes from – at the moment I don’t have a huge platform, so I release what I feel is needed. I’ve had big names bite my work and I’m going to remain humble because that’s just the industry. When I have the proper platform and credentials I’m going to eat people alive with no effort. The way I rap now is a huge understatement to who I really am. It’s sacred and at no point will she be released until I know my team is secure and my platform is ready for that. I’m still working on building my empire. I don’t want to release this formula while I’m a fish in a big pond….. but when I’m a big fish in a small pond….. it’s on.

Q: You started out in the rap game at a very young age, and your list of musical influences definitely features some legends from the era – Janet, 2Pac, Biggie, Tina Turner. Can you pinpoint any specific tracks or bodies of work that you can tie back to sparking your interest in hip-hop? What made you take the plunge from music consumer to musician?

S: I love all the names you listed but my favorite hands down is Lil Kim. Her Notorious album and La Bella Maria album is what instilled this in me. Lil Kim being the total opposite lyric-wise motivated me. Her attitude, her crew hit, everything about her spoke hip-hop, and she was respected by men! That’s what I loved. I came up in a single parent home by my mom and all I saw was her be disrespected by every man that came in, including my father, so when I heard about him and I saw the love and respect she had it gave me comfort that not all men have that persona of hate towards a woman. I knew Rap was my route to making a man respect me and every woman on earth. I saw what her music did to people and I wanted to so the same thing.

Q: Tell us about some of your recent tracks. “Mother Goat,” “History Class,” and “Robot” definitely stand out. What inspired you to create them, and what makes them so special within your body of work? Anything you’re cooking up currently that our readers should keep an ear out for?

S: “Mother Goat” is a track that’s moving fast and getting more popular by the day! It’s definitely going to be a summer banger. I wanted to give myself the GOAT title. But needed it to be different, needed it to ring bells. So I started chanting and “Mother Goat” came out, and I immediately put a stamp on it.



“History Class” is for the people. I needed to let people know it’s not all about trap music I have something for the MASS.



I have a new album titled Channel Goat to be released mid-June.

Q: I read a little about your future plans to own an exclusively female-dominated record label. That is AMAZING, and I would love to hear more about what it means to you to be a female in hip-hop/the music industry as a whole. How do you feel that your female identity has shaped your experience as an artist?

S: The more I climb into the industry, the more I realize it is female-dominated, and that as women we need to keep our blinders on and push through. I do want to start signing women under me as artists, songwriters, producers, engineers etc. It’s a movement right now. Just so that women won’t have to go through what me and Jaleesa did – we’ve lost out on so many opportunities because we wouldn’t stoop down to a very disgusting level. It’s not the people at the top, trust me they’re very business oriented, it’s the people that represent them that block your way.

Q: Any other comments, anything else you’d like our readers to know about you?

S: Just show love, and support me while it counts and I can see it. People choose to show love at the wrong time. I’m telling you guys, you’re going to enjoy every inch of what I have to offer. Don’t choose to support me when it’s a trend to do so. Follow me now and show love now. When I have 10-20 million followers, you’re the small fish in a big pond. Look at how responsive I am to family, friends, and fans right now. I’m not in this for fame – this is my job. So while I’m in your face giving you good music, tune in and I’ll do the same! This is how we are going to build an empire!

See and hear more from Sareal on Spotify and Instagram.



@officialsareal





-Courtney Quigs

@courtney_quigs - Courtney Quigley

We’re entering a renaissance age for female emcees who have been under-represented in hip-hop over the last decade or so, now it is finally time for artists like Sareal to prosper. Although Sareal lists Lil Kim as an influence she doesn’t follow the traditional mold of the sexually-charged female act. Coming out of Palo Alto, California Sareal has a different cultural background from her contemporaries which results in her having a unique style that is on full display with “Mother Goat” her new single from the angle of her alter-ego. Although “Mother Goat” has a trap-inspired bounce and real modernized approach, Sareal does not box herself into this sonic presentation, check out her entire project titled Mother Goat for the full picture and make sure you peep the title track below.

Twitter: @OFFICIALSAREAL - Tampa Mystic