Interview Maria Isa: From reggaeton to Rent

In the cavernous Lab Theater in the North Loop area, a little slice of New York is born. The space is set up for a local production of Rent, the musical about bohemian artists struggling with love, poverty, and AIDS on the Lower East Side. Among the show's wide cross-section of Twin Cities talent, one of the most innovative casting choices was rising reggaeton and hip-hop star Maria Isa in the role of Mimi, the dying love interest at the center of the show. The A.V. Club caught up with Isa at a recent rehearsal for the musical, which runs through Feb. 21, to talk about playing a stripper, how hip-hop translates to Broadway, and what's next.

The A.V. Club: What drew you to the role of Mimi?

Maria Isa: I think the fact that I've been in New York and working in New York since Street Politics was released [in 2009], and her [Mimi's] upbringing on the Lower East Side. My mother and father are both from the Lower East Side, and I spent my summers there and I've also been competing in rap battles there, which I've won. I kind of felt that whole vibe of this girl who isn't as fortunate and privileged as I am who I feel I know, who I grew up with. A lot of my friends haven't been as privileged as I have been—to be captured into the arts—and had to learn some things the rough way. I took a lot of their experiences...so I could play Mimi and not be Mimi in real life. I have a line in one of my [own] songs, in "Santa Maria": "I'm making money writing songs, not like my prima making money shaking it in a thong." And it wasn't bashing out my cousin, but saying, "I'm going to do this a different way." Mimi is fabulous, Mimi performs on a whole different struggle with trying to balance out work and her sickness, and I feel that way as well. I mean, I don't have AIDS but I have Type 1 diabetes, and it's not making me stop doing what I love to do or what makes me money, at least a little bit in my pocket to sustain my art. But I really found this whole sassiness—she's sexy, she's hot, she's kind of a fun role to play out of the tracksuit.

AVC: Do you find that liberating?

MI: Definitely. I see girls in the club rocking what Mimi wears to work, and I go to those same clubs and perform at those clubs and I don't feel like I have to do that, but if that's what you want to do, go ahead, girlfriend. No one's judging you. You're living your lifestyle. I think that's probably why I'm having a good time. I get to try on the costumes and I have a great time rocking it.

AVC: How does your career as a hip-hop and reggaeton artist influence your performance?

MI: It's affecting it, sometimes in a positive and sometimes in a negative. Sometimes I'm like, "OK, I gotta stop being the B-girl and get involved in some of the sassiness of the character." [Producer/director Andrew Rasmussen] is very firm about keeping things very traditional, but let's throw some Spanish in there. Let's feel that Puerto Rican Mimi that no one gets to express and see that. We get a little bit from her mother when she's calling her with the "Donde estás?" You know, let's really feel that Lower East Side girl who's growing up in two worlds, not just in Puerto Rican influences. Street Politics understands what Mimi's going through.

AVC: What do you have planned for your next record?

MI: I'm still promoting Street Politics. That just came out in June, so let me work that—I'm taking two months off for [Rent]! [Laughs.] But the projects that I am working on right now are with Muja Messiah. We're working on a compilation. It's kind of straight hip-hop tracks, some singing, but very New York-influenced. Hopefully Ant [of Atmosphere] comes through with his beat. Eddie Sancho is making a song for that, but I'm working a separate project with Eddie. He was Jay-Z's engineer from Reasonable Doubt, but he's my friend. I met him through the Rhymesayers family, through the Fresh Air tour. I gave him the album. I knew the name but I didn't know the face, and the next day he called me and he says, "I want to do a project with you," and I've been recording in New York with him.