Yulita “Lady Scoot” Howard, is a female hip-hop artist who strolls the campus of Florida A&M University seeking a degree in the School of Journalism & Graphic Communication.
Lady Scoot is from Tampa and established a passion for hip-hop after hearing 1988 hit, Supersonic by J.J. Fad, an all female group from the late ‘80s.
“I was 10 years-old when I wrote my first rhyme but I was supposed to be an athlete,” Howard said.
Early in Howard’s career she valued the constructive criticism of her family and friends. Howard’s older sister Janet Howard, who was called “Lady Jay” at a time, shared thoughts on her music.
“I thought she was pretty good,” Howard said. “I told her that if this is what you want to do you have to work hard at it.”
Lady Scoot has endured a great amount of adversity in her career and being away from home makes it even harder for her to do music.
“In Tampa guys wouldn’t allow me to join their songs and DJ’s would not play me because there are not 50 guys standing behind me,” Lady Scoot said.
Willie Smiley, a close friend, is opposed the thought of Tallahassee being a hindrance on her career.
“I think that Tallahassee is the best platform for her because it’s a college town,” Smiley said.
Even with the adversity, Lady Scoot was able to release a mix-tape “It’s just a Classic” back in 2012 and she is getting ready to release “It’s just a Classic II” which she feels showcases her lyricism.
“She is not rapping about the same thing that every other girl is rapping about,” said Howard. “It’s feel good music. It’s something that you can listen to and not feel buckled down to what you’re listening to.”
Lady Scoot feels that her style of rap is not like most female artist in the game right now. Although, she does feel that her style reminds her of female artists such as Lil Kim, Eve, Missy Elliot, MC Lyte and Lauryn Hill.
“Her style separates her. She has an author type of feel, like she is telling a story,” Smiley said.
Smiley feels that Scoot can become one of the best rappers in the near future.
She is determined to make her label Starhood entertainment one of the most prominent label names in the entertainment industry.
“The whole thing is creating a brand and making yourself relevant,” Lady Scoot said.
Changing the rap game is a task at hand for Scoot so much so that her sister feels that she cannot change the game.
“She cannot change the game; she can change the minds of the people listening but can’t change the game because people are going to put out what they want to hear,” Howard said.