*** Heads Up! Milla Jovovich raps...... Eazy-E cusses! We just want to warn you that there is some language!
Actress Milla Jovovich is a force to be reckoned with as the star of the Resident Evil franchise and has also found success as a model and fashion designer. From her Russian roots to her love of gangsta rap and synth-pop, Milla takes us through a musical tour of her life in her Guest DJ set. Resident Evil: Retribution is out September 14.
For More: http://www.millaj.com/
Tracks
1. Unknown - Little Red Riding Hood
2. Eazy-E - Nobody Move
3. Cocteau Twins - Blue Bell Knoll
4. Orchestra Baobab - Dee Moo Woor
5. The Knife - Pass This On
Transcript
Garth Trinidad: Hey this is Garth Trinidad from KCRW and I am here with actress, model - I should say supermodel -and, so many other things. Milla Jovovich is in the house. She is a force to be reckoned with as the star of the Resident Evil films, but she’s also released quite a bit of music. So we decided to could get her in the studio, and she said, gracefully, “Yes”, as part of KCRW’s Guest DJ Project. So, Milla, what did you bring for us today?
MJ: Alright, for my first song I decided to pick a Russian song. It was what all the kids grew up listening to in Russia during the communist years. And it’s a song about Little Red Riding Hood and the freedom that she feels to the point where she would just go take that path straight to Africa, and she actually says it in the song in Russian. And I just thought that was the coolest thing in the world because it was all about wide horizons. And she’s this child with the creepiest voice in the world but it’s the best guitar intro, whoever wants to sample it. I mean, I’m gonna sample it for sure. It’s the coolest guitar. But she’s got the raddest, creepiest voice you’ve ever heard.
Song: Little Red Riding Hood
MJ: You know, my mom would sing it to me and you then you would sometimes see it on TV when they would do like big Russian festivals and children would come out to sing for the dignitaries. They would do the Pushkin poetry and then they would sing these songs and this was one of the you know little songs that the girls would sing. And It’s pretty good, you can check it out on YouTube actually, the live performance which is even creepier than the sonic one, because the kid is hilarious, the voice coming out of her is trippy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BQ6GLrB0UE&feature=my_favorites&list=FL80OcVFeOb4-L2pHR3luiiQ
GT: In Russian, that is a version of Little Red Riding Hood. What’s the next cut you have for us?
MJ: What was the thing from Little Red Riding Hood that just like blew your mind?
And you would imagine, yes, Eazy-E, “Nobody Move”.
You know like (starts rapping) “I say lay down and unbutton your bra they was the biggest titties that a n*gga ever saw. I said damn, and the air got thinner, only thought in my mind was goin’ up in her. The suspense was makin’ me sick, she pulled her panties down, and the b*tch had a d*ck. I said damn, drop the gat from my hand. What I thought was a b*tch was nothing but a man.”
Yeah, that definitely changed my world. In a great way, actually, because I had been raised by a very strict Eastern European family and this was sort of my call for freedom. You know, I had started working at such a young age. I was 9 years old, and my mom always had so much control, and pretty much through Eazy-E, and that kind of like freedom, that I found to wear baggy jeans and big t-shirts and baseball caps and just act like ‘yeah, whatever’
GT: Wow, I would pay to see a photo.
MJ: Like me trying to be a kid, I guess. You know, that was definitely a pivotal moment. And then just Eazy’s voice, man. Ah, the rhythm, everything. It was the first time that anybody was hearing that stuff. So yeah, that was a big wakeup call and definitely a big influence for me, rhythmically and sonically, and just as an artist going ‘wow’ there’s a whole other reality out there.
GT: Alright, Eazy-E “Nobody Move”
Song: Eazy-E -- “Nobody Move”
MJ: And so, to make a really, really random transition from Eazy-E, you have the Cocteau Twins, which was my altered reality. “Blue Bell Knoll”, which is an amazing song, but of course the 180 degree opposite of both “Little Red Riding Hood” and Eazy-E. This is another chapter of my life where I was listening to Kate Bush and This Immortal Coil and just really kind of, dark, spacey, electro-music. Really getting into that kind of, synth-pop I guess, which led to like my later Bjork obsessions and stuff. But that was the beginning, The Cocteau Twins, and it’s a pretty trippy song because her and her… they’re sister and brother; had a language that they made up when they were kids and they sing all of their songs in this made up language, so it’s pretty incredible.
Song: The Cocteau Twins – “Blue Bell Knoll”
GT: Milla Jovovich is our guest DJ for KCRW’s Guest DJ Project today. That was “Blue Bell Knoll” from The Cocteau Twins.
GT: You’ve got this Orchestra Baobab piece in here -
MJ: Oh yeah.
GT: And this is just a phenomenal band and a really beautiful song. Tell us about this one.
MJ: Well this is a special band to me - and song - because I was in China, doing a film and it was like 5:45am, I mean it was dark outside, I was in the makeup and hair trailer, getting my makeup done, and there was a little Chinese radio sitting there playing music and suddenly this song came on. And at first, it was like out of the corner of my ear, and then when the harmonies kicked in, suddenly I just said, ‘Oh my God. Stop, just stop, and turn that up’. We turned it up and just everyone was just sitting transfixed in front of the radio, just like, having this experience when this song, in particular was just, inspiring and a real introduction to this sort of Cuban/French/Afrikaan kind of influence of music. But Orchestra Baobab and “Dee Moo Woor” is just one of the most unbelievable tracks ever and the harmonies are sick so you gotta like check it out because its an inspiring song. It’s from the heart.
Song: Orchestra Baobab -- “Dee Moo Woor”
MJ: I had the Chinese Assistant Director call because, you know, we didn’t speak Chinese, to call the radio station. I said, ‘Who is this?’ He’s like, ‘Oh, it’s this band Orchestra Baobab and they’re coming to perform.’ So I’m like, ‘I gotta go see this show.’ So I see these guys, in China, Hong Kong, Orchestra Baobab, they’re like 85 years old. They’ve been playing together since they were probably like 6 or 7 and they are just jammin’ up there. They are so tight, the instruments, it’s like a part of them, it’s literally like a limb, you know, it was unbelievable, the vibe, the feeling. I mean, beautiful.
GT: That’s “Dee Moo Woor” from Orchestra Baobab. Alright, so this last joint from The Knife.
MJ: Yeah!
GT: Gettin’ kinda serious.
MJ: The Knife is one of my favorite bands of the last 5 years, lets say, where I go, ‘Oh, this is everything that I love about music’. Karin Dreijer who’s the lead singer has her own band, Fever Ray, who I’m a huge fan of, but The Knife, like, it has this synth-pop feeling, but it’s also, not your nail-on-the-head synth-pop. You can move to it, but, the lyrics are so interesting, and what’s behind them and the harmonies again, I’m kind of crazy on harmonies. So, just like the crazy effects that she puts on the harmonies in the middle of that song are amazing. And, check the video on YouTube. It is the video that makes me the happiest person in the world. Like, especially when the kid is like dancing and it’s all out of time and it’s kind of pathetic, but totally cute and sexy at the same time. It’s adorable.
Song: The Knife – “Pass This On”
GT: So, Milla, thank you so much from the bottom of my heart.
MJ: Thank you!
GT: It’s actually a great pleasure for me to meet you because I’ve been a fan of yours for quite some years. For a complete track listing and to find these songs online, go to kcrw.com/guestdjproject and subscribe to the podcast through iTunes.