It will feature Cole’s best friend since childhood, Oakland’s Amina Harris. Stretching her entrepreneurial wings, she and manager Bill Halley are partners in the new Imani Entertainment Label, which is slated to produce its first album next year. But now I’m here and hopefully it’s not a dead-end street.” “I’ve worked hard to establish myself as a legitimate singer-songwriter. “I haven’t always felt sexy in my life and I’ve never wanted to base my career on physical appearance and being sexy,” she says.

It’s all helping to pave the way for a “sexier” look Cole is presenting on her album cover, music videos and tour, where she’ll don plenty of old-style “Hollywood-glam” outfits. “You have to do right by your body,” she says. Those preparations include a rigorous workout regimen consisting of weightlifting, swimming and biking. “As far as advice goes, he once told me, ‘Acquire as much knowledge as you can, because, no matter what happens, people can’t take that away from you.'”Ĭole has spent the last three months in Santa Monica, putting the final touches on the album and preparing for the tour. He was definitely a guy who gave off a superstar vibe,” she recalls. “I remember him being really outspoken and really bright. Having originally appeared on Shakur’s 2006 album, “Pac’s Life,” the song sports a new verse and arrangement.Ĭole has been a huge fan of Shakur since he mentored her during her teen years.

The first single off the new album, “Playa Cardz Right,” features the late rapper Tupac Shakur. “Though I love where I was raised and what I learned, I always wanted to get the hell out of there.” “It was never a question of ‘if,’ but ‘when,'” she says of her determination to escape the streets.

Born in Oakland to a drug-addicted mother and adopted by a family friend at 2, Cole has needed every bit of her trademark scrappiness to make a name for herself. “I just really believe that anything’s possible if you put your mind to it and stay focused and keep at it,” she says.īut it hasn’t been an easy journey. She’s a living testament, it seems, to the tattoo emblazoned on her neck that reads “Have Faith.” And next week she’ll make a triumphant return to Oakland as part of a concert tour that also features Lil Wayne and T-Pain, among others. In just three years, Cole has two platinum records and a top-rated BET reality series adorning her resume. Oakland’s Keyshia Cole presents ‘A Different Me’ – East Bay Times Close Menu

Keyshia cole woman to woman album cover