Miss Tahloulah May (Gwendela van der Wel) was born September 1986 in Paramaribo (Surinam). Inspired by her mother, she developed an interest in Soul, Funk, Jazz, Kaseko (Surinamese traditional folk music) and Caribbean tunes at a young age.

Her sound is known as old school Hip Hop, but with a unique twist. It’s a mixture of Boom Bap, Lo-Fi and Electronics.

Miss Tahloulah May is all about respecting the Hip Hop culture’s history and heritage, while making alternative Hip Hop. This is the foundation of her music.

Rugged is a Hip Hop album made without a Digital Audio Workstation, DAW. Instead the E-mu SP1200, Akai MPC 2500, Roland SP-404 and the Roland System 8 synth amongst others were utilised to build the album. Beat making, vinyl digging, (vintage) hardware and raw Hip Hop are the ingredients and cornerstones that make this album come to life.

This album is an ode to the authenticity and creativity that Hip Hop has brought us all these years. It’s a tribute to those who came before us like Dilla and RZA amongst others. It’s a celebrations of their lessons of unconventionality.

"What I want to show with Rugged is that it’s still okay to stand for what you believe in, even if that means not taking the easy road”.

Rugged will be released on November 6th on Bandcamp, Spotify, Deezer, Apple Music, iTunes and Tidal. And there will be a limited edition cassette tape available as well on Bandcamp.