Expert: Honie B Fly - 2/20/2009

Question
There people who say when mariah carey first came out in the 1990's she in away refused to be linked to her African American roots to boost her record sales is this true?

Answer
Hi Lydia,
This is a very smart question, its also very complicated, from the start Mariah never Denied her bi-racial heritage whenever people either in interviews on radio or tv asked her. She wasn't embarassed or nothing of the sort.

It was actually her record label at that time, Sony/Columbia records, that had marketed her  during her years with them, for the predominate white audiences. This of course was a smart move on thier part to boost record sales.
However later on in her career, specially in 96' with the release of Fantasy (Remix) feat. ODB established Mariah with a more urban influence which she wanted ALL ALONG, but under harsh recommendations through her bleak record company, they mainly wanted her to stick with pop.

So if you can find interviews dating back to 1990 with Mariah, theres some on youtube.com, you'll see that she answers truthfully about her mixed race background. Hope this helps lamb