Born into Hip Hop Royalty, musical talent undeniably runs through Lady Luck’s veins. Lady Luck, AKA, Shanell Jones’ great-aunt is Sylvia Robinson, singer, producer, and founder of Sugarhill Records. Luck’s career took off after being signed by Kevin Liles to Def Jam Records at the age of 16. She’s worked with many artists including; Pharoahe Monch, Redman, Method Man, Busta Rhymes, and EPMD. After her deal with Def Jam fell through, and her “Luck” had seemingly run out, she had to find another way to make an impact on the industry, and she most certainly did. 

Many artists create an image based on the stage name they’ve chosen to perform under. Some have had their name forever, and others let life dictate it for them. Lady Luck found a name she liked and has fully defied it ever since. When asked about the origin of her name, and the irony of it being the exact opposite of her journey; Luck admits there isn’t an elaborate story behind it. “Talk about it! My name used to be Infinity, and somebody else had that name on the radio so I changed it. I liked the movie; “Hoodlum”; I liked (the character) Lucky Luciano and then I became Lady Luck. It's nothing crazy, but I did win in dice games I got those crazy stories. I have lost a lot of money in casinos, I got those stories; but if it's anything with the name I would say, if I hit, I’mma hit big bitches!” Countless people became familiar with Lady Luck as a battle rapper, with her most famous being a Fight Klub battle against Remy Ma in 2004. After that, Luck pretty much became synonymous with that battle, but things have changed as of late. Since then, Luck and Remy Ma have settled their beef and could potentially work together in the future. “I know we spoke about it in the past. I just don't know where we are in life right now and I'm speaking about her journey and mine. I don't do things outside of what God shows me to do now. With a lot of the projects and things on the table, there are things that God has lead me to. So whenever the universe has it that me and Rem work together; if that's what’s meant to be it'll be”. 

In 2017, Luck appeared alongside her family on the Bravo reality show; “First Family of Hip Hop”. When asked if she’s made amends with everyone in the family after some turmoil exhibited on the show; she responds: “Okay 0 to 60 (laughs)”. “For the most part, yeah. Me and LeA follow each other online and I support her new song “Private Dancer”. Me and Darnell; we work together with different artists, and I’m cool with Big Leland.” When asked why the show didn’t return for a second season; she had this to say: “We didn't get canceled. We just didn't get renewed. So it's still in the system. I don't work on the production side of that television show. It was my first go-round, and it was definitely a dope show. I was just a cast member. That was above my pay grade at that time. When you check the views, it was neck and neck with “Married to Medicine”. It was very confusing but I didn’t ask any questions I just kept it moving because after that I went to shop a show with someone else. And ever since then I’ve been getting my feet wet with television shows.” She hasn’t completely severed ties with the Bravo network, as she’s confirmed she is now scoring (music) for The Real Housewives of Atlanta. Luck tells us; “Somebody who worked on the television show with us personally; she’s now an Executive Producer at Bravo. It went from her asking me for one song, but because I didn't know the kind of vibe that they wanted, I sent 5 songs. I just didn't know what they wanted, but I knew that the more music we get placed the bigger the bag. On top of that,  I wanted to be a blessing to up and coming artists and producers who might not get shine somewhere else.” “I tell people we’re looking for new music. People spread the word, they tag other people. I don't have control over what songs they use per se unless it's a certain scene that they call me about. But other than that I (just) submit the library.”

As we are all experiencing the Global pandemic, Lady Luck has not been wasting this valuable “downtime”. From scouting and producing music for a huge television franchise to hosting Quarantine Karaoke on IG Live, we can be sure that all her moves are calculated and nothing is being left up to “luck”. “I just signed a joint venture deal with Cool House productions and they do a lot of big-time movies and commercials. They've been gearing up to train me on how to do that so this is not something I signed up for. You see how God is working.” In regards to her Live Karaoke competition; “I felt like I wasn’t doing enough. I always feel like I could be utilizing my time more, so I think (Quarantine Karaoke started in) maybe March/May?”. In one of her latest IG Lives, her artist best friend was present and they showcased her art; of which the winners of the Karaoke competition that evening would win selected pieces. Did you all give away all the art pieces? “No, not yet. I've been swamped with work because I have to hand in the catalog for next week so I haven't had a chance to edit up the videos for people to choose the winners. I definitely will put that up between today and tomorrow. Maybe I'll take time between putting songs together. So we (will) do the commercial and everybody can vote. That's how I do it, I put them in my (IG) story, everyone votes, and we announce the winner the next week.”

Luck has also been working on her own music during the pandemic. “I have an album that I'm working on. I have songs that match the time, but I'm just letting God lead me because he always spoke to me. I think it's a certain vibe, a certain wavelength that he wants me on, a certain frequency so I'm just seeing what's going in the next 24 hours to figure out if I'm going to Virginia to work on this, I don't want to call it a Gospel album.” Throughout our conversation, she mentioned God often, so I asked if this connection with God is newfound or something that happened previously. “Oh well what happened was I've always been in tune with God but, sometimes we’re backsliders. I'm not perfect I smoke weed, I’m very honest and transparent with it, I’m, human.  The thing is that I've seen what he’s done in my life. Jehovah, Jireh, whatever name that people give Him, Her, It, whatever you believe. I just know that the closer I get to My God and the more I lock-in is the more things start aligning in life. I've lost my way, I'm taking different paths and it's part of my journey.”

We wrapped up our discussion by talking about up and coming artists that we all should know about. I asked her opinion of Lady London and whether she thought the fact that she is attractive would help or hurt her because she’s actually lyrical. “Yes, we follow each other. She’s Dope. I think it’ll help her. All the girls love her, it's only a matter of time before she blows. She's spitting that shit that the women want to hear. She's rapping like that old Foxy Brown but it's different because she may not be as sexually forward. But I know she's got the body for it. Yeah, she's been on the radio stations. She's been killing it. Her moms be on my karaoke sometimes. People still love lyrics.” Luck also told us to be on the lookout for Oswin Benjamin and Trillionaire Daz.

In closing, I asked Luck if there was anything else she wanted her to let our audience know and she responds; “Just put God first. I'm just here as a vessel and I'm just here for the ride, the journey, I'm watching it along with you guys. I appreciate all the love that I get, every single viewer I get; I'm just really grateful.”

Keep up with Lady Luck via Instagram: @iamladyluck. She hosts quarantine Karaoke every Wednesday at 8 PM. CeCe Peniston also let it slip that she and Luck are working on producing a biopic about a musical diva very soon. I can’t wait until they reveal who it’s actually about.

~T.Nicole