Nary an artist collects accolades without releasing an actual album. Such is the story, however, of MC Flow, a.k.a. Abby Schwartz.

The local lesbian rapper won the Best Hip-Hop category at the 2007 San Diego Music Awards – and all she’d released was a few demos.

With her full posse in tow – hype-girl/producer Taylor-Tay, fly-girl/dancer GG and turntablist DJ Rob Fayder – Flow will release Incredible, her debut album, on April 10.

For a debut album, the title Incredible sets the bar high.

Flow’s confident, though, that what she’s releasing is pretty damn good. Her solid beats and clever rhymes (some serving as social commentary) have established the artist on the local hip-hop scene.

Schwartz took time this week to dish on the album, the local scene, and a few of the haters who try to categorize what she does.

Gay & Lesbian Times: How did you become a rap/hip-hop artist?

AS: When I was younger, I was drawn to music, obsessed with music. I was always the kid who made mix tapes for friends, and so I was musical in that way, but I don’t play an instrument. I’m not technically inclined. I’ve always been a writer, though. I wrote poetry in grade school, I kept a journal starting at a young age and I’d write fiction and short stories, and then, of course, I got into journalism and wrote quite a bit for local publications – so writing has, from as early as I can remember, come naturally to me.

Before MC Flow, I was performing a lot of spoken word around San Diego and Taylor and I started Siren, which was and is an open mic night geared toward women, giving them a space to perform and network and share their work with one another. I was doing a lot of spoken word and living with Taylor and Lauren DeRose, who are both incredible musicians. They were always jamming out, playing music. I’d always loved rap music, and so I thought I’d see if I could take some of my [writing] and put it to music. When it started it was something fun among our friends, something funny we did, and it took off from there.

I would do a couple of songs at Lauren’s shows and the response was so good, we thought maybe it was something we should do a bit more and get serious about. Once we started, there was no looking back.

We first started performing as MC Flow in 2003 and I’d rap to instruments, like drums and guitar, and then Taylor started writing electronic beats, GG started dancing, and then we found DJ Rob Fayder, who is a turntablist.

GLT: What were those first demos like?

AS: Oh God, some I can’t even stand to listen to – I just laugh. On some of the old demos, I’m singing – and I’m not a singer – and I’m singing totally not on key. But I definitely feel proud when I listen to demos and I listen to the new stuff, and you can see I’ve come a long way in terms of my writing, and Taylor in terms of the music. She writes all the beats, all the music, with the exception of the song “Incredible.” But I listen to old demos and just feel proud at how we’ve progressed.

GLT: So you never planned for this to be full-time for you, it just happened organically?

AS: I think that’s the way the best things start sometimes – they just start for the pure love of being with friends, that’s where the best stuff happens. I’d help Lauren book shows sometimes, but I never imagined being on the performance side. I never imagined being a musician. It’s definitely surprising. Now with MySpace and Facebook, you can get back in touch with high school friends or people from your childhood and everyone is surprised to see what I’m doing now. It’s not your average career – white girl, lesbian, Jewish rapper.

GLT: That’s true – yours is a very unique act. Has that worked against you or in your favor?

AS: A little bit of both. It’s obviously not for everyone. I have one song in particular, it’s not on MySpace, called “New Day,” and the second verse deals with LGBT themes and same-sex unions. I was actually booked to play a show at a high school and when I sent in the lyrics for the song, I was asked to remove the second verse. There was a complaint from parents that there was too much of a political agenda, and so they asked me to remove the second verse. I said, “Nope, take it or leave it. If it’s not a part of your schedule for the day, find somebody else.” And I very kind about it, I recommended other artists, but I’m not going to compromise a message. It’s a part of who we are. We’re women, we’re queer women and we’re very outspoken and proud of that. I understand it’s not for everyone. Also, I would be lying if I said being different doesn’t work to our benefit. There are not a lot of acts that do what we do. There are a lot of people who stand in the crowd, see me walk on stage and say, “This girl’s gonna rap? No way.” Some people leave comments on MySpace or Facebook and say I look like a schoolteacher or the mom from “The Brady Bunch” and that I can’t get up on stage and spit rhymes … and then I do.

GLT: On the song “Boxes and Squares,” you talk about being categorized in some box – what do you think people’s perception is?

AS: That song is a direct response to the backlash after the San Diego Music Awards. There were a few members of the San Diego hip-hop community saying I wasn’t really hip-hop and I shouldn’t have been in the category and I didn’t deserve to win in the category because my music is more alternative and it’s not true hip-hop. So that song was really a response – why do we have the need to label? It really should be about the music and the message of the music. I’d never get up and say I’m a gangsta’ rap artist. Obviously I’m not. Obviously I’m more alternative in terms of the genre, but it doesn’t mean I’m any more or any less hip-hop. Hip-hop has always been a movement that gives a voice to people who don’t have much of a voice. As a woman, as a queer woman, I have my own issues to discuss, and that falls very much in line with hip-hop and what it has been. That song was saying, “You don’t have a right to label me, especially when you don’t know me.”

GLT: So the debut album is called Incredible. That’s a ballsy title for a debut – how’d it come about?

AS: Well the title of the album is the title of one of the songs on the album, obviously titled “Incredible.” It’s a track produced by a local DJ of the local hip-hop band The KneeHighs, who put the song together for me. It has an incredible loop chorus and he said, “I’d love for you to write to it.” It is kind of a ballsy title. It’s definitely a statement. This album has been a long time in the making. For a long time, we were just handing out demos for free at our shows. We were putting together our own thing, and we were doing it out of Taylor’s bedroom on her computer. This was the first time we were in a real studio to put something more professional together. We put that kind of faith in ourselves – and I think it’s pretty damn good.

GLT: What is the local hip hop/rap scene like and what is the diversity like among the musicians?

AS: There is a vibrant hip-hop scene. It doesn’t get as much attention as the local indie rock scene as far as what gets publicized and what doesn’t. But one of the local publications said there is no hip-hop scene in San Diego. That isn’t true. There are more pockets of activity throughout the county, and maybe it’s less cohesive, maybe it’s less united than the rock scene. But, North County has its own, metro San Diego has its own. We were active in the hip-hop scene when we first started. We were part of a networking scene called The Community, and I think that we heard about it through Craigslist. You could go and hand out demos and get feedback. There are plenty of talented hip-hop artists in San Diego, and women too. We played some of our first shows with artists from The Community, but the thing about us is that we are a crossover act. We can play in rock venues, we can play with rock acts – we can fit on a hip-hop bill and we can fit on a rock bill.

I was brand new, so I was nervous to play stuff for people, I was nervous to show up to a meeting, I was nervous to perform out – it was totally nervewracking. It was scary. But the more you perform the more comfortable you become and being a part of that group gave me a lot of confidence to keep going.

Obviously there was negative feedback after the music awards, but we got a lot of positive feedback too. Not too much negativity has come our way and we’re grateful for that. We really are embraced by the indie rock scene, too. We get a lot of love from those bands.

I want to play music for whoever wants to listen. I don’t think many people just listen to one genre of music – I certainly don’t. I listen to a wide variety. I don’t see why it’s necessary to only have one type of show.

GLT: MC Flow appears on Jason Mraz’s new single, “I’m Yours.” How did the collaboration with Mraz come about?

AS: Originally, we had a song “Def Perception” that has a guitar riff roughly taken from a Jason Mraz song. I’d always listened to his music and followed his career and we’d jam to his songs around the house. So, “Def Perception” took the riff and built on it. He eventually heard it, liked it and he invited me to come to a few of his shows at Twiggs, and he’d play and I’d perform. We built a friendship from there. He was in London working on his new album. When he came back he asked if we’d be interested in singing backup, so we went up and did one session singing backup and one of our tracks made it on the song.

GLT: So now that the album is going to be released, what is the next step for MC Flow?

AS: We’re hoping actually to leave San Diego and do some touring. Our ideal goal would actually be to take this on the road, to spread our message and GG’s dance moves across the nation. I’d love to travel and see where this album can take us. So we’re looking for ways to do that. I never imagined it would take off the way it has, but I’m just riding it out.