Do you know Amanda Blank? She’s the hipster rapper frequently found on stage with her Philly brethren (guys like Spankrock, Diplo, Plastic Little, etc) where she drops rhymes about all things randy and, let’s face it, necessary. You know, music you don’t want to hear around your moms. Which kind of works for homegirl cos, truth be told, she is kinda cute. No she’s not ridiculously hot, like in a crane-your-head-around-causing-car-accidents-Alesandra Ambrosia hot, but she’s got something to her that you just can’t manufacture. Or fake. She’s not the pearly-toothed high school cheerleader dating the quarterback, she’s the cigarette smoking metal chick that sits out Phys Ed, is already hooking up with guys in college, and doesn’t have time for your high school bullshit. She rocks leopard print blouses and gold fake eyelashes. She teases her raven hair out like a Jersey Bada Bing dancer, and has a derriere that people write songs about. She reminds me of girls from Revere Beach that I would ogle as teen, and who would then threaten to beat me.

Habitually referring to herself after the posterchild of teenage female looseness, Married With Children’s Kelly Bundy, it’s obvious the girl has a sense of humor. Oh yeah, and she’s just dropped her debut LP I Love You on Downtown Records.

She’s all that, and she’s frequently late. Which is why we recorded this interview cutting through dense LA traffic, desperately trying to get her back to the Standard Hotel in Hollywood. She’s gotta then jump in a van and catch a flight in 90 minutes for a string of dates opening for Yeah Yeah Yeahs in Europe. So goes the life of a Philly-bred rapper I guess…

You should probably put on your seatbelt.

No one wears seatbelts in Philly.

Yeah well they give tickets for that here.

You’d never get a seatbelt ticket in Philly. Ever.

So we were talking about people sending you weird MySpace messages. What’s the oddest thing you’ve been sent?

It’s just gross you know, sometimes they write really mean things, and sometimes they write really nice things. It runs the gamut. One guy wrote, “I’d put it in your ass.” He wrote it on a photo, and I was like “Spam!” and deleted him.

Check out “Make It Take It” below, and hit the Jump to continue reading the Q&A with Amanda Blanks…

All photos by Nikolaus Jung

That sounds like fun. So what did you get into last night?

I had an in-store appearance at Amoeba Records. I wore this weird shiny black windbreaker jumpsuit, that I tucked into my underwear to make it look like a leotard diaper, and then this black sleeveless cape thing with a hood. They were totally different lines, but made of the same material so it was really lucky, and it looked really good. And then I just wore some combat boots.

What are your favorite songs to play in live situations like that?

“Make it Take It” and “Leaving You Behind” with Lykke Li. I had a lot of fun making those songs, but it always switches. Like for club shows I like to do more rap, otherwise I’m down for some singing.

And how was the turnout at Amoeba?

Yeah! Ohmygod I was like, ‘No one’s gonna go! What if nobody comes?!’ It’s totally like I’m having a party and no one’s gonna show. But there was a ton of kids, and they were all really really cute.

Do you ever have lecherous, Ron Jeremy-looking dudes showing up at your shows and wanting to buy your underwear, or purchase you some milk, or anything like that?

Well there was this one older gentleman, he must’ve been grandfather age, and he was talking to me for a minute. He waited in line to get an autograph and had me sign his CD. And he was just kind of like staring at me, like he didn’t want to walk away, and then he finally stammers, ‘Uh, uh, ehhh, well, umm, oh, well I must admit, it is true — you are, uh, very good looking.’ And I was like, ‘Thanks – You too!’ and I just winked, and then we ushered him outta there. Alright dude. He was pretty sweet tho. I haven’t had anyone be too gross.

Maybe people just feel safe doing that from across the interwebs.

Yeah, when they’re on the internet it’s safe, it’s easy. Everyone’s a lot bigger and badder when they’re sitting home on their computer screen. But nobody…I mean, I wish somebody would say some of that mean shit they write about me on the internet to my face; they wouldn’t fucking dare. Cause I would be like, ‘What?!’ I would go off I’d get so crazy! And also like I said, everyone’s just bigger and badder on the internet…