Swagatha Christie rolled through Salt Lake City for Mike Brown Fest at Urban Lounge on Thursday, Aug. 30. This Portland local legend made time out of her busy schedule to come rock some super progressive, dirty South swag. SLUG was able to sit down with her and ask her a little about herself, her music and her crew.

SLUG: Who is Swagatha Christie? What does she represent?
SC: You know Agatha Christie mysteries? Growing up, I read those, and my sister and all her friends would always make plays off Agatha Christie, so it would be “Lagatha Christie” or whatever. Me and my homie DJ Fat Boy would always be saying “Swag,” and one day, I just came up with Swagatha Christie, cause I’m always manipulating words and shit, and that, I guess, just means I’m a mystery … A swagged-out mystery.

SLUG: How did you become a part of Mike Brown Fest?
SC: We are both super salty and hilarious and met online on Twitter somehow, and we’ve been friends online for quite a bit of time. He just hit me up and asked if I could come perform for Mike Brown Fest.

SLUG: You’re new to the scene. What makes you different from other female rap artists?
SC: I’ve been rapping for a little over two years. Well, that’s when I started writing. I would freestyle when I was young at parties all wasted, but I didn’t know anything about writing or structure. I grew up skateboarding and around punk and hippie music. My thing is I’m like the Wicked Witch of the West, like my style’s totally different and darker and skateboarding-inspired ‘cause that’s my whole scene. I don’t really care about making club bangers, even though my first song, “White Girl Wasted,” was a club banger—that was super random. Basically, there’s no other girls doing what I’m doing out here who skate and rap. I do everything myself: my album designs, I book my shows—literally, I do everything. I’m not signed, and I do everything independently.

SLUG: Which artists do you get your inspiration from?
SC: I really like Black Sabbath. I know that has nothing to do with rap, but I don’t give a shit. I like Black Flag, 2Pac—he was what I listened to the most, Bone Thugs N Harmony, Outkast, UGK, a lot of the dirty shit like TI and Young Jeezy, Mac Dre and a lot of West Coast rap.

SLUG: What’s the best and worst part about living in Portland?
SC: The best part is all the dank food and all the skate parks, which are literally everywhere. The worst part would have to be all the hipsters … and bikers.

SLUG: I saw your “White girl wasted” video is that you ripping through the bowl?
SC: Yeah. Well, there’s me and like five other girls skating in it.