Interview by Gina Gillim

   If you had the opportunity to talk to Destiny's Child, you would think you
were talking to four grown women.  As the newest addition to the hit-making
SONY family, Destiny's Child have already proven themselves in the fast
growing and competitive music industry.  Recently, I had a chance to hang with
the girls for the afternoon in the SONY building.  We got to chill in the SONY
Cafe, check out the store, and discover some parts of the building we (let
alone some employees) didn't even know about!


BLACK BEAT:  So give me some ages.  How old are you guys?
Beyonce:  We don't know.  I'm just kidding!  Actually, we're teenagers.  The
only reason that we don't tell is because older people aren't so interested
when they find out how old we are.  Our music is Diverse, and older people can
enjoy it, so we'd rather not be labeled.

BLACK BEAT:  How did you girls meet?
La Tavia:  We met up in elementary school, and basically grew up together.
There was another group that Beyonce and I were part of.  Two years later, we
met Kelly when she tried out for the group and joined.  Then another year
later, Beyonce met Le Toya when they were in Girls Scouts.  
We've been together ever since.  It's
been about five years.

BLACK BEAT:  I heard that you were on Star Search in a hip-hop category.  What
was that all about?
Beyonce:  We were the first group to rap on Star Search, but we weren't mainly
rap.  We had one song that was rap.  They told us that we were in the hip-hop
category, so we had to do the song.  It wasn't our best song, but we did it.
Everybody rapped, but La Tavia was the main rapper.  It was just some cute
little rap.  After Star Search, we threw the whole rap thing out, even though
La Tavia does rap on one of the tracks that Wyclef did on the album.  It's not
even really rap; it's just vibin' with the music.

BLACK BEAT:  So many people in our age group want to do what you girls are
doing -recording music.  How do you like performing and doing videos?
Le Toya:  It's great.  Performing, that's like the gift you get out of all the
hard work.  There's a lot of energy on stage, and when the audience is into it
that gives you even more energy.

BLACK BEAT:  Have you done a lot of performing?
Beyonce:  Even before we were signed, I can't tell you how many times we
performed.  Now it comes natural to us, but before, we would wonder why
everything was taking so long.  And then we realized that God had a plan for
us.  Now, unlike most groups, we have grown up together and we love each
other.  We're sisters at heart.  Everybody has their own role.  We did a
10-city tour with Wyclef, we've opened for SWV, Dru Hill, Immature.  We did a
show with Next, LL Cool J, Run DMC.  So it's just so much, and we're just
fortunate to work with such great people, and we're still so new to the
industry.

BLACK BEAT:  Was it a really strenuous experience recording your album?
Beyonce:  It took us 2 and a half years to do the album.  We recorded 33
tracks to get 13 for the album.  It really was fun, and we were blessed to get
the people that worked on the album.  They were all really fun.  We worked
with Jermaine Dupri, Master P, Dwayne Wiggins of Tony Toni Tone, Wyclef, Pras,
Tim and Bob, Corey Rooney, Trackteam - a lot of people.  Everybody was great
because they just let us be ourselves.

BLACK BEAT:  How does it feel working and performing amongst all these great
artists?
Kelly:  When we met Mariah Carey, we were in shock.  She was so nice.
Le Toya:  One time we were in the same rehearsing hall as Janet Jackson, and
when we found out we were trying to find ways to sneak off and go meet her.

BLACK BEAT:  When you first started out, did people take you seriously?
La Tavia:  Our parents were always supportive, but there were a lot of people
who did not take us seriously.  A lot of R&B comes out of Houston, so people
just saw us as another girl group.  Now people see that we're serious and the
single ("No, No, No Part II") is doing really well, so everyone is really
supportive of us.
Beyonce:  That's why our song "Our Time Has Come" ["My Time Has Come"] is so
special to us.  People were telling us it's not going to last, that we'll
fade, but we decided to keep strong and keep moving, and that's why the song
is real special to us.

BLACK BEAT:  From day one, I have been wondering where you came up with the
name "Destiny's Child"?
La Tavia:  We got that name out of the Bible.  One day Beyonce's mom was about
to read The Bible and she opened it up to read a scripture in Isaiah.  Our
picture fell out.  Under our picture in bold-faced print was the word
"destiny".  At the time we were looking for a name, so felt that God was
sending us this name.  We found out that a lot groups had the name, so we had
"Child", as a rebirth of Destiny.

BLACK BEAT:  How do your friends back home treat you now that you have a hit
record?
Beyonce:  Our true friends are supportive.  They can't wait for us to come
home to tell us what's going on in Houston.  We are our tre friends, but we
have a few others we consider true.
La Tavia: We have a few that have flipped on us, but we have each other and
our families, and that's really all that we need.

BLACK BEAT:  Since you've been in the industry, is there anything that you
didn't expect to happen?
Beyonce:  Just the fact that we have gotten to this point.  Our single is
gold!  But we still have a long way to go.
Kelly:  Sometimes I don't think it's really hit us.  We'll tell people how
many copies of the single we've sold, and people are like, "Do you realize how
much that is?"  I want to say that don't trip off of it, but we do!
Beyonce:  But it doesn't change our attitude or the way we are as people.  We
keep each other in line.  We try our hardest to stay the way we are.
Kelly:  Once you start acting like it's all about you, that's when your
blessings stop coming to you.