Aleesha Richards was a female hip-hop rapper who performed under the name Mocha in the late 90's/early 2000's. She featured on Nicole Wray's top ten Billboard hit 'Make It Hot' in 1998, and following that she guested on other singers and rapper's singles, including Missy Elliott’s 'Hit Em Wit Da Hee', DJ Clue's 'I Like Control', and Sporty Thievez's 'Even Cheaper'. In 2001 she recorded an album titled 'Hot Chocolate', later renamed 'Bella Mafia', and which was to feature Missy Elliott as a chief producer for the project. Following the renaming of her album came the first two buzz singles, one being the cartoonish ambulance-driven audio piece 'Runnin' Shit', assembled by Timbaland, and the other was 'Mardi Gras', which was an up-tempo Spanish-flavoured tune, again produced by Timbaland, and featuring guest appearances by Missy Elliott and Lil' Mo. By this point, no single had charted and 'Bella Mafia' was still underway for release in late 2000, until the signing of her former Goldmind Inc. labelmate Torrey "T.C." Carter, which resulted in not only the postponement of Mocha's album, but virtually every other signee to the label, after they put their full weight behind their new star. When T.C.'s single flopped, Mocha then prepped another single to get the anticipation flowing again for her debut, and 'I Know Whutcha U Like' was released to DJ's and radio, but like her previous efforts, it didn't impact any Billboard chart, after which she asked to be released from her contract, The end result of all this was that not only was 'Bella Mafia' shelved, but it was never actually finished, and consequently it's hard to reconstruct as so few tracks exist. In 2005, she released her two books "Cash Money" and "Concrete Jungle", both under the author alias AJ Rivers, and in 2007 she recorded a second album of new material entitled 'One Day At A Time', which was released as a limited edition through her website, with no cover art. Shortly after its release, she retired from music, and is now the owner of Mo's Sweet Minis, a bakery located in Richmond, Virginia, but for anyone who wants to hear that second album, featuring Virginia-based acts Mumeet Daddy & DJ Lonnie B, alongside sampled vocals by Kanye West, here it is, complete with new cover art to complete it.
Track listing
01 Guys
02 Life's A B. (feat. DJ Lonnie B.)
03 Makin' Moves
04 Million Words
05 Haterz
06 Heart Of Mind
07 What A Life
08 I Remember (feat. DJ Lonnie B.)
09 Pimptress
10 On My Grind
11 What's Up (feat. Mumeet Daddy)
12 Sugar (feat. Mumeet Daddy)
13 Mail Call
14 Tanita
15 Ghetto Senorita (feat. Kanye West)
