Not much I can say about this song except that it is amazing! Static always had a way about words and could always take a common relationship situation and say it in a way nobody had before. The more new material I hear from the man, it only makes it harder to accept the fact that he is no longer with us and he had so much left to give.
Exclusive song is provided by Neeze, courtesy of Swatt Music
This was released as a single from the second album of this New Jack Swing group and covers the Jackson 5 hit from nearly 15 years prior. The song, which does contain some minor changes to the lyrics, would eventually reach number one on the r&b Billboard Charts.
Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes "Life is Like a Park" featuring Carl Thomas
After the release of TLC's "Fanmail" album, Lisa spent a lot of her time recording her solo debut album which eventually was called "Supernova." Unfortunately for her U.S. fan base, the album was pushed back numerous times and eventually shelved completely with releases only occurring overseas in 2001.
Ashanti is currently in the studio working on her fifth album, that is released off her own record label Written Entertainment. Ashanti is working with LT Hutton, Dr. Dre, Game, Common, Darkchild. Ashanti’s new single & album is set to be released later on this year.
One of the most groundbreaking and influential r&b groups of their time, Jodeci will always be considered legends in the genre. Not only did they release a string of platinum albums and singles, but they (specifically Devante Swing) also managed to launch the careers of many artists through his Bassment such as Ginuwine, Timbaland, Missy Elliot, Tweet, & Playa. Incidentally, it was actually Puffy who had the task of initially developing this group and creating their rugged hip hop image.
Here's the press release to go along with the single:
New York City - April 27th, 2010 - Los Angeles based singer/songwriter Jazmine "Jazzy" Bailey releases her first single this morning, Just For The Record in support of her long awaited mixtape, Beauty and the Beat scheduled for release on May 5th, 2010. Just For The Record which boasts production from Rob Holladay (credit: Dirty Money's Love Come Down) is available now for FREE download HERE!
"I feel like now is the time for me to put my songs out there and let the world know who I am as an artist and not just as a songwriter," says Jazzy. After a leaked and unlabeled demo of hers was discovered on the internet, it wasn't long before R&B fans came across it, dissected it and credited who they thought it to be; Rihanna and Keri Hilson. With over 2 million total views to date on Youtube and thousands of fans commenting back and forth about who's song it actually was, Jazzy had no choice but to respond with her own video clearing all rumors.
When asked how she felt about the comparisons to the aforementioned artists and if she feels discredited, Jazzy simply responded, "I don't feel discredited at all. I am flattered to be amongst some of the greatest, yet I'm aware that I'm Jazzy and my sound stands alone."
Mya making a defiant statement about the state of her career! Just kidding of course, and I did enjoy her last album "Sugar & Spice." Waiting to see what she comes out with next.
Kelly Rowland "Commander" (Produced by David Guetta)
Whoa, this is Kelly Rowland? She certainly has come a long way from her debut "Simply Deep." I don't even know what I would classify this style of music as; techno I guess? Maybe she could do a duet with Kelis (Guetta is also producing a good amount of Kelis' new album). In any case, this is the first single from Kelly's upcoming album and it was written by Rico Love.
BIO: Born in Canada, AMiR is a singer-songwriter/producer with an undying passion for music since childhood. His sound is a unique rendition of R&B, that has tremendous commercial appeal without compromising musical sophistication. His music can best be described as a seamless blend of piano-laced melodies accompanied by rich orchestral harmonies, catchy synth leads, and smooth, melismatic vocals. With a growing fanbase (over 1.2 million views on youtube) and increasing demand for his production and songwriting, AMiR is destined to ascend to the throne of the music industry. He is the quintessential modern musician, self reliant and original, using technology to complement his classical training.
Remember when this dude came out back in the early 00's? Coming from the UK, he was an instant phenomenon in the U.S., and his debut album "Born To Do It" eventually sold eight million records. He recently released his "Signed, Sealed, Delivered" album where he covers many of Motown's greatest hits.
Another new Anthony Hamilton song for you guys. This one isn't as good as the two I posted yesterday, but you can form your own opinion on that. I love Hamilton's music for the soul he brings on just about every track. The man is truly an old soul, and the style of music he puts out is a real throwback to those who came before him.
I was introduced to Jermaine Paul's music by a reader of the blog, and I must say I'm impressed! Just another reason I love doing this blog, it gives me the opportunity to interact with other music lovers and find new music. Here's a short bio I found on Jermaine if you aren't familiar:
At 15, Paul joined a quartet group named 1Accord signing to basketball star Shaquille O'Neal's label, Twisim Records. He began writing and producing songs of his own. Paul also began recording backing vocals for artists such as Mary J. Blige, Joss Stone, Blackstreet and Jaguar Wright.
In 2001 Paul joined a band named Focus. He began traveling internationally as an opening act and background vocalist to Alicia Keys. He was hand picked by Keys out of the crowd one night at a club in New York to come onstage for an impromptu performance for her. She was so impressed with his talent that she later invited him to become one of her background singers. Since then, they have had numerous collaborations.
This is the biggest single that Salter has released to date. Although Babyface worked with him extensively on his debut album "It's On Tonight," it didn't manage to become a huge hit. It is a pretty good album though, and definitely worth a listen.
If getting new Tank material is equal to a great day, then you can multiply getting new Anthony Hamilton material times that by five! After all, Hamilton is not the type of artist to consistently put out new material, he usually takes some time in between albums. From what I've heard, he is very close to starting work for his new album, and that should be due out either late this year, or early 2011. In any case, these new songs should hold you over for awhile!
As far as I'm concerned, it's always a good day when we get some new material from Tank. It's cool to hear him do a cover of sorts of Marvin Gaye's classic "I Want You" on "A Gangsta Want You." The other song "Baby Please Come Back" sounds decent as well. As always, all comments are appreciated.
So I asked my readers to find me the original version of Joe's "Rose in a Concrete World," and sure enough they did. Someone mentioned that this might have been on an international version of "Better Days," but after some digging, I still haven't been able to confirm that. After having the opportunity to listen to both versions, I think I'm going to have to say the remix is better but only slightly. Click Here to listen to the remix. Shout out to Tyler and Samuel
Alicia Keys "Love Letter to the Beat" featuring Lupe Fiasco
This song is pretty cool, it has a really funky vibe to it. Rumor has it this was a leftover from Alicia's 2007 "I Am" album. If you've heard that album, it's pretty obvious why this song didn't make the cut for the album. No, not because the song isn't good, it just didn't really fit in with he element of that album. Besides, she only had one guest on that whole album and that was John Mayer singing background vocals on "Lesson Learned." Another rumor has it that Lupe might use this song for his new album, which would be a good choice.
Jamie Foxx "Till I Met Your Sister" featuring Tank
Looks like Jamie did more than a couple of songs with Tank, as this is the third one we've heard so far in the past few weeks. My comments on those songs apply here as well: not really a big fan of Jamie, big fan of Tank.
For those unfamiliar with Salter, he was originally signed by La Reid and LaFace Records back in the late 90's, and was assisted by Babyface in creating his debut album. His second album "Little Black Book" was shelved, but two of the songs included, "Incomplete" and "Color of Love," ended up being re-recorded by Sisqo and Boyz II Men respectively. He released his proper second album "Strictly for Da Bedroom" in 2008, and this is the first I've heard from him since.
Another treat for you guys, and this one is a Slam personal favorite. It's not often we got to hear Static singing on a slow jam like this, so that makes it even more enjoyable. As you can hear, the song isn't finished, and from what I can tell, he might even have been having a little fun and "freestyling" one of the verses. Let us know what you think.
This group had all the potential in the world when they decided to come together and put out an album. Four of the hottest rappers currently out, production by Dr. Dre, and a ton of hype. Unfortunately, the album by all accounts was a flop and many are left wondering what happened. It's a good question too. This is by far one of their best songs though.
As a request from a site reader Tyler, here is Mark Middleton's "I Do." The song was featured in the movie "The Brothers" during the wedding scene at the end but for whatever reason it was not included on the soundtrack. I presume that this was also due to be included on his solo debut album "My Turn, My Time," but Qwest Records folded before the album could release so it remains shelved to date. Mark has currently returned to his former group Blackstreet to be a part of their reunion.
This is a new version of the song that was featured on her 2005 "Change it All" album and features Mos Def instead of Clyde Carson. Here is some info on her upcoming album "Milk & Honey" due for release later this year:
Milk & Honey is being recorded at the Zoo in Downtown Oakland, California, home of Goapele’s Skylight Studios. This project will be another personal album with several love songs as well as up-tempo joints. Production-wise, tracks with Bedrock, Kanye West, Drumma Boy, Dan Electric, Mike Tiger, Bobby Ozuna (Raphael Saadiq, John Mayer, Erykah Badu), Malay (John Legend, Mary J. Blige), Jeff Bhasker (The Game, Kanye West, Ludacris, T.I), and other musicians are confirmed.
Sort of like with this other Jamie Foxx Song, I'm only featuring this one since it has Tank on it. I guess Jamie Foxx can sing, but his music doesn't really do anything for me. I really consider him more of an actor than artist. His upcoming album "Body" will be released June 29th.
Unreleased song from Mya. Here is an update on what she's been up to and what she has coming from her web site:
During her downtime Mýa started her own independent label, entitled Planet 9 and inked a deal with J. Prince’s Young Empire Music Group. She released her first mixtape called Beauty & The Streets Vol.1 on September 29, 2009. The mixtape’s first single, Show Me Somethin' featured Houston-rapper Bun B and was service to radio in August.Mýa was invited to be a featured guest vocalist on We Are the World 25 for Haiti. She will be releasing Love Is The Answer in 2010-a high octane dance anthem produced by Sandy Vee and Cedric Gervais and currently putting the finishing touches on her eagerly anticipated new album and working on her tour.
Each new song we hear from Kelis further validates the fact that she has abandoned her urban r&b sound for this album in favor of a more techno/dance sound. While it might work for her, I will always prefer the sound she came out with, since i've been a fan from her first album. I always thought she managed to differentiate herself from others in r&b (partly fueled by the Neptunes) so this is probably just another step in that direction.
Janelle is currently finishing up her solo debut album which is the follow up to her 2007 "Metropolis Suite I of IV: The Chase" EP. The album will be in stores May 18th, and the first single is "Tightrope" featuring Big Boi of Outkast. Here is the tracklisting:
1. Suite II Overture 2. Dance Or Die ft. Saul Williams 3. Faster 4. Locked Inside 5. Sir Greendown 6. Cold War 7. Tightrope ft. Big Boi 8. Neon Gumbo 9. Oh, Maker 10. Come Alive (The War Of The Roses) 11. Mushrooms & Roses 12. Suite III Overture 13. Neon Valley Street 14. Make The Bus ft. Of Montreal 15. Wondaland 16. 57821 ft. Deep Cotton 17. Say You'll Go 18. BabopbyeYa
Keith Sweat is now a part of Kedar Entertainment (who is slowly building a very good roster of 90's r&b groups) and is due to release his new album "Ridin Solo" on June 15th. I posted the first single which is a collaboration with Joe called "Test Drive." You can listen to that by clicking here.
It's been eight years today since Left Eye passed, and her legacy continues to live on. In her time as part of TLC, she was involved with one of the best female groups of all time. It's a shame we never got to see her solo career actually launch, because she was just on the verge of doing her own thing.
This is one of my favorite songs by Static, and now it's finally released. I also co-manage the blog over at StaticMajorIsMusic and we are trying our best to keep his legacy alive. This song is really hot, and probably even a bit ahead of it's time. It's too bad he isn't with us any longer to properly promote it.
This is the second time in as many weeks we've heard Faith take to a freestyle to express herself. Maybe she's just warming up those vocals chords! All joking aside, I'm excited that we should be getting a new album from her later this year after a five year absence.
It's been awhile since we've heard something new from JoJo, and I'd been starting to wonder on the status of her upcoming album. Apparently, the album "All I Want is Everything" is still scheduled to be released in September 2010, but of course these things change all the time.
The first single from this soul sister's 1999 album "Black Diamond." This was her solo debut album, and she has gone on to released four albums since then including "Unexpected" last year.
I've highlighted many songwriters on the site before, but for no good reason, I seem to have not give James Fauntleroy the shine he deserves. Previously part of the super production team The Underdogs, Fauntleroy has written for artists like Jordin Sparks, Brandy, Chris Brown, Rihanna, Ciara and Leona Lewis over the years just to name a few. He currently has no plans to release a solo album of his own (although I think he has a pretty good voice, and he could do it if he chose), so there is a good chance what you are hearing is a demo for another artist.
What I've always found interesting about this song is that while it's labeled "J-Dub Remix," I've searched over the years and never found a trace of the original. This has led me to wonder, if an original doesn't even exist, why even call it a remix? In any case, this was Joe's inclusion on the 1999 "Romeo Must Die" soundtrack. Remix or not, I've always found this song to be pretty good.
YouKnowIGotSoul had the opportunity to talk with Mass Pike Miles discussing everything from his lessons learned from being signed to Warner Bros. at age 11, taking a page from Donell Jones and Mary J. Blige on his upcoming album, what he's been able to learn from Rick Ross, and his desire to work with Shyne in the future.
YouKnowIGotsoul: Let me first ask you, coming from a Parisian and Cape Verdean background, is it safe to say you are the only one with those mix of nationalities doing music right now or have you met others?
Mass Pike Miles: Right, I’m not sure, but I think so!
YKIGS: Do you perform any Cape Verdean music or in Creole at all?
MPM: Nah, I can’t even speak it. I can’t speak it or none of that. I’m definitely supportive of all of the music, but I don’t do none of the music, I’m just straight hip hop and r&b.
YKIGS: So let me take it back to the beginning of your career. I was reading you were signed at the age of 11 as part of a group to Warner Bros. What was like being signed as an artist at such a young age?
MPM: It was different. Being a young dude, I didn’t even have enough time to dream. It was just something I liked to do. By the time I was signed, it was kind of overwhelming; I didn’t know what to do. Being on Warner Bros. was kind of a big deal, at the time I just didn’t know how to take it. I finally realized when I left the group how much it meant to me, as I got older, how much it meant.
YKIGS: So would you say you were able to learn a lot from that experience?
MPM: Oh yea I learned a lot and it made me grow into the person I am today. It taught me how to develop artists, it taught me musically…I mean business wise how the views were moving in the music industry and different things of that that nature. I learned a lot, and I’m learning every day, and a lot of the things I go through today, I could actually reflect on my past and my previous experience to deal with these new ones.
YKIGS: As a writer, tell me a little bit about where you draw most of your inspiration from and how that leads you to develop a song?
MPM: I draw my inspiration from life. Most of my songs are concept driven, so I think about everyday experiences, take a look at things my friends go through, or different people go through. Building a song, I like to build it from scratch. I pretty much mumble my words, I don’t like to write, I think we just do it off the top of the head. But when we all sit down and write there’s no easy way of doing it, because when you do r&b, there’s a whole bunch of things that go with it, it’s not just writing. It’s melodies, it’s harmonies, it’s a lot of different things that make an r&b record an r&b record.
YKIGS: Being someone who sings r&b, but doesn’t sing about traditional r&b topics, I find your style to be unique. A name that immediately came to mind when first hearing your music was TQ. Do you think there is anyone else doing what you are doing in r&b right now?
MPM: My music is diverse. A lot of people listen to my mixtape that I put out two years ago and they kind of base my music off of that mixtape. My mixtape was a point of time when I kind of felt a 2Pac “All Eyes On Me” type of vibe, you know it was kind of my introduction, so I had a lot of built of anger, a lot of built up anxiety, and I wanted to let the people hear me. As I’ve matured over the last couple years, I’ve developed new plans and new ways of letting the people hear my music. But basically, on this new music I’m doing, it’s well rounded, it’s getting away from the subjects…I’m trying to stay away from the same subjects that I was on before, and I’m more moving into the female driven record and things of that nature. So as far as anybody out there like me, there is a lot of people out there like me, there’s just not a lot of people that are me. So I’m not gonna say there is nobody out there doing what I’m doing, because r&b is r&b, and music is music, so I’m not gonna say there’s nobody like me. It’s been done before, this is just the way It’s being done now.
YKIGS: You mentioned 2Pac’s “All Eyes On Me” and that’s the way you felt when putting out the music on your mixtape. Since you do music that is different than traditional r&b, how are you accepted by your peers in r&b, have you ever been received negatively from other artists as a result?
MPM: You know what, I don’t get to really deal with r&b artists. I’m not really around singers. Where I’m doing shows is where the rappers are at, you know the Chitlin Circuit. So I’m not really around too many r&b singers, so you would probably need to tell me what they think! I don’t know honestly, I don’t even really know. I’m around all of these rappers all day, that’s my circle. YKIGS: I had a chance to see your video for “Love Drunk,” tell me a little about this song and is this song going to be the first single off your upcoming album?
YKIGS: Yea because I like that song, I’ve actually been playing it a lot since I first heard it.
MPM: Thank you, I appreciate that.
YKIGS: As a baseball fan, I have to ask about this video, I saw you rocking a Yankee hat in one scene, and a Red Sox hat in another, and I know you are from Boston, what’s up with that?
MPM: Well, if you look at the video, I’m kind of in a dream world, so whenever I’m with this shorty, I’m doing things I ain’t supposed to be doing. When I’m in the dream world, it’s bad business, I got the New York Yankee hat on, the girl is taking me in strange rooms with deranged people in them, and she’s taking me in a room where my boy is with my girl in the bed. So, it was basically being in a dream world and doing the things I ain’t supposed to be doing, so that’s why I put the New York hat on.
YKIGS: *Laughs* Ok that makes sense now.
YKIGS: Tell me about your upcoming album “The Struggle” that’s due out this summer.
MPM: Yep, that’s the name of the album. Basically, with this album, I want to pick up where Donell Jones left off, D’Angelo, and a slew of other individuals that infused r&b with hip hop and gave it swag. So, I’m basically taking a page out of Mary J. Blige’s book. I got some great beats, some of the greatest producers in the world, I got the best writers in the world, and it’s really heavily conceptual. I’m giving more of a lesson on this album, I’m giving something to think about with every record that I do. So it’s definitely going to be a classic.
YKIGS: Tell me about who will be featured on here, what producers you worked with and what writers you collaborated with for the album.
MPM: I mean we are going to keep it, as far as features, I’m going to keep that low until everything gets cleared. But as far as producers you know I got the Incredibles, J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League, Cool and Dre, The Runners, my production team Tha Track Dealers, I got The Olympics, Unknown and Louis from Australia, The Formula and Nuthin But Hits from Canada. I got a slew of individuals that helped towards this album in making it a classic.
YKIGS: You are signed to Rick Ross’ Maybach Music record label, tell me what it’s like working with him and what you’ve learned from him?
MPM: It’s great working with him, I’ve learned a lot. Not too many people get to sit around people who actually make hits. Not too many people get to sit around people that you can actually see a record getting made and getting sent out in a month and it’s a big hit record. I learn a lot from dude because mentally he’s somewhere else. He just walks me through a lot of different avenues that I’ve got to travel down. He’s like a big brother to me, my mentor so to speak. He’s just a good dude, I learn a lot, I learn a lot from the dude, there’s isn’t much to say, I just learn a lot from the dude, he’s a good brother.
YKIGS: Tell me about a collaboration you haven’t had a chance to do with another artist that you’d like the chance to do at some point in your career?
MPM: Shyne, I want to do a joint with Shyne.
YKIGS: Ok, why would you choose him?
MPM: He’s just my favorite rapper. I like an underdog man, I like someone who keeps it 100. Not too many dudes are going to take ten years, take a football number, sit down, come home and then get back to it. He speaks a real language, I like a dude like that. But yea, I want to do a joint with Shyne.
YKIGS: Tell me, what do you currently have in your cd player right now?
MPM: I got Shyne in my cd player, Common’s “Finder Forever,” I got MIA in there, Smoke Bulga, Rushya, Triple C’s, Ross, that’s basically it. I got Khaled in there too. That’s basically it though. I’m working on this new Jordan Tower album right now too. He’s coming out with his album, so I’m helping A&R that project as well. So he about to do a whole album with the video shot for every joint, that’s going to be big. That’s it right now.
YKIGS: Besides your upcoming album and this Jordan Tower project you just mentioned, is there anything else you have in the works or any future projects lined up?
MPM: I mean I got my artist Smoke Bulga, and he’s my business partner, we own a business company called Life 4 Life. I got Rushya man, that’s my clique, and then my brother Jordan Tower, we just doing these videos man, that’s it. I ain’t gonna say I got clothing lines and this and that, but I’m just grinding my dude.
YKIGS: Yea I mean I’ve read that you are expanding your brand by getting into other ventures such as appearing in movies, creating a DVD, starting a bottled water company and starting your own record label. What is the importance to you of branching out from just music?
MPM: I feel it’s important, you don’t know what’s gonna move for you. You don’t wanna focus on one thing and put all of your eggs into one basket, because you don’t know if that basket is the right basket. So I constantly move and try and stay on top of everything. I’ve never been a person to sit down and focus on one thing, I like to multi-task. When I was eight or nine years old and I was in class running around, they wanted to give me Ritalin and all types of drugs to calm my ass down with my ADD. So I like to do four or five things at one time. You know the other day I was at the studio, and they had a whole nother studio, and I just booked two studios at the same time. So I’m recording in one, writing in the other, and just going back and forth. I don’t know, I just like to multi-task. I even got a water company in Boston where we sell bottled water. It’s a lot of things, I’m just grinding.
YKIGS: That’s all I’ve got prepared, is there anything else you’d like to add and leave off with?
MPM: Well, I got this new mixtape coming with DJ Drama, “Gangsta Grillz: Rhythm and Street Edition,” coming soon, that will be out towards the end of May. “The Struggle” coming soon and just be on the lookout, I’m on the grind.
I'm a little late on this, but here is the buzz single in anticipation of Mass Pike Mile's debut album "The Struggle." The song was written by Rico Love and produced by StreetRunner. I'm a big fan of this song, especially because I feel like the song describes an emotion most men have felt at one point in a relationship. "The Struggle" will be in stores this summer.
How often does a member of a highly successful group leave to do a solo project, and find more success in that? I guess Beyonce is an example, and I'm sure there are others, but for the most part my opinion is it doesn't happen often. Coko felt that by leaving SWV after six albums, she could find more success in a solo career (she also mentioned the group wasn't communicating well), but unfortunately this didn't happen. This was probably the biggest single she had, the first song released off of her "Hot Coko" album. The song is dedicated to her son.
Check out this new single from upcoming artist Amir. The "AMiR-R&B EP Volume 1" will be coming out Tuesday April 27th and will be free to download. I'll have a link here, so be sure to check back for it then.
Danny Boy "Just Ride" featuring Roger Troutman & Jo Jo (Produced by Devante Swing)
When I write "new joint," I'm actually referring to the fact the song just recently released. In this case though, the song was actually recorded back around 1995 for Death Row Records, so it's far from "new" in that sense. Now, Danny Boy finally has the clearance and has featured it on his new album "It's About Time" which is currently out now. The album features production from DJ Quik and Devante Swing, as well as vocals from Jo Jo (of K-Ci & Jo Jo) as well as Ginuwine.
Ok, so originally I thought this was a new song, but apparently according to my Mariah source, this was included on the international version of her "Charmbracelet" album from 2002. This is my first time hearing the song though, and I like it, it's really smooth.
YouKnowIGotSoul caught up with up and coming artist Elise 5000 to discuss her path to becoming an artist, her EP that she has currently for sale on ITunes, her cover of Aaliyah's "One in a Million," and the next album she's working on.
YouKnowIGotSoul: Let’s start at the beginning, I read in your bio that you wrote your first song at the age of 8, what do you remember about this and what song was it?
Elise 5000: It was a Christmas song and I wrote it in my music class because I was so bored. We were learning how to clap on beat and I thought that was the dumbest thing to learn because I was born clapping on beat! So anyway, it was a cute little Christmas song that had a big band melody! It reminded me of a Broadway show or something.
YouKnowIGotSoul: Who would you say your music influences were early on? Elise 5000: SWV, Jodeci, Aaliyah, TLC, BBD. Those were my early influences! Those were the artists I liked most. I went out and spent my allowance on their albums [tapes].
YouKnowIGotSoul: Eventually you landed a writing, recording and production deal with an independent label at the age of 17. How were you discovered?
Elise 5000: One of my high-school friends' Mom worked at Geico with a guy that was starting up a label and he was looking for a girl group and she asked me and I accepted! It was fun while it lasted!
YouKnowIGotSoul: How were you able to focus on completing your college degree even though you were already signed and had a career in the industry in mind?
Elise 5000: I quit that label by the time I entered University. So It was easy because I wasn't even trying to be an artist. I was a dancer for Morris Brown College "Bubblin Brown Sugar" But I quit that too! I don't like people telling me what to do! I'm the boss of me!
YouKnowIGotSoul: How were you able to launch your own record label NoFunGirl Music Group?
Elise 5000: I just created it. It's a must for every artist! And it's not really functioning as a REAL label. It's my thing and I'm signed to myself. No other artists involved. It's really meant to be a not-for-profit organization...soon. I'm developing the ideas slowly now.
YouKnowIGotSoul: What do you hope to accomplish in starting this label?
Elise 5000: I basically want to be the boss of myself and use it as a platform to help others through the non-profit branch that I'm working on which will focus of self-esteem and overcoming abuse and negative thinking.
YouKnowIGotSoul: Tell me about your Essential Elise 5000 EP?
Elise 5000: It's just a bunch of songs that I mostly wrote and produced. I figured I own all the songs so I can put it on iTunes if I want! So I did. It's doing pretty well actually, I sold more records than I thought I would just by promoting on twitter. So I'm coming out with a part 2 soon! I'm excited about it! Hopefully I will be finished in 6 months. I have written, recorded, mixed, produced EVERYTHING and I know it will be even better than the first! Visit www.elise5000.com to purchase!!!
YouKnowIGotSoul: You collaborated with T-Pain on “Everybody Else.” How did this collaboration come about?
Elise 5000: I came across the record and put my 2 cents in! Secret Da Songwriter wrote my part and I'm really happy with the song. I think It's cute!
YouKnowIGotSoul: I recently heard your cover of Aaliyah’s “One in a Million.” What made you decide to do a cover of this song?
Elise 5000: Just because I LOVE Aaliyah! I came across the instrumental and of course growing up that was like one of my favorite songs if not THE favorite song and I really wanted to sing it! It was for Aaliyah! I think she would like it!
YouKnowIGotSoul: I would classify your music as a mix of pop, r&b and hip hop music. What genre of music do you say you go for?
I say that It's POP! It's a mixture of mostly R&B but...it's going to transform into a strange mixture that's going to sound like either.
YouKnowIGotSoul: Who are some artists you’d like to work with in the future?
Elise 5000: T-Pain, Lady Gaga, Paramore, Ciera, Field Mob, Jodeci, BBD, Devante Swing, Missy, Timbaland, Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears, Pastor Troy, Playa Fly....Just to name a few! That's a great group of artists huh?
I have an immense amount of respect for this group; each of the members is actually a talented artist who is capable of playing an instrument and producing their own "music." A true rarity in hip hop these days, I'd like to know if someone could tell me another hip hop group that is around today who is capable of this? In this video, they go on to mock every stereotype at that time that existed in hip hop.
So does this mean they are making a comeback? Obviously this is just a mixtape track, they hop on Lil Kim's "The Jump Off" beat, but I'm happy to hear something from them. I can't seem to find any info on what they've been up to recently, but I'll keep my eyes open.
The same frustrations I have with Marques Houston, I seem to constantly be having with Bobby V. I hate settling for less from an artist who is capable of so much more. "Turn on Ya IPhone and Skype me baby." Are you serious? I wish he would stick the blueprint used when making this song.
Charlie Wilson "What You Came For" (Produced by The Underdogs)
Just from listening to this song once, I can almost guarantee that it was written by Tank. Not only is he a frequent Underdogs collaborator, but this has his style written ALL over it. Sure enough, I just looked it up, and the two recently did some touring together, so it's an even better chance the collaboration did happen at some point. Anyone else hear what I'm hearing?
Another good song by 112, but another song I can pretty much guarantee isn't new material because it features Slim. If you haven't heard, Slim has decided not to come back to the group, so it stands as a trio for now. As one of the readers of this blog pointed out, the group will be just fine without him; they have three other very talented vocalists and can still handle all of the production, so the future is still bright.
We previously heard a snippet of this song labeled as "She's Lovin," now here is the full version. here are the my comments when I first heard it, and I still stand by them:
Ugh, Marques is really frustrating me doing songs like this.
This is the demo of a song Beyonce recorded a few years back. The song was supposed to wind up on Beyonce's "I Am Sasha Fierce" album but ultimately did not make the cut. It's interesting to hear both sisters sing the same song, and I can definitively say that Beyonce has the better voice, although Solange is very talented herself.
It's a sad day today that Guru passed. As a tribute, here's one of my favorite songs he did. Two amazing MC's both gone way too soon and both resting in peace right now.
I'll be honest, when I saw the title of this song I thought it might be a remake of the classic 80's rock song by Icehouse. See with Solange, you never know, she's very versatile. However, it seems to be an original song, and it's a pretty good one too. Give it a listen.
I actually prefer the second single "Lunch or Dinner" to this one, but "Heard It All Before" was more popular and peaked higher on the Billboard Charts, so I gotta give the people what they want! After releasing her 2007 album "Sunshine at Midnight," Anderson had a child and made an effort to slow down her career. Currently, she doesn't have any projects lined up.
Man, how was this song not released as a single! You ever find yourself thinking what when you listen to an album the whole way through, and then discover you actually like some of the songs better that WEREN'T chosen as singles? That's something that definitely happened for me on Ginuwine's 2001 "The Life" album where "There It Is" was chosen as the first single. Just remember, the best songs always don't get chosen as singles, but usually it's the ones that are most radio friendly and will lead to the most sales.
Sunshine Anderson "Last Night" featuring Anthony Hamilton
This album will always hold a fond place in my heart. No not because I love the album (well, it is pretty good), but because the record store I was working in at the time of its release was always sold out and it never seemed to be in stock. I'm not sure why I remember that, maybe because it's slot on the shelf was always empty, but at least it sold well, going Gold in 2001. This soulful duet with Anthony Hamilton was also featured on his "Soulife" album which was a compilation of songs he worked on but weren't on his album.
Q. Parker "Do Over" (Produced by Bryan Michael Cox)
Rest assured, 112 is back in the studio as a group, so this might simply be a leftover from Q. Parker's planned solo release from 2008. Just like the rest of the group, Q had planned to release his own solo album which was going to be called "Real Talk" but unfortunately it remains unreleased. I heard the lead single "Crazy Crazy" when it came out a few years ago and I thought it was pretty good, so I had hopes for this album.
Here is the story I found behind this song courtesy of Last.fm:
Timbaland and Playa’s record label, Blackground Records, was equally impressed and signed Yaushameen to a solo deal. She was ready to let the world see what she was about but also realized she needed to be patient and hone her skills. Her path of success continued with the meeting of Aaliyah through Static. Aaliyah, as with all who encountered Yaushameen, was impressed with her gift and wanted to put her on the next self-entitled Aaliyah album. Aaliyah and Aaliyah alone wanted to present Yaushameen to the world and hence the track ‘Girlfriends” was made. A sultry track about women’s empowerment, unfortunately it did not fit the vain of the Aaliyah record and did not make the final cut.
This track is obviously not finished, but you can still check it out. As I mentioned, their upcoming album "The Remedy" has been pushed back to a July 27th release date.
I have to be honest, I only discovered this song because I heard Ashanti's remake of it years later. Can you blame me though, I was only a baby when this song first released. However, I've got to pay homage to the classics, because without them, most of the artists that we know and love today wouldn't exist.
Avery Storm "Not Like My Girl" featuring Rick Ross (Produced by The Runners)
This is the first single from his long awaited and highly anticipated debut album "Shotgun Love." After one listen the song is cool, and I could see it growing on me the more I hear it. I still would have been much more satisfied if he had released this song as the first single.
Usher "Secret Garden" featuring Robin Thicke (Produced by Quincy Jones)
This very easily could have been called "Secret Garden 2010" since it's an updated version of Quincy Jones' 1990 hit which featured vocals from Al B. Sure, James Ingram, El DeBarge, and Barry White. Not sure where this track is intended to end up, but it's a pretty cool collaboration.
YouKnowIGotSoul caught up with producer Edwin "Tony" Nicholas to discuss his work with legends such as Gerald Levert and Joe, how r&b will one day return to prominence, what he hopes to accomplish with his IBryton record label, and making a record "too perfect."
YouKnowIGotSoul: Let’s start from the beginning. After completing your music degree from Denison University, pretty soon you took a job fixing copiers, but your passion for music was there. What was going through your head at this time, since you had a music degree, but you weren’t’ in music?
Edwin “Tony” Nicholas: Well, after I got the music degree, the job that I took at that time, I never ever considered for a second that I wouldn’t wind up doing music. I mean, I had my own studio that I put together so I had to have a day job to pay the bills. So I was working in the studio at night, and then working the day job during the day, so I never for a second thought that…you know it was strictly just to get money. And so, I actually was writing…my songwriter partner during the time was a guy named Foley, and he wound up leaving to go play with Miles Davis. At the time I took a music director job for a one hit wonder group called “Teen Dream” who was signed with Warner Brothers back then, I was their musical director, and so I kinda still had some things going on musically to where I had enough stuff to do to where I hadn’t really lost hope. But the copier job was strictly just for money, I never thought for a second I wasn’t going to wind up doing music.
YKIGS: You mentioned that you had a job as a musical director for the group “Teen Dream.” What was your job as musical director? ETN: Mostly it depends a lot on what the group needs, but because they were kids, I had to basically get them up to the point where they had a live show, because they make the records and producers can do whatever they do to make the records in the studio, but then somebody has to get the act to the point where they have a live show, and they can actually go out and perform those records. So as a musical director, I had to hire and train the band, basically vocal coach the girls so they could sing their parts and basically get them up to speed. Now, being a music director for Gerald [Levert], it was a little different because he was a guy that brought a lot more to the table and had his own ideas about what he wanted and you were just kind that guy to make it happen. But with these girls, I had to pretty much do everything; come up with the arrangements, make sure the band was rehearsed, teach them their parts, just everything as it relates to taking an act that has a record and making sure that they can actually perform those songs live. The music degree did come in handy at that point, just being able to do vocal training, and vocal coaching, and being able to write out parts for band members. Because once you get to that level, rehearsals are costly, it’s not like a garage band or a basement band where guys get together for the fun of it. Once you get to that level, you can’t rehearse as long as you want to, so you gotta send out charts, and somebody has got to write those charts out, and you gotta be prepared when you are rehearsing, because you are paying for that rehearsal space and you are paying the sound company, it’s just costly at that point.
YKIGS: Eventually you got to work with Gerald Levert, whose music you grew up admiring. Tell me what it was like when this opportunity came about?
ETN: It was like Christmas everyday in a lot of ways, because that guy he had a very, very strong work ethic. So all the while we were working, you never got a chance to stop and think about it, because he was always trying to do the next thing. I mean that guy was incredible in that way. So a person coming from my background where I worked eight hours a day at a day dig, and then spent most the night at my studio, I was used to putting it in, so I was right in my element when I got with this guy. To some extent, that was part of what became a rut between him and Mark Gordon who was his songwriting partner when I first came along. You know Mark is fairly slow and deliberate and methodical and Gerald was kinda like impatient, like he wanted to move a lot faster to get things done, and I was used to working like that. So that’s kinda what caused us to be able to get along well musically. But it was like because I came from Columbus, I knew some of the guys that were in Rick James’ band, and I met Jonathan Moffett who wound up playing with the Jacksons, he actually was supposed to do Michael Jackson’s last tour as a drummer. So I knew guys like that, It was a guy named Skip Anderson that left to go play with Luther Vandross and was with him for awhile, but for the most part we didn’t really know people like Gerald, there weren’t a lot of people from Columbus at that time. So for me to have access to a guy like that, I couldn’t believe it. It was like what I would have expected if I had moved to L.A. or New York or something. I was pretty happy about it all, I mean it’s still probably the single biggest life changing thing that’s happened thus far.
YKIGS: Since you’ve had a chance to work with Gerald extensively, can you share a memory of time spent with him that stands out to you?
ETN: There’s so many. I’ll tell you one that was really funny because I learned a valuable lesson from that musically. Because me coming from a guy that started out in the 80’s and the music thing, that’s when sequences and drum machines and all that became prevalent and popular and sorta like what auto tune is now. When something is first introduced into music, people take it too far. With that stuff, you have the possibility of making things perfect, because you can sequence it and do it over and over again until you make it right. It wasn’t like the 70’s where you just played the tracks down. You could make it correct, the drum machines, you could make it perfect. So we were working on some songs for like Keith Washington I believe, and put the ideas down, and we got the ideas down, he left for the day, I stayed up all night perfecting those tracks, correcting all of the little mistakes he made, I was happy to play it for him the next day. And he said “Yea that sounds great, put that motherf***er back how it was!” *Laughs* So luckily I had saved the tracks I started with, so I had to put it back, and he said “Yea you made it perfect but you took all of the feeling out of it because you made it perfect.” And so I learned a lesson from that, that sometimes when something feels good, that’s more important than being technically correct. So I started to pay a lot more attention to that in records I made from that point on, because I probably used to go too far in making things perfect, and sometimes you can perfect the feeling out of something. That one thing there probably had a profound effect on the way I approached producing records from that point on.
YKIGS: Can you also share with me the process when you are making a record, producing a record, the thought process and the work you put in from start to finish, basically just an overview of it?
ETN: Well because all records don’t start in the same place, these things don’t start in order. But basically, I’m looking to say something that everybody can identify with, but may not necessarily have been said that way, which is a tricky thing because there is not a whole lot…there are certain things we sing about all the time, there are certain things we say all the time, but we don’t necessarily sing about them. So that when a person hears you sing that thing, it may be something very familiar to them, because it’s something they’ve said all the time, but maybe no one thought to make a song of it. There has to be the balance between something that’s familiar, but with a twist, which is I guess everything in life. Then there’s the thought that musically the song has to be accessible to people, I think that people are willing to take a great song from an ok singer, than they are willing to take an ok song from a great singer. They want the song to be great, they want to be able to sing along, the song has to be accessible to point where they can sing along and get it. I think about those things, and I also think about the artist, what is it that this artist can do to differentiate themselves from all the other people that are out there, so I have to try to give them their own thing. So I think that’s a thing producers sometimes nowadays don’t necessarily think as much about. I think it’s sort of unfortunate because they think about making the record, and if they need to auto tune you or do whatever they gotta to do to you to make your sound like the vision that’s in their head, then so be it, but sometimes I don’t think they necessarily concentrate enough on giving the artist their own thing so that they have no, per say, identifiable sound. So you become an artist that’s…you’re subject to whatever hit you may have at any given point, but nobody can figure out what you stand for, because you are more a reflection of the producer more so than of yourself. I see that happening in a lot of music nowadays and I don’t think people are doing it maliciously or selfishly, I just don’t think they are thinking about it that way. I’m here to advance the career of this artist, this musician, I need to make sure first and foremost the record I’m making is giving the artist some voice. From that point, everything else after that is up for grabs in terms of how it’s approached, but those are the things that matter the most to me when making a record.
YKIGS: When you think of the music scene, you don’t immediately think of Cleveland. Can you tell me what it was like coming out of Cleveland and if you’ve run into a lot of talent around you along the way?
ETN: Well, it might not be fair for me to totally answer that because I didn’t grow up in Cleveland, I moved to Cleveland to work with Gerald, I was actually living in Columbus. When I got to Cleveland, there was a whole bunch of music happening in Cleveland, and there was a lot of people from Cleveland, they just didn’t stay because felt they couldn’t make their careers happen in Cleveland. But there was a lot of folks from there, I was surrounded by…at that time The Rude Boys were just getting started, Men At Large were just getting started, I worked on their albums initially, Levert was around, the O’Jays were around, The Dazz Band was still doing their thing, not too long after that Avant got going, Howard Hewitt was a song writer up the street. There were folks around, and when I was down Columbus, I used to run down to Dayton all the time, and Roger Troutman and those guys were down there. There was a lady from my church choir believe it or not who started singing with Roger and those guys named Shirley Murdock. There were folks around, so it was always a desire on my part to make the music scene on the professional side step up because the talent was here, but people didn’t stay because they felt they couldn’t make the career happen from where they were. But there were people around, there still is a crazy amount of talent in this town, it’s just the great ones just don’t stay.
YKIGS: I read in your bio that you produced six songs on one of Joe’s albums, as well as “I Wanna Know” later on. He’s a personal favorite artist of mine, what was it like working with him?
ETN: Well that’s funny, it was actually his sophomore album called “All That I Am.” Working with Joe was really, really cool because the kid is crazy talented, but the funny part is, I actually started working with him as a favor to a girl I was dating at the time. She was managing Joe, and I guess Joe had got an advance from Jive and hadn’t turned in any music. So she asked me to help him finish one song, just because she was going to these creative meetings, and they kept asking “Where is Joe, do you have anything, do you have anything?” And she never had anything to turn in, no updates or whatever, so just to kinda keep him from looking bad, she just asked me to help him get one song done, and it actually ended up being the title song “All That I Am.” The president of Jive at the time Clive Calder heard the song and asked me to help Joe finish the album, and that’s how I wound up finishing the record and out of the six songs, one of them is actually one I did with Gerald called “How Soon.” Joe was a talented guy, but what’s funny is “I Wanna Know” was actually supposed to be on that album. I was asked to play live bass on that record, but I think Joe resented the fact that [others] were involved on the music side of things and he felt that it should be his call, and they couldn’t agree, so he took the song off the album. It wound up being used four years later when he needed a song for a soundtrack and didn’t have anything to send and that was lying around and he sent it, and it did well. But at that time, working with Joe, I was actually working with Gerald during the day maybe from 11 o’clock in the morning until seven at night, I would rush to the air port, catch the 8:40 flight to New York, I would work with Joe from about 10 o’clock at night until 5 o’clock in the morning, and catch the 6:30 flight back to Cleveland, get about an hour or hour and a half of sleep, and be back at the studio to work with Gerald at 11. And I was doing that a couple of days a week until we got that record done, because Gerald was the kind of person who said I’m never going to stop you from doing other things with other people, but when I want you to be here, you better to be here. So that was the only way I could get the time to do the record with Joe, which was crazy because I was worn out, but I felt like just as much as I enjoyed working with Gerald, I felt like it was important to me to have a few things in my discography that maybe reflected some other styles musically. Because what I did with Gerald was a very specific kind of thing, it was a reflection of what he wanted to do musically, but it wasn’t necessarily a reflection totally of everything I was capable of. So it was kind of important to me from a career standpoint. And I liked working with Gerald, he’s a talented kid.
YKIGS: Tell me a little about your company iBryton and how you started it and what plans you have for it in the future?
ETN: IBryton is a company that was started two years ago, and it’s basically something that I planned to have as a vehicle to concentrate on artists like Vesta, artists like Eddie Levert who I plan to be making a record on, various friends of mine who are in situations where maybe a major [label] looks at them and says well maybe your sales wouldn’t be enough for me to be interested me in you. First of all, it’s enough to interest me simply because I like the music that they make, I personally believe that there is still market out there for good grown up r&b music, I just believe that there is. I think that majors have to concentrate on their bottom line, and if they have to spend $500,000 to make a record on person A who is 18, and maybe is not a seasoned artists but they could sell more records, versus person B who may sell less records but it may be a better record, they have to do option A because their mandate is to make money, that’s what they are there to do. So I’m at a place career wise where I feel like I could take those projects simply because of the love of the music and because I feel there is a demand out there for it. So, this company is going to concentrate solely on stuff like that, and just people I’ve always wanted to record…like Vesta is just a person I’ve always wanted to make a record on. Actually, I was supposed to make a record on her in the ‘90s, Andre Fisher had hired me, but he had got fired before we got a chance to make the record…that was in ’95 I want to say. She and I have talked about it for years, she’s the first artist I’m going to put out. When I first came to Cleveland, I initially first started writing with Eddie, and he was the one that suggested to Gerald that Gerald give me a shot to write with him. These are the folks, the music I’ve grown up on, I’ve always wanted to do records with them, and I’m just having a ball. To work with someone you’ve idolized when you were a kid, there is no better feeling than that. And I just believe there is a market for the music. It might not necessarily be the same market that Lil’ Wayne may enjoy or Lady Gaga, but that’s ok. There are people that do that, and I want to do this.
YKIGS: And that’s something I read in your bio, that you feel labels are focusing more on younger artists and pre-fabricated pop stars, and I fully agree. Do you think real r&b music will ever have its place prominently again in the mainstream?
ETN: Absolutely. Everything that is new becomes old, and everything that is old becomes new again. There is going to come a point when…because here’s the thing. Whenever a trend starts in music, everybody jumps on the bandwagon until they run it into the ground and then they look for something new. So what’s going on in music now, people are going to inevitably get tired of it. I hear young cats saying to me now that they want to get a band together and go into the studio and just cut their tracks live and all of that stuff and they think it’s a phenomenal new thing, and I’m like “Dude, that’s the way it used to be!” It’s inevitable that it comes back, because the other thing can only go so far before it ceases to be interesting. Live music, stuff that’s played live…it’s definitely…the churches are producing all of these musicians. Because for awhile, that was the only place you could play, there were no club gigs, if you were black there were on club gigs per say. The pro gigs, there are not that many of them, and plus the music in the church is so unrestricted, I’ll use that word, that the church is producing a lot of young musicians who want outlets to do what they do, and they don’t want to play that stuff you hear on the radio, with just a clap going and some auto tune vocals, that’s not interesting to them. So they are going to look for outlets to do their thing, and they are the ones that’s going to bring the new music, what the old music was, but it’s going to be a younger voice singing it, so it will suddenly be new. We will know it’s not new, but we will keep our mouths shut and let them think that they’ve done something. *Laughs* That’s what’s going to happen, it’s inevitable.
YKIGS: Hypothetically speaking, and this may be a bit tough to answer, if you could add any five artists to your iBryton roster, who would they be?
ETN: Oh that is tough because there are people that are already signed, but I will tell you there people who I’ve always wanted to work with. I’ve always wanted to work with Aretha Franklin, believe it or not. I like Glenn Jones’ voice, I love Chaka Khan. There are some younger folks that I really like, like Dave Hollister, I love his voice. Stokley from Mint Condition who is actually a very good friend of mine, I love his voice. And these are not necessarily older people, but I like what they do, and I think given the right opportunity to make something happen, I would love to do records for them. Whether that will or will not happen, that remains to be seen. There’s probably so many, and I will hear somebody on the radio, and I will say “You know what, you are on the radio, but I would love to make better record for you than the one I hear, because you are better than that.” I think Peabo Bryson is somebody that would be great for him to have a great record right now. Will Downing, I mean Will probably has a thing going on right now. I mean Eddie…I’m itching to make this Eddie Levert record right now because I feel like I know what kind of record he needs to make. It’s just so many out there it aint even funny. Hopefully, that’s a few.
YKIGS: Do you have a favorite song that you’ve produced or worked on?
ETN: That one I probably feel like I haven’t made it yet. I feel like the things that I’ve done thus far, most of them to me were almost like works for hire, in the sense that the particular artist was looking for a specific thing, and I tried my best to provide that they were wanting. But I feel like the best work that’s in me hasn’t been released yet. But that’s hard to say, a lot of what I’ve done with Gerald I’m very proud of, but I feel like I haven’t done my best work yet. So it’s to be announced!
YKIGS: As a songwriter and a producer who does most of their work behind the scenes, when you make a song for an artist, do you ever wish you got more credit for the work you’ve done when you help create a hit record for an artist and they turn that song into a hit record?
ETN: No because that’s the whole point. I mean I never really actually…see, when I originally decided I wanted to be a producer, I didn’t know that producers could be famous anyway. It was only in the era when Teddy Riley came along and I guess Prince to some extent right before that, and then Teddy Riley came along, he ushered in the era of the producer. But before that when I was making the decision to be a producer, I wasn’t ever aware that those folks ever really got any notoriety anyway. So the music was all that ever mattered to me, that’s the reason why my relationship with Gerald worked so well. I had no interest in the limelight, I just wanted to make music, I was never interested in being famous. To some extent that was to my detriment because a lot of people didn’t know who I was even though I did records they knew, but I never made any effort to bring attention to myself. I love music, I don’t necessarily love the assumed stereotypical lifestyle that would come along with what people think of when they think of a record producer, I never even think about that, I just love making the music. If you are able to take that and move on and make something with it, that was the whole point. I never aspired to be an artist, so I never cared.
YKIGS: Yea, because from my point of view, I’m the type of person to buy an album and immediately open up the liner notes and read who wrote each song, who produced each song, because to me that is talent that deserves to be recognized as well.
ETN: To me, I would say that getting the nod from my peers means a lot to me, but if I can produce a song that takes the artist to the next level, then to me that’s like mission accomplished, I did what I was supposed to do. I think in the same way, many of the times engineers don’t get the notoriety that perhaps they deserve, because they take something that doesn’t sound stellar when they get it and turn it into something that sounds great. But I’m ok with that, I’ve actually thought about doing a producer series of records, where I take producer friends of mine, like the Chucky Bookers of the world and friends that I know would make great records, but just haven’t been doing it, and I would do something on them and they would make records that are theirs. Sort of like the Norman Connors used to do in the 70’s where it was his record but he would have people sing the songs and all of that kind of stuff. I just never came into the game for that reason.
YKIGS: That’s all I had, is there anything you’d like to add?
ETN: Thanks for caring, thanks for giving me a chance to say what’s on my mind because stuff like this makes all the difference in the world that somebody out there even cares, it’s cool, it’s a great thing, and I’m having a ball man, that’s the best way I can put it.
