Already my early pick as the r&b album of the year, Eric Benet's "Lost in Time" album is in stores today! Here is a personal favorite from the album which features a collaboration with his daughter India. I highly recommend picking up the album, it really flows well from start to finish and has this real throwback vibe to it that's unmatched by most of what you hear today.
When an r&b singer is looking for someone to write or produce a hit for them, who is one of the first people they might look to for that song? I'm pretty sure that Tank's name would be one of the first to surface in that type of discussion. Even if you don't take into consideration the fact he's written and produced a countless amount of hits for other artists, many coming in the last few years, Tank has accomplished so much as a solo artist himself. Now just over three years removed from his highly successful "Sex, Love & Pain" album, Tank returns with "Now or Never" which is the next step in his journey to placing his very large stamp on r&b. In this interview, Tank discusses the recent acting he's been doing, his style of fusing commercial and classic r&b, the happier tone we can expect to find on "Now or Never," and his opinion on r&b returning to the fore front.
YKIGS: I want to start out talking to you about the play you’re currently featured in “Marriage Material.” Tell me about how you got the opportunity and how the experience has been?
Tank: Well you know I’ve done different plays with these guys before, I did “Gold diggers” with them back in like 2006.” So they were very familiar with what I do and the characters I like to get on stage and have fun with, that type of thing, it was really easy. Most importantly, the cast is really cool. I’m out here with Allen Payne who’s been a good friend of mine for years, Jill, just meeting T-Boz, I’ve been knowing Michael Colyar for years. It’s super easy to get on stage and have fun with these guys.
YKIGS: Do you see yourself getting into more acting in the future?
Tank: Well I mean I have a movie just coming out, “Preacher’s Kid,” on DVD right now. So yea, top of the year going to we’re going to start going into a whole, whole lot more stuff.
YKIGS: I want to talk to you about the new album you’ve got coming, “Now or Never,” your forth studio album. Where did you come up with the title for it?
Tank: It just hit me one day, I just got a little urgent to really make a project to really fight for my genre of music which is r&b. I think that now is the time to take that stand, take that stand for the real musicianship, the real lyricist, the real vocalist; people that work really hard to do this thing. And we have to take that stand now or we’ll lose it forever.
YKIGS: I was pretty happy when I heard “Sex Music” and “Emergency” because they are good, solid r&b songs and you never tried to stoop to any gimmicks to try and make pop/commercial r&b for the radio. How important is it for you to make that kind of music?
Tank: Well I look at it in two ways, I mean you have to be entertaining, and in order to be entertaining there have to be people there for you to entertain. Unfortunately maybe the popier or maybe the more straight ahead your music is the more people want to hear it. And then you get more people to come and you’ll be able to introduce them to things. So far my approach has been to try and fuse the two without totally compromising, just try and find the balance between current and classic r&b.
YKIGS: Even when I heard the song you did with Drake, I was a little skeptical at first when I heard you did a song with him, but it was actually I felt that was a good r&b song as well.
Tank: Yea, it’s an r&b record! That was the point, the point of it was to bring Drake to my world, not necessarily to try and run all into his just because he’s hot right now. But to find a happy medium between the both of us that makes sense.
YKIGS: Very good approach on that. How would you compare this album to your “Sex, Love & Pain” album which did very well on the charts. Did you stick with the same formula? Tank: No I think I’m a lot happier on this album. *Laughs* No more “Heartbreakers” and “I Hate U” and all of those songs. I’m appreciating and celebrating a whole lot more on this album.
YKIGS: I know the album went through a couple of name changes, at one point it was going to be “Sex, Love & Pain II: The All Night Experience.” At one point the first single was going to be “Wanted.” What made you have the change and all of that?
Tank: I just honestly just sat with the music too long. I’m one of those guys I’m always trying to outdo myself. Those albums, I still have those albums, all of those songs they’re still just sitting there. But the more time changes and as I grow into different spaces I just want to do new and try new and different things and that’s just what happened with “Now or Never.” Once we got this Atlantic thing going and really started grooving and movin, it just inspired me to do something else and “Now or Never” is the result of that.
YKIGS: It’s been over three years since your “Sex, Love & Pain” album and I know you do tons of writing for other artists and work with all of these artists. Do you think there would be less time in between albums if you just focused on your own music?
Tank: The time really doesn’t concern me. I’ve been blessed to be able to take five years off and I came back with “Sex, Love & Pain” and I had a great showing and it let me know that I have a space and I have a place in music. So I’m not really concerned with the time, I would like to maybe put out an album every maybe year and a half, two years, that type of thing, in between that get some holiday things going, maybe some soundtrack things going. I’m very happy with just having a little space and having people desire to hear my music.
YKIGS: I want to ask you a little more about your songwriting and working with other artists. How do you switch gears between working on a project with another artist and then focusing on yourself? What’s the balance like there?
Tank: When I write songs for other people, I literally write songs for other people. I don’t write what I’d want to hear me sing, I listen to their projects, I listen to things they’ve done, and I say what can they do and where have they been, and can I stretch them a little bit creatively just to take what they do to the next level. I don’t sell anybody me, I’m not out there trying to make a bunch of Tank clones when I’m writing and producing for them, I want to make them, them. My music, when I do my music for me, it’s just automatic, I have a thing that I do for me that’s just me, and I just don’t give that away.
YKIGS: I want to ask you about a song you did a few years back, the song “Strip Club.” I was reading you sold that song to Marques Houston and eventually it didn’t make his album. Does this type of thing usually happen?
Tank: Yea I took that song back from him. It did not make his album, it was on his album but I took it. *Laughs* So we thought it would be a great record for me once we finished and I was like “Hey if yall think it would be great for me, let’s keep it!” And we smashed it back, Timbaland remixed it, and we went from there.
YKIGS: And then it turned into “I Luv Dem Girls” on “Sex, Love & Pain” right?
Tank: Yep.
YKIGS: Does that ever happen where you would give a song to an artist and doesn’t make their album. Does that ever happen to you?
Tank: Yea, but most of the time I don’t use the songs. *Laughs* Because I tailor make records for artists and sometimes it just has their thing on it. I don’t want to be nobody else, and I don’t want nobody to be me.
YKIGS: I want to ask you about a personal favorite artist of mine that you worked with years ago and that’s Static Major. What was your relationship like with him and what was it like working with him?
Tank: That was my guy, it was family so it was easy to make magic with Static, that’s what he knew how to do. I came up listening to songs that Static…my first tour, I was singing songs that Static wrote, big hits that he wrote for Ginuwine and he wrote for Aaliyah. So it was an honor and then it turned into family and from there it’s just what it was at that point. He’s sorely missed, great writer, great entertainer, great everything.
YKIGS: On your second album “One Man” he was credited in the writing credits for “Unpredictable” and “So Many Times” and I was just wondering, because they sound like more of your style than his, did we co-write those with you? How did that go down?
Tank: No he wrote those himself! I produced “Unpredictable” but he wrote it, and he wrote “So Many Times.” That’s all Static and that was probably maybe Static maybe coming into my world. We had an appreciation for each other’s craft so it worked perfect going into the studio with him. I didn’t second guess anything he wrote or anything he told me to sing, I just did it.
YKIGS: I also want to know what you remember about working with Aaliyah on the songs “I Can Be” and “What If” from her “Aaliyah” album. What do you remember most about those sessions?
Tank: Well unfortunately with those sessions, she was shooting “Queen of the Damned” over in Australia, and that was just when I was getting ready to start a promo, so I didn’t get to make the trip. But she told me specifically what kind of records she wanted, and she kinda wanted a little dangerous, a little sexy, that type of thing. I got to go in the studio and tailor make something for her, that was amazing that she called me from way overseas like “Tank, I need these kinds of records, I know you can write them for me.” And I was happy that I was able to deliver, that they were records that she actually loved them when she recorded them, she did her thing.
YKIGS: Since you’ve had so many hits over the years, do you find labels coming to you like “We need to get Tank to work with our artist, we need a hit.” Do you find that type of thing happening more and more often?
Tank: Yea, that’s pretty much what I do! Yea so it’s the process that continues, they don’t come to me for album cuts, they come to get hit records. We’ve been able to do well servicing record companies with great records that they can use to make a great body of work with, so yea they’re still calling.
YKIGS: Do you feel any pressure when they come to you like that for a hit, or is it business as usual?
Tank: No I just do music, let the music speak for it. We just go in and we just have fun and we just make music, music needs no pressure to cook!
YKIGS: I want to ask you about TGT. Do you feel if you guys had remained as a group and it would have worked out, the sound you guys had as a group would have worked on radio today? Because there are not many male groups doing music these days.
Tank: I think our three voices on anything would have worked on any radio station, on any TV station, in any arena or venue you could think of. That was a magical thing that I hope it still has action in happening. We’ve been talking about it and hopefully this thing could still happen. YKIGS: Yea I’m hoping it does too. It’s been almost ten years since your debut “Force of Nature.” What major differences do you see since you came into the industry in r&b and the shape of the industry now with r&b?
Tank: It’s not at the forefront. Rap has kinda come in and kinda taken over. We get mainstream by singing a rap hook whereas back in the day they weren’t mainstream unless we were on their record. I mean the roles have just kinda changed a little bit and we gotta fight a little harder to survive but working hard, you just got gotta get out on the street and and get a campaign, just like they out on the streets campaigning. It’s running for president now, it’s no longer just about selling records.
YKIGS: Do you think it’s coming back soon, r&b to the forefront?
Tank: Yea, definitely. It’s getting ready to make a charge right now. You got a bunch of r&b albums and things like that getting ready to come out at the end of the year. Keyshia Cole, and Jamie, and myself and Trey is already out, Usher is doing well, Chris Brown getting ready to put out another mixtape, Drake getting ready to do an r&b mixtape.
YKIGS: Tell me about an artist you’d like to work with that you haven’t got the chance to already?
Tank: You know I’m trying to, me and Brandy keep saying we’re going to get together and really do something, and I’m hoping I can. Then I’m hoping I can work with somebody of the likes of Josh Groban or Celine Dion that type, just make some crazy music like that.
YKIGS: A lot of your material has leaked on the internet over the past few years and demos and all of that. How does that affect you, does that bother you?
Tank: Well if it wasn’t good music you’d probably hear me. But it’s good music so I see on Youtube and all of those things and people are saying that they love the music, and when is Tank coming out, that type of thing. It’s almost kinda helped create the anticipation for this album. I will say that it was wrongly done and the people that are responsible for that, legal action will be taken, but as an artist and from a present standpoint it’s kept my voice alive.
YKIGS: Is there anything else you’d like to add?
Tank: December 14th “Now or Never,” or pre-order it now on TheRealTank.com.
In my honest opinion, the progression in Tank's album is a path that is usually the opposite you see in most artists. I've always felt Tank has grown throughout his albums, and while it's natural for an artist to grow, usually the first album is considered the best. With Tank, I've found the opposite to be the case, as his best is his "Sex, Love & Pain" album. Here's a personal favorite from his debut album which I consider his third best album.
Static Major "More Than a Woman" (New Version/Aaliyah Demo)
Both of these demos that Static did for Aaliyah have been in the archives until just recently when we got the world premier. For the new version of "More than a Woman," as the story goes, Static felt he could do something even bigger with over that beat but Aaliyah decided to go with the original version. Very cool to hear.
Click Here to download these and the rest of the EP recently released on StaticMajorIsMusic.com
The name Mike City has been synonymous with good music and real singing for well over a decade now. So when the man takes the time to speak on the problems he's seen with the current state of music, you listen. As you will hear in part two of our interview, we discuss why there are fewer fans of music than there used to be, artists abusing the music industry, the online sale of music not being ideal for its target audience, as well as the only time he's ever been star struck in the studio.
YouKnowIGotSoul Interview With Mike City Part 2
YKIGS: The other song I wanted to ask about which is probably my second favorite this year is the song you did with El DeBarge and Faith Evans, that song is crazy.
MC: Oh man, oh my God! Now with El DeBarge it’s funny because I know a lot of people that know El, but I never knew El out here, I never met him or anything, and we just instantly clicked. It’s just one of those sings where here’s an iconic dude that in high school everybody skipped class to go see DeBarge play at Great Adventure. *Laughs* You talk about that and then I’m in the studio with him doing a joint, I got three songs on the album, I got more than anyone on the album actually, maybe it’s me and Jam & Lewis. So I did three songs on the album, and then the single. A friend of mine Erika Jayne, she wrote the joint and it just came out crazy. It’s a blessing man.
YKIGS: I actually had a chance to see a video of you guys on Youtube in the studio making the song and it looked like you guys were having a lot of fun doing that.
MC: Yea man, it’s just a blessing. It’s like you can’t beat that and that’s what I feel like this generation right now is missing because who are they excited about like that. And then the other thing is, I gotta bring this out, I know downloading and all of that stuff is prevalent. A lot of the problem with music right now, it’s not enough fans because everybody thinks they are an artist, that’s a big problem. That’s a bigger problem than I think people really know, like who is the fans?
YKIGS: So what do you think is the solution to that?
MC: I don’t know, but who is the fans? Everybody is a critic. It’s just one of those things, I don’t know the solution to that because everybody thinks music is the easy way out, and it really isn’t. That’s the reality. So that’s what we’re dealing with as well. A lot of people don’t really talk about that.
YKIGS: Do you think it’s that a lot of people are coming into the industry that don’t have the talent, and people are still supporting them?
MC: Yea!
YKIGS: I mean I think that’s a problem. I hear music on the radio and I don’t these artists have talent, but people are still supporting it.
MC: Plus, just because it’s a hit, doesn’t mean it’s a hot record. And that’s the truth. So it’s a false sense of security for artists who shouldn’t really be doing it, it’s like “well if he could do this, or she could do this.” It’s like that, so I don’t know.
YKIGS: I love to see people who are passionate about music and the musicality of things and supporting that and keeping real music alive. I feel like some people are taking the shortcuts just to get on the radio and not really caring about the musicality and the real singing and stuff like that. MC: Well some people don’t care, some people don’t even know how to do the musicality. And you know these computers lead to that, before computers came into play, you had to do joints, there weren’t any tricks.
YKIGS: The unfortunate thing about it is, I spend a lot of time promoting r&b, and a lot of real singers are getting pushed to the back, not in the forefront any longer and people don’t even know they’re releasing albums. It’s really sad because we’ve got some really good albums coming out and people don’t even know artists are releasing these albums. It’s crazy.
MC: Right.
YKIGS: But it is what it is right now, it will come back someday to the fore front.
MC: Yea hopefully! That’s what we’re dealing with right now, it’s more than just free downloading. And with grown black women, I just feel like they’re a little ways away from embracing buying, I mean not everyone but as a whole, they are little ways away from buying music online because they are used to having physical products in their hand. And as most people know, a lot of physical products are not even available anymore. So it’s just one of those things man.
YKIGS: You’ve worked with so many talented artists in your time in the industry. But who is an artist you haven’t had a chance to work with yet you’d like the opportunity, name some.
MC: It’s a few. I know Justin, we talked a few times before, but we never got it in. I think Justin’s really dope, we never got it in. I’ve met Beyonce quite a few times before, she’s good people, she had a warm spirit to her. I mean who else…I feel like me and Mary, I don’t even know how that hasn’t happened! But it is what it is, I don’t even know how that hasn’t happened, but if it’s meant to be it’s meant to be. Mariah’s dope and everything, so it’s quite a few people, but I have been blessed to work with a lot of people that I’ve really wanted to work with. I mean El DeBarge, that’s good for me, Brandy was big for me, Lalah Hathaway, that’s big for me. To go from listening to these people and then you’re really working with them and help shape what they’re doing, their next albums. It’s crazy.
YKIGS: One thing I wanted to ask you about is on a lot of your hits, you’re credited as the main producer and also the songwriter, which is rare in this day and age for a producer to do the writing on a track as well. So where did you develop this talent for writing in addition to producing.
MC: Well I’m actually a writer first. I’m a writer first.
YKIGS: So tell me about how you developed that talent in writing?
MC: I don’t know man, it’s a gift from God. I have a way with words, but it’s a gift from God.
YKIGS: So when you’re putting a song together, writing a song, how long does it take you to put it together? Because I’ve heard a wide range from artists.
MC: It depends, I wrote “I Wish” in 20 minutes, I wrote “Full Moon” in two or three weeks. *Laughs* I was writing a line a day, and wasn’t doing anything else.
YKIGS: *Laughs* Oh wow that’s crazy, but it came out good, so the hard work paid off!
MC: Yea I mean so that’s why no one can tell me if it don’t come right away, it’s not a joint or whatever, because I can dispel that theory.
YKIGS: As a producer, over the years as technology has changed, has this forced you to make changes to your production style, or have you stuck with the same method?
MC: Oh yea, I had to go take a class. My primary production machine before was ASI-10. A couple of years ago, it was one year when I didn’t have any records out at the time, and a lot of people were probably like what’s going on with me. I got married, had my first daughter, but a lot of that too was I was switching over to using Logic, and I kinda had to go cold turkey so I could get on it foreal. But you’ve got to man, you’ve got to keep up. With the Dwele record, no one would have known what I did it on. Even when I was using my ASI-10, a lot of people thought I was using ND because I come from a hip hop background, I grew up in that era, I grew up when your drums had to be right, you just couldn’t rely on 808. So I grew up listening to all of that and with the drums crazy from Pete Rock to A Tribe Called Quest to even my man Mark Sparks, who actually started Soulife, he was one of the people who started Soulife, he did “Shoop” for Salt-N-Pepa but he was doing hip hop records too like Grand Puba. So just being around all of that, being exposed to that and the basis of everything, the drums had to be hot or you weren’t placing no records. YKIGS: You mentioned earlier you did some songs with Carl Thomas, you did some recently with Anthony Hamilton. What other artists have you been working with recently and scheduled with for the future?
MC: Obviously Carl, me and Dave going back in. I think I’m supposed to sit down with LaToya Luckett soon. I know a lot of people that people probably just wouldn’t even know I know, or expect I know. Me and Teedra Moses we probably finally going to do something, Teedra is an incredible artist, and I’ve been knowing Teedra since I’ve been out here. My mind is drawing a blank because things just be happening so fast but I stay pretty active. Not only that, I placed records overseas, I’ve got records out in Japan, South Africa, on different artists, Belgium, doing stuff, getting into doing commercials, filming, T.V. You’ve got to use all of that to your advantage and me being in L.A. kinda helped me out. YKIGS: How are you perceived within the industry in terms of when an artist is looking for a hit, do they come to you? Like do their people come to you like “Alright we need a hit, let’s go to Mike City.” Does it work like that?
MC: I mean I don’t know if it’s per say need a hit, I don’t think anyone has a magic touch or wand. I think if they want a record that they think I can get them to feel a certain way, they will come to me. Oh who else I’m working with, a new artist I’m working with on Geffen his name is Shavonte, he’s dope too. Kayla Smith, I’m doing some work with her, she just signed to Interscope, and that’s my man Kenny Smith’s daughter. I feel bad because I know I’m missing someone foreal. It just be a lot of stuff that happens and then we come back to it like “Oh we doing this now, ok.” And then some stuff I can’t get into until it gets solidified.
YKIGS: Has there ever been a time when you were in the studio working with an artist and you felt like almost pressured, like the need to perform extra. I don’t want to stay star struck, but you felt a little nervous, you wanted to do something extra.
MC: Nah, I think the only time I was star struck in the studio is when I first met Stevie Wonder and I was doing a session with him and I was actually just singing on the record with him one night.
YKIGS: Tell me about that.
MC: It was just the best experience ever, it was Stevie Wonder! *Laughs* It was back when everybody had two ways, and I was like “Yo, I was just sitting here with Stevie Wonder!” I was two waying everybody, and everybody hit me back like “Word!” and I was like “No doubt man, I was just here with Stevie Wonder!” But other than that man, it’s just one of those things, I’ve been blessed everywhere I go, I’m like a ghost and a machine, if you don’t know me, you really don’t know me, but the right people know me. *Laughs*
YKIGS: Those are all the questions I had prepared, is there anything else you’d like to add?
Take em to church fellas!!! On this Thanksgiving Day, it's only fitting for me to put a song up like this. This is the definition of a rare gem right here.
As with most albums, I like to listen to the whole thing through a few times and then decide on a favorite non-single that I can share with the site. To be honest, with Ne-Yo's new album the decision was a bit tougher because I enjoyed most of it. It was only ten songs, but at least seven of them I would consider single worthy; and that's excluding "Beautiful Monster." Without question "Telekinesis" is the signature slow jam from the "Libra Scale" album and a great song overall. If you haven't heard a chance to hear the full album yet, I fully recommend it, and it's in stores now.
Thankfully, the super talented Rahsaan Patterson is currently working on a new album which at this time will be called "Bleuphoria." His signature soulful voice is still there, but I'm not sure how to describe the beat he's singing over here; it's a bit different, something you wouldn't associate with soul, but in a good way. In any case, this is good music!
If you're a regular visitor to YouKnowIGotSoul, then surely you must have read more than once I'm the type that enjoys buying an album and immediately opening the liner notes to check the production and writing credits on each song. Well, one name that has consistently popped up on production AND writing credits on major artists albums over the past ten years has been Mike City. It's rare you will find a producer who is also a writer, or vice versa, but Mike is one of those rare talents. Not only that, he's probably produced at least a handful of your favorite joints and you probably don't even know it. In part one of this two part series, Mike talks about his first big hit "I Wish" for Carl Thomas coming two weeks after being kicked out of the studio by Puffy, the timeless brand of music he aims to create in the studio, and working with artists like Carl Thomas, Rell, Sunshine Anderson, Brandy & Donell Jones.
YouKnowIGotSoul Interview With Mike City
YKIGS: First off, can I just get some background on where you got your start in music and how that eventually led to a career in production and writing?
Mike City: I got my start…I’m from Philly and South Jersey. I’m born in Philly, raised in Philly and South Jersey.
YKIGS: What led you to production?
MC: I was always singing in choirs and the band and different stuff like that, playing drums. My interest grew, I come from a musical family so I grew up around it, my mother and father sang, my brother played keyboard and they did all of this extremely well, so I fell in line. By me growing up right around the time when hip hop was jumping off, I caught the best of all of the eras kind of.
YKIGS: Talk to me about the solo album you had in ’98 “City Limits.” From an artistic standpoint, what was that experience like putting that album out?
MC: Well that actually helped everything I’m doing right now. I actually cut that album in ’95, I actually cut that album, I wrote it in ’94 and I cut it in ’95. I was doing that along with my man Grandmaster Slice, my dude, so we did that record down in Miami, had a good time. It was something going on with the label, so it pushed it back a few years and everything and it is what it is. That experience helped me really develop as a producer. I started producing kinda when I got out of high school, I really got into it, but my senior year of high school and getting into college, I was like this is what I wanna do. So I actually went to college as a business major and then I wound up switching over to music. I got a bachelor of arts with a concentration of music, so a lot of people don’t even believe that’s my background.
YKIGS: I think the album you did “City Limits” is a hidden gem, not many people even know about it.
MC: It was on an independent label, I always knew it was going to get to a point where people were combining singing and rapping. That’s why like I said, I did it in ’95, by ’98 people were really starting to do it and everything. When I was conceptualizing the album this was ’94, and nobody was really doing it like that. So that’s my little contribution. *Laughs*
YKIGS: I want to talk to you now a little bit about Sunshine Anderson, I know you did eight songs on her new album “The Sun Shines Again,” and you’ve worked on all of her three albums. So tell me about the chemistry between you guys. MC: Oh it’s just that when we get in the studio it’s a lot of fun and everything, and we’ve known each other since college, actually the year I was graduating was the year she was coming in. Ever since then when we get in the studio, we understand each other in the studio and everything and it’s like we really speak the same language. So it’s like it’s just getting in there and having fun and everything and that’s what I told her with this album, I was like you’ve been away awhile, let’s get in the studio and see if our chemistry is...we’re both older now, got kids, but I said let’s not pay attention to what’s on the radio, let’s go in there and do what we think each other could. Actually, I think this album down the line is going to be considered a classic. I don’t think people kinda get it yet, but I think when it’s all said and done we might be old or whatever it is, but people are going to look at it like that album is crazy!
YKIGS: I love that approach and I believe that’s the type of approach you take is don’t worry about what’s on the radio, just focus on making real good music and music that will be timeless, or like you mentioned, a classic. Is that the mentality you have when you go in the studio?
MC: Yea I mean that’s what I do a lot, obviously on different dance records and stuff I do, I might do a dance thing and put it out there just for whatever that is, but that’s usually my approach with how I rock and get down, and it’s worked for me so for. The thing about it is I’ve had a pretty good, healthy career. A lot of people have been number one and just fell off of the face of the Earth and I kinda like mosied right along. So it’s like I’m not mad at how’s it going down in this game because basically ten years later from my first major hit, I’m still in the game like foreal. So that’s a blessing because the game is real nasty right now so for me to be able to be in the game and get that far, it’s just a blessing. Out of nowhere, the Dwele record came out of nowhere and surprised everybody and that’s independent. So it just feels good man. You can expect to hear me on Anthony Hamilton’s next album, a lot of people probably know me and Anthony, we go way back, he was actually on Sunshine’s first album. So just different things like that man, I’ve been fortunate enough to work with a lot of great artists, I’ve been fortunate enough to work with a lot of great artists more so like even when I’m in the studio, my tolerance level is not really that high sometimes unless it’s just something I’m doing for fun. But I’m usually in the studio getting it in with somebody that’s really thoro.
YKIGS: You mentioned your first major hit and I believe you were referring to Carl Thomas’ “I Wish” which was nearly ten years ago. Do you remember, when you made that song did you think it was going to be a major hit like it was? And what was the feeling like when it started blowing up?
MC: Not at all. When I wrote the song it was a true story to the letter, everything about it was exactly true. Honestly it was my record, it was my joint but my man he was like “Yo, my man Carl Thomas need a joint, you should let him get these joints.” I’m like you know that’s cool and everything, let’s see what happens. That was basically like the last song on the album, and I’m like cool let’s get on the album and everything. It’s just one of those things man, a lot of people don’t know, even though I had met Puff before that, the first time I was up in Daddy’s House, before we got to know each other, I was basically kicked out of the studio. *Laughs* And this was within two weeks of me cutting “I Wish” for Carl Thomas.
YKIGS: *Laughs* What happened?
MC: He was working on an album, I was with a couple of my dudes, and we were trying to get him to play a record. I guess we were throwing off his vibe or whatever. It was all good and everything, to show you how everything works out, from what I understand, he was running and working out and everything, and he finally listened to the record and was like “Yo this joint is crazy!” Because a lot of people thought I was from North Carolina, I was living down there when I graduated college and stayed down there a few years. So he’s like “Yo get your man from North Carolina to cut this joint because Puff has a hit here!” So someone outside of that to be able to come through and do something like that is kind of a feat within itself. I went from getting kicked out of the studio to next thing you know I’m in Daddy’s House Studio, or Sound on Sound, Electric Baby, the Big Sony Room, so it’s crazy. And that wasn’t even my first placement, a lot of people don’t even know this, I don’t even know if they have it on Wikipedia or Google. I actually produced a single on Rappin 4-Tay’s album on Virgin. It was the album after he did the “Playaz Club” and I think the song was called “Money Makes the Man.”
YKIGS: I did my research and I did my digging but I didn’t find that one! *Laughs*
YKIGS: I want to ask you about some work you did with Rell on his album “The Remedy” which is an album that never got released. There is a song you did for him called “Say It Aint So.”
MC: Yea that record was real hot!
YKIGS: Yea, I heard a version of that song later on by Musiq Soulchild and I was wondering if I could get the story behind that?
MC: Did I leak that? I didn’t leak that, how did that get leaked? It was definitely Rell’s first and Musiq cut it later, but it was definitely Rell’s first. It’s just one of those things because they wanted to come out with “If That’s My Baby” first and I was kinda pleading with Jay and Dame to let’s go with “Say It Aint So,” I was like “That’s the one right there, that’s the one!” You gotta go with the powers that be, so it is what it is. YKIGS: I was wondering since the album didn’t release, you kinda just took the song and shopped it elsewhere. Is that how it worked?
MC: Well it wasn’t released, I still own the copyrights. Yea it was just one of those things because I think Rell is so dope. Even right now man, I just felt like that record, the album would have came out, it would have been crazy. But things happen for a reason.
YKIGS: Do you have any other experiences like that where you did a song on an album where you felt like that song should have been the one picked as the lead single?
MC: Oh yea of course. *Laughs* It happens all of the time.
YKIGS: Has there ever been a time where you did a song with an artist and it didn’t even make the album, does that type of thing happen?
MC: Of course, I’m not a…what’s the word…I’m not sheltered from that happening. *Laughs* It happens and that don’t make it right or wrong, that just makes it what it is. I’m not always right but they’re not always right either. The whole thing is subjective and everything. I kinda like my decisions because I go off of what I feel, so I like my percentages in what I do and I feel like I’ve delivered time and time again and that’s the realest thing about it because I’ve felt like that’s kept me in the game because it’s music you can feel and something that people remember you by. A lot of music coming out right now, it could be number one smashes and everything, people don’t care who produced it, it don’t matter. So it’s just one of those types of situations.
YKIGS: I want to ask you about another song you did, it’s the song “Finer Things in Life” for Donell Jones. I talked to him recently in an interview and he produced the whole album except for that one song, and I asked him why, and he said that’s the song he needed to make the album what it was. How does that make you feel that your song was the missing piece for his album?
MC: Oh that’s a blessing, me and Donell, that’s my man too. For him to make sure that I was on the album because I sent him a joint and everything. It was weird because it wasn’t even like he asked me to send him nothing, I just sent him a joint like “Yo I think Donell would sound hot killin this joint.” He heard it and he was like “Yo I want that, make sure that’s mine!” So we just rock like that and everything so I’ve gotten a lot of good response from that. Just like I’ve got two joints on Faith’s album, and I’ve been knowing Faith for over ten years, this was the first time I was on her record, it just happened timing wise, it’s just one of those things. Like I’ve been knowing Mary for awhile so hopefully it just happens on her next album me and her get together. And I don’t really trip on anything because my career is not based on getting on one person’s album. I don’t trip about not being on every album either, because I know that’s how the game is and it shouldn’t be like that. That’s what makes everything good, you’re not supposed to be on everyone’s album all of the time. So it makes it special and everything, I think I could bring a lot to the table. Also I feel like I have the confidence that I could bring something to whatever project, anybody, if it came from that aspect of could you be on somebody’s album, if it’s somebody that I’m into and I feel like could deliver for, I don’t feel like I can’t make no one ten songs on their album. That’s just me, It’s just one of those things. I don’t know if you know this, I was on “8701” with Usher and I was actually scheduled to go onto the “Confessions” album but we just never got in. That’s the one I was really on some like “Mannnn” because I knew what the album was going to be, I knew what it was feeling like when we were doing “8701.” We had talked but sometimes things don’t happen for whatever reason.
YKIGS: So take me through this, you’re talking about Usher and how you wanted to be on that album. When you have an artist in mind that you’re going to work with, what’s the creative process like. Do you tailor a song to a certain artist, how does the whole thing go with the writing and producing, because I know you write as well.
MC: Yea I try to tailor it to the artist, I try to get into the artists mold and tailor it to them. So I try to do that and then just go from there. Like when I was working with Brandy, we were just kicking it and hanging out and I kinda got into a zone that afforded me the energy to know that “Full Moon” was what she wanted and it was going to jump off. That’s one of those things, like her, she’s just an incredible artist, just incredible.
YKIGS: I wanted to ask you about that song actually “Full Moon” when you were working with Brandy. What was that experience like working with her, what do you remember most about it?
MC: We were just having fun. In the studio, like with me and her, we were like sister and brother, we were arguing, but it was all love though. We would literally argue, but it wouldn’t be like no bad blood, it wasn’t like that, it’s just that I know she’s a perfectionist and everything. At the end of the day, I let her do what she needs to do, because I know she knows her instrument, her voice is like an instrument foreal. It was a beautiful experience man. I had the pleasure of working with Jazmine Sullivan when she was 13. She was as dope then as she is now.
YKIGS: That’s interesting that you bring that up that you guys were arguing. Do you ever have an experience where you have an idea in mind for an artist, a direction you want to go, and maybe the artist doesn’t see it like you see it, you kinda butt heads, has that happened?
MC: Oh that’s happened before, but you gotta be open for all types of things so you try anything. I learned this from Dr. Dre, he said basically one time you could try anything, but if it aint right, aint nobody gonna hear it, but at least you tried it! But when I said me and her argued, I’m talking about playful arguing, it’s not like serious or anything like that.
YKIGS: I want to ask you about Carl Thomas, I mentioned “I Wish” earlier, you worked with him on all of his albums as well. Is he one of your favorite artists to work with?
MC: Oh yea, yea, yea, with me and him it’s easy. With certain people it’s just easy. Like with Carl, we get each other and everything, we’re in there, we just doing what we do, and it’s just like “He’s gonna hit this, he gonna hit that.” Like with me and Dave Hollister we be in the studio just having a ball, me and Dave in the studio, we in there chopping it up, playing, and then we be like “Oh wait we gotta cut this record!” God bless the dead it was like that with Gerald Levert too. Gerald would come over, kick it and everything, and he’d be in L.A. and even when we weren’t scheduled to record he’d be like “Yo City I’m in town, come get me!” I’d go get him and hang out, it’s a lot of love man. That’s why I said I’ve been fortunate enough to work with a lot of very talented and influential people. I always show respect, and I get respect, like I worked with Babyface and he showed me nothing but respect and love.
YKIGS: Well I hope you’re working on Carl’s fourth album as well and I hope we get that soon! *Laughs*
MC: I don’t know when it’s coming out, but I’m definitely on it. We got it in a few months ago we were working on some material, he’s gotta make an announcement what he’s doing with the album but I’m excited about some of the records we did and I think Carl definitely he has a fan base, women still riding out to “Emotional.” Even the last record we did independently, it’s some joints on there, I run into people all the time and be like “Yo, that album is crazy.” So it’s like I try to put my best foot forward when it comes to those types of satiations and I feel good at night knowing that I did that.
YKIGS: I mentioned earlier at the beginning that you produced probably my two favorite r&b songs this year. One you mentioned earlier and that’s Dwele’s “What’s Not to Love.” Give me some background on making that song.
MC: I was just in the zone that day in the studio like this is what I want to do and that’s how it came about. Nothing extra special about it, just I was in the zone that day like this is what I want to do, and that’s what came out. The crazy thing about it is I don’t even write everyday because I don’t have nothing to say like that every day, so I try to let the music move me so it will come out. Because it’s like there’s 365 days in a year, you aint writing 365 hits. I separate that too because if it’s a hit that doesn’t mean it isn’t a joint, and I’ve had plenty of records that weren’t hits that are joints. It’s a lot of things that gotta go right for the record to be a hit. A lot of times it don’t necessarily be the song, oh that’s not a hit. A lot of things gotta go right for the record to be a hit.
This past weekend I had the pleasure of seeing r&b legend Chaka Khan performing live in the Bronx at the Paradise Theater. The show was opened by Atlantic Starr who did a great show and got a great reception, but Chaka really brought the house down from the minute she stepped on the stage; you could tell the fans LOVED her. I'm talking people singing along, to dancing in the aisles, to shouting their love for this woman. Safe to say, her show did not disappoint one bit either as she went through some of her biggest hits from over the years. Below check out some footage I took of six of her songs.
1) I Feel For You 2) Aint Nobody 3) Stay 4) Everlasting Love 5) I Feel For You (Remix) 6) Angel
When it comes to hip hop's elite, one name that is not mentioned by enough hip hop heads is AZ. Most of the time he gets overshadowed by his former partner Nas, who he came up with back in 1994, although the quality of their music over the years has been strikingly similar. To his credit, and as he discusses in this interview, AZ learned to get past the frustration of not getting mainstream recognition and has consistently managed to put out quality music for over 15 years now. He's someone I will always respect for not making commercial singles just for money, and for that reason in my humble opinion he remains a true hip hop legend.
YKIGS: Being in this rap game nearly 20 years, how does it feel to still be here when most of the people you came up with are nowhere to be found?
AZ: *Laughs* Pardon me for laughing, but I’ve been in the game 15 years. Those I’ve been around, they gone, the one fairly missed God bless the dead is B.I.G. But I mean Nas still around, Jay-Z still around, Mobb Deep still doing what they do, Wu Tang is still alive and doing what they doing. But it feels good to still be here and do what I do.
YKIGS: So you’re going to be releasing this “Doe or Die” 15th Anniversary edition pretty soon, what made you decide to put this out?
AZ: Well I was really working on “Doe or Die 2” and I just didn’t want to speed it, and I know that most of the music I did it stays relevant so I said you know what, let me just build this bridge between my last album and “Doe or Die 2.” And when I was working on “Doe or Die 2” it hit me that October was 15 years that I’ve been doing this and I was like wow. I was already releasing songs periodically through the summertime and I said you know what, let me just take a couple of songs off of “Doe or Die” and remix them and throw like five new songs and put out the 15th Anniversary just to keep the fans pleased and hopefully get some new fans at the same time, and that’s where we are at.
YKIGS: If you were say to release this “Doe or Die” album, say you were just starting your career today and you released the original album today, what do you think the reception would be like from fans of hip hop today? Do you think they would understand it?
AZ: Well I mean it’s a new era so I don’t think they’d digest it. Back then, New York had its foot on the game and it was about lyrics and beats and things of that nature back then. Not to take nothing from now, but right now it’s a different era, different fan base. So if I was to put that album out now, I don’t think it would really touch the peoples as it did then because the minds are different and the fans are different. But if we were rating it as far as music and lyricism, I’m sure I’d get the same love.
YKIGS: I definitely agree. You’re working on the “Doe or Die 2” album, how far along are you with that project?
AZ: Well I have a few songs so I’m just going to stay recording and hopefully by the summertime release “Doe or Die 2.” So I’m recording and recording, aint no stamped date on it yet.
YKIGS: I was reading that you had hoped to enlist some really big name producers on the project like Kanye, Dr. Dre, DJ Premier, and also the original production team from “Doe or Die.” Have you been successful with lining those up? AZ: I mean everything is cool, all of them people is working as far as Kanye and Dre, they getting ready to drop albums and all of that. Pete Rock is on board, that’s like family, I got a lot of music from him already, and those that was already on “Doe or Die” I got music. So as far as the producers that I want, it’s just in motion right now, but the fact that I’m not rushing this album “Doe or Die 2” I’m sure I’ll be good by the time I release it.
YKIGS: You released the video for “Feel My Pain” over the summer. What was the reception like on that song?
AZ: Oh man I got a lot of love, a whole lot of love and I appreciate the love I got. And I just got finished wrapping up “Gimme Yours” video over the weekend, I’m going to release that this week coming so I’m just gearing up for that.
YKIGS: Is that a new version of it?
AZ: Yes a new version, 2010 of “Gimme Yours.”
YKIGS: So we’ve mentioned you’ve been in this game for a long time now, what keeps you hungry and motivated to still deliver such quality music?
AZ: I’m a lyricist at heart for one, for two I love the agme, for three self motivated man and the people that are lost in the game and those peoples that’s still in the game doing it motivates me. So it’s a combination of everything.
YKIGS: Many consider you a legend and one of the greatest rappers ever, but from my view it never seems like you get the credit you deserve in terms of record sales or anything. Does this get you frustrated and did it ever push you to the point where you wanted to just give up rapping?
AZ: Nah, like I said it’s the love of the game. Me being underrated was back then a title they gave me like in the middle of my career, and it was like wow, everybody is popping and doing they thing and wow, my music is not getting rated and played as much. But I understood the business part about it and a lot of these people that are on the top of the list had a machine behind them, and I kinda more or less was dealing with a lot of labels that were cool, but not real grounded in hip hop as Def Jam or the other labels that were. When I got the title, me being underrated, then it was a little frustrating, but like I said when I figured out the dynamics to me now it’s about doing what I do and stay pleasing my fans. I’m cool with it, I don’t even care now because that title, you get it, you get it taken from you, this that and the third. It don’t mean nothing being the baddest and all that.
YKIGS: Last year you released two mixtapes in “Legendary” and “G.O.D. (Gold, Oil & Diamonds).” How come you classified these as mixtapes and not albums because it was all original material?
AZ: Because they were like…my mindset was mixtape and I did both of those albums in one day, kinda, sorta. So I didn’t put that much love…when you hear this “Doe or Die” 15th Anniversary, you feel the love and hear the love. When you listen to albums that I say albums, you kinda feel the love. Like these was just like wreck, I was catching wreck on them, writing as soon as I heard the beat whatever come to my mind and just wreck. So you’ll hear the difference when you listen to something I call an album, but those are considered mixtapes.
YKIGS: On these mixtapes, and on a lot of your albums over the years, I’ve noticed you’ve used a lot of soul samples on your beats. Was this done by design and are you a fan of old school r&b and soul music?
AZ: Oh yea definitely a fan of old school r&b, but I don’t think it was done by design, it was just the music I picked. I need to feel…it helps me write, so I guess it just happens to come out that way.
YKIGS: In your opinion, what’s your best album?
AZ: Hmmm…the best album is “Aziatic,” to me, “Aziatic” to me is the best album, and “Doe or Die.” “Doe or Die” being my first one, “Aziatic” was just then when I understood what this whole shit was about, I got to that point where I understood what it was about and the love been there, but it just amplified. And from there on I’ve been off to the races.
YKIGS: I would actually choose the “A.W.O.L.” album, I like that one a lot.
AZ: “A.W.O.L.” was gangsta too but I knew what started me into that zone was the “Aziatic.” That put me into that just stay focused and don’t get caught up in the business part and just stay true to my lyrics and from then on, to me, all of them albums, if you listen to “The Format,” “Undeniable,” it’s just been like that.
YKIGS: If you could bring back one rapper who has passed away to collaborate with, who would it be and why?
AZ: That’s a foul question. *Laughs* That’s a foul question! I would bring them all back and do one big collaboration, a song with everybody. All of the hip hop artists that passed I’d get them all on one song and we’d all catch wreck. *Laughs*
YKIGS: You and Nas were always rumored to have done an album together, to be working on an album together years ago. But if you had ever released an album, and we were talking about that album today, do you think we would be talking about one of the best albums ever in hip hop?
AZ: Guaranteed! Hands down guaranteed!
YKIGS: Why do you say that? What was your guys’ chemistry like working together?
AZ: It was automatic, the chemistry was automatic and that was the best part about our friendship was we’d get in the studio and just got into that zone and it wasn’t even a competitive zone, it was a good music making zone. So that’s why all of the songs we ever did was considered classics, all of them, from the ones that never was played on the radio, to those that was played on the radio. It was because of the chemistry.
YKIGS: With the way hip hop has changed so much since you came out, with the quality of the music declining and all of that, do you even listen to any hip hop artists who are out today? And if so, who?
AZ: I mean me being a fan of hip hop, you’ve got to listen to what is going on, and I don’t really study anything, but you listen to the radio and you go on the computer and you go on sites. I like the Wiz Khalifa’s, and the J. Cole’s, and I like Drake, and the artists that just really still got their swag and still a fan of lyrics. At the same time catering to not going too far, just reaching that medium of what’s going on right now, I kinda like them guys, probably a few more, but them in particular.
YKIGS: One thing I’ve admired about your music is you’ve never stooped to any gimmicks, you never really changed up your style too much to go commercial, and you’ve always stayed true. That’s something I’ve always appreciated. Have you ever been tempted to try to do that for the radio?
AZ: Even when I try to make those songs, it still came out with that type of lyrics structure, that’s as far as I would go, I don’t know how to do anything else so I don’t think my mind ever adjusted. Pop is just popular to the masses, that’s what pop means, so to be popular to the masses is having your music out there and playing consistently. Anything can be considered pop when it’s playing on the radio 20 times a day, anybody’s record from anybody. That’s how gangsta rap got to this level and got titled because that was all being produced and pushed out to the masses and that was popular at one particular time and a lot of people capitalized off of that. But then you know rap switched so much, you go through different seasons. YKIGS: From all your years in the industry, if you could go back and change anything, would there be anything you would change and why?
AZ: Nah, everything is good, everything is designed the way it’s designed, I have no qualms with it. As long as I am able to just do what I need to do and want I want to do and take care of my family and have a clear mind at the end of the day, I’m cool and that’s where I’m at with it. I wouldn’t change anything.
YKIGS: As you continue to release albums and get older, do you see yourself giving up rap at any time, or is that just in the distant future?
AZ: I’m always going to write music, that’s what I love, music, so I’m never going to really stop. Stop putting out music? I don’t even really see no need to right now the way the internet is and to see…it’s not the same marketing plan as before to get music sold and all of that, so I don’t know. I know I took myself out of rap itself, like just the whole structure of it, so my mind is totally different right now, I just do music right now because I love it. I’ll put it out, if I don’t put it out it’s cool, so it’s not even a matter of I aint doin this shit no more, I’m going to do this because I’m my own man, I put out my own music, I’ve got my own distribution company and things of that nature. So it’s like I’m not looking for a deal, so it is what it is, if I do I do, if I don’t I don’t, but I’m not thinking about it.
YKIGS: Besides recording and doing shows and all of that, could you see yourself doing anything else, even getting into the business side like developing artists?
AZ: Well I’m developing artists as we speak, I’m never going to stop performing, performing is a whole nother level of the game, I love performing, so I’m always going to do that. The business part is growing on me, and I’m even going to start with the movies, start doing a few movies in a minute, that’s the next part of the game. So that’s where I’m at.
YKIGS: That’s all I had prepared, is there anything else you’d like to add?
AZ: Everybody go get that “Doe or Die” 15th Anniversary, it’s crazy, five new songs, five other songs from “Doe or Die” remixed. You will hear the love in it and it’s worth go getting. And get ready for that “Doe or Die 2,” I’m cooking it up. I’m here, I aint going nowhere.
Both of these songs are remixes of the original versions that appeared on AZ's debut album "Doe or Die" in 1995 (the original lyrics were kept). He's one of the few hip hop artists I'm still a fan of, and his lyrics sound just as fresh as when he first came out. Both will appear on his upcoming "Doe or Die" 15 Anniversary Edition coming next week.
Here is footage of I took of Teedra Moses performing at S.O.B.s in NYC as part of the RnB Side party hosted by Kiss FM. This was my first time seeing Teedra live and I was not disappointed at all. In fact,the way she connected with the crowd was amazing to see and her great personality really showed through between songs. The place was sold out and it seemed like everyone knew the words to each song she performed. Click "Read More" for the last two videos. Click Here for Part 1.
5) No More Tears 6) Caught Up 7) You'll Never Find 8) You Better Tell Her
Here is footage of I took of Teedra Moses performing at S.O.B.s in NYC as part of the RnB Side party hosted by Kiss FM. This was my first time seeing Teedra live and I was not disappointed at all. In fact,the way she connected with the crowd was amazing to see and her great personality really showed through between songs. The place was sold out and it seemed like everyone knew the words to each song she performed. Click "Read More" for the last two videos.
1) You'll Never Find 2) Take Me 3) Take It Away 4) R U 4 Real
If are you reading this interview and not familiar with the artist Jazzy, consider this a formal introduction. You will be glad you took the the time to get to know her again because she's definitely coming with a sound that's missing these days in music. During this interview, we discussed her roots in music and influences, what she's been up to since she last released music in 2005, singing background for Melanie Fiona and touring with Kanye West, and the plans for her upcoming album which will consist of remakes of songs from classic r&b artists.
YouKnowIGotSoul Interview With Jazzy
YouKnowIGotSoul: I want to start from the beginning if I could, when did you first start singing and when was it you realized you wanted a career in music?
Jazzy: I first started singing, I was young actually I was two or three. I come from a family where a lot of my family does music, my grandmother sang with…I believe her name was Marian Anderson, I’ve said this so many times and now I feel like that’s not her name! *Laughs* My grandmother sang, my uncle plays every instrument, so does my dad, I just come from a very musical background. So I was young when I started singing. When I knew I wanted to sing though I was like 12, 12 or 13, and I knew I didn’t want to do anything else. I wasn’t very outright with my talent, I was extremely shy about it, but for some reason I was like this is what I wanted to do.
YKIGS: Who were your influences growing up musically?
Jazzy: Growing up, Robert Flack, I listened to whatever my mom listened to. Roberta Flack, Anita Baker, she’s still a big influence, Lauryn Hill, who else did I listen to? I listened to a lot of male groups like The Temptations, I listened to The Isley Brothers. Now it’s a little different, but growing up I listened to a lot of them.
YKIGS: You mentioned you were a little shy with your talent, do you remember when you first started performing?
Jazzy: Well, I had a performance at the church choir, I was…I might have been ten. I sang in choirs my whole entire life, but I didn’t sing solos in my choirs, I just sang in them. So my choir director found out that I could actually sing past the group so she wanted me to have a solo and I believe I was ten and I had a church solo and I sang my entire solo with my back to the congregation, I watched her the whole time! So I went up there, grabbed the microphone and turned around and sang the whole time. And everybody was like when church was over they were like “You sounded so good, we just wish you would have looked at us!” I wouldn’t look at them to save my life!
YKIGS: So how were you able to overcome that?
Jazzy: I guess from growing up, growth, and because this is what I do, I’m not shy anymore, not at all. I’m very outspoken, as far as being afraid of people, I think it takes a lot of courage to get on the stage period, so anybody that would have anything to say about that wouldn’t necessarily scare me. I just would feel like they don’t understand what it takes to get up there, so it makes me a little more confident.
YKIGS: I was reading in your bio you formed a songwriting due “The Write Chix.” Where would you say you developed your talent for writing music?
Jazzy: I always wrote, but it was more like poems, I didn’t understand writing format, anything like that. I didn’t know I was a writer until somebody actually told me. I had wrote a song, recorded a song, but in my mind it was like I’m an artist, so I wasn’t combining the two, I wasn’t like “Oh I’m a songwriter and an artist.” I just happened to know how to write, but didn’t understand the talent because I was kind of young and I was like “I just write, I can’t write a song.” But it was more in a poem format than it was anything else. But I was young, I was probably like 15 or 16 when I was like “Oh, this is a song? Ok, cool!”
YKIGS: So as you got older and started writing more, where would you say you drew your inspiration from?
Jazzy: It depends, it’s really a lot of times I’m inspired by the music or whatever. When I hear a track, or something is produced around me, however that part of the music is, it kind of inspires whatever I write. So it could be something that makes me feel like this sounds like, you know, fighting, or this sounds like running, whatever it makes me feel like, then I just write based on that.
YKIGS: I know you released your mixtape, “Beauty and the Beat” mixtape, earlier this year. How do you feel the reception was from fans?
Jazzy: It was good, it’s really interesting because now I still get people every day that are like “Yo I just found out about you, a friend just told me about you.” So it’s still getting a lot of good feedback. I was excited about it, I was just excited to give my fans something else because I haven’t released anything since 2005, so I was really eager to give them something. Then I was really, really, really, really happy that they stuck around, because I’m not signed, so it’s just interesting. I know it’s more of an independent game, but they stuck around and waited. The little snippets that I would release, they were loving those, so I was happy that they waited for me to release something.
YKIGS: So would you say your goal through the mixtape was to get your name out there again and put something out there for your fans again, like to reintroduce basically?
Jazzy: Yea more or less, it was more so for them than it was for me because other things that I’m working on now are more for me. I know that it’s going to get a lot of positive feedback but now it’s like I’m being a little bit more selfish whereas that was just strictly for my fans. I knew that there were songs that they wanted that I hadn’t released that had been leaked that they couldn’t get, so it was just putting something together for them to have something to listen to. Yea to get my name out there, of course to do all of that, that kinda goes without saying a little bit.
YKIGS: You mentioned you hadn’t put anything out since 2005, how come you’ve had such a big gap in between?
Jazzy: I started doing other things, still music related, but just different things. The album I did in 2005, I rode that until ’07. I was songwriting with my writing partner, we got a publishing deal, so I was doing a lot of songwriting, more focusing on that than focusing on me as an artist. Then I sang background for Melanie Fiona in that time period, so I just was doing a lot of other things rather than recording for Jazzy, I was recording for everybody else, or working for everybody else. In that time period there were songs recorded but the thought of putting out an album wasn’t anything I had even thought of during that time.
YKIGS: Was there ever a point where you thought maybe you weren’t going to work on another album for yourself?
Jazzy: Never. I knew. My thing is timing. I try not to rush anything because I like stuff to be kinda organic, so I wasn’t in a hurry. I wanted to do something, but I was like it will present itself and it will be right, and that’s what happened. So that will never take the backseat completely, it will always kinda be around. Even when I wasn’t recording for me, I was still doing shows, I was still around doing stuff, so it will never completely take a back seat.
YKIGS: You mentioned singing background for Melanie Fiona earlier. Tell me about the experience you had on tour when you were on Kanye West’s European Tour?
Jazzy: It was amazing to say the least. Creatively to watch what he put together, a show that he had been touring for I think that might have been maybe the 2nd year that he was doing “Glow in the Dark,” I know he did it for awhile so that might have been the 2nd leg of that tour. And to see the intensity and the fashion that he had constantly every single night performing that set, the feedback that he got from the crowd, the love that he got over there was insane. And just being a part of Melanie’s growth experience, that was her first major tour, with Kanye, that’s incredible. So it was just a lot of…I got to be a part of a lot of different things as well as my own experience. So I got to see what it was like on the road, because that was my first major gig, so that was something that I just found really, really amazing, I was blessed to be a part of it, I loved it every moment.
YKIGS: Tell me what was a lesson you learned on that tour.
Jazzy: That you can never be too prepared because you are going to hit a lot of road blocks but she had a good team around her and we were really supportive of everything that happened on the tour good or bad. So we were able to, because we rehearsed and we were so prepared, we were able to just fly over everything smoothly. If something came up, it wasn’t too big of an obstacle, if it was like a mic problem, we got it because we rehearsed what we were supposed to do if that were to happen. So we were overly prepared and I think that was a big thing that helped with her maintaining a solid show every night.
YKIGS: Now I want to talk to you about your upcoming album “Letters to a King.” What can you tell me about that?
Jazzy: I’m not even really calling it an album, I mean it is an album but it’s just a body of work. Its’ not original, it’s a remake project that I’m doing, an idea that I had from a picture that I saw that just kinda inspired this idea of doing a love compilation of classic remakes from artists like Diana Ross, Roberta Flack, Minnie Ripperton. I love older music so it’s a good representation of me, it will be a good fusion. I’m working on that now, working on a couple of things behind it as far as visuals because I think that it can be a good situation for me as far as music is concerned. It’s something different and I think it will be something really fresh, and I think that my generation will really love it, so I’m excited about it.
YKIGS: What’s the expected release on that?
Jazzy: It will be before the first of 2011, so sometime in December.
YKIGS: Where will that be available?
Jazzy: It’s going to be only downloads available, so it will be on my website. YKIGS: To someone who hasn’t heard you before and is listening to your music for the first time, how would you describe your style?
Jazzy: It’s r&b, it’s not…I always have to say it’s not Keyshia Cole, Mary J. Blige r&b. It’s more reminiscent, if I had to pick an artist, it’s more along the lines of Aaliyah meets Destiny’s Child, but “Writings on the Wall” album. It’s fresh but it’s not too dated, it’s a little progressive in regards to some of the stuff I’m talking about, and some of the sounds and stuff that are being used production wise, but it’s very familiar. So I think that’s what helps me kinda reach different people because it is familiar, it has different familiar elements as far as the r&b sound but it’s definitely not pop/r&b I don’t think, but it’s not straight soul/r&b.
YKIGS: Who are some artists you’d like to collaborate with in the future?
Jazzy: I’d love to collaborate with Solange, I like her writing style a lot, I think she’s amazing. Who else? Pharrell, I love with they do over there as far as N.E.R.D. is concerned, I like him a lot so I think he’d be dope to collaborate with. More producers than it would be artists. It’s different people, but more producers than it would be artists.
YKIGS: You mentioned this album you are going to be releasing isn’t an actual album and it’s remakes, so when do you see yourself releasing an album of original material?
Jazzy: Probably sometime in 2011, maybe middle of the year, like summertime.
YKIGS: That’s all of the questions I had, is there anything else you’d like to add?
Jazzy: Just I guess my Twitter and my website. You can find me on Twitter at twitter.com/OhJazzy and my website is www.IAmJazzy.com. We’re actually going to do a re-launch of the website, I believe we’re trying to do it this weekend, so it should be a new layout and stuff for the site this weekend, so that should be pretty cool.
