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John Legend

John Legend

Interview
Interview: John Legend On Latest Album, World Tour john-legends-musical-and-personal-ascension

John Legend's Musical And Personal Ascension

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The GRAMMY winner reveals how he grew into 'Darkness And Light,' co-writing with Miguel, and life on the road with his daughter
Nate Hertweck
GRAMMYs
Aug 30, 2017 - 4:38 pm

Life is good for John Legend. The GRAMMY winner is in the middle of world tour in support of his fifth studio album, 2016's Darkness And Light, this time with his wife, Chrissy Teigen, and 1-year-old daughter, Luna, in tow. Legend is also showing his versatility as an actor/producer (La La Land), film/TV composer ("Master Of None," Fifty Shades Darker), and now the multitalented singer/songwriter has launched his own production company, Get Lifted Film Co.

Legend took a breather from his tour to visit our headquarters in Santa Monica, Calif. With a big, warm smile, he talked about his latest single, "Penthouse Floor," his personal growth as an artist, the roster of talented collaborators on new album, family life on the road, and more.

John Legend On His Growth As A Songwriter

Your latest album is Darkness And Light. Can you tell us about the new single, "Penthouse Floor"?
The single "Penthouse Floor" features Chance The Rapper. The song is about the idea of upward mobility and what it means to strive to make it to the penthouse, but also to remember what you left behind. As someone who grew up in a working class neighborhood in Ohio, small town, I had dreams of being an artist, I had dreams of being successful [and] being a leader. But I never wanted to forget where I came from, and the song is really about the idea of ascension, the idea of upward mobility, but also the tension that one might feel reaching that level, and also knowing there's a lot of people from our neighborhood or from our community that are left behind.

It's evident from track one of Darkness And Light that this your most reflective piece of work. Why do you think that is?
I think this album is my most personal album, and I think I matured a lot as a writer and as a person and having just gotten married and had a baby. I think all of those life circumstances gave me more perspective. Also, just my perspective as an activist has kind of matured as well. I think the way I approached this album was to try to tell all those stories and encompass all that I am in the music in the most honest way that I could. I think a lot of the album is about being uncertain and not knowing exactly what the future is going to bring. It's about striving and struggling for greatness and for justice and for love, and being a bit uncertain that you're going to get there. 

John Legend promotional photo

Photo: Elliot Van Hazel

How does this album differ from your previous albums?
I'm the same artist that I've been all those years, but I think you evolve and you grow, and like I said, I've grown personally and also collaborated with some new people on this album. Some of the recording approach was a little bit different. I've only made two albums with the same band throughout the album. One was with the Roots, [the] album called Wake Up, and this album with the same rhythm section throughout pretty much every song, and Blake producing every song. So this is only the second time I've done something like that as a recording process. I think the result of that is a more musically cohesive album, and I think you feel the collaboration of the musicians in a way that is a bit different from some of my other albums that weren't as consistent when it came to the rhythm section and the live band.

John Legend Wins Best New Artist

What is the difference between writing music for yourself, for your own album, and writing for a film?
Well, composing for film is different because it feels like more of a specific assignment, which actually makes it easier when it comes to the writing process because you know where you're going, whereas when you're writing your own album, it's pretty much a blank slate. You could write about anything, and that range of choices can actually be more difficult than just being able to directly say, "Well, this is for this particular scene, and this film is about that, and I know what the character's motivations are, and I know the feeling of the film at that moment." It gives you a little more direction when you're trying to compose and actually makes it a little bit easier to write, and I've had some good results collaborating with filmmakers and coming up with song ideas that fit the moment of the film that we're working on. We'll have a few more of those come out next year too, but it's been fun collaborating with the film community. And of course now I have a production company that produces TV and film. I've had the chance to work with a lot of great filmmakers and storytellers, and that collaboration between music and film is really a lot of fun.

Can you tell us more about the tour you've been on?
Yeah, so I've been touring in the States over the late spring and early summer, and now we're heading to Europe for the fall. We'll be in Europe in September and October, and then we're going to go to South Africa in November, we just announced those dates as well, so that's exciting. The Darkness And Light Tour has been going really well. Bringing the music to the stage is always fun and connecting it with the audience is always fun. It's been a really fun tour and I think the best tour of my career as far as the creativity and the visual design and everything that we've done with it. So hopefully people get a chance to check it out if they haven't already.

Any memories from this tour that stick out?
We've had some great moments. This is the first tour with my daughter so we brought her on the bus pretty much the whole time, and that was fun. Luna's first tour went well! And we really had some great shows, great audiences throughout the country and we're looking forward to taking it overseas now.

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Watch More: Julia Michaels Goes Behind Her Song "Issues"

Best New Artist winners

Photos: WireImage.com

Video
Rewind: Best New Artist GRAMMY Winners mariah-carey-carrie-underwood-sam-smith-best-new-artist-grammy-rewind

Mariah Carey, Carrie Underwood, Sam Smith: Best New Artist GRAMMY Rewind

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Time travel through GRAMMY history and revisit the fresh faces of Best New Artist winners
Nate Hertweck
GRAMMYs
Jan 11, 2018 - 6:28 pm

Each year, one GRAMMY is awarded to recognize music's most promising new talent in the coveted Best New Artist category. Over the years, budding superstars such as Bette Midler, Natalie Cole, John Legend, Mariah Carey, Christina Aguilera, and Maroon 5 have taken home the honor, with all since enjoying long, prolific careers.

Rewind: Best New Artist GRAMMY Winners

Just as the other three major GRAMMY categories — Record Of The Year, Song Of The Year and Album Of The Year — recognize those involved in an outstanding recording, composition, and collection of recordings respectively, Best New Artist celebrates the outstanding work of a new artist during the eligibility year.

How do we know who qualifies as a "new artist"? The category has arguably the most complex set of rules out of all 84 GRAMMY categories, but essentially a new artist is defined as any performing artist or established performing group who releases, during the eligibility year, the recording that first establishes the public identity of that artist or established group as a performer.

While the nuance of eligibility for Best New Artist has caused some confusion in the past, the implication of the honor is clear: this artist has arrived.

The Best New Artist has been awarded since the 2nd Annual GRAMMY Awards when Bobby Darin won for 1959. Darin also took home Record Of The Year honors for "Mack The Knife," setting a high bar for the dozens of Best New Artist winners who have followed in his footsteps.

Since then, the Best New Artist recipients have spanned the likes of the Beatles, Carpenters, Rickie Lee Jones, Sheryl Crow, Alicia Keys, and Sam Smith, to name just a few. Last year's winner, Chance The Rapper, earned seven nominations for the 59th GRAMMY Awards, adding wins for Best Rap Album and Best Rap Performance to his Best New Artist trophy.

Who will be crowned this year's Best New Artist? Tune in to the 60th GRAMMY Awards on Jan. 28 to find out.

Here Are This Year's Contenders For Best New Artist | 60th GRAMMY Awards

112 group portrait

Photo: Courtesy of eOne Music

Interview
112 Return With New Album, Talk Biggie And More rb-royalty-112-talk-diddy-biggie-whitney-brand-new-album

R&B Royalty 112 Talk Diddy, Biggie, Whitney & Brand-New Album

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The GRAMMY-winning quartet takes us inside 'Q Mike Slim Daron' and shares stories about the Bad Boy family, Whitney Houston and more
Nate Hertweck
GRAMMYs
Nov 16, 2017 - 10:34 am

As a fixture in R&B music for over two decades, 112 — comprising Quinnes "Q" Parker, Daron Jones, Marvin "Slim" Scandrick, and Michael "Mike" Keith — have made a career of tuning into the frequencies of rhythmic love songs while generating smash hits that resonate on a universal level.

112 Talk New Album 'Q Mike Slim Daron'

When the GRAMMY-winning vocal group headed back into the studio to record their sixth album — their first in more than a decade — they brought an impressive legacy with them. From winning over Sean "Diddy" Combs in a parking lot audition and joining the original Bad Boy Records family to earning the endorsement of the late Notorious B.I.G. and devoted fans worldwide, 112 have proven themselves to be pivotal players in the evolution of R&B. Their latest album, Q Mike Slim Daron, proves the group is still uncovering new wisdom to share on the topic of love, while sending a straightforward musical message of who they are today.

Just hours before their Hollywood, Calif., listening party for their new LP, 112 swung by Recording Academy headquarters in Santa Monica, Calif., to dish on the album's details and tell the real story behind the Bad Boy family, working with Biggie and touring with Whitney Houston.

112 have continued to tour, but why was it important to get back in the studio after over a decade to record a new album?
Jones: Well, just being on the road and being around each other singing [and] being inspired by each other was one of the reasons. But another reason was just running into the fans, and taking pictures, and just kicking it. They would always say, "When's the next album coming?" And just hearing that so many times, you understand that there is a demand for the music, and we were honored [by] that. So we just went ahead and started making some.

"John Lennon said it best: 'You give me a tuba, I'll make some music out of that." And that's pretty much the mantra and the mindset 112 has. You give us two spoons, we'll make some music out of that thing." — Michael Keith

The title of the album, Q Mike Slim Daron, says a lot. How did you arrive at that title?
Scandrick: Well, it was very self-explanatory. On this particular album, we wanted everybody to understand exactly who Q, Mike, Slim, [and] Daron [are]. And you know, on the [other] albums you had one particular person, or maybe two people, who were dominating records. This album right here is probably [our] most well-versed album where you're definitely hearing all four members, and we think that's one of our stronger attributes. You've got four lead singers who can definitely hold their own, and that's pretty much what we [are] doing.

During a recent Breakfast Club interview you claimed you intentionally made this album "as R&B as possible." Tell us about the production process and how the sound of the album came together.
Keith: The production process was really easy for us, because the majority of the producers were fans of 112 growing up. So they already had their interpretation of what they felt like the new album should be. And with them being in the forefront of today's music … it was just a real easy transition. They had the new style, the new sound and 112 had the old-school traditional sound that we're accustomed to doing, and we just meshed it.

Like Q always says, "We're musicians." John Lennon said it best: "You give me a tuba, I'll make some music out of that." That's pretty much the mantra and the mindset 112 has. You give us two spoons, we'll make some music out of that thing. That's the gift that we [have]. To this day, I'm still dumbfounded on how easy it was to get with the producers. And it really was a testament to how these guys looked at 112's situation, listened to our sound, and really were fans and disciples of 112's music. It was just an easy transition.

The new single, "Dangerous Games," explores the complex challenges of relationships, jealousy and adultery in a refreshing, even philosophical way. Where do you guys feel the song stands next to the many hits you've had in the past?
Parker: It's a great addition to the catalog. You think about 21 years of just making great and quality music, and it definitely fits where 112 has been and where we're going. The song is just our take on love. The thing about 112 is we always want to sing about life, love and relationships — the good side, the bad side, the realness of it.

Your music has always tapped into love, human connection and romance. Is technology — texting and social media — making it harder or easier to be romantic now?
Jones: That's a good question. I'll just say it's different. I won't say that it would be easier or harder. But I'll just say it's different and sometimes, over the texts, things can be misunderstood. But at the same time, I think a text message is a great tool, so I respect the advantage of what it is. But I also respect the human connection and being able to just talk to somebody in person. So I think as long as you find that balance you'll be alright. Because technology is good, we love it. But you gotta find that balance between texting and actually talking, because things can get confusing very quickly.

"This album right here is probably [our] most well-versed album, where you're definitely hearing all four members, and we think that's one of our stronger attributes." — Marvin "Slim" Scandrick

After all these years and all the success, what do you think has been the biggest misconception of the Bad Boy family and of Diddy?
Parker: I think one of the biggest misconceptions would probably be the fact that we really are a family. A lot of times people think just because your label makes it, it's just all business. But the Bad Boy artists are really, really family. We can think of instances where we stayed at Faith [Evans'] house. She's come over to cook dinner for us. We've gone out with B.I.G. [Biggie] — he used to give us money to make sure we had food to eat. When Puff [Daddy] would come in and try to rag on us, he'd step in for us.

So on the outside looking in, people could think that we're just label-based, but it really is the Bad Boy family. And it was so evident when we just did that Bad Boy Family Reunion Tour [in 2016]. It was a great thing for the music industry, but also for us as family — just being able to hang out with each other again and sharing the stage together.

Me & my guys @theofficial112 on deck backstage #Boston #BadBoyFamilyReunionTour @officialslim_ @qparker112 @michaelkeith112 @daronfrom112 : @thefamousunkwn

A post shared by Faith Evans (@therealfaithevans) on Sep 24, 2016 at 10:47pm PDT

Biggie always showed you guys a ton of respect. How does it feel to be part of his larger-than-life hip-hop legacy? What do you miss most about him?
Jones: Man, it's incredible. It's an honor. You know, B.I.G. would always just honor us in his music, to the point where other musicians would say, "Man. You know Biggie [is] always talking about you." He had so many different ways of just shouting us out throughout his music. And he was really like a big brother to us. He was one of the first to rap on one of our songs and usher us into that hip-hop wave that was going on at the time. He was like family to us, and it's definitely a huge honor just to be a part of that legacy. Personally, I got a chance to produce for B.I.G. on his album Life After Death, the song ["F*** You Tonight"] with him and R. Kelly, and that was an honor as well.

112's Water Balloon Fight With Whitney Houston

112 toured with Whitney Houston in 1999. Are there any memories from the tour you'd like to share?
Keith: I got the story for you. … It was supposed to be a show in [Philadelphia], right? The show got canceled. 112 was the reason why. She planned, with her dancers, to ambush 112 in a park with water balloons and Super Soakers and all this other stuff. We had a day off before the show in Philly. And she was like, "Hey, guys. Can y'all meet us at the park? We're gonna eat, we're gonna have fun. We're gonna have fellowship. We're gonna sing." They were plotting our demise.

So it got back to us that "Whitney and the dancers are going to get you guys. They're gonna hit y'all with water balloons, Super Soakers, the whole nine, right?" So we was like, "OK, cool." We go to Toys "R" Us, we grab every last Super Soaker, the little 50-cent water guns and everything — just for ammunition. We came ready for war. So we found them, they came with the water balloons and stuff like, "Ah, we're gonna get y'all," and just started wetting everybody. Whitney, she got hit by a balloon and she got sick, so she couldn't sing the next day. That was the reason why she couldn't perform, and we blame nobody but ourselves. We was attacked, man. We had to protect ourselves! (laughs)

'The Bodyguard' Soundtrack: 25 Years After Whitney Houston's Masterpiece

What can fans expect in terms a tour supporting of the new album?
Scandrick: Oh, man, [it will be] very explosive. Right now, if you listen to Q Mike Slim Daron, we have a couple of people on there and one of the big collaborations that we have is between us and Jagged Edge. That was a fan favorite. People wanted to see this. Matter of fact, we wanted to do it. We've been wanting to do it and this time this is our platform. So we put this together and said, "Imagine if Boyz II Men and Jodeci would have done something? Or Four Tops and Temptations?" Well, you know, why not 112? So we wanted to do something very different:  the 112, Jagged Edge tour. We're [going to] put a little twist to it. Not [going to] give y'all any clues, but it's [going to] be something you've probably never seen. It's about to very amazing, so buckle your seat belts, dress up, put on your hard bottles, and get ready.

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Blakk Soul

Photo: Mia K.

News
Rising R&B Phenom Blakk Soul Means Business rising-rb-phenom-blakk-soul-means-business

Rising R&B Phenom Blakk Soul Means Business

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The former aspiring lawyer talks to the Recording Academy about his soulful debut LP, what he learned from the likes of Dr. Dre and Prince and how learning the infrastructure of the music business benefits artists
Nate Hertweck
GRAMMYs
Jun 16, 2020 - 10:14 am

In many ways, Blakk Soul (born Eric Mercer Jr.) accomplished more before releasing his debut album than many music makers do in their entire career. For starters, the Tacoma, Wa., R&B artist's first job in L.A. was working as an engineer for Mike & Keys, who executive produced Nipsey Hussle. Then, he landed management with the highly influential Rapper Big Pooh of Little Brother, and he's already written, sang or co-produced on records from the likes of Playboi Carti, Jake One, Macklemore, Anderson .Paak and Dr. Dre, who gave him a "master class in the whole song creation process" for a solid year and a half. 

With all of his credentials, it should come as no surprise that Blakk Soul's debut LP, Take Your Time, arrives as such a complete package by such a well-rounded artist. He sequenced all the songs and mixed and mastered the album himself with stunning results, landing at No. 24 on the iTunes R&B charts. The album also features guest vocals from Joell Ortiz of Slaughterhouse, Amaal, Cocoa Sarai, and Nana plus multi-platinum producers Wyldfyer, J. LBS, DrewsThatDude, and Symbolyc One. 

While the cascading vocal production and varied themes of personal freedom, strong mental health and a heavy dose of sensuality on Take Your Time reveal an artist with a swagger all his own, the work he put in under Dre's tutelage is abundantly clear in his command for the craft, especially the attention to detail.

"I always like to believe I'm a pretty detailed person, but being around [Dre] and hearing in his ear and the way he doesn't miss anything," he says. "I was like, 'Oh. It gets deep. It can get deeper than this.'"

The Recording Academy went deeper into conversation with Blakk Soul over the phone to hear more about his hot seat experience with Dr. Dre, the making of Take Your Time, his thoughts on the country's current climate of racial injustice, the importance of artists understanding the business side of music, what playing sports has to do with making better records and more…

Coming into your career, was there a moment when you said to yourself, "Music is not only what I want to do with my life, but I think I can make this my livelihood"?

I started off as an athlete. That was my main focus. Along the journey I had some musician friends that really saw a career in music for me before I did, but the ball was live so I was like, "Nah, I want to stay focused on this route." But some things just don't work out like we plan for them to, so it was about my sophomore year in college, I really had to sit and think, "What am I naturally gifted at, that if I were to hone those skills I could probably turn it into something?" And it was always music.

Sure. Was there any crossover there, between sports and music? Did you use any of those skills when you started writing songs?

Oh yeah, absolutely. Even in sports I was always a gym rat. I think the same type of discipline crosses over to my music career. I'm always constantly recording, constantly researching techniques, constantly trying to improve. When I made it into some of the rooms that I've made it in with some of the amazing people that I've been blessed to share space with, that's one of the common denominators I've noticed for everybody that's achieving at a high level, is their ability to eliminate distractions and to lock in and get the task done. I definitely feel like some of those same disciplines crossover.

I love that, from gym rat to studio rat.

Right, exactly.

GRAMMYs

Can you talk about how the relationship with Big Pooh and Little Brother kick-started and ultimately really shaped your career path?

Well, Pooh is really like a big brother. I got to actually work with him first before I met him in 2011. I was, at the time, working with another brother of mine, Kuddie Fresh. He used to be a part of the production group, Tha Bizness. I had just met him at the time and was doing a bunch of demo references. He had went out to a conference in New York and the old manager of Little Brother, Big Dho at the time, was also present at this conference. He got a chance to hear some of the work I had been doing, word got back to Pooh through him. Pooh was working on his Dirty Pretty Things album at the time. Dho basically told them, "This is this kid at Tacoma I heard. Man, I really think we should reach out. He might be what you're looking for sound wise for some of the records for the album." The crazy part about all of that is that first of all, he reached out to me via Twitter.

Now, me being a fan of Little Brother already, I didn't even think it was real at first. He had DM'd me, sent me his number. We had a conversation and gave me an opportunity to do a hook. I ended up doing a hook to the song called, "Free." Then I had to wait a few months to know if it was going to make the album or not and it did. Then the backstory for it was crazy. He was on tour for that album and I got to perform with him in Portland. As we were prepping for that performance we got to talking about the record and he told me he had never actually heard me sing a note before reaching out to me. He was totally going off of the trust and relationship he reportedly had with Dho. That blew my mind. I was just like, "I could have been terrible for all you knew." He said, "Yeah, pretty much."

When I found that out I was like, "That's pretty crazy." And we've just been working since.

And it was through you were connected with Dr. Dre, right? How did you get in the room with him?

I was actually back in Tacoma at the time working on my Never See EP. I ended up running into a producer that told me that he was working with Anderson .Paak on his album, but he wasn't aware that I knew people that we could verify to know if that was a real thing or if it wasn't. That's what sparked the conversation initially. The A&R at the time of Aftermath was also a previous road manager of Little Brother. Pooh reached out to him to get confirmation on whether the situation was legit. It wasn't. But in that conversation the A&R started asking about me. I was fresh off of landing the Macklemore placement, or, the two Macklemore placements on the GEMINI album, and then he had told them I was working on my EP. So he asked him to send him three of what he felt were my strongest records so he can play them for Dre and see what Dre's thoughts were.

Two hours later he calls back and said Dre loved them and wanted me to come down, so I was on the next thing smoking back to L.A. to session up. Excited, all kinds of emotions running high, trying to map out my next move. By the time I got to L.A., he went on vacation for a week so I was on standby. Then one random night while I was at a friend's house, we got the call to come in the studio. I ended up coming to the studio and as I'm walking in the front, he was walking through the back. They introduced me as a songwriter and he was like, "Oh, you write?" And I was like, "Yeah, I do." He was like, "Okay, we going to see you tonight." And he just walks off. I was like, "Oh. Well, okay. Okay. All right. This is interesting."

I had done my research about the Kendricks and 50 Cent and The Game. I've heard their stories about the infamous hot seat. That's essentially where you try to put your skills to the test. He sees if you can create a song from scratch, figure out the concept, and then build it up. I didn't know that that was going to be my night for the hot seat but it turned into that fast. It went well though.

You always got to be ready, right?

Yeah, you got to stay ready. I successfully passed my hot seat experience. Everybody left the room and it was just Dre and I talking and he told me that he really felt that I had a special gift. Man, after that, I worked with him for about a year-and-a-half and just learned. It was like a master class in the whole song creation process. From getting the instruments for the musicians in there to build up the track, the writers, everything all the way down to the mixing. I learned so much. He taught me how to mix on the SSL board.

GRAMMYs

Where did you see the biggest improvement in yourself and in your skills coming out of that year-and-a-half with Dre?

I think I saw the biggest improvement in my attention to detail. I always like to believe I'm a pretty detailed person, but being around him and hearing in his ear and the way he doesn't miss anything, I was like, "Oh. It gets deep. It can get deeper than this."

And also patience. One of the things I learned from working with Dre is if there's a bar that hasn't been delivered right, maybe the vocal inflections aren't right or they're missing the timing, the average person over enough takes is just going to move on like, "We'll just, we'll come back to this." He'll ... if it takes eight hours to get that one bar right, we're going to sit there for eight hours until that bar is right before we move on.

I think that's a testament to the quality of his mixing, the quality of his work, is because his attention to detail and his commitment to making sure that it's right is next level. I definitely took that with me and started applying that to my own processes, and definitely this project for the Take Your Time album. I feel like that was a definite growth in terms of sound, in terms of content, in terms of delivery from my Never See EP to the Take Your Time album.

When did this group of songs for Take Your Time really start to come together? Was it during that time with Dre?

Some of them were during the time, towards the end of that, of my time there. They were just all over. Some I created back home. Some I created in L.A. Really just went off a vibe and whenever I got the music in and try to really take my time and make sure that the conversations were authentic to me. Because I'm a songwriter also, sometimes you can get caught up in just doing generalized content or song structures because you want them to be shoppable. But the beauty of being able to work on your own thing is these stories are true to you, these experiences are true to you, and you can deliver them how you see fit.

I saw on Twitter you wrote, "Mixing my own record is therapeutic," and you mastered the album, too. Can you talk more about the choice to handle the entire process like that as an artist, and tell us what specifically you find therapeutic about mixing?

I started learning how to mix out of necessity. At first, I didn't want to do any of that heavy lifting, but early on when you don't have a budget, it's spending. Before I really had a method or a rhythm to my recording process, I was spending a lot of money making it in the studio and not being really satisfied with the product.

And so I took a vested interest in trying to make sure that I understand what I'm doing, understand the sound that I'm trying to achieve. Then I just told myself from there that I'm probably just going to stick with it until I don't have to. But now, the reason why I posted that is I don't know if there's going to be a time where I feel like I don't want to be that hands on on the project. I feel like now it's just become a part of my creative process because I've been doing it so long this way. And then, not to mention, the gems that I was able to take away from working at Dre's studio is like, it only makes me more excited to really try to achieve the best sound possible. And who better than to practice with than yourself?

That reminds me of how Prince made his records. I saw the tribute you posted on what would have been his birthday and I love what you wrote: "He really advocated for understanding the music business and owning your own material." But that can be daunting for artists, so how were you able to do that in your career, to gain an understanding of the industry that surrounds the music you're making?

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I know that the business side is definitely a turnoff for a lot of creatives. I think for me, personally, the business side has always been my thing because even prior to doing music whole-heartedly or full-fledged, I was on road to becoming a lawyer. I was a pre-law student. I majored in philosophy and minored in international business, but that was all in process of pursuing a law degree.

And so business has always been my interest and ethics have always been in my interest. I don't necessarily detach the two. I'm just as interested to learn about the infrastructure of the music business as I am on learning how to put a great song together.

I know it's not like that for everyone, but I'm definitely an advocate for it because that was one of the things that I drew to from Prince. I remember, Prince spent 23 years of his life fighting for his masters and advocating the importance of understanding publishing and owning your material. Even more recently, Nipsey Hussle, I was privileged with the opportunity to work with Mike & Keys who executive produced Nipsey's whole album and did a lot of his previous Mixtapes. That was my first job when I moved to L.A., was engineering for them.

"I'm just as interested to learn about the infrastructure of the music business as I am on learning how to put a great song together."

Just being around these great people that all advocate for ownership, they advocate for understanding of the infrastructure of the business and being vertically integrated in your brand, these are all things that I took away and that I felt privileged to be able to be in the spaces to learn this information and apply it. I just have a high respect for people that could create that because I see so many people get taken advantage of just because they don't choose to take a vested interest in the business of their own career. It's like, "I get it. I know we're all creators," but that's the thing. If you're going to take it from being a hobbyist to making it a career, you've got to understand both. You have to have a healthy working knowledge of both.

Right now, the fight against police brutality and racial injustice is at the top of the music community's minds and hearts. From your perspective how you describe the current situation and what does change look like for you?

In terms of describing feelings about it, it's a wide range of emotions trying to process all of the things going on because it's happening in real time. I think it's definitely a marathon and not a sprint. I think it's amazing though that it's transitioned from just being a fight that you would only see Black people fighting for to, everybody is tired of this archaic system that's been oppressing people for so long. I think that speaks to just how bad it was.

For a long time it was only people of color and Black people that were fighting for this equality and then that there were so many people that just didn't understand it or, because based on how they grew up or who they grew up with, there was a disconnect. Now I feel like with technology being the way it is, being able to see what was hidden for so long because of media agendas and whatnot, now it's become a world issue and everybody's taking a vested interest in breaking this system down.

I know it's going to be a long fight but I think so much amazing is going to come from this, like amazing art. I know people, as creatives, we feel obligated to try to put something out right now in the middle of the time, but at the end of the day we're all human. We're still processing everything that's going on, we still have our loved ones. We're still in the middle of a pandemic while all of this is going on and dealing with ramifications of that.

2020 has been a wild time. It's been nonstop chaos, but some of the most beautiful things grow after the storm. I think some of the art is going to be amazing that comes from this. I think people are becoming more engaged in the political process, whereas [before] a lot of things were swept under the rug or bypassed because a lot of people never took a interest in understanding how politics work or understanding infrastructure and how they fit in the pie. But now, everybody's looking at everything with a microscope. I think overall, it's going to be to the betterment of the culture and climate. Not just creatives, but I mean everybody.

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Where do you turn to make sure that you're emotionally rested and healthy during such chaotic times?

Man, I think music is that for me. Music is definitely my therapy, is definitely my release. When I'm creating music, when I'm sitting focused on mixing music, it's like my escape for that little portion, a couple hours of work from everything that's going on.

I think it's important because I think some people feel the fight for justice has to be a 24/7, 365 thing, but it's important to take breaks because you're not going to sprint a marathon. It's important to find your stride. It's important to take those breaks and make sure that your energy stays centered because it gets overwhelming. Life in general gets overwhelming. With a lot of the things that we've been seeing it's been a lot of sensory overload. When I start feeling like that, man, I just put Pro Tools on and try to figure out something to create. That usually gives me peace of mind for the day.

You have so many different experiences and talents, and as the cliché goes, "You got your whole life to make your debut album, and just two years or whatever to make your sophomore album." But you could really take your career in any direction you want. What you're thinking about doing next and long term.

Definitely more music on the way. I've been working on another project that's almost done already, actually. I'm working around the clock.

I think my short-term goals is I want to be a successful artist to create a platform that will allow the funneling of information in regards to the music business to make sense for people. A lot of people, it depends on how they see you to be willing to receive the information. You can hear the right information from somebody that you're unfamiliar with, and it may strike you differently if it's somebody you are familiar with. I just understand how that goes and with all the things that I advocate for, I understand that my platform has to be a little bigger for it to really resonate and to stick with the massive. That's my goal.

GRAMMYs

My goal has never really just been to be rich and famous. I just want to be comfortable. I want to make sure my family's taken care of. And then the biggest part of this pursuit is leaving a legacy that impacts people after me, that's always been my thing. I want to create opportunities. I want to create pipelines for independent artists who want to pursue a major situation or who want to eventually stay indie, but understanding what each of those roles come with and understanding what things they need to have in place to make sure that they're handling their business well-roundedly and successfully.

And then being an engineer. Mixing engineer, master engineer is my long-term thing. I can do that until I'm old. When being an artist is no longer a pursuit of mine, I just want to be the guy behind the scenes getting all the cables out, going through the process and mixing all the records.

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J. Ivy Talks Making Music For Social Change, Leading With Love & The Importance Of Supporting Black Artists

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Lucky Daye 

News
Lucky Daye On Making Sensitive Music warning-lucky-daye-makes-sensitive-music-might-make-you-cry-your-car

Warning: Lucky Daye Makes Sensitive Music That Might Make You Cry In Your Car

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The soulful singer/songwriter reacts to the success of his new album with humility: "I'm standing on the shoulders of giants."
Nate Hertweck
GRAMMYs
Jul 10, 2019 - 12:21 pm

Lucky Daye is here to stay. The soulful singer/songwriter may have only just released his debut album, Painted, back in May, but his refreshing sound is turning more heads toward the New Orleans artist every day.

Lucky Daye On Making Sensitive Music

We sat down with Daye in his hometown, backstage at the 25th ESSENCE Fest to ask how he felt about the warm reception Painted is receiving. 

"I feel good, like people are recieving it well," Daye said. "I've been really, really humbled by this whole situation. I know it's not by my power, by my hands, I'm standing on the shoulders of giants."

My debut album, Painted.
Out now https://t.co/ZaHOtOvg7n pic.twitter.com/JH8jIqc71D

— Lucky Daye (@iamluckydaye) May 24, 2019

"I'm sensitive, so my album got a whole lot of sensitivity to it. As a man, that's hard to say. So I always tell people, I tell my homies, I'm like, 'bruh, if you're scared to cry in front of your girl, don't listen to my music in your car," Daye said.

Lucky also spoke about his upcoming tour, performing in the humidity, connecting with his fans and friends through music and what longevity looks like to him.

King Combs On His Star-Studded New EP, His Father's Bad Boy Legacy & ESSENCE Fest

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Some of the content on this site expresses viewpoints and opinions that are not those of the Recording Academy. Responsibility for the accuracy of information provided in stories not written by or specifically prepared for the Academy lies with the story's original source or writer. Content on this site does not reflect an endorsement or recommendation of any artist or music by the Recording Academy.