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Boyz II Men Interview
RnB/Hip Hop | Wednesday 7th December 2011 | Osh
After over 20 years together, Motown’s most successful r’n’b group return to center stage with their new album ‘Twenty’
You are one of the most successful groups of all time and still staying true to who you are, is this hard to maintain?
Nah its not hard to maintain because what we love more than anything is music you know so to be able to sing together is something that we’ve done for many years so it just second nature now. We respect each other and we love how we sound together so the idea that we have as far as music is concerned is the same because we have been sharing the same music for twenty years now so maintaining the integrity of all we embody as a group is pretty easy now. Its always about love you know. Whether its lost love, new sound love, friendship love or pain as long as those types of things still exist in peoples lives there’s always things to write about.
How did you guys meet and how long have you all known each other?
Well we met about twenty years ago maybe longer, we formed the group twenty years ago in ‘89 actually. We meet in ‘88 around about that time, we started singing and by 1991 we signed our first record deal. We all lived in different parts of Philadelphia so we used to meet in a performing arts high school and what we did is create and perform art (laughs), so everything lead up to this point in time but of course we didn’t forecast it!
‘End of the Road’, ‘Make Love to You’ are just some of the award winning hits you have had in your careers how do you come up with the concepts for your songs? Do you all write lyrics?
We wrote 80% of our album but ‘End of the Road’ and ‘Make Love to You’ was written by Babyface. He was the author of those two songs so would you probably have to ask him what the concept was but when he related to us about the songs we felt it was something we could deliver to the best of our ability.
Yeah I know what you mean because I don’t think anybody could have done those songs the way you guys did it..
Its funny that you said that because ‘End of the Road’ was actually written for a group called ‘After 7’ they didn’t do it and they decided that they didn’t want to do the song so when Micheal Bivis from New Edition heard the song he said to us that we should do it so that’s how it came about.
Wow that would have been so weird I don't think that it would have been a big hit as it is if they did it..
Nah I don't think it would have been.. I’m sorry but it wouldn't have been this big (Laughs)
Haha I know what you mean.. you have your own stamp on it.
Yeah exactly I think that the style would have been the same but the nostalgia would have been the same because we were young you know. What do these young guys know about end of the road (laughs) you know what I mean? But people were intrigued by us, the fact that we were so young but still be able to sing such a powerful song.
Your vocals are always on point with the harmonies and everything is so in unison how long does it take for you to rehearse and get it so perfect?
For me personally there’s not a day that goes by that I don’t sing unless I have a really bad soar throat. I sing every single day.. its crazy I don’t even remember how many times during the day I sing. I sing to exercise my voice you know, I think we all do that (in the group) when we come together because we’ve been singing for so long its incredible. Sometimes with a song that we have never sung before, I would start singing the melodie and then Shawn and Nathan would have already picked their part and then before you know it we are singing a three part harmony on a song we have never sung before its crazy!
It must be so amazing...
Yeah it is it amazing, I’m like wow twenty years man.
Lets talk about your new album ‘Twenty’ what is it like going back in the studio and recording?
It was actually fun because we were on the road at the same time so we had shows as well so we would spend a week in the studio then on the weekend we would go on the road and perform three shows, come back on Monday and then work another four or five days in the studio. It took us three months to make because we don’t waste any time when it comes to song writing and producing, its not rocket science you know its like putting rims on a wheel that you already have (laughs) you know putting gas in the rocket and flying (laughs)
What can we expect from this album?
Oh wow honestly there’s a song for every body and a song for everyday. There’s a song on the album produced by Teddy Riley called ‘The Flow’ and when I wake up to that I feel gangsta (laughs). We have another song called ‘Save the Last Dance’ its about saying I know I did wrong, I know I did all these things but I’m asking if you can look inside your heart and just save me with one last dance you know what I mean? Then let this dance be forever. There are so many different songs I don’t how God put it together but I’m happy that he did.
I can’t wait for it to come out its October 17th right?
Yeah it is. Its a double CD we got 20 songs on the whole compilation CD. We have 8 new songs and 8 old re- sung classics on there, then we have 12 brand new Boyz II Men songs. I’m excited you know.
Do you find the music industry has changed a lot since you were dominating the music world in the 90's?
Absolutely it has changed, everything changes Winter, Spring you know you cant really forecast the change itself it is just something that happens, so what you have to do as an artist is maintain your integrity. Most artists change to be more hip hop or r’n’b artists change to almost rappers (laughs) when back in the day you would have rapper that would do 8 or 16 bars on an r’n’b song and now you have r’n’b singers doing 16 bars on a rap song.
You have been around for two decades of music how does that make you feel?
Old! Nah it makes you feel like you have accomplished a lot but also being young and have accomplished so much because we started when we were 15, I would say feeling older but wiser.
Is there an artist that you are really feeling at the moment?
There’s a lot man.. I love Beyonce, Drake, Janelle Monae, Cee Lo Green I’m a big fan of his, Pharrell, Big Sean there’s so many.
Are you working with any unsigned artists that have caught your attention over the years?
You know I’ve heard a few but I’m like if I had time I’d make it so that I would work with them but time is so crazy, its a shame so I wouldn’t want to waste anybodies time.
What is your favourite venue you like to perform at?
Wow there’s a couple, there is a place in Tokyo, The Opera House in Australia, wow yeah in the states I love Amphitheatres especially in the summer because you got a bunch of drunk people dancing around to your music! I also love the Hippodrome in the UK, that’s when we first found out how big ‘End of The Road’ was that’s one of my favourite places also the O2 Arena.
If you were invisible for the day what trouble would you get up to?
A lot (laughs) yeah I would get into rude or mischievous situations but I would definitely rob a bank or two. I am pretty sure I would walk into a couple of places and take as much money as I could and then go and hide some where until I became visible again and spend my money!
Can you give us a Boyz II Men exclusive?
We don’t have any drama you know we don’t get it into anything.. Were pure man we don’t have any dirt.. laughs we like party that’s an exclusive!
Boyz II Men’s new album ‘Twenty’ will be released October 17th on UMTV/ Universal Records
You are one of the most successful groups of all time and still staying true to who you are, is this hard to maintain?
Nah its not hard to maintain because what we love more than anything is music you know so to be able to sing together is something that we’ve done for many years so it just second nature now. We respect each other and we love how we sound together so the idea that we have as far as music is concerned is the same because we have been sharing the same music for twenty years now so maintaining the integrity of all we embody as a group is pretty easy now. Its always about love you know. Whether its lost love, new sound love, friendship love or pain as long as those types of things still exist in peoples lives there’s always things to write about.
How did you guys meet and how long have you all known each other?
Well we met about twenty years ago maybe longer, we formed the group twenty years ago in ‘89 actually. We meet in ‘88 around about that time, we started singing and by 1991 we signed our first record deal. We all lived in different parts of Philadelphia so we used to meet in a performing arts high school and what we did is create and perform art (laughs), so everything lead up to this point in time but of course we didn’t forecast it!
‘End of the Road’, ‘Make Love to You’ are just some of the award winning hits you have had in your careers how do you come up with the concepts for your songs? Do you all write lyrics?
We wrote 80% of our album but ‘End of the Road’ and ‘Make Love to You’ was written by Babyface. He was the author of those two songs so would you probably have to ask him what the concept was but when he related to us about the songs we felt it was something we could deliver to the best of our ability.
Yeah I know what you mean because I don’t think anybody could have done those songs the way you guys did it..
Its funny that you said that because ‘End of the Road’ was actually written for a group called ‘After 7’ they didn’t do it and they decided that they didn’t want to do the song so when Micheal Bivis from New Edition heard the song he said to us that we should do it so that’s how it came about.
Wow that would have been so weird I don't think that it would have been a big hit as it is if they did it..
Nah I don't think it would have been.. I’m sorry but it wouldn't have been this big (Laughs)
Haha I know what you mean.. you have your own stamp on it.
Yeah exactly I think that the style would have been the same but the nostalgia would have been the same because we were young you know. What do these young guys know about end of the road (laughs) you know what I mean? But people were intrigued by us, the fact that we were so young but still be able to sing such a powerful song.
Your vocals are always on point with the harmonies and everything is so in unison how long does it take for you to rehearse and get it so perfect?
For me personally there’s not a day that goes by that I don’t sing unless I have a really bad soar throat. I sing every single day.. its crazy I don’t even remember how many times during the day I sing. I sing to exercise my voice you know, I think we all do that (in the group) when we come together because we’ve been singing for so long its incredible. Sometimes with a song that we have never sung before, I would start singing the melodie and then Shawn and Nathan would have already picked their part and then before you know it we are singing a three part harmony on a song we have never sung before its crazy!
It must be so amazing...
Yeah it is it amazing, I’m like wow twenty years man.
Lets talk about your new album ‘Twenty’ what is it like going back in the studio and recording?
It was actually fun because we were on the road at the same time so we had shows as well so we would spend a week in the studio then on the weekend we would go on the road and perform three shows, come back on Monday and then work another four or five days in the studio. It took us three months to make because we don’t waste any time when it comes to song writing and producing, its not rocket science you know its like putting rims on a wheel that you already have (laughs) you know putting gas in the rocket and flying (laughs)
What can we expect from this album?
Oh wow honestly there’s a song for every body and a song for everyday. There’s a song on the album produced by Teddy Riley called ‘The Flow’ and when I wake up to that I feel gangsta (laughs). We have another song called ‘Save the Last Dance’ its about saying I know I did wrong, I know I did all these things but I’m asking if you can look inside your heart and just save me with one last dance you know what I mean? Then let this dance be forever. There are so many different songs I don’t how God put it together but I’m happy that he did.
I can’t wait for it to come out its October 17th right?
Yeah it is. Its a double CD we got 20 songs on the whole compilation CD. We have 8 new songs and 8 old re- sung classics on there, then we have 12 brand new Boyz II Men songs. I’m excited you know.
Do you find the music industry has changed a lot since you were dominating the music world in the 90's?
Absolutely it has changed, everything changes Winter, Spring you know you cant really forecast the change itself it is just something that happens, so what you have to do as an artist is maintain your integrity. Most artists change to be more hip hop or r’n’b artists change to almost rappers (laughs) when back in the day you would have rapper that would do 8 or 16 bars on an r’n’b song and now you have r’n’b singers doing 16 bars on a rap song.
You have been around for two decades of music how does that make you feel?
Old! Nah it makes you feel like you have accomplished a lot but also being young and have accomplished so much because we started when we were 15, I would say feeling older but wiser.
Is there an artist that you are really feeling at the moment?
There’s a lot man.. I love Beyonce, Drake, Janelle Monae, Cee Lo Green I’m a big fan of his, Pharrell, Big Sean there’s so many.
Are you working with any unsigned artists that have caught your attention over the years?
You know I’ve heard a few but I’m like if I had time I’d make it so that I would work with them but time is so crazy, its a shame so I wouldn’t want to waste anybodies time.
What is your favourite venue you like to perform at?
Wow there’s a couple, there is a place in Tokyo, The Opera House in Australia, wow yeah in the states I love Amphitheatres especially in the summer because you got a bunch of drunk people dancing around to your music! I also love the Hippodrome in the UK, that’s when we first found out how big ‘End of The Road’ was that’s one of my favourite places also the O2 Arena.
If you were invisible for the day what trouble would you get up to?
A lot (laughs) yeah I would get into rude or mischievous situations but I would definitely rob a bank or two. I am pretty sure I would walk into a couple of places and take as much money as I could and then go and hide some where until I became visible again and spend my money!
Can you give us a Boyz II Men exclusive?
We don’t have any drama you know we don’t get it into anything.. Were pure man we don’t have any dirt.. laughs we like party that’s an exclusive!
Boyz II Men’s new album ‘Twenty’ will be released October 17th on UMTV/ Universal Records
