Ahmir Brings R&B The Gift
- From the new album, 'Welcome To My Party' sounds like a bumpin' club track, while 'The Wedding Song' is a romantic ballad. How would you describe the group's style and the general make-up of the upcoming album, 'The Gift?'
'The Gift' is definitely a delicate and deliberate balance of uptempo club tracks and classic-sounding ballads. We pride ourselves on great songwriting and amazing musicianship which has led to an album that is strong in both fast and slow songs.
However, if we had to pick our specialty, it would have to be the ballads. We just love the emotion ballads bring to a listener, as well as to us, the songwriters.
Nevertheless, we like to think we have shown the world that we can do it all on this album and execute our ideas with the best of the industry. The club songs are as good as any 112 track, and our ballads can match up with any Boyz II Men song.
The tracks on 'The Gift' are actually uptempo songs first, and then the slow/mid-tempo ballads. This creates a nice vibe where if you're in a mood to dance, you can just let the first half ride out, and then if you want to mellow it out, you can just start half way through and sit back.
Everyone says their album is fire and has something for everybody, but we actually deliver... no question about that.
- What are your favorite tracks on the album?
Well, we put so much into all the songs that it's hard to say. We each have our individual favortes too, but as a group, we'd have to say that 'Welcome To My Party,' 'The Wedding Song,' and 'True Love' are our favorite songs. However, we gotta mention that 'Watch & Learn,' 'Let's Get This,' 'Donkey,' 'Cloud 9,' 'She's Over Me,' and 'Sure I'd Like' must get mentioned in this answer. Wait... that's almost the whole album! I guess there you go... 'The Gift' is just that good!
- Can you give us some examples of some of your own experiences that influenced your tracks?
We've all been through emotional relationships. We've been hurt, we have hurt, we've loved, we've lost, and we've seen a lot through our own family and friends. It probably would take a book to talk about each of our experiences that have led to the songs on 'The Gift,' but just know that although we're not 'old,' we've lived long enough to tell some sincere stories.
- If you could work with any producers/writers/artists, who would you want to work with most?
Producers: Underdogs, Jermaine Dupri, Timbaland, Tim & Bob, Stargate, Will.I.Am, RODNEY JERKINS
Writers: Ne-Yo, Sean Garrett, Johnta Austin, Bryan-Michael Cox
Artists: Prince, Mary J Blige, Stevie Wonder, Usher, Patti Labelle
Also, believe it or not... we'd love to collaborate with artists in country, pop, and even opera!
- The group has been marked as eligible for a Soul Train Award, scored the 19th best selling R&B/Hip-Hop track of 2006 and is about to release their first album. Where do you plan on going from here?
We plan on being the best selling R&B group of all-time. Sure it's a lofty goal, but we feel you gotta set your goals high if you expect to get anywhere near it.
- Rnbhaven.com is dedicated to 90s R&B music. What are some of the group's favorite 90s artists and tracks?
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Boyz II Men ('It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday'), Luther Vandross, Aaliyah ('At Your Best'), Blackstreet ('Before I Let You Go'), Jodeci ('Love You For Life'), New Edition, Jon B ('They Don't Know), JOE ('I Wanna Know'), Brian McKnight ('One Last Cry').. The 90s had so many great songs and artists.
- Thanks for your time, I must say, it's a pleasure to hear a fresh new sound in the industry. I wish you guys good luck with your future efforts and hope to hear more of you as time progresses.
It was our pleasure... Ahmir... Sing-Sing, Mr. Jones, Big Mike & KC
