Thank You Everyone that has asked questions. I am noticing a trend with the questions that some of them are very personal. I am opening up my life, and I know everyone wants to know the juice or scoop on things, but at the same time positivity, and growth is key, so some of the questions I will answer, but others I will respectfully decline answering. Here are some great questions that I was asked and I will began the process of answering questions with this bunch of questions. I have a show coming up on April 20th at Arlene’s Grocery in New York City, so I feel these questions will prepare the audience better.
Who is My Favorite artist?
My All time Favorite artist is Usher. I began liking Usher when I was in high school. I thought I was cool because I had a car and was able to drive to school. At the time I was playing basketball and before practice a couple of the fellas wanted me to drive to Wendy’s so that we all could eat. I was not going to pass on this opportunity. On the way to Wendy’s. Usher’s song “Nice and Slow” had come on the radio. I just could not stop singing that song. By the time the Basketball team began playing real games, “Nice and Slow was the song that we listened too while we prepared to play. Well let me clarify that was the song I decided to act a fool singing before we played to keep everyone loose. I had the privilege to see Usher in concert when he released his 8701 album. Usher was the headliner with Faith Evans and Nas as his opening acts. That was an awesome concert. I remember seeing Usher come out to sing “U got it bad” at the concert. That was that “it” moment. That was the moment that I became a true Usher fan. I remember telling myself that I wanted to be on a BIG stage like that, with the BIG lights, costume changes, dancers, props, awesome band, and the Big crowd with screaming fans. It was just so electric, how he was able to captivate the crowd.
Musically I grew up liking Michael Jackson, Prince, The Winans, Fred Hammond, and John P.Kee. Besides Usher these are the artist who molded who I am as an artist. I also need to give a special shoutout to Bruno Mars because he is my current favorite with Usher. Bruno’s music is just amazing.
Who would I love to tour with?
It would be great to tour with Usher, Bruno Mars, or Maroon 5. I feel like the atmosphere and the energy for those shows would be amazing and I would love to be apart of that. I actually am so anxious to be on tour. I feel like me working for Carnival has given me the platform to really work on my craft and get better. I am now wanting more. I want the BIG stage.
How do I prepare mentally and physically for a performance?
I prepare mentally by visualizing what I am going to do before I get on the stage. I like to put my “game face on and get in mode. Which is basically me zoning out on what I need to do to fully be ready to feel the music, so that I can in return, give that energy and emotion to the crowd. This is very important to me because, I truly enjoy what I do and want to be prepared to give you my best.
Physically I warm up with funny vocal scales in the shower. That vocal exercise really relaxes my muscles. I also enjoy going to the steam room or lifting weights before I perform.
Do I get nervous?
I don’t get nervous to perform anymore. I get super exciting, and my adrenaline rushes. That is what I have to control because if my adrenalin is too high, its hard for me to control my voice and that is bad for me. My parents recently just cruised and I actually became a little nervous before performing for them but that left pretty fast.
Do I have any rituals?
Well my rituals now is just making sure that I am prepared, I have to have my rose on, I need to match colors, with my Chuck Starr hat and Red shoes. I also need to say a prayer before I perform because Jesus provides me the gift to perform and sing.
How was Romantic movie created?
I was going to answer this question in a brand new post but I feel that I am behind with posting and Romantic Movie has been released so I will post on it now. Romantic movie was actually originally one of my first songs created. I was working with a producer named Tiger and that’s when I created the original of “Romantic movie”. The song never made it out of the studio though. A couple years later I gave it another go with another producer and my bands keyboard player Pearl.
The song sounded good but just wasn’t giving me that “it” factor anymore, so it never made it out of the studio. I actually didn’t think that I would use this song again. 2 years later. I began working on another song called “Dance with me” I was anxious to get this song heard fully because my best friend at the time “D.C” was in my ear saying that it was a nice song. I began creating the beat for it, which I was assisted by my guitar player Luke and bass Player Martin. I felt that the beat was coming along well, so I continued to work on it.
One day while working on the track I realized that I had added more lyrics to the original vocals so that I could fill up the space. By doing this it messed up the flow. I then became interested in writing a new song. That is where Romantic Movie was recreated. I began to sing the hook of my previous version of Romantic Movie and liked how it was working with the track, so at that moment I decided that I would write a brand new version of Romantic Movie, but I would keep the original chorus, so I began writing the song. It was a fun process. I felt that it was sounding good BUT I wasn’t sure that it was stronger than my other song “Dance with me”, so I decided to record both versions as a demo.
After both songs were done I wanted “D.C” to be involved and provide me with feedback. After hearing both songs “D.C” told me that “Dance with me” was different, and told me that I had made too many changes to the song, and that it was not in sync with the beat anymore. D.C then added that “Romantic Movie was nice and that I should finish it. I took the advice in stride and decided to go full on with “Romantic Movie”. I sent the song to my brother Doc bluuz, so that he could let me know what he heard to add to the track. Doc immediatlely mentioned the drums, and said that a double kick would set the song off. I listened to the track and agreed.
After changing the drums, I asked for the opinion of “D.C” again. “D.C” suggested that I add female vocals to the track, so “D.C” and I recorded female tracks for the song. These tracks were never used but one tip that “D.C” provided that was huge was adding the bridge to the track. I was stuck on if I should add a bridge or not, and I developed the bridge of the song off a response from the female vocals that were placed on the track. Doc heard the new version of the track and loved it but felt little things were missing. I began to get excited of the possibilities with this song so I decided to get the opinion of my boy DJ Blendz. Blendz heard the track and said that it was a hit, but provided me information that I needed to get the track to reach it’s full potential.
I began to work effortlessly overnight for many nights to get this done. I finally thought that it was done, and sounding right. I was going to release it to Spotify and get it into the hands of DJ blendz. That was the plan until my friend Sam heard it. Sam loved the song, but felt I needed to get the track mixed and mastered by a professional. I knew what he was saying but I was wanting to release the song and I had put in a lot of time mixing it myself, but I took heed to the advice and I involved the sound engineer Rhett. Rhett worked on the track BUT the vocals that I recorded were done on the ship. SO they weren’t top quality. Basically I needed to do them over. Sam then suggested to me that I record the vocals in a real studio. At that time my contract was winding down, so I decided to contact my boy Tyler who is a producer to schedule studio time. At that time I got the idea to redo the bass and drums with live players.
Once off the ship and out of rehearsal I dove into getting Romantic Movie finished. I had it played live in the studio. I liked it but felt that the bass and drum could have still been cleaner. I sent the track to my other brother Chris to get his opinion and he told me that he liked the track but I needed to take the track of a full key so that it would be fun and not dark. I listened to the track and was like my brother is right. If it’s brighter then it is easier to dance to. I decided to reach out to Torrey who is a producer and also mixed and mastered “Fire it Up” to work on the track. Torrey said that he would work on Romantic Movie, and clean up the bass and drums. I was like ok here we go, this should be nice and easy. All Torrey needed to do was create a funkier drum pattern and play the bass line with staccato.
I sent Torrey all of the sounds from the song. 2 days later Torrey sends back the track and the bass and drum line was completely different lol. I was like uh oh originally, so I sent it out to Doc Bluz to hear it and Doc called me and told me that this was a hit. I listened to it a couple more times and fell in love with what Torrey had done. I gave Torrey the go ahead to finish the track, he finished it so I sent ti to my bro Q and Doc They both loved it. Meaning Romantic Movie was ready to be released.
I am very appreciative to EVERYONE that was involved in this project at some point. As you can see there are a lot of things that goes on behind the scenes to get something to reach it’s full potential. I hope you were able to get some insight as to what I do so far with the answers to the questions. Thank You once again for visiting I will continue the next couple of blogs the same way, answering questions. I am behind in answering everyone’s questions so that is next on the list. If you have anymore questions especially after reading this blog please feel free to ask.