It was a weekend-long showcase of some naughty boys – the technical term is press junkett – and some of them weren’t thaaaaaaaaaaaat naughty, they just ride with Bad Boy Records. The Pass It On NYC squad – myself, Mike, Anthony, and three long-legged Pass It On NYC ladies – piled on top of each other in a 4-door pick-up and sped off down 95 North in the rain to see what it was all about. We missed the tour of Erick Sermon’s mansion but made it just in time to catch 8-ball and MJG at P-Diddy’s studio, Daddy’s House. Then I became a slave to luxury as Bad Boy escorted us to all the events on the full schedule, and provided us with a room at the understandably rich Hudson Hotel in midtown New York City. From the studio to the hotel to Mario Wynans to the strip club to the stretch navigators (or some kind of stretch sports utility vehicle) to Sunday brunch with Carl Thomas; it was a whirlwind tour that never left NY.
The Studio: ‘Bad’ Daddy’s HouseIt’s really like a house! Although it’s a studio … the brown leather couches and chairs were created for comfort and not just for show. Candles were placed on every surface making the light quite intimate. It was a room in which a strong man could hang his deer head on the wall – maybe the elephant tusks gave me the idea – and a woman could roll around in a creamy lambskin rug on the floor. A hint of Africa echoed in the drum which served as a coffee table.
Bad Boy, with the support of Universal Records, offered a soul food buffet while each journalist awaited their turn to interview the headliners in P-Diddy’s new project: Bad Boy South. Who better, than 8-ball and MJG, the veteran hip hop Godfathers of the south (along with Scarface) to lead the way with the release of their 9th album, “Living Legends.”
It may seem they’ve been in the rap game for a long time – over a decade since they dropped their first album in 1993 – but, they have known each other longer; they grew up together in Memphis, Tennessee.
“It kinda evolved into this. It started in high school and we were trying to make real records. We cater to the streets and urban areas. Definitely, particularly in the south and then it grew. In 1995 [the album] ‘On Top of the World’ took us outta the South. Everything we done, we never really made a plan. It just unfolded. It was what it was before we even knew what it was,” says 8-ball.
MJG gets his points across with fewer words: “We go with the feeling. And we versatile by force not by choice.” Well, the forces of nature brought them to Bad Boy – or should I say, brought Bad Boy to them.
“We already had a relationship with P-Diddy since about 1996. We’re featured on Mase’s, 112’s, and P-Diddy and the Family’s albums. We got the best offer from Bad Boy and we needed a worldwide, household name behind ours, to take 8-ball and MJG into different places where we haven’t been seen and heard; and Bad Boy needed a good strong element from the south,” explains MJG. 8-ball interjects, “Like Notorious B.I.G. and Shyne. They haven’t had nobody on the label like that – till us.”
Ironically, the two young men still working towards platinum record sales, 8-ball the “Fatboy,” as his chain reads, and MJG, with no flashy chains but constant Versace shades, are rejuvenating their careers during an age (mostly under 25) which is drunk on crunk. When 8-ball and MJG were coming up the word ‘crunk’ didn’t travel very far past the Mason-Dixon line and certainly did not refer to an entire form of music.
“It’s hard to frown on another’s success. I’m one hundred percent behind a Lil’ John or a Ludacris – somebody who works hard to get where they at. Anybody from my area, my region, my genre whose achieved more success than us – just like we opened up a lot of doors for people to do they thing – they opened a lot of doors for us. They opened a lot of ears to our sound, and they get people to look at where we from,” 8-ball maintains.
Seems 8-ball may be right because Bad Boy wanted them bad and they’re backing the living legends hard. P-Diddy appears in the video for the current single, “You Don’t Want Drama,” and he roars and wiles out so much that you can even see the back of his teeth. The video is also of superior quality – rowdy content – and is in decent rotation on the video channels.
Ludacris, 112, Twista, and T.I. recorded guest verses for the album while such producers as Lil’ John, Red Spider, Seandre, HERED-Dot, P-Diddy, and MJG himself (“You fucking with me”) did the tracks. The various producers create diverse sounds on the album ranging from Cali funk to holy wailing to gangster bangers. Despite the slightly formulaic rotation the lyrics remain solid and the flows stick tight to the track. The personalities of 8-ball’s quick wit and MJG’s quiet intensity also create a juicy flavor for their latest production.
Their twin hopes with this album are shiny and brilliant: multi-platinum record sales will do. “As a seed for me and MJG’s labels. We have labels of our own,” says 8-ball, “Ya, know.”
After a brief stopover at the trendy Hudson Hotel (which I must say blasts T.I.’s “Rubberband Man” in the lobby) the journalists and entourage were scooted over to the wharehouse for a serenade by Mario Wynans (and another chance to eat for free).
Mario Wynans Doesn’t Wanna Know
Cuz he’s sensitive. The musically-inclined Mario comes from a family tradition of popular gospel singers: Bebe, CeCe … He spent several years as a producer , initially doing gospel with the Wynans and then moving on to Jennifer Lopez, Beyonce, Lil’ Kim, Led Zeppelin, and David Bowie; he has recently made the transition to lead singer.
At the constant urging of other producers, artists, and record execs Mario stopped creating for others and turned inwards; he produced, wrote, and performed all of the songs on the album. He signed with Bad Boy a year ago and has since put together his album.
He says, of his latest extended Bad Boy family, “They’ve taught me not to wear my feelings on my sleeve.” Even though he may be tougher-skinned these days, he still claims that he’s “definitely a member of the Wynans family, and an honest person, and a God-fearing man who deeply, deeply loves music and has an extreme passion for music, and best expresses himself through music.”
As he spoke his voice was like a lullaby mumble that almost put me to sleep. He may have been saving the passion for the recording studio. Despite his lessons at Bad Boy he insists that what sets him apart from the other pop R&B crooners is that, “I really have no limits on how much pain I’ll allow you to see.” According to Mario, his newest single, “I Don’t Wanna Know,” is the true story of his own personal experience with a dishonest woman. You’ve probably heard this phrase on the radio:
Keep it on the low/Cause my heart can’t take it anymo(re)
Was anymo’ supposed to rhyme with low?? Anyways, the production (his ) on this song reflects his young energy – he’s 25 – as he has sampled the recent ’96 Fugees beat from, “Ready or Not.” The lyrics in that joint were not even slightly more complex:
Pretty woman next to me/maybe we can start a family
Although most of his lyrics and melodies are simple and predictable, the album has its uses in a dark room with the ever present candles; you may even catch hints of his soul. When he sings:
Why did you say you were ready for my love/when you don’t even know what a real love is
You feel him. But, for the most part the serenade left me unmoved. Perhaps that gospel spirit was just a little low because Mario is still working on breath control. He holds his own vocally but needs to perfect and clean up his stage show and re-examine his passion, even though spirit is hard to teach.
It’s also predictable that Mario collaborated with 112, Black Rob, Loon, and P-Diddy (all Bad Boy artists) on several tracks on his album. It’s predictable that Mario would try to rap on one of his mid-tempo jams – and fail: not everyone who is 25 and under was built for rapping. He should stick to producing David Bowie but, if you are driving a long distance in the dark, he sounds good enough to fall asleep to. Mario did not join us at the next stop – Sin City– but he did admit that his ideal woman would have no problems going to a strip club with him.
Live Lap Dance: 8-ball & MJG at Sin City
We were halfway drunk before we got there. Those stretch trucks were equipped with brown and clear liquors that had weird, foreign names. So, we took a complimentary glass or two. When we got to the strip club, Universal Records handed out drink tickets and one dollar bills. Some people stuffed bills down g-strings while I stumbled to the bar. Before I could get there two men bought me drinks. They had every kind of woman there. Short, tall, skinny, thick, cocoa, vanilla and I was pleased to note there wasn’t any cellulite.
Even the female journalists got Pass It On NYC's – no, not me, but the general atmosphere had me doing my own dancing – and then my drunkass editor-in-chief brought over a dancer for 8-ball. She slapped her ass on his big lap (which included his lower belly) and began to rub and bounce and stroke as 8-ball slid crisp paper in her underwear and grinned from ear to ear. The Pass It On NYC lovelies fell right in and managed to entertain others and themselves.
MJG was occupied – trying to run the jibs on a civilian. All you youngboys need to take notes here because what 8-ball and MJG said on the subject of pimping is true – well it must be ‘cause MJG got the girl in the end.
“Getting a woman is not a pull thing. A real pimp gets chose. Ain’t nothing you could say to a woman or show a woman …” 8-ball begins to say. MJG merges his words into his partner’s, “They got to recog-NIZE the pimping.” 8-ball piggybacks: “They got to want to be with the pimping.”
“Yeah,” MJG nods in agreement, “She got to picture herself wanting to be alongside the pimping. Or just like being in pimping’s company.” I suppose that girl did; cuz they sho nuff disappeared from the club and that was the last we saw of Bad Boy South.
Sunday Brunch w/ Carl Thomas
I woke up ten minutes before our rides were pulling away … to take us to Negril Restaurant where we were to attend a brief performance by Carl Thomas over a spicy Caribbean brunch. I still had a headachey hangover, cottonmouth, two minutes to wash my ass, and I couldn’t remember how I got back to the hotel at 7 a.m. Yes, that means I had two hours of sleep.
I was ready in fifteen minutes and happy to see that my ride hadn’t left. We got there on time, as did Carl Thomas, but the set-up was late. I wasn’t mad because the ozone was mellow and the jerk chicken smelled yummy. People started filling the small restaurant with Sunday morning chatter, tinkling glasses, and clattering dishes.
Carl Thomas performed his current official single, which is a pretty, if not very light in the ass, mid-tempo song. He performed two other songs off his album. At the audience’s request he sang “Summer Rain,” the sleeper track on his last album, Emotional. Carl’s latest effort, and second album, is a little thinner on the emotion and heavier on the professionalism. The sound is still smooth and retro but the feelings behind the words do not ring as true as they did years ago.
Carl’s personality is very personable and even bordering on flamboyantly outrageous at times. He’s quick to smile and play but when it comes to his career he is extremely focused. He began performing songs at age four. By 17 he had set off for Los Angeles to become a star. Although L.A. wasn’t the spot for musical take-off he stayed his course, put himself through DePaul University (how he will not reveal), moved to New York City by 23 and the rest is history. Two albums later he doesn’t feel he is near finishing his accomplishments. He looks at the future as an open horizon filled with God’s promises. Mario Wynans, P.Diddy, and Derek Angelletti contributed some of the production on the album. The only guest is L.L. Cool J. Despite the fact that all these producers work for Puff; “These are people that I chose. Producers that I felt could get my vision across,” Thomas boasts.
Thomas also has a very serious, socially aware, and political nature. “This is a post-9/11 society. A lot of people feel different now. One surefire way to get back the way we used to feel is good feeling music in the marketplace. That’s why I want my music to sound nostalgic. I love when I hear people say, ‘I had kids off of Barry White or the Isley Brothers,’ One day I hope to be considered in that Luther Vandross category. I’m trying to start a baby boom.”
The Ride Home
I fell asleep.
