 Philadelphian Musiq Soulchild has worked with some of the most contemporary artists since his break-out album in 2000, Aijuswanaseing (read “I Just Wanna Sing”).
Songs like “Just Friends (Sunny)” and “Girl Next Door”
led him down the right track. In 2002, with his sophomore release,
Juslisen, he began touring with Alicia Keys.
From The Roots to Santana to Lloyd Banks to Talib Kweli, Musiq has put the soul back into the mainstream. His long-awaited follow-up to 2003’s Soulstar is dropping this March and its lead single “Buddy” was recently the No. 2 most added song at Urban Mainstream Radio.
Musiq talks to us about Luvanmusiq and gets in touch with his business side.
HipHopRnBSoul.com: We haven’t had the chance to hear the new album, Luvanmusiq...
Musiq Soulchild: Because it’s not done yet.
HRS: Could you give us some information about it?
MS: There’s no feature artists on it. And, I don’t mean to be whatever about it, but I’m just looking to get the album done because all of the songs are pretty important and special to me.
HRS: You wrote all of the tracks?
MS: Yeah. Some with other people, but yeah.
HRS: Some say “Buddy” is an attempt to appeal to the mainstream. How do you respond to that?
MS: It’s probably right. Did it work? How about this, I’m gonna tell you that it did [work] because it’s been nominated as No. 2 Most Added Song, or something. So, basically, my point is, yes and it worked.
HRS: How have you grown as an artist since your last album and how is that evident on the upcoming album?
MS: I can’t say how it’s evident because I’ll leave that up to the people to decide. From my point of view, I have learned a lot in the time that I have been away. I have learned so much about the business, things that are important, things that are priority, how to gain a clearer vision on how to approach things and project for the future, how to make things work for me then work so hard at things, a whole lot of technical things. It contributed to me, not only being a better artist, but also a better person, which in turn helped me to be a better businessman. I’m still working to get a grip on things and I pray that in some way, that shows in the quality of work that I am putting together on this album.
HRS: What are some of your favorite cuts on the album?
MS: They’re all personal to me. The reason why I say that is because there is two ways of looking at things; there’s a creative side and a business side. My business answer would be ‘they all work.’ The personal side is ‘at some point I have put myself in them, so they are all pretty personal.’ To answer your question, I’ll name a few. There’s a song called “Make You Happy,” there’s a song called “Take You There,” and there’s a song called “The Greatest Love,” just to name a few.
HRS: Any words to fans and the HipHopRnBSoul.com audience?
MS: Thank you for supporting me for so long and thank you for still checking for me. I never want to take that for granted, because I know how in this business it’s easy to be forgotten about. And that just is what it is, but for me to still be in the forefront of people’s attention and what they’re looking for, I’m very grateful!
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