Boyz II Men and the folks at Motown records gave Tiger Beat five copies of the Boyz' new home video, Then II Now. Read on for our exclusive interview with Boyz member Wanya Morris and a chance to take a Boyz video home!
Tiger Beat: We heard the new Boyz II Men album, II, and we love it! How do you feel this album is different than your first CD Cooleyhighharmony?
Wanya: The difference between the first album and the second is definetly the groove of the group. The vocals have matured just a bit-not enough to grow away from our audience, but enoug to let the audience grow with our music and grow with us.
TB: Was the group more confident going into the recording studio to create II?
Wanya: (Laughs) No, at first, we weren't. A lot of pressures were put on us because the last album did so well. It was, you know, can you do it again? There was a lot of pressure, but we said, 'okay, let's go into the studio and we're gonna make the music that we feel is good music because that's what we did the first time.' And everyone got into it, thank God.
TB: In recording new songs, who decides which of you sings lead on which song?
Wanya: Well, each of us play a different role in the group. If there's a beginning that's real sultry or one that needs to be brought across in a very strong way, Nate (Morris) our bass baritone, does it because he has such a wide range. Shawn (Stockman) is like the crack man. We call him the crack man because he's real silky smooth. If we want a song to be sultry and schmaltzy we use Shawn. Mike (McCary) is the base guy. He's the link, the bottom that holds Boyz II Men together. If he's not there, you'll hear that he's not there. If there's something that really, really needs to be felt, they call upon me. Because my voice is really strong. I can make it come across.
TB: That's really cool. Are your personalities similar to your vocal characteristics?
Wanya: Sometimes, yes. Sometimes you can listen to our voices and pick out our personalities. But our personalities can be the same and very different. Shawn is very quiet, he's a homeboy and to himeself. He's the neutral party to a lot of discussions and arguements. Nate is the businessman. If you don't know him you might think he's a little jumpy-but he's been like that since high school. Mike has a very nonchalant attitude. He sits back, listens to everything, but if her feels that something needs to be said you'll hear him because his voice is so deep and so loud that you can't ignore him. On the other hand, I'm a jokester. I like to bring light to a lot of bad situations. I don't like to see people down.
We vibe off of each other. It's a family type thing and we've been around each other so much that we've started looking like each other! (Laughs)
TB: How involved was the group in the making of your home video, Then II Now?
Wanya: Very involved. We shot certain parts of the video in Philadelphia. At first, it was going to be one scene at a studio, but we were like, 'No, this is not a home video.' We're just sitting here talking. So we snuck into our old school - because, you know, they won't let us there without telling them. Then we went to the projects, where I'm from, when everbody was in school. Then we went to Geno's Steaks, the playground - you know, all the personal stuff that we thought would be cool for a home video. We didn't want to be just stick people.
TB: We're going to be giving the video away when this interview is printed.
Wanya: Great, great. I think everyone's going to like it.
TB: They're going to love it. Thanks Wanya.
Wanya: Thank you!