It's a day I won't forget. Motown Records invited me to spend a day chillin' with Boyz II Men, and during the course of our adventures, we rode around Manhattan on the DL 9 in a van instead of a limo), shopped and talked, shopped and talked.
Q: Was it difficult for you to decide what you record this time?
A: We just went into the studio and recorded what sounded good. With a couple of songs we did a few different things, but the whole album is different from the last album, Cooleyhighharmony. We've grown a lot, so our interpretations of relationships of relationships have gotten stronger. We're not sounding old, but we are growing. We are experiencing new things and learning new words. We did a tune with Babyface which was different because it was live. It had a Beatles type feel and this is what we were looking for. We wanted listeners to feel a different vibe. Another song, "Thank You," was acapella. We wanted to show flexibilty and take our listeners where we're going.
Q: You guys have grown in the three years that I've known you. We originally met at Motown's Soul By The Sea Concert in Montego Bay, Jamaica.
A: Yes, we've grown up...we had to. We didn't want to grow up as quicky as we did.
Q: You've learned a lot about the music business. What was it like winning the first Grammy, hearing your name called?
A: The first Grammy that we won took place during the pre-Grammy (non-televised portion) show. There weren't many people there but Sounds of Blackness were there and they had just won their first award. Then it was our turn to win, and they were so happy for us. They just kept clapping and we were crying. It was a great feeling for us because we didn't expect to win anything. When our category came up, we just sat there looking at our magazines. And then when we won we just popped up. People thought we were crazy! That was one of our great experiences.
Q: Now you're used to winning.
A: Thank God. What we have been exposed to has made us what we are. We are able to use what we learned in the business to our everyday life.
Q: Do you still live in Philadephia?
A: Actually we're about 15 minutes outside of the city.
Q: Because of Boyz II Men, there are all these male vocal groups. How do you feel?
A: There a lot of groups. We can't really grasp the fact that after New Edition, we started the trend. But back in the 60's there were a lot of male vocalists...The Temptations, Four Tops, etc. We believe life is just going in circles. Groups are just coming back.
Q: Why did you pick the name II for your second album?
A: It was plan and simple and after all, it was our second album. This is the whole attitude behind our campaign this time. We just wanted to establish ourselves as musicans and performers, we want to be here for a long time, we're not just a trend. We're going for broke now.
Q: Why are you so serious?
A: We know how people feel about second albums. We realize this album could make us or break us. We've always wanted to be performers and we just wanted to give it our all. If people don't like the music, at last we know we gave it our all. We did all we could.
Q: How did you decide on the producers? Some are the key producers in the business, but other are new. Anyone would have wanted to work with you.
A: We listened to a lot of production, but we just went with what we felt. Some producers were suggested by the record company.
Q: We're stopping at a hat store, so we'll continue next month. Stay tuned.
A: You got it!
(I got the next month's issue and the second part was not in it).