I HAVE TO BE UP IN 5 HOURS

Okay so I should be in the bed sleep. Well I’m actually in the bed, but obviously I am not sleep. I have to leave at the crack of dawn to pick up the band and head to NY for a flight to VA. Today I found out that my blog was nominated for entertainer blog of the year. That is dope and quite unexpected. Hmmmm, do I have a chance at winning? I digress.. Often I get busy, but truth is I’m rarely as busy as people think I am. With that said, I am probably busier than I have been in ages at the moment. For the last two days I have honestly been flustered trying to take care of it all. At the same time giving my poor assistant hell. But he cant complain, cause I’m right there in the trenches too. New music, new shows, band rehearsal, musician replacement, artwork approvals, credit approvals, purchasing the flights for the UK tour we are doing in October. (damn that hurt the pockets) where was i? Interviews, traffic court (yeh at 730 this morning), conference calls, mixing sessions, and I have to have 2 songs somehow recorded this weekend while I am in virgina and phoenix. I don’t think that’s necessarily going to happen though. But I will try. That’s all we can do people is try. *thinks to himself if this entry is deep enough to deserve a blog nomination..*
I was talking to a fellow artist the other day who was quite discouraged and a little down. The business will do that at times and she said she considers giving up at times. I wish I could have reached thru my blackberry and shaked the sh*% out of her, but I understood where she was coming from. What I told her is something that has helped me from time to time, and hopefully may help someone else out there. With anything there is nonsense, struggle and excuse my French but bullsh#@. Before you give up doing what you love realize that you will still have to deal with nonsense at times doing something else. So you might as well stick it out and fight thru it doing what you love. Let me tell you, I am not built to sit behind a desk wearing a tie every day. That maybe for someone, and they may love it. But Fam it aint my calling. So I will eat the stress that comes with the business of music. Let me give you an example. Say I love a woman with all my heart and she completes me. When I am with her I feel like superman, but her mom gets on my nerves and treats me like clark kent. If I love her and she is my everything, I will eat her mom’s nagging before I settle for a woman I don’t love who has a cool mom. Did I go too far? Let me bring it back to neutral. I love my job. I love the opportunity I have been given to share with the world. At times it kicks my tail, but in the words of the infamous Bill Withers, “If it feels this good being used, come on and use me.”

This Week

I’ve been dieing to write on here. I don’t want to give you the “wow I’m so busy” spill, but I really may apply at the moment. Outside of touring (I just got home from doing two shows with Kem, Chaka Khan, and Rachelle Ferrell in Detroit), trying to chase these songs out of my head, there’s a business we have to run. If we don’t take care of the business, the rest of the stuff wont happen.
We are putting together a European tour in October that I am quite excited about. To celebrate that I am releasing an album in Europe called “the Collection”, which will pretty much be like a greatest hits album out there.. but I am adding two new songs on there as well.. well that’s the plan that is. I say that because I haven’t written them yet. But I do have several ideas that I am very excited about. Anthony David is doing the tour with me, as well as my Japan tour that’s in October also. So I came up with the idea that he and I do a song together. All of it sounds great right.. now we just have to find the time to do it. I just got back today, and will be doing the family thing tomorrow. My dear sweet Aunt Ann is in town from North Carolina. Weds and Thursday I will be having band rehearsal to get Randy Bowland, my other guitar player up to speed, because Curt is competing in this new show that’s the band version of American Idol. Pray for him guys. I think they are gonna do very very well. So that’s the week, because we fly to VA on Friday to do a show with Erykah “My Boo” Badu. Just kidding shawn, but have you seen that fatty? I digress.. So somehow I have to find time to record 2 songs in between everything. The ballad is half written already and I think it is nothing but trouble. This other idea I have is a Smoke Signals song called “Pill”. I don’t know if the Eric Roberson audience is ready for that one yet. evil grin
Well for now I guess I need to get some sleep so I can have half a brain tomorrow.

Random Thoughts From My Chi Hotel Room

Last night we did Chicago. Crazy was an understatement. A woman in the front tried to service Curt while he played his solo. Hahahaha.. Okay that’s an exaggeration, but I do have blackmail pics if Curt ever wants to get out of line. It was an all white event, so the crowd looked beautiful.. Wait that sounds racist. I meant the people were all wearing white. There were a couple of white people there as well and they looked beautiful too.

It is 3:15pm, and I am still in the bed. This hotel bed feels incredible. I will be on vocal rest until I have to make a public appearance later today. I’ve already drank 2 liters of water, 64 ounces of Gatorade, and peed 3 times today, and will probably have to go again in a few. Yeah it’s not a game. But its one of the things I have to do in order to be 100 percent when I get onstage.

Tonight we were going to surprise Chicago by opening for Rahsaan Patterson. We were gonna do it for free just cause we were staying in town for the day. We made just one request. That they not advertise me performing at all, so not to upset the promoter of last nights event. Well sure enough they sent out an email blast, sure enough the promoter was pissed, and sure enough we aren’t performing there tonight now. Go figure.. It really was a simple thing.. Just keep quiet and we all get a chance to have fun. So I guess the band and I are gonna go bowling.

Hmmm. What else? The Soul Summit last week was cool. The people that came enjoyed themselves, and gained some knowledge so I was happy about that. Oh yeah I flew to LA to perform on Michael Baisden’s new late night show coming out on TVone. It was dope. Proud of him. Oh yeah, his band leaded is Morris Day.. Yo Morris Day MAN!!!! Show airs in October I believe, so check it out.

I’m surprised my phone is not ringing off the hook right now. One thing about me, I never check my messages. Ever. And for some reason, people keep leaving them. I will listen to it weeks later when my mailbox is full.. But hey I’m an email cat. What can I say.. That’s what the game has made me. E@#&*?@aol.com. It really ain’t that hard. True confession.. My girl has a boy’s name, “Shawn.” But she’s all woman. But when I’m on the plane and she calls me, and the name Shawn pops up on my screen and I answer and say “hey babe, I miss you,” I wonder if the person sitting next to me is looking at me side eyed. Hahahaha.. I love y’all.. Let me get up and get dressed..

WUTANG LOVES THE KIDS

07/07/07
3:35AM
What a week. I spent most of the week on a cruise, where my cousin got married. I had a great time chilling and catching up with my family. Of course I ate too much. I won 50 dollars on the blackjack table. Got a tan. Well as much as a light skin man could get.
So I flew home today (Friday) to do a concert in Philly. It was an out door concert at Penns Landing. Free to the public. And most importantly, thank God it didn’t rain. The concert was great. The crowd was beautiful and energetic. We sold a ton of cds and had 5 full pages done on my email list. Can’t complain about that at all. My parents sold my cds, and Shawn was my assistant for the day. She was a cute one at that.. Anyway what really stood out to me, and what usually stands out to me at these concerts are the kids. I cant tell you how many parents are fans of my music, which in turn makes their children fans. And because our shows are usually at night at clubs they rarely can attend. So a show like today is always special. I love kids in general. Especially fat babies. (big grin) so to see hundreds of kids dancing and having a good time is always a big lift. I took a lot of pictures with them today and each one was special in their own right. Some that stick out to me were my dear 5 year old friend Jaden from Delaware. Possibly my biggest fan, and one of my favorite people in the world. As soon as I saw him he said, “I love the baby song.” First words out of his mouth. Hahahahaha.. and how about Dena’s (from the ERF fam) little sister, who was 6. She said that I was beautiful. What 6 year old says that? Every other person in that cd line was introducing me to their child, who loves my music. I can’t tell you how much that means.
As if things weren’t great already. I stop by the mailbox on the way home, (I haven’t been home since Monday) and inside it is an original copy of Madhouse 8. I forgot that I ordered it off of Ebay sometime before I left. This was a jazz album that came out on Paisley Park around 85. Though they shot a video or two, the album produced no music credits, so it has always been greatly rumored that Prince played all the instruments. I had this album memorized note for note when I was younger. Anyway I could not find this album for the life of me, and finally bit the bullet and paid the price on Ebay for it. So it was here waiting for me, and now at 3AM I am up listening to it for the second time as I type this.
Okay so these pictures are not from today’s concert. Just random pics of kids.
1. Jaden (not to be confused with my nephew by the same name) at my Delaware concert.
2. One of the fattest babies I’ve ever seen. I stopped the line to go get her, and later found out she was my cousin. Adorable.
3. Kids at my Philly CD signing at Latte Lounge.
4. Brother Stark’s daughter repping the vault shirt
5. Shawn’s nephew Cedric, and neice Christina (My Stinka Pinka) at my Plainfield concert.

I was going to add more, but I could only add 5 pics..

THE BET AWARDS

Ok, so this was my first time coming to the BET Awards. As you may know I was nominated for BET J’s Cool Like That Award, along with Gerald Levert, Brian McKnight, Musiq, and Elizabeth Withers. Now in all honesty I didn’t think there was a chance in hell in me winning. Especially with Gerald Levert (one of my heroes) recently passing away, and me being the only independent artist nominated period. *stops to scratch his head* Well only moments after stepping onto the red carpet I found out that Gerald won. I quickly said a prayer thanking God for sharing Gerald with us, and giving me this opportunity. The entire experience was humbling to say the least, so lets start from the top of the day.
11:30am
We walk into the radio remote room. This room pretty much had every big radio station in the country set up in there, and artist ranging from Neyo, Fabolous, Bow Wow, Tank, Unk (Walk It Out), and the new rap group A BAY BAY going from table to table doing interviews. Being my hotel was super far away I was already dressed in my midnight chocolate suit and power red tie. Damn it I was trying to make a statement. Well I went from table to table promoting myself, and the movement to whoever would listen. Some were far from interested, and did the interview staring at the major artists who were coming up behind me. But most were professionals and did their homework on me. Some even had my records already, and knew all about the stuff we had been doing. It was so intense that I got my yearly headache during the process. Hours later when we were finished I stood at the door, taking it all in, and considering how it would all pay off.
3:15pm
We hit the red carpet. It is hot as all outdoors. My shirt under my suit instantly was soaked from the sun, as well as my nervousness. Shawn was looking absolutely beautiful, and I was the luckiest man to have her by my side thru this. So I took her by the hand, and we stepped on the first marker for the photographers. Would anyone be interested in shooting me I thought? My answer was sent thru the numerous flashes over the next couple of minutes. We had to move fast because Common, and Swizz Beats were right behind us. Then we did the camera interviews. Once again it felt good to have certain interviewers sprinkled through out the line who knew about me and what we’ve been doing. All in all, every interview went great, and I enjoyed that whole process.
4:30-ish PM
We head to our seats. What a beautiful stage. Wow this is going to be exciting I told myself. We had great seats. The 11th row(which was actually the 6th), and next to rappers, models and singers. All of our pictures sucked. I mastered the art of photographing the back of everyone’s head as they passed. Nic Cannon, Beyonce, Rihanna, 50 Cent, you name it I got the back of their head. The lights went out and Shawn and I were like a kid in a candy store. Half way thru the show, Elsa (my publicist) came and got me to go back and do more press and photos. During this time I missed 50 cent performance, the Gerald Levert tribute, as well as the Diana Ross tribute featuring my wife.. I mean Erykah Badu. No worries. I was here to work and promote my music and our movement. I was about to take questions from the press in their room backstage, until I was bumped out the way for T.I. I was more than willing to wait. Not out of fear of getting sucker punched or anything. (Read up if you don’t get the joke.) Hell I wanted to see what he had to say just like the rest of the people in the room. He didn’t say much thought, and before you know it I was up there doing my song and dance again.. I made a plate of food in the publicist room (thanks again Elsa), and then made my way back to my seat. And just in time to see Public Enemy do the James Brown tribute, which they rocked. That might have been my favorite part of the night.
8:45PM
The show is over but there is still more press to do. Most people are unplugging their equipment, but some we missed were willing to do quick interviews with me. Damn my feet hurt. I cant imagine what women go thru. Hmmm, maybe I should’ve worn my dunks.
9:30PM
Finally in the car, and headed to the after party. Now any one who knows me, knows that I am not a club cat. I spend most of the year in clubs performing, and when I am not singing I am far far away from them. But this is business and we have a brand and a movement to represent, so we go. Its cool.. There’s more food, a few more hands to shake and cards to exchange. We actually have another party to hit so we circle the party a few times and then head for the door.
11:00PM
Our names are not on the list for the next party, so we cant get in. Thank you Jesus, my Lord and Saviour. Hahahahaha… Its time to retire for the night. Our driver is a real nice guy. He was an older brother with 6 kids, and a wife of 25 years waiting at home. He picked up the right group tonight, cause he will be home earlier then expected.
Real talk. I know I work hard at what I do, but I really don’t know why I was lucky enough to have this honor. Before I go a second further I just want to say I appreciate everyone who has supported me over the years. I pray I continue to make the right decisions, and do what’s best for the thing that has helped me so much thru life. And that’s music. I love it, I know you love it, and we love each other because of it. I gained a new hunger while out in Cali. I got close enough to the fire to feel the heat, but not lose my life to it. Its time we take this business by storm, and I am going to set the bar even hire for myself and the people that I work with in this business. On you mark, get set, GO…

HEDONISM AND MICHAEL BAISDEN

6/19/07
8:18PM
So Shawn and I are on a plane headed home from Jamaica. Wow what a trip. I performed at Michael Baisden’s Island Jam at Hedonism. If you know anything about Hedo, you know that it’s a wild and buck naked trip. I honestly can’t lie. I was worried going there. No telling what could happen. Ive never performed in front of naked people before. Hahahahaha.. Well it sure did get wild, and some people at times were naked, but everyone had a great energy and spirit about them. Most only knew of me thru Michael’s generosity on the radio, but they showed me crazy love and bought a ton of cds that I snuck thru customs. (insert grin…) As well I had the opportunity to share the stage with Rahsaan Patterson, Hill St Soul and Elizabeth Withers. They all did great. My highlight was Rahsaan rendition of Sade’s “Love Is Stronger Than Pride.” It was great to spend some time with Rahsaan and actually pick his brain some. He seems to be a real private person, but his spirit and what he offers is genuine. Oh I have to add this as well. When we were finished performing and Michael Baisden was thanking the crowd, K-Ci Haley from Jodeci (who performed earlier that day at the pool party) came onstage and wanted to sing. Do you know Michael turned to him and said, “Nah can’t do that. This stage was for my B-side artists.” He then turned and walked away. That impressed me.
The night before our performance was the comedy night hosted by Bill Bellamy. Not only was he funny, but Shawn and I shared a great conversation with him about the balance of marriage, careers, etc.. That’s a brother I’ve always respected, and our convoe only added to it. The funniest guy of the night to me was Rudy Rush. He’s a radio DJ in Dallas. Yo he had my stomach hurting. Rodney Perry and Ron G were funny as hell also. Plus they were real cool brothers. Last but not least I have to big up my man George Wilborn. Not only is his spirit genuine, but he has to be one of the naturally funniest people on the planet. He’s a testament to have dedicated you have to be to this game and how true talent can’t be denied.
Okay now lets touch on the wild stuff. Shawn and I actually discussed the trip before hand. We figured there would be too much nakedness for us to be all tunnel vision. I’m sorry if a fat butt comes walking by it was gonna be hard not to look. And there were some things Shawn may have had a problem looking away from as well. Well let me tell you some of them people aint have no business out there showing the stuff they were showing. There was a banana eating contest. Put your minds in the gutter to get the picture. There was the human sundae, which was probably the wildest thing Shawn and I saw out there. But naked twister and some other wild stuff was on the program. Hahahahaha.. I enjoyed myself, and as soon as this plane lands im going to church to get baptized again. I think I did well enough to be invited back. Will I go you ask? (insert grin)

LIP GLOSS?

Ok so my nephews stayed with me the other night. My oldest nephew, Jevon is a big Lebron James fan, so they watched the game over here. Well sunday morning we hopped in my car in hunt for a Nintendo Wii. Well that dag on thing was sold out everywhere, but thats not what i wanted to write about. While driving I told Jevon to plug his MP3 player in so we all could hear it. Well the first song he played was "Lip Gloss." Now this isn't my favorite hip hop song of all time by far, but i respect it. Especially after seeing how my other nephew Jaden was dancing in the backseat to it. Hey i guess this is today "Men In Black" or something. My only problem with the song was when she started singing. I wish i was in the studio to advice her thru it better..
Ok, so here is where it gets tricky. He played a mixture of songs. Most of them being hip hop. Well Fat Joe's "Make It Rain" comes on, and though all the curse words are edited out, I cant help but wonder if he should be listening to this. Does he know this is a song about paying strippers. He's 11 so maybe he sees it differently than the 33 year old who has been to Magic City before. Well Jim Jones' "Ballin" comes on soon after. Damn should I say something. I ask myself what did I listen to when I was 11 years old. I listen to hip hop just like him. Run DMC, Slick Rick, Dougie Fresh, Rakim. Sure there were curse words and they probably weren't bleeped out, but those songs weren't the main stream radio songs. Well "La Di Da Di" had some lyrics my parents wouldn't have approved of, but for the most part the song subjects were ear friendly. What hip hop today is ear friendly for the younger generation that loves hip hop? I guess "Lip Gloss" isn't that bad of a song after all.