Jaheim – Interview

What’s up, dog?

How are you?

Busy!

I know, you’ve been nothing but busy.

Busy day, busy week, busy year. (laughs)

But How do you react to people saying that for your age you are singing pretty mature songs?

There is no such thing as being young and not learning from your experiences. I see thirteen-year-old kids raising babies. I’ve been through more than any adult out there probably.

I think that your life has made you mature quicker.

Right. God made it happen for a reason.

Who did you aspire to be like growing up?

All the forefathers. Luther Vandross, Teddy Pendegrass, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, and Michael Jackson. Today I look to Usher, Joe, but my favorite, favorite is Eric Williams. There are a lot that I like, but I don’t want to list them so I don’t forget their names, but I also like Biggie, Tupac, Mobb Deep, Eazy E, and the west coast.

I love Eazy-E. I just downloaded the whole album.

One of my dogs just got it for me. She made a bet with me and she lost. (laughs)

What do you think about being compared to the people you look up to, like Usher?

Naw, naw, Usher’s hitting a whole different market. I like the brother, but we’re nothing alike.

Well, what about being compared to D’Angelo. Does that blow your mind?

No. (we both laugh) I think when people compare me to D’Angelo, they get the street aspect. When D’Angelo came out they thought he was real street. But here I am. I can relate to everyone on the street. That’s my biggest market, the street and women.

It can’t be a bad thing, getting all that love.

It’s beautiful, man.

+ charlie crainethat’s a good thing.

You know it.

How was your time overseas?

Well, we went to London, then Paris, and it was beautiful. So far I’ve been there three times.

Still excited talking about the album?

Yeah. It’s my baby. So I hope everyone out there who have the album take care of it.

Regarding the album title, were you trying to bring the two aspects of your life together?

Ghetto Love? Yeah, exactly. I don’t know, seems everyone can’t comprehend it. There are a lot of ghetto songs on there and a lot of love songs on there.

How long did it take to put the songs together for the album?

To write a song is like writing a love letter. So it takes about, I don’t know, a half hour a day.

Really?

Yeah. Because you don’t just sit there and write on one song, you come back to it later and add to it.

I know you were cutting demos early on and dropped some on KayGee when you were a kid, but were the songs on Ghetto Love from that time period or are these all new songs?

All new stuff. This is a whole new thing.

What was it like putting the album together with KayGee?

He is the best. He is the most underrated producer in the world to me. Not because I worked with him, but because I’ve been around him and saw him work. He is the best. Anytime you can do a hit record in ten minutes, you the man. I was messing around, trying to get this song right for like six hours, and he came in for like two minutes to touch it up and it was done. He’s like, ‘Yo, you’ve got to do it like this,’ and, boom-boom-boom, it was done. He’s the man, yo.

Does songwriting come easy to you?

It comes natural. Nothing comes easy. It comes natural. You’ve got to put it in your mind and trust it to get it done.

When you were recording the songs, were you going through all the same emotions again?

Yeah, because if you lived it and saw what you saw, then it comes back.

The thing I like most about Ghetto Love is the fact that you leave a lot to the imagination.

That’s how it is. You want people to fantasize. My songs had to be believable and that’s why you hear all the great concepts on there.

That’s what was good about the soul songs from back in the day.

I know. That’s the vibe.

I wanted to throw a few songs out there and get the first thing that comes to mind. “Looking For Love”.

That’s an international song. Everyone looks for love. That’s an imagination song.

“Let It Go”.

That’s a true story. Think about it. How many girls have you dated in your life and her ex-boyfriend try to come into play? You just got to let it go before it gets out of hand.

“Could It Be”.

You’ve got girls out there who want what you have, not what you are.

“Happiness”.

That is about two females, one on the side and the one that is in your life.

“Ghetto Love”.

When you say all you want is ghetto love, it’s like meeting a girl in the club and telling her, ‘I don’t like, all I want to do is give you ghetto love.’ (starts laughing) You know. Smack it up, flip it, rub it down, and get the hell out. (laughs)

How do you react to people saying that for your age you are singing pretty mature songs?

There is no such thing as being young and not learning from your experiences. I see thirteen-year-old kids raising babies. I’ve been through more than any adult out there probably.

I think that your life has made you mature quicker.

Right. God made it happen for a reason.

Who did you aspire to be like growing up?

All the forefathers. Luther Vandross, Teddy Pendegrass, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, and Michael Jackson. Today I look to Usher, Joe, but my favorite, favorite is Eric Williams. There are a lot that I like, but I don’t want to list them so I don’t forget their names, but I also like Biggie, Tupac, Mobb Deep, Eazy E, and the west coast.

I love Eazy-E. I just downloaded the whole album.

One of my dogs just got it for me. She made a bet with me and she lost. (laughs)

What do you think about being compared to the people you look up to, like Usher?

Naw, naw, Usher’s hitting a whole different market. I like the brother, but we’re nothing alike.

Well, what about being compared to D’Angelo. Does that blow your mind?

No. (we both laugh) I think when people compare me to D’Angelo, they get the street aspect. When D’Angelo came out they thought he was real street. But here I am. I can relate to everyone on the street. That’s my biggest market, the street and women.

It can’t be a bad thing, getting all that love.

It’s beautiful, man.

+ charlie craine