Thug R&B Is Back.......... J.Blue is a 20 year old Hip-Hop/R&B singer from South Central LA. He is simply the best young R&B singer on the West Coast! He now resides on the 33rd Block off of Palmdale Blvd, in the city of Palmdale. I caught up with this talented young star on the set of his photo shoot in LA, to ask him what message he wanted to convey to the record industry: "My thang is active! I paid my dues on these streets and in the music biz. Im young, hungry and Im focused. All I wanna tell the record companies is, put me in the game coach! Sick me on em! Pretty Ricky? Sick me on em'! Bobby Valentino? Sick me on em! I actually like those cats from Pretty Ricky cause theyre thugged out. Im gonna actually get along with those guys. I saw them on the Scream Tour. I rolled to the show so I could see the best young talent in the game. Quincy Jones is one of my mentors and he used to say Take a realistic look at where the bar is set so that you know what your reaching for. I thought the acts were well groomed, but I have my own lane. Blue went on to say that he wasnt sure if any of those acts would be around ten years from now. Hes very aware that he has a greater vocal gift than any of those acts on that tour. It is his vocal ability that will afford him longevity in this business. Lil' boy blue was discovered by legendary producer Quincy Jones at the age of 13 by way of an open audition for a teen singing group Quincy was developing. Blue was signed immediately and for the next three years was a member of the group on Qwest/Warner bros records. As the lead singer of the group, Blue was given the opportunity to be groomed and developed by the top people in the music business. During that period from ages 14-16 he was also a hired demo singer for veteran industry producers such as Dianne Warren, Guy Rouche, DeVante Swing and David Foster. After leaving the group and turning down a solo contract because they wanted to change him into a Pop singer like Brian McKnight, Blue decided to chill in his hood and discover his own musical direction. Blue began to recall the time period just after he left the teen group on Warner Bros. They all wanted me to sing love ballads like Brian McKnight, David Hollister, or Joe. I love all those singers but I was like sixteen, I wanted to sing songs that were relevant to my hood. I can sing ballads when Im like twenty-six years old and that will be the start of a second career for me. People say as an artist I'm very necessary. They see me as a mix of Jaheim meets Lil Wayne. I saw the Thug image being reintroduced to the R&B game over the past year with artist like Akon, Pretty Ricky and T-Pain. After sittin back watchin this happen on BET, I knew it was my time to shine. Im gonna bring a real vocal to the Thug R&B element. Another thing I have in common with the artist Ive just mentioned as well as R.Kelly, Mary J., and Jodeci is that my live show isnt about my dancing. If you need a dancer to lip sync some shit, get at Omarion. Im a singer and a Ghetto Rockstar, so no Im not a dancer, I just sex a lot! I want my career to develop along the lines of KCi & JoJo, Mary J. Blige, and R. Kelly. I remember being five or six years old, listening to those artist. I remember KCi & JoJo in Jodeci along with DeVante and Dalvin, thugged out, singin songs like Feenin. Yo, I remember Mary J. with the Timberland boots and baseball caps, all thugged out, singin Whats the 411? Everybody in the hood had to have that R. Kelly 12 Play as well. One of my favorite moments in the biz was kickin back in the studio two years ago with Jodeci member/producer DeVante Swing. He started playing a medley of Jodeci songs on guitar and I sat with him on vocals singing all of KCi & JoJo's parts, then KCi came in and heard me sing and announced to everyone, Lil boy blue is a baby KCi!" Thats my point. Theres not one artist on that Scream Tour that the hood is down with like that. Most of these young R&B singers today are just Usher clones. From Marques Houston, to Mario, to Omarion and even young new artist trying to come up like Chris Brown and Ne-Yo. They dress like Usher, dance like him, try to sing like him, and if you listen to their interviews, they even try to talk like him, with that soft spoken, shy but cocky approach. No disrespect to Usher, hes the man, but these young cats need to get off his nuts. Back in the day there was Boyz II Men and Jodeci. They were very different from each other. Jodeci were the bad boys who didnt dance and Boyz II Men were the good guys who did. Jodeci were Ghetto Rockstars, with tattoos, shirts off and bandanas just like 2Pac. They were fuckin Guns & Roses! Ill let all those young cats fight for Ushers crumbs. Im not with that. Im gone be over here in my own lane doin me. Im just a ghetto G! That's why I say Im bringing Thug R&B back. Every old school R&B act that I listed, from Jodeci to Mary J. even Guy had the hardest cats bumpin their music in their rides right along side their favorite rapper. Those lil girls gone love a thug when I get at em on Tour, but at the same time the hood gone bump my music all day. Rappers gone have me singin on their hooks like the big homies Nate Dogg and Akon. Then after three or four albums I'll drop something like KCi & JoJo All My Life, or like Mary J. No More Drama and start the next phase. Yeah, you might even catch a thug in a suit one day! As for now, Im gone keep it gangsta, stay active and keep the dance floors and strip clubs KRUMP! In the words of Young Jeezy, Some say I lucked up, I call it perfect timing. I cant loose, the whole west coast is behind me. -J.Blue
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