Post by aDRUfan4LiFe on Sept 29, 2003 21:24:15 GMT -4
From THISDAYonline.com
It' kinda long, but interesting.
sisqomania ...the musical maestro
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sisqo was in the country recently to unleash the dragon on his Nigerian fans. He did not make this historic visit alone. Members of his urban R & B band Dru Hill, were all present. The group featured during the Miss Commonwealth beauty pageant charity concert.
Sisqo, whose well-rounded performance was unlike any other performer of the new millennium thrilled the audiences with his various tunes. When we encountered him, he expressed his excitement at being in an all black nation. He's been to South Africa before but Nigeria is the first black nation, he is performing with the Dru Hill family which consist of Jazz, Nokio, Woody and Scola.
Sisqo whose real names are Mark Andrews had this to say about his music. "I've created a new style of music, my music," One will have to agree with him on that. When the group embarked on separate solo projects, with Sisqo's Def Jam records, debut, "Unleash the dragon." He became the favourite of the group. His song was an instant success, a global hit song which was played in almost every disco. His next solo project was the percussive up tempo lead single "got to get it," produced by Al West. Since then, Sisqo has soared higher with his ambitious solo second single "The Thong Song." Out of the whole album the song depicts the essence of his style. Sisqo says "it's everybody's favourite song." With a voice that drips personality while also offering great range, control and soulful roughness that recalls the classic rhythm and blues artists of the 60s, Sisqo neatly launches into his own brand of music, sensuous midnight ballads, and even pop.
The 26 year old artiste has been playing professionally since 1996. He grew up in East Baltimore. As a kid, Sisqo listened to the sound of classic R & B, gospel and jazz music and first develop skills as a dancer. He had always wanted to sing. He got his first chance in high school, when together with his fellow students Nokio, Woody, and Jazz, the Dru Hill gang, he featured on the Maryland talent-show circuit.
A chance meeting with a record label executive led the group to a recording, for the "Eddie" sound track; the smash "Tell me" turned out to be Sisqo and Dru Hill's breakthrough. Within just three years, the group's blend of gospel soul harmonies, and Sisqo's unforgettale vocals scored them high.
Sisqo's cropped blonde locks which has changed from that to silver and now pink and numerous tattoos have made him an instant impact and have sky rocketed the group in the R & B charts.
With solo plans for each member of the group, Dru Hill and Sisqo plan to dominate the pop charts as well.
After the huge success of the Thong Song he went back to Dru Hill, "Dru Hill music is normally ballad driven. They don't normally play ballads overseas, they want tempo, tempo, tempo."
He acknowledged the fact that they are a singing group with great pride in creating music. They are not really concerned about big named producers or having a guest star on their music as long as the music is credible, lasts and stands the test of time, "that's really our only concern."
When asked if he's ever going to go solo in future or if he is now fully back with Dru Hill, he replied, "We are definitely going to have solo isolations but right now we are working together as Dru Hill. We are waxing another Dru Hill album. We are also on negotiations right now to see if we are going to do our respective solo projects before going on to do a Dru Hill album." His record label is still Def Jam.
Sisqo recollected his debut entrance to the African continent between 1997 or 98, when he was to perform at Nelson Mandela's birthday in South Africa. It was the first time Sisqo was performing at a stadium. He eventually did perform in three different stadia "it was very cool and because of our experience in Africa the first time that is why we decided to come back and we are so excited to come back."
He added that "unfortunately I don't think I had enough information about it, people asked us a lot of different questions about the place." Sisqo and Dru Hill were in town for 2 days, but, due to their busy schedule there wasn't time to visit some major spots in the country. "we definitely wanted to see some of the culture of the city." He has also veered into acting, and has done three movies. "I try my best to do movies that will be different from my actual personality so that people could tell I was acting." He's acted in Snow Dogs, a comedy called Get over it, an independent movie called Pieces of April, "I've been pretty busy since this year."
When Sisqo and the Dru Hill family get back home, they have plans for a major concert "it is up in the air. We are already accomplished artist. We are not chasing any specific kind of dream, we are more into the music of the situation. We are not into selling out so that more people will see us; we are not interested. If you hear our music and you like it and wanna listen to it. You can buy it but if not, no hassles."
He featured alongside Will Smith in this year's "Wild Wild West" video. this has garnered him more mainstream attention, "we tried to think of what we could do to get more people in the group, to show we're not just the typical R & B group. So we devised a plan called Dru World Order, where each member would do their own solo record, then we would all come back this time next year with a new Dru Hill album."
We wanted to know about his popular dragon sign, there is a little tale to it. According to Sisqo, the dragon sign was a mistake from the beginning. They had the name Dru Hill. They were shooting the video with the art director of their first album in the China Town section of New York "she saw a dragon, slapped on the composite of the cover of our album it looked cool and we kept it."
You mean there is no meaning or misery behind it? in Africa sometimes this signs symbolises cultism? He chuckled saying, "we all have strong believes in higher power but I assure you it is not a dragon."
"The life of a solo artist who also writes and develops other acts is "hard, hard, hard," Sisqo says with a laugh - "I got a lot of aggression and a lot of attitude, but through God's grace, I'm accepted in the 'hood as well as in the pop market." Sisqo is not ashamed of his background as he proudly tells you "I'm from the ghetto of Baltimore."
It' kinda long, but interesting.
sisqomania ...the musical maestro
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sisqo was in the country recently to unleash the dragon on his Nigerian fans. He did not make this historic visit alone. Members of his urban R & B band Dru Hill, were all present. The group featured during the Miss Commonwealth beauty pageant charity concert.
Sisqo, whose well-rounded performance was unlike any other performer of the new millennium thrilled the audiences with his various tunes. When we encountered him, he expressed his excitement at being in an all black nation. He's been to South Africa before but Nigeria is the first black nation, he is performing with the Dru Hill family which consist of Jazz, Nokio, Woody and Scola.
Sisqo whose real names are Mark Andrews had this to say about his music. "I've created a new style of music, my music," One will have to agree with him on that. When the group embarked on separate solo projects, with Sisqo's Def Jam records, debut, "Unleash the dragon." He became the favourite of the group. His song was an instant success, a global hit song which was played in almost every disco. His next solo project was the percussive up tempo lead single "got to get it," produced by Al West. Since then, Sisqo has soared higher with his ambitious solo second single "The Thong Song." Out of the whole album the song depicts the essence of his style. Sisqo says "it's everybody's favourite song." With a voice that drips personality while also offering great range, control and soulful roughness that recalls the classic rhythm and blues artists of the 60s, Sisqo neatly launches into his own brand of music, sensuous midnight ballads, and even pop.
The 26 year old artiste has been playing professionally since 1996. He grew up in East Baltimore. As a kid, Sisqo listened to the sound of classic R & B, gospel and jazz music and first develop skills as a dancer. He had always wanted to sing. He got his first chance in high school, when together with his fellow students Nokio, Woody, and Jazz, the Dru Hill gang, he featured on the Maryland talent-show circuit.
A chance meeting with a record label executive led the group to a recording, for the "Eddie" sound track; the smash "Tell me" turned out to be Sisqo and Dru Hill's breakthrough. Within just three years, the group's blend of gospel soul harmonies, and Sisqo's unforgettale vocals scored them high.
Sisqo's cropped blonde locks which has changed from that to silver and now pink and numerous tattoos have made him an instant impact and have sky rocketed the group in the R & B charts.
With solo plans for each member of the group, Dru Hill and Sisqo plan to dominate the pop charts as well.
After the huge success of the Thong Song he went back to Dru Hill, "Dru Hill music is normally ballad driven. They don't normally play ballads overseas, they want tempo, tempo, tempo."
He acknowledged the fact that they are a singing group with great pride in creating music. They are not really concerned about big named producers or having a guest star on their music as long as the music is credible, lasts and stands the test of time, "that's really our only concern."
When asked if he's ever going to go solo in future or if he is now fully back with Dru Hill, he replied, "We are definitely going to have solo isolations but right now we are working together as Dru Hill. We are waxing another Dru Hill album. We are also on negotiations right now to see if we are going to do our respective solo projects before going on to do a Dru Hill album." His record label is still Def Jam.
Sisqo recollected his debut entrance to the African continent between 1997 or 98, when he was to perform at Nelson Mandela's birthday in South Africa. It was the first time Sisqo was performing at a stadium. He eventually did perform in three different stadia "it was very cool and because of our experience in Africa the first time that is why we decided to come back and we are so excited to come back."
He added that "unfortunately I don't think I had enough information about it, people asked us a lot of different questions about the place." Sisqo and Dru Hill were in town for 2 days, but, due to their busy schedule there wasn't time to visit some major spots in the country. "we definitely wanted to see some of the culture of the city." He has also veered into acting, and has done three movies. "I try my best to do movies that will be different from my actual personality so that people could tell I was acting." He's acted in Snow Dogs, a comedy called Get over it, an independent movie called Pieces of April, "I've been pretty busy since this year."
When Sisqo and the Dru Hill family get back home, they have plans for a major concert "it is up in the air. We are already accomplished artist. We are not chasing any specific kind of dream, we are more into the music of the situation. We are not into selling out so that more people will see us; we are not interested. If you hear our music and you like it and wanna listen to it. You can buy it but if not, no hassles."
He featured alongside Will Smith in this year's "Wild Wild West" video. this has garnered him more mainstream attention, "we tried to think of what we could do to get more people in the group, to show we're not just the typical R & B group. So we devised a plan called Dru World Order, where each member would do their own solo record, then we would all come back this time next year with a new Dru Hill album."
We wanted to know about his popular dragon sign, there is a little tale to it. According to Sisqo, the dragon sign was a mistake from the beginning. They had the name Dru Hill. They were shooting the video with the art director of their first album in the China Town section of New York "she saw a dragon, slapped on the composite of the cover of our album it looked cool and we kept it."
You mean there is no meaning or misery behind it? in Africa sometimes this signs symbolises cultism? He chuckled saying, "we all have strong believes in higher power but I assure you it is not a dragon."
"The life of a solo artist who also writes and develops other acts is "hard, hard, hard," Sisqo says with a laugh - "I got a lot of aggression and a lot of attitude, but through God's grace, I'm accepted in the 'hood as well as in the pop market." Sisqo is not ashamed of his background as he proudly tells you "I'm from the ghetto of Baltimore."