He took a walk down memory lane and revisited times prior to the East Coast-West Coast drama of the 1990s.
With his Las Vegas residency taking over Sin City and a new album on the horizon, fans have been wanting to hear more from Usher. He’s fresh off of his “Good Love” feature on the City Girl’s latest buzzing single and there have been continued requests for him to appear on Verzuz. The public can’t seem to pinpoint a perfect opponent for the music icon, but we all hope to one day see Usher relive his greatest moments with a global audience.
Meanwhile, the singer recently caught up with Vulture to speak about the evolution of his career, most notably paying attention to his favorite and most unforgettable moments.
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“I arrived different. The same way Aaliyah arrived different and Brandy arrived different. I wasn’t intended to make music that was just for kids,” Usher said of his launch in the industry as a child star. “The culture, how we were moving and living, was different. Now, I can’t necessarily say those songs were as successful as my future records, but I think Puffy was toying with something that was creating a new frontier. [‘Til] the day I die, he’ll always be my brother, and we will always be close. “
“He brought in all of the guys: Al B. Sure!, Kenny Greene from Intro, Kyle West, Faith Evans. Puffy pulled all of the strings. I had Jodeci singing background vocals. It felt good to be welcomed by the guys who were running hip-hop and R&B. But that wasn’t traditionally how you launched an R&B artist. Puff was trying to break the mold. All the people I work with are trying to do something that hasn’t been done before.
He also shed light on what it was like being able to hang out and spend time with the world’s biggest Rap stars decades ago.
“I’m looking at a different world than kids who were coming up in R&B from my era. When Puffy did my first album, it was the creation of Bad Boy. I’m around Craig Mack, I’m around Biggie, I’m at Howard Homecoming with f*cking Tupac and all that,” Usher recalled. “Tupac was fighting to get into this venue. This is back when things were all good. There wasn’t no [East-West] sh*t. None of that.”
“We had a great time at Howard Homecoming. I saw Redman. I remember Ice Cube coming to Howard and showing the Afro for the first time. I remember Biggie freestyling at Kenny Burns and Puff’s parties. It was a different time, a different era, a different energy, a different frontier for R&B. The day that I decide to write a book and tell my story and show the world what I’ve been through and things I’ve seen, you’re going to be blown away.”
We look forward to reading it. Check out more from Usher below.
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