Usher recalls meeting hip-hop icons during debut album days.
Usher recently made headlines for his incredible NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert, and now the King of R&B sat down with Vulture, where he remembers the early 90s when he was making his self-titled debut album. The 43-year-old recalled the album being executive produced by Diddy, through whom he get to meet the likes of 2Pac, Biggie, Ice Cube and others.
“I’m looking at a different world than kids who were coming up in R&B from my era,” he said. “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**king 2Pac and all that. 2Pac 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.”
Usher To Headline 2024 Super Bowl Halftime Show
He continues, “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.”
Usher’s 1993 hit “Call Me a Mack” from Poetic Justice served as his debut, and he will be 30 next year while still going strong. He continues to perform in Las Vegas through October, and his recent Billboard Hot 100 achievement was made possible by his presence on City Girls’ “Good Love.”
Usher last dropped a solo album “Hard II Love” in 2016, and a joint project “A” with Zaytoven in 2018. The next album from Usher is reportedly a sequel to his 2004 hit “Confessions”.
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Usher announces new album “Coming Home”.
Following the announcement that he will perform at the 2024 Super Bowl Halftime show, Usher has also unveiled title for new album “Coming Home”. Coming Home will be Usher’s ninth studio album and his first in over seven years. The project will follow up his 2016’s eighth studio album “Hard II Love”.
