Knitting Factory Show in NYC

July 31, 2003


Thanks to everybody who made it out to my solo show at the Knitting
Factory last night. Man, I had a great time. Much love and respect to
special guests Kanye West, Imani Uzuri, J. Ivy and Sharief in
Burgundy. J. Ivy started the show off with a hot spoken word piece
about a twisted blind date. Then Sharief played a couple of his songs
on acoustic guitar. Then I did my set, which featured duets w/ Kanye,
Imani and J. Ivy. I introduced a few new songs, including some of my
personal favorites "She Don't Have to Know" and "So High". "So High"
was one of the highlights (no pun intended) of the night despite the
technical difficulties. And, of course, I played some of the old
school joints like "Sun Comes Up" for those of y'all who have been
with me since way back (you know, WAY back in the year 2000). We
recorded the whole show. Stay tuned, I might put some of the tracks
online.

Chicago Idol Recordings

July 30, 2003


So I just spent a couple days recording in L.A. with the runner-up of
the "Chicago Idol" talent competition, not to be confused with the
"American Idol" show w/ Simon and Paula Abdul. For this competition,
the prize for the runner-up was a track produced by none other than
Chicago's finest hip-hop super-producer, Kanye West (the winner got a
track written & produced by R&B's "Pied Piper" and Chicago's favorite
child therapist, R. Kelly)... I digress... Anyway, Mr. West brought me
in to help with the track. So, all you Chicagoans should keep your
radios tuned to WGCI and listen to hear me playing piano and singing
the ol' school hook on "I Just Want You to Know" by White Boy (yeah,
that's the runner-up's name), featuring Kanye West and BeLo from Do or
Die. I pulled out my Sam Cooke vocals for this one

Alicia Keys Session

July 20, 2003


I just spent the night in the studio with Alicia Keys and Kanye West.
I did some backup vocals on this new song they wrote together for
Alicia's upcoming album. The track is called "You Don't Know My Name".
I think this one's gonna be a smash. Look out for it this fall. You
heard about it hear first. Y'all might not really recognize my voice,
but it'll be laced throughout the song like an old school vocal
sampleƒ Much respect to Alicia. Y'all already know she's talented.
Plus she's mad cool to work with...

Luther Vandross Tribute

July 16, 2003


Another month, another tribute show at the Village Underground. This
time, our honoree is still alive, but he could use all the energy and
prayer that we can send his way. I did a couple songs last night, a
solo version of "Love Won't Let Me Wait" and a duet w/ Jeremiah on
"There's Nothing Better than Love" a la Luther & Gregory Hines. But
fellow New York soulsters Na2 and Imani Uzuri brought the house down
with a crazy version of "If This World Were Mine." They took it to
church, literally. It turned into a revival service by the end of the
show. It was fun to be a part of that....