00:00Hi Essence Family, this is Yolanda Sanguini, Entertainment Editor at Essence.com.
00:08Welcome to Coffee Talk, your weekly dish of what's hot on Essence.com.
00:13Carl spoke to us about his latest album, Conquer, where he's been for the last four years
00:18and his opinion on the state of R&D.
00:21The new album is entitled Conquer and the best way that I can describe this album is
00:29hero music. The song, they tell a story that the hero always wins and it's not necessarily a bad thing.
00:38Men are really not used to winning in songs a lot, you know, they usually on the losing side a lot.
00:47I have a lot of records and people seem to really like that.
00:50Most things in society nowadays are marketed towards women.
00:55I think the difference between most music and my music is that my music is marketed to men and women
01:00and most, you know, while most people just kind of stick to one genre.
01:04I think that men have been told so much that, you know, that we're predisposed,
01:12predisposed or hardwired to display, you know, these negative traits.
01:18Insensitivity, we lack empathy, you know, just all of these things.
01:25And that's just really not who men are.
01:28Men and women have far more things alike than they do different.
01:35The thing about that is, is that the differences are the only point of marketing that you see or hear about.
01:44In our society, ignorance is bliss.
01:48And you don't really meet a lot of people who read books and question the author.
01:55You don't really meet a lot of people who read books and question the source of the information.
02:01We are imputed to regurgitate information.
02:05My music is just basically there to start the conversation.
02:10What I want people to say about me is that here's a dude that wasn't afraid to start the conversation or the dialogue.
02:17And then find a fun way to do it or find a sexy way to do it or find an erotic way to do it.
02:22You know, just to start the conversation.
02:24I've worked with some of the most talented producers in the game.
02:27I had a chance to, I had a chance to work with my brother Mike City, Mario Winans.
02:33I had a chance to work with Black Elvis.
02:36I had a chance to work with Andre Harris.
02:39Rico Love that gave me the single, the beautiful single, Don't Kiss Me.
02:44As well as Long Distance Love Affair on the album.
02:47You know, I was really fortunate that there were no egos involved in creating the record.
02:52And everybody that I went in the studio with, I would make it a point to play the music that I just finished.
03:00You know, so that they'd know where I was and, you know, the direction that I wanted to go.
03:05Two guys, you know, in particular that really, really took that to heart was the interns from, you know, from my hometown, Chicago, Illinois.
03:13That produced a wonderful wedding song called I Do.
03:18There was a four year break between my So Much Better album and the Conquer album.
03:25But in actuality, you know, I have So Much Better to thank for the Conquer album because So Much Better was actually the album that made me love the business again.
03:35It was the album that, that made me understand that I did a lot of things well, but music was my best work.
03:432004, I was releasing my second LP for Bad Boy.
03:48It was called an album called Let's Talk About It.
03:50And that album was like, it's like a, it's like a new pair of Jordans that I never got to wear.
03:56Because a little bit after the release of that album, my oldest brother was shot and murdered on the streets of Aurora, Illinois.
04:07It just really changed a lot of things for me.
04:10It just, you know, changed the decisions that I was making.
04:15It changed my perception.
04:17It changed what was important.
04:20I, I reprioritized.
04:23And I came to a point to where I just really didn't like the pressure of the business.
04:31I just, you know, I grew to, grew a disdain for it, shall we say.
04:35So, you know, I was actually at home being fine with not doing music, you know.
04:40I took, took a couple trips to Europe.
04:43I had to really take a break from the rat race.
04:45I definitely don't share the same sentiment that most people seem to share.
04:51They think that, you know, R&B is taking this great decline and R&B is going through the same depression or recession that the rest of the country is going through.
05:00I don't feel like that.
05:02I feel like there's a lot of good music out there that people are just not grabbing.
05:09So there you have it.
05:10Carl Thomas talking to us about new music that we can look forward to.
05:14I'm Yolanda Sanguini, Entertainment Editor at Essence.com.
05:17Goodbye.
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