Published: Tuesday - February 8, 2005
Words by William E. Ketchum III
Gerald Levert (Photo: Atlantic Records)
The Levert family is to R&B as the Wayans brothers are to Hollywood. Both have created their own respective legacies in their fields: the Wayans have contributed their trademark comedy to films, while the Leverts have consistently brought quality soul music to black couples. Your grandparents made love to music from Eddie Levert's group The O'Jays, '80s trio Levert's "Baby I'm Ready" was the soundtrack to your conception, and even today's grown and sexy themselves have gotten down to Gerald's "That's The Way I Feel About You."
"G" has been a key factor in his family's standing. Serving as the frontman for LeVert's seven albums, a third of LSG (which also includes crooners Keith Sweat and Johnny Gill), singing with Papa Levert himself, and having eight solo albums of his own, the Cleveland native knows a thing or two about R&B. His new album, Do I Speak For The World?, has him stepping outside of his loverman prestige and showing a more conscious voice. In an open conversation with BallerStatus.com, Gerald reflects on the past, evaluates the present, and prepares for the future.
BallerStatus.com: First off, tell me about the new album.
Gerald Levert: It's called Do I Speak For the World? It's my coming-of-age album, talking about some social themes, love songs -- trying to talk about more ways of love than just one -- and just about the issues of the world, what people think about the government, and how things are being run today. If you read Revelations in the Bible, a lot of that stuff is coming true. It's an awakening for me, and I think that hopefully it awakens some other people to be able see where I'm coming from with those types of songs, like "Crucify Me" and "Do I Speak For The World?," because I want to know how people feel about the state of what's going on.
BallerStatus.com: Right after the album's intro, there's an interlude with Tavis Smiley and Cornel West.
Gerald Levert: Me and Tavis are good friends, and I had talked to him earlier in the year, and I told him I had a song called "Crucify Me," and I wanted him to hear it and see what he thought about it. We happened to be in New York at the same time, and he came to the studio and brought Cornel West with him. Cornel West came in, and he was bowing down to me, saying how he thought I was the greatest soul singer of this generation. That kind of put me aback, because I'm very fond of Tavis and Cornel, and what they mean to the black community. I would read some of Cornel's writing, and he'd always mention my name in little things that he would do about soul music. For him to really be there [was inspirational], so I asked them if they could just talk in between songs, and in five minutes they came up with [the interlude]. That's really special to me.
BallerStatus.com: This album has a real conscious theme, and in the world of music -- especially R&B -- this is rarely done. One of the only recent albums I can think of that did this was Joe's Better Days, but a classic example is Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On." You're known as an R&B loverman, so how hard of a decision was it to stick with an album with this theme?
Gerald Levert: When you've got kids growing older, and you see how they're reacting to the world...I talk to my kids about almost everything, and kids think oral sex is not sex, that it's just "oral sex." So you have to explain to them, you can diseases from that the same way that you can intercourse. It's a lot of different things that change the way you think; Marvin Gaye was a loverman, but when his brother came home from Vietnam [he changed his music]. For me, seeing the people in Iraq, and having a cousin from Desert Storm who moved in with me, and listening to what they went through, it was so overwhelming to me, and I wanted to write about it. It makes you realize that there's more than just love, and people need to be opened up to a lot of different things.
I have a song called "So What" [that talks about] guys who leave a relationship just because a woman has another baby that's not theirs. [A baby from a different father] doesn't mean that he can't step up to the plate and be a man; if he loves that woman, they have to love everything that goes along with that woman. There's a song called "What Happened To The Love," where I ask what happened to the days when moms and pops really were moms and dads. Now it's just single parents, it's rare to see a house with a mother and a father.
A lot of things are just coming of age to me, and me really just wanting to address these things; once you get to that point, you don't care about your sales, you stop caring about how many times they're playing you on the radio. It's about the integrity of the music. I want to be known for the integrity of what I did in the end, and I plan to stay true to what I feel. If I feel sexual, I'll sing about sexual things. If I feel that I want to talk about world issues, I'll sing about world issues. If I want to sing about the Lord, I'll sing about the Lord. I feel that there's no limit to what you can say and how you put it together, because at some point, everything is relevant in everybody's life.
BallerStatus.com: What would you say is your favorite song from the album?
Gerald Levert: "Crucify Me" is my favorite song. When I seen "The Passion of the Christ," that hit me so hard. We had already knew the story of Jesus Christ, but to see it played out like that. For someone to say, "I believe that much in something, that I'm willing to take all of this abuse. You can treat me how you want to, but I'm not going to change my beliefs, and just let myself succumb to your idiotic ways of thinking. I'm going to be me, and I'm going to stick to my guns." I think that was something that any honorable man should and really do. I'm as imperfect as the next guy, so I'm going to say what I want to say. A lot of people ask me, "Do you think this is a good time to [record a conscious album]?" If you have problems with me speaking my mind and how I feel, crucify me. It's all evidence; everything is happening, you see it right in front of your face. Everything is reality TV, everything is so mixed up and crazy.
BallerStatus.com: This is your eighth solo album, you've had albums with your group Levert, albums with LSG, and albums with your dad. Which projects in your catalog really stick out to you?
Gerald Levert: The third Levert album, Just Coolin', sticks out because we were one of the first to merge R&B and hip-hop, with Heavy D on that record. We were one of the first to merge those, and have a number one record off of that. A lot of people didn't want hip-hop on the radio at that time, and now it's reversed and changed. I feel like we were pioneers of some of that.
The other thing that sticks out was the first LSG album -- the second album I was disappointed in, but the first album I was very proud -- because were able to put our egos aside and put together a good record. Everybody did their job. The one I probably love the most is singing with my father, that's just the bomb. You can't ask for anymore than that.
This new album, Do I Speak For The World?, I think is my identifying album. I think it's going to say to people, he did have some kind of sense. It wasn't only about having sex, or some girl hurting him again and him crying in the rain [laughing]; he had some depth to him, and I want people to see that.
BallerStatus.com: An important part of any artist's career is appealing to his audience. You first came out in 1985, so you're nearly 20 years and eight albums deep; when you make music now, who do you have in mind -- newer fans, or the fans that you began with?
Gerald Levert: I'd say the people I came up with, because I write music that feels good to me. Those are fans that grew up with me, and they can really relate to what feels good to me. I like club songs, but I've been put in this balladeer position, so I'd have a hard time selling to anybody on a club record. So I end up selling to women from maybe 20 years old to, say, who knows? If some of this music touches younger people, that's good too, but I'm just really trying to satisfy those who have been with me for the long haul. I'm just growing; I'm not trying to change what I do or how I feel about life, or say that I had some great epiphany. I'm getting older, and I'm not afraid to stress it. Some people get older and get afraid to say what's going on; you've got guys that came out with me, and they want to compete with Usher. You've got to move on, you've got to grow.
BallerStatus.com: This question may seem formulaic, but I think that it should be interesting with you. How do you think the whole genre of black music -- especially R&B -- has changed since you've been in, and what do you think contributed to any changes?
Gerald Levert: Well, R&B doesn't get its fair share now, because we don't get the same budgets that the hip-hop people get, and it's cheaper to make a hip-hop record than it is to make a good, classic R&B record. For a classic R&B record, you have to get live instruments, and that costs a lot of money. We don't get the kinds of budgets that they get; hip-hop does a lot of sampling, so that changes the dynamic, but they still get the same sounds, and if you're clever enough to put it together, then it can work for you. I'm not against hip-hop, it's like a double-edged sword; I love it all, but I'm just saying that to create good music, you need certain things. In a lot of R&B music that's coming out now, the production's not as good as it could be, it doesn't sound as good as records of the '70s, because they can't pay all these musicians to do the things that they were doing in the '70s. They don't have the engineers with the same kind of ears, so the records sound old, and they shouldn't sound old, they should be able to blend in with what's going on in the radio now.
BallerStatus.com: Your father is in the O'Jays; when you were coming out with your music, what kind of differences did you and your father have, and what kind of differences do you have with musicians nowadays, and how would you compare those?
Gerald Levert: The fuse of the hip-hop and R&B, that was foreign to my dad's generation, they didn't understand the new jack swing. [My dad] would say, "That's bullsh--" (laughs)... But it was real, and it's going to find its place in history just like Motown did.
We've got some very talented cats out here. Kanye West, guys who produced on my album -- Troy Taylor, Darrell Delite -- there are a lot of great R&B producers, but they have to get with artists who have a direction, like Jimmy and Terry did with Janet. I think a lot of this isn't about the music, it's about the perception; if they think that you're old, it's the new kid on the block that everybody wants to talk about. What is Ciara doing different that Janet wasn't doing? That's Janet all over again; the new song, "1, 2 Step" is "Planet Rock" all over again. It's stuff that we've already done, nothing new. But I commend them for being able to find those gems, put them together, and make them work for them.
BallerStatus.com: Who all are you listening to right now?
Gerald Levert: Anthony Hamilton, man. I like Usher's record, that was a good record. Alicia Keys, I like her first album better, but I like some cuts on this album. Now, I'm pickier about the songs, but there's some good stuff, and then there's just some stuff that's booty. Everybody's trying to bite the next guy, nobody wants to set the trend.
That's been the problem for a long time I think, in R&B music and in record companies. Instead of creating a new Usher, they want the next Usher. But nobody wants to take those risks today, with the downloading, and the bootlegging, and all that stuff. It's going to be hard to create stars now, because they don't want to spend the money like they used to. That's understandable, but you've still got to have the artistry; the artistry has to be there in order for someone to have longevity.
BallerStatus.com: Along with the changes in music, how do you think that actual relationships have changed, between your father's career, your career, and music now?
Gerald Levert: You don't have a lot of regular families with moms and dads. The chivalry is gone; guys don't care nothing about girls no more, and girls are learning the game so much, they'd rather be a video ho. That changes the whole dynamic of finding a wholesome woman; every man in my generation probably wanted someone like his mother, but some of these women now, they're off the hook [laughs].
A lot of the songs that were considered love songs before are now considered corny. If you aren't talking about something that's more than, "I got you pregnant," or "let's just do it one night, we don't have to be in love forever," "pay me later," [it isn't accepted]. That's how people think now, and that's where the writing is going to. The chivalry of really being in love is gone. I haven't heard a great, great love song in a long time, the way Barry White, Marvin Gaye, The O'Jays, and The Spinners used to write them. Boyz II Men had great songs like that, but you don't hear them anymore; but the ones who are getting those songs, they haven't been through nothing, so you can't feel it in the song. Mario's "Let Me Love You" is a great record, the lyrics are great, but that boy ain't been through that stuff he's singing about, he ain't felt that. It doesn't come across like it was a grown man saying it.
BallerStatus.com: Anything that I didn't mention that you'd like to talk about?
Gerald Levert: I'd just like younger people to start opening up their minds, don't get so caught up in what's going on in these videos -- the girls, the boats, the Bentleys and everything. Those things don't come overnight; those are big dreams, but you have to work hard to get big dreams, and not everybody is going to be as fortunate to get those dreams. Continue to dream, because dreams come true, but don't base your life on it.
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