For many R&B fans, the name Ginuwine is one that is synonymous with R&B of the last decade. The Situation sat down with the sexy singer/actor to talk about his new album, ‘Back II Da Basics’. Many R&B feature artists have come and gone, with studios continuingly rushing out their lackluster releases. However, in the last 10 years, Ginuwine has continued to stay one of R&B’s premier artists, choosing to go for quality rather than quantity, and always sticking to the philosophy, ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’. Originally bursting onto the scene with the massive track ‘Pony’, now R&B’s pre-eminent love man is back with a new offering to the music world. He may be older and wiser, but he’s still as fly as ever and he’s taking us all on a ride on ‘Back II Da Basics’…

Hey Ginuwine. You’ve been away for a hot minute now. What have you been up to? I’ve been at home with the kids and the wife and everything. I wanted to take some time off. I didn’t just want to sing for the sake of singing - if you know what I mean. It was just nice to spend some time with the family. Every time I go out of town they get mad at me. You should bring them with you! That’s a lot of bringing, but they’re in school and everything so it’s alright. I’m just not allowed to stay away for too long. Ok, so tell me a little bit about your new album then? The new album is called ‘Back II Da Basics’ and it consists of 11 songs. I worked with Jadakiss. That’s the only feature I have on there other than my artist, Knight. I worked with Jazze Pha and Younglord. I worked with a lot of people. That’s the difference with this album. I worked with a lot of different producers rather than just working with one or two producers like I have on my other albums. Why did you choose Jadakiss for your one and only feature? When I wrote it, that’s who I just heard rapping on it. I was kind of like ‘Jadakiss can spit on this’, so I obviously made the call. I was like ‘Yo, I want you to do something for me?’ He was like, ‘Shoot it to me’. I gave it to him and he gave it right back. It was simple like that, no problems and it sounds hot.

Timbaland is notably absent on from this album. Any reason for that? Everyone seems to think there’s some mad falling out or something between me and Timbaland. It’s nothing like that. We just weren't able to work together on this one. He didn't have the time that I needed and when he did have the time I was done, so next album hopefully we'll work together, definitely. We’re family. Do you feel under constant pressure to come up with songs like ‘Pony’ and ‘In Those Jeans’? Yep, always. I mean, I felt under pressure especially with this album just because a lot of people are like, ‘This is the more mature album’ for me. They didn’t hear the Ginuwine of old. It was really an experiment for me also to try and make it interesting for myself. I don’t want to keep doing the same thing and then be bored. You know what I mean? So I had to do something new. I felt like bringing some other people in and just trying to see if they could take me somewhere I haven’t taken myself. It was a challenge, so that’s what this album is. So your first single is ‘I’m So In Love’. Yeah that’s right, and it’s a classic Ginuwine signature song; kind of like ‘Differences’, a song with meaning and substance and it’s dedicated to everyone who’s in love.

My strengths have always been ballads, so I try to stick to doing what I’m good at. Saying that, I do have certain up-tempo songs on this album. One obviously being ‘The Club’ featuring Jadakiss, and the other called ‘Oh Girl’, which I actually start all my shows with. R&B’s changed a lot recently. It’s more mixed up with Hip Hop and Crunk. Did you consider changing your style to adapt? I mean, I believe if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Although I did do something different with this CD as far as bringing other people in, but I didn’t want to mix it as much as everybody else seems to be doing right now. I wanted to stay the way that I am and just try to get other feels for it with different producers. But with me and the ‘Crunk’ stuff, I like it but I just don’t think that’s where I’m at. What do you think of the new R&B stuff? Do you think it’s lost a lot of its soul? Ahhhhhh. Oh sh*t… Yeah, kind of. I mean, I like some stuff. Like, I love my boy Chris Brown, but a lot of this stuff just doesn’t have any substance no more. It’s just saying whatever and you can get away with it. That’s not really me. I like songs that mean something, like ‘Differences’. Even though I have come out with some songs that are trendy also but my hits are songs that mean something and have substance. I hear you’ve caught the acting bug? Yeah, I have already been in a few things – ‘Honey’, ‘Half & Half’, ‘Moesha’ and ‘Martial Law’. I’m also doing a movie with Whoopie Goldberg called ‘Rhythm Of The Night’. I’m looking forward to pursuing acting. I hope to do a lot more movies in the future.

You’ve been in the game for 10 years. Do you still have the same passion that you did at the beginning? I didn’t, but I’m getting it back, you know what I’m saying? Hopefully I will get it back completely but when you’ve been in the game 10 years and have had some of the struggles that I have had, then it can derail your passion. I’m trying to get it back though and hopefully I will rekindle my passion completely. I truly hope I can give my fans another 10 years. Ginuwine’s new single,’I’m So In Love’, and his latest album, ‘Back II Da Basics’, is out now on Sony BMG.

With a No.1 hit already under his belt, the ‘So Sick’ star is rapidly becoming R&B’s most sought-after artist. The Situation sat down with Ne-Yo to see what’s poppin’. At the tender age of 22, Ne-Yo possesses lyrical talent far beyond his years. Having already penned hits for R&B and Hip Hop elites such as Mary J. Blige and Faith Evans, not to mention being the creative genius behind one of the biggest radio records in history, (Mario’s ‘Let Me Love You’), Ne-Yo is taking the music industry by storm. The Def Jam rookie is now offering the world a chance to hear his vocal ability combined with his much hyped song writing skills with an album acutely titled ‘In My Own Words’. Hey Ne-Yo, nice to see you back in London. You look tired, have you been hitting the clubs? Yeah, I was at Kabaret last night. Ray J and Pamela Anderson were also there too. It was a good night. I bet it was! So congratulations by the way. Since we last met, your album debuted at number one in the States. You must be feeling pretty good… Oh yeah! I’m all smiles! I can see. So what’s next? Well my next single is a song called ‘When You’re Mad’ and it’s about a relationship that I was in and this girl, she used to have a look that she would give me when she was mad at me. That was so god damn sexy! (Starts laughing) So long story short - I wrote a song about it. I’ve actually just shot the video to it, right before I came out here.

We shot it in Miami and Little X directed it. The video looks great. Little X is in the same school of directing as Hype Williams, so you know it’s just going to be hot. Do you think your personality shines through on this album? I’d like to think so. Well the good majority of the album, I’d say is about relationships between men and women. The reason I did it like that was because I wanted the album to be relatable and what’s more relatable to people than love and relationships, right? But there is more to me than just my failed attempts at relationships; my many, many failed attempts. Aaaaaah…. Exactly. Thank you. It’s OK though, they’re proven to be very good material for my album. But there is one song on this album that portrays a certain side of me… that I can think of (smiles sheepishly) Go on? Well, there’s a song on the album called ‘Mirror’ and shows the freakier side of my personality. The song expresses how I enjoy making love in front of the mirror. See, that’s a quite personal, right? Yep, sure is. I don’t know how personal it is anymore though. How many albums have you sold in the States? Around 400,000 so far. Yeah, I see your point. It’s definitely not personal anymore! In terms of being signed to a major label, do you feel you’re getting enough say in how your music and image are portrayed in the media? Yeah, absolutely. They actually make it a point to ask me.

They want my input and for me to be involved in my project. It was really cool actually as L.A Reid and Jay-Z basically gave me my recording budget and let me go, work with whoever I wanted to work with, write with whoever I wanted to write with. So I definitely get a say in what happens with my career. A lot of time, with some of these labels, they try to change you into a puppet - they want you to do what they want you to do. So it’s a good thing that I have people behind me; people who are fighting in my corner. They actually made it a point to go in there and say, ‘He’s not going to be a puppet for y’all. We understand he can’t just do whatever he wants to do, but he ain’t just going to do exactly what you want to do either. So let’s find a comfortable medium, so that everybody’s happy’. And that’s exactly what we did. Every decision is now a group decision. It’s never like the final word comes from the head offices. It’s never that - no. R&B has a lot of new faces - do you ever worry about the competition? How do you think you stand out? I don’t really worry about the competition, just because I honestly feel that no one can do what I do better than I can do it. No one’s going to do me better than me, right? As far as how I stand out, I feel I have a slight advantage over a lot of these other cats, just because I write my own music. So you know when you hear a song from me about a relationship, or about a break up or about sex or whatever, it came from a real place, because I write about true-life experiences and things that really do happen to me. As opposed to some artists, where you hear them sing a song and you don’t know if you really believe it as that person didn’t write the song. Whereas you know with me, it’s 100% real; it came straight from the heart. You just mentioned how you write solely on personal life experiences.

Do you ever find subject matter sometimes limited especially being an R&B artist? Well you have to keep it relatable - and most people relate to love, break ups and sex. But I personally feel that I am the type of songwriter that can pretty much write about anything and make you feel it. But again it’s a situation where the world has to be ready for it. For example, the world isn’t ready to hear a song about a fist-fight or a sandwich, but maybe in the future - you never know. It can be frustrating though as in R&B, people have a set frame about what R&B is supposed to be and when anyone strays away from that, it’s either accepted immediately or rejected immediately. So it’s a big risk - there’s no middle ground and with hip hop there are a lot more options. Has there ever been a song you heard and immediately thought, ‘Damn - I wish I wrote that’? Yeah, all the time. I wish I wrote Mary J. Blige’s current song - as soon as I heard that I was like, ‘Damn! Why didn’t I write that?’ But I just take it as inspiration to write a song just as good. It makes me step my game up, so it’s all good. Have you ever written a song for someone and felt they didn’t do it justice? Yep, Marques Houston. Has there been any artist you have met, that you really didn’t like? Yep, Marques Houston! Wow, ok. Moving on then. Anything you want to let us all know? You know lately, a lot people have been asking if there’s something wrong with my head as I always where hats.

So I would just like to let the world know – there’s nothing wrong with my head. No marks or bumps. I do have a weird hairline - it’s the one and only thing my dad ever gave me, but I shave my hair anyway so you can’t see it. Why don’t you take your hat off now and I can confirm that there is nothing wrong with your head? Nah, I can’t, I need a haircut! See now I’m suspicious…! No honestly, there’s nothing wrong with my head… it may be a little big but that’s all. What do you mean big? Big in ego or big in size? Nah, big in size, never big in ego. You have to make sure you tell everyone that I don’t have a big head OK?! Spread the word! Ok, I promise but I think you need to show the world yourself… Ok, I’ll show my big head off to the world very soon. Let me get a haircut first though! Ne-Yo’s debut album, ‘In My Own Words’ is out now on Def Jam Records, as is the No.1 single ‘So Sick’.