Interview: Ginuwine - Singer and Songwriter - Page 2

One of my favorite poets is Ralph Waldo Emerson and he had this quote where he said, "Music first before the thought." He thought the music was always an inspiration to great thoughts. When you were making this album did you start with the music or did you start with the thought? How did you process this album?

Processing this album from the beginning was more of just going in there and letting everything come to me, as it has throughout my career. With every CD, I knew sometime in the middle or towards the end I will come up with the name — which happened. I didn't go in and say, "Okay, the name of this CD is going to be A Man's Thoughts." We've done over 40 songs and every song I started pulling out to make the CD started reflecting a man's thoughts, how we think – things that women don't know. This CD will – in some shape, sort or fashion – will tell them the ways that we think sometimes, not in all situations but in some. A Man's Thoughts just fit. I was looking at a lot of the titles and I was like, "Wow, A Man's Thoughts would be hot for this." I came up with like four, to tell you the truth, but that one stuck out. I even wrote all four on a piece of paper – it might just be three, I don't remember – and showed them to some of the people that were at the studio. I said, "Don't think too much about what you're looking at. Just tell me what pops out at you." 95% of the people picked A Man's Thoughts – there's just something about that name. 

The lead single for this album is "Last Chance." Why was this track so special to you?

"Last Chance" is significant for many reasons. When I come up with names of songs on a CD, it might actually mean more than what it's actually talking about. In this one, it really signified how I feel about the game and how I feel about myself in the game: If I don't do it right this time, this is my last chance. Another reason was because it was to me a hit done by Bryan-Michael Cox and written by Adonis. When I did it the first day, I knew that there was something special about that song. I still feel that regardless of how much success it has. In my heart I just felt that it was a special song. I always believed that if you're going to sell a song, you should be able to perform it and believe in it. That's a song that I can perform and believe in. People will feel that when they hear me sing it and see me perform it. For me, it is a smash and that's pretty much why I picked it.

Article Author: Clayton Perry

Clayton Perry's mission parallels that of John Hope Franklin, Marcus Garvey and Carter G. Woodson. As the founder of the NUBIANO Project, Perry facilitates the design of projects that give voice to the Black diaspora, empower the Black community, …

Visit Clayton Perry's author page — Clayton Perry's Blog