Patti LaBelle: Well, I love Ne-Yo. He's phenomenal. His writing, his melodies – he just knows what to do. He's just a little gentleman, and he's singing lyrics that will not embarrass anyone. John Legend, Andre, Big Boi – a lot of these people are singing things that are masterpieces in their own way. A lot of times, they don't get the credit because people are putting all black people in an R&B category or ghetto category. It's not that way at all.
There are so many genius writers, singers, and talents that are black, and sometimes they're overlooked. Estelle and all these new people coming out have to get credit for it and not be put down all the time. I just pray for the ones who have the talent and who could make it through, you know? I was looking at Lalah Hathaway the other night and how phenomenal she is. But how much credit does she get? Not very much. Rachelle Ferrell never gets any credit, and people don't even know about her. It pisses me off.
Although black artists tend to get pigeonholed into certain genres, Labelle broke the mold in a lot of different ways – especially within the R&B genre. It was retro, it was funk, a little bit of everything. What impact do you wish to make with your forthcoming album?
Nona Hendryx: It's very rare for me to find a CD that I can listen to all the way through and feel as though I've had an experience from the beginning to the end. That's really what our desire was, in a way, to take people to a place where they were really nourished by something that could make you dance, cry, laugh, and think. It was not our intent to put a lot of songs on the album. Some people think more is more, but less is more. As artists, we only want to release quality music and we hope that people really have a connection with the music so that it means something to them. All too often, artists put out a CD and people feel like its another piece of plastic with only two songs that they like.
Sarah Dash: We are giving our fans, our amazing friends, an opportunity to share in a moment of hope because we are in our senior years and we can have an audience come and visit with us who can say not only, "I remember back in the day," but, "I'm experiencing a new time and a new moment with these women that I grew up with." Most of the young gentlemen that I've been speaking to say to me, "My mother played your music every morning. My mother loved your group and now I can bring my mother to your concert." That means a lot to me.
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