With nine albums and several platinum and gold singles under his belt, Ginuwine has established an impactful career and continues to have a significant impact on R&B and soul.
On New Year’s Eve, Ginuwine, along with Warren G and Ying Yang Twins, will perform at LAX Nightclub in Las Vegas. Ginuwine discussed his upcoming performance.
He also shared his thoughts surviving controversy and the differences between ’90s R&B and new age trap soul.
What was the initial process of you getting involved with LAX Nightclub for the New Year’s Eve event?
I’ve been going out to Las Vegas a lot during the past year and from doing that, they saw how I deliver when I perform. I’ve always been energetic and just a crowd type person and I’ve actually done LAX quite a few times so I guess they wanted to make sure that I had the opportunity to do something big. I’ve been putting in the groundwork and I’ve been trying to get a residency out there but I believe the more that I do out there, the proper people will have their eyes on me. With LAX, it’s going to be a fun night and it’s also going to be other artists there and we just going to have fun. I want to come out there and do my band thing, my dancer thing and all of that stuff. My legacy has been here for a while with me having 20 years in the game. I just saw my big brother Keith Sweat getting something out there so I’m willing to put the work in and once I get to that position, people will come out and support me.
R&B today is different from what it was back in the 1990s and early 2000s. What’s your thoughts on the trap soul movement right now?
It’s just a different era because our parents said the same thing about us. This is just their generation right now, but I gauge what I’m doing by what the young cats are doing and that’s what a lot of folks don’t get. We are just as strong as we ever [were], it’s just that the older folks are still trying to be young. With me, I don’t even listen to the hip-hop station too much at home. I listen to the station that plays my era of music. I think we put too much trust in this generation to say, “if you not doing this, you’re not doing anything,” and that’s not true. Our generation is trying to be the current generation and that’s why I don’t go out here and try to do everything that everyone else does. I stay vintage Ginuwine because the people that have listened to me then have grown with me now, and that’s who I’m trying to cater to. A lot of people from our generation complain because they are basing their relevancy on young radio. Our generation has radio stations in each city that we should be concentrating on, not the hip-hop and trap. You won’t find me doing that stuff because I’m not trying to be 18. I want careers of Charlie Wilson and Frankie Beverly because they are still selling out arenas. Cats like Keith Sweat, Al B. Sure, Teddy Riley, and Boyz II Men are the type of careers that I want to have. I don’t want my career to be based on something that the young cats like, so I’m going to stay where I’m staying, and try to grasp a hold of the people that grew with me and my music.
At this stage in your career is it more important for you to make new music, or live off of the solid discography that you’ve already established?
I like what I’ve already done, but if I could make a reference toward Charlie Wilson. I would say that even though everyone knows all of his older songs, he still puts out something new and I believe that I’m going to do that next year. I’ve been fine with touring and never being home on the weekends. If it’s four weekends in a month, then I’m not home at least three out of those four weekends and I’ve [been] doing that since 1996. It’s wild because some of the kids in this generation still don’t know that I did “Pony.” But as you continue to grow, you start to get new fans along the way.
You recently faced an issue where suggestive pics were released. How did you move forward after that controversy?
I think being as seasoned as I am in this business, as a man, father, and ex-husband, I know to get rid of things and give it no attention. When you duck and avoid things, then that’s what gives it legs. But if you call me, I will give it to you straight up. After that, there’s nothing else to say, nothing else to fight about, and it’s no fun anymore. That’s how I take away the power from that and that’s how I’ve always been. If you look at my past, people say all type of things, but I only address stuff one time and one time only because people are going to come to believe what they want to believe anyway. The only people that I care about are my kids. And when things come out, I have to sit them down and explain certain things because social media is so broad now and it’s here today, gone tomorrow. But the effects of it can last in your personal life. I don’t be tripping over stuff like that, I’m moving forward.
