"You know who I respect work ethic-wise?" queries Keith Sweat. The veteran R&B singer is attempting to explain just why a multi-platinum artist with 25 years in the rearview is promoting his latest album, 'Til the Morning,' out now, with the hunger of a newly signed act. Sweat's marathon rollout includes an overseas tour, a music special on the Centric cable channel, promotion on his highly rated syndicated radio show, The Sweat Hotel and a relationship advice book collaboration with erotic fiction author Zane, due May 2012. "I look at what Lil Wayne does," Sweat says of his unlikely inspiration. "His work ethic is ridiculous... He never stops. I try to always stay busy."
Keith Sweat, Just Me full album zip
They've done a good job with talent. I just felt like nowadays labels don't put in time to promoting records, especially for a veteran R&B artist like myself. They seem to do a good job when working an album. I really needed that at this moment of my career.
That's just one song out of 12 songs. I try to do different things. The album has a younger feel. I'm working with a lot of younger producers and writers. But really, the songs have that young feel, but it's still Keith Sweat. I think people tend to put that old school tag on me because it's me [laughs]. It's Keith Sweat.
But that's how it's always been. It's just like when me and Teddy came out. Nobody knew who Teddy Riley was. Nobody knew who I was. We weren't Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis or L.A. and Babyface. We were not there yet. There are a lot of people out there who have great music and are very talented that the public don't know about. You didn't have 'American Idol' or the websites when me and Teddy came out. You didn't have Facebook. If we had all that stuff we probably would have sold 15 million albums instead of just 4 million [laughs].
I'm just a fan of music. I have a song with Johnny Gill on the album. I have a song with T-Pain, which I think will surprise some people. I have a song with Coco from SWV on the album. But it's still a Keith Sweat album.
I had no idea what Teddy and I were about to get into. But once we came out the studio after the 'Make It Last Forever' sessions, we knew it was something special. We just didn't know how special it was. It just felt good compared to everything we were listening to on the radio at the time. We would drive down 145th St. and 8th Ave. in New York listening to the songs in Teddy's car. We would just look at each other and say, "Yo, these joints are hot!" However, we weren't the consumer. We had no idea how the music public would react because it was such a new sound. But when the album finally dropped the reaction was like crazy, ridiculous.
\"You know who I respect work ethic-wise?\" queries Keith Sweat. The veteran R&B singer is attempting to explain just why a multi-platinum artist with 25 years in the rearview is promoting his latest album, 'Til the Morning,' out now, with the hunger of a newly signed act. Sw...\nRead More 2ff7e9595c
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