I was stretching and exercising my abilities and figuring out what I was able to do. I was just working on records because it was something cool to do. Then they’d say “I figure we go get some grub…” then yea, I’d be there. They’d be like “Yo, you trying to come to the studio?” and I’d say “I dunno man, I have so much to do….” Even though I had nothing to do. Sometimes they would feed me, and that would kind of be like the thing. I got introduced to my writing partner at the time, through my managers at the time. I wasn’t really thinking about making music really. Where I’m going to sleep that night, how I’m going to eat that day. I was living on the streets trying to figure out what to do from day to day. Musiq Soulchild: To be honest, I really wasn’t paying much attention. It was the mecca of fresh music and where Musiq Soulchild’s journey as an artist began.
During that period of time in Philly, there was no other place you wanted to be as an artist. We know that Musiq Soulchild comes from the streets of Philly, but did you know that he was literally homeless at some point? After making a name for himself singing everywhere from jazz clubs to street corners, he eventually found his way into Jazzy Jeff’s “A Touch of Jazz” studios. Origins as an Artist – Homeless to the Studio For this article, we’ll take an in depth look at Musiq Soulchild’s debut album, with quotes we were given exclusively from some of the creators of the album, Musiq’s original managers (Mike McArthur and Jerome Hipps), along with from the singer himself.Ĭlick Here for our exclusive Interview with Musiq Soulchild on the 20th anniversary of the album’s release. Eventually, it would also become the lead single from his debut album “Aijuswanaseing” which released later in the year. As a result, most music fans’ first exposure to Musiq Soulchild was with the release of his “Just Friends (Sunny)” video that came out as a part of Def Jam’s “Nutty Professor II” soundtrack.
This was in the middle of the year 2000 and just before the digital age took over in music. During the height of the neo-soul era, a fresh new face out of Philly arrived who went by the name of Musiq Soulchild.