Producer amerie 1 thing full#
While she’s generally considered an R&B artitst, she incorporates soul, funk, pop, hip hop, and DC go-go into her sound.īecause I Love It is full of rich and diverse sounds, seemingly centering on 80’s inspirations. She refused (and still refuses) to be classified into one specific genre. Originally titled None Of The Above according to an un-linkable, yet frequently sourced Vibe article, Amerie aimed to continue her adventurous and diverse musical direction with album number three. Even better, the CD-quality version of the album highlighted quite a few things my bootleg missed. Finally getting that import in my hands was an extremely gratifying moment amongst my musical memories. I want them all, and on a cd, please and thank you. The Taiwanese version of the album was my goal, because I wanted the “Take Control (Remix)” featuring singer Se7en. I did not actually get my hands on Because I Love It until nearly 4 years later.
I needed that album, and so my search began. An album with a Mariah-esque song is somewhere hard to find? Challenge accepted. Ding ding ding! Those are the magic words.
A review I found described the album’s closer “All Roads” as “somewhere between Mariah Carey and Journey’s ‘Don’t Stop Believin'”. I started researching reviews and information on the album. When I discovered that Because I Love It was by and large unreleased in the US, it peaked my interest. I loved the sound of “ Why R U” that album’s first single and needed to explore her catalog. In spring 2009 as Amerie prepared her fourth album In Love & War, she caught my attention. I can pinpoint the exact moment that I became interested in Because I Love It. I finally tracked down the Taiwan edition, which contains a bonus remix, because that’s how I roll. Sure, there are copies on Amazon, but I wanted more. Even still, tracking down a copy was no easy task. The album never received a ‘proper’ release in the US or Canada, and the ‘release’ it did receive happened almost a year and a half after it’s initial release. Here’s the thing, most people (in the US especially) don’t know about it. But, have you even heard of Because I Love It? Because I Love It is Amerie’s magnum opus. It holds a special place in my heart not only because of the two aforementioned factors, but also because of how amazing the album is. Amerie’s Because I Love It is one of those albums that has both. And I'm really proud of the album because I know how much work it took to get it finished.When it comes to acquiring music I always love a good story and even more, a challenge. There's an undercurrent of self-confidence and strength. I'm in a different headspace, so everything feels different. (Sony, her record label) has never gotten involved creatively as far as my image, the videos, or the actual music. Over the last five years, I've learned about what I like. A lot of times with a female artist, you have people telling you what to do. It was usually me, the engineer, and my business partner and manager Lenny (Nicholson) in the studio. Most of that time, with a couple of exceptions, I approached it the way rappers do their albums. I worked with Rich and other producers as well.
But it was also a struggle to get the album finished. So we didn't have to question ourselves and be defined by others.ĪP: How does "Touch" differ from "All I Have"?Īmerie: This album was a lot about growing. My parents were very strong in bringing us up as both black and Asian. What kid doesn't get teased? Kids will latch on to anything that makes you different. You'd get the ignorant "chink" or "n-word" comments, but I didn't take it to heart. Of course, growing up you get comments from other kids and your friends sometimes. The black culture is a very inclusive culture and the Asian culture is the same way. But if we did, we always said we were both Korean and black. So we didn't really feel that or get asked what we considered ourselves. Amerie: We grew up in a military environment and we were around black kids, white kids, Asian kids, and mixed kids.