Montell Jordan This is How He Did It

Rip It Up, Issue 219, 1 November 1995, Page 12

Montell Jordan This is How He Did It

Montell Jordan is one lucky brother. Blessed with handsome, caramel features, a 6 foot 8 inch frame and a voice that could melt butter, Montell isfiaving a good year. His first single, ‘This is How We Do It’, came out of nowhere, to give Def Jam recordings its first Number 1 in the US ever. The debut album, again titled This is How We Do It, has gone double platinum, the second single, ‘Somethin’ 4 Da Honeyz’ has already gone gold. Montell is blowing up all over the world, which is why it’s cool to see him in New Zealand for one Powerstation gig. We chatted after soundcheck.

Montell, what’s a 6 foot 8 inch brother from South Central doing with a degree in organisational communications (say what?) and a world wide Number One single? Give me some history, man.

“Yeah, you’re right that I grew up in South Central, but somehow I was always more inspired by what I learnt in school and in church than anything I saw on the street. Church is where I began to play piano. Sometimes during the service I’d slip in a Janet Jackson piano verse, and nobody ever noticed. At college I took jazz lessons and started doing talent quests and nightclubs, just working at getting better and better.”

How did you get signed? “Well, I finished college, I got a job, and did some demos. I was already a walking package, you know, people noticed me because I’m tall, but they always told me I sounded like someone else — everyone from Aaron Hall to Stevie

Wonder, but I knew I sounded like Montell, and I knew I was gonna get a deal.” Eventually, after seven years of demo hustling, Def Jam founder Russell Simmons saw the light and was rewarded with his first Number 1. This is How We Do It is an album of slick, swinging street beats, that goes from pop, to R&B, to hip-hop, to a mix of all the above.

“I wrote and produced every song on my album, and I wrote it with the purpose of getting my message across to as many people as possible. So, a jam like ‘Payback’, with Coolio, is for the hip-hop heads, ‘This is How We Do It’ is for the pop audience, and ‘I Wanna’ is for the lustful lovers out there — you know what I’m saying!” Your, urn, message? “I’m trying to come with some positive messages. I mean, there are a lot of very negative rap lyrics out there (I’m not dissing that, because everyone has to be able to express what they feel). We have this stereotype of South Central as a place full of gangs, shootings, riots, etc. I’m trying to redress the balance, because South Central has its positive side to. That’s what ‘This is How We Do It’ is all about. I sing about how the gang-bangers forgot about the drive-by, and I sing about drinking because its real, but check it with ‘I reach for my 40 and turn it up / Designated driver, take the keys to my truck.’ Looks like Montell is on a positive mission. No argument from me. The best of luck G.

ANDY