When Musiq Soulchild premiered his new persona The Husel, many were confused and upset, and in turn spoke out against his latest creative venture. Readers of YouKnowIGotSoul should not have been shocked about the change, however, as Musiq has discussed these plans with us in depth in our previous interviews with him. If you listen to him explain his vision, it makes sense, and we gave him another platform to do just that in this interview. So whether The Husel is for you or not, please understand that Musiq will eventually be giving you something that you can support. Listen to our latest interview with Musiq Soulchild and get a further understanding on his future plans for music and exactly what he’s looking to do.
YouKnowIGotSoul: You’ve been out promoting your new persona The Husel and introducing people to it. You’re also doing performances as Musiq Soulchild. Talk about the creative space you’re currently at as an artist.
Musiq Soulchild: Well creatively I feel like I have too much that I have within me to do that it doesn’t make realistic sense to funnel it all under one brand, which is what spawned all of these other personas that I’m going to be getting into in the near future. I’ve already started with the one getting rave reviews, The Husel. I think the most important element of my creative process that people are not really paying attention to is the fact that I’m multi tasking. I think people are misunderstanding what’s happening no matter what’s happening. I’m doing Musiq Soulchild and The Husel. Everybody keeps coming at me like “Why would you stop doing Musiq Soulchild when it’s so great! Why would you sell out and do this Husel thing? How could you do that to us?” It just makes it that more challenging for me to be considerate of people’s opinions and points of views because you’re not even considering what I’m saying to you. I’m a creative person and I’m going to express it in as many ways as I can. Unfortunately the reality of the business that I’m in, it’s to my betterment to follow what’s going to get me that bread. Right now the sound that I’m using for The Husel happens to be really popular. I know it might sound however it may sound to whoever out there, but r&b music is not winning like it used to. That’s just the reality of it. It’s not something I’m making up or mad or bitter about. It’s just frustrating because you have artists like us who spend all of that time putting that work in and our heart and soul into it, just for it not to do the numbers that you would like for them to do, that will confirm what you’re doing matters. Meanwhile this other stuff is doing the numbers you want but it totally contradicts everything that everybody is forcing me to stick with. So I’m caught in a weird place. Instead of getting into all of that, I figure let me just start doing all of this other stuff while I’m still doing the Musiq Soulchild brand. If there are people out there who support the Musiq Soulchild brand, it will still be there; it’s still there. You’ve just got to let me know by supporting it. If you’re done with it and you don’t like it, cool, let me know that too. It doesn’t matter to me either way, I’m a creative person and I’ll figure it out. I just want you to support it. I’m not going to try and force feed you anything. You win when you earned it. If I’m not earning it then I need to get back on my job and get better at what it is that I’m doing. Maybe I lost it, maybe it’s a wrap for me? Maybe I just need to throw in the towel, I don’t know. But I’m not going out like a sucker. I’m going to do other stuff that I feel that I know that I can do and I actually like. Y’all can let me know what y’all like according to what y’all support or not. I’m doing it for you, so y’all gotta let me know what ya’ll want.
YouKnowIGotSoul: Something that bothered us was the negativity and hate you were getting from people who didn’t understand and were attacking Musiq Soulchild. It hurts us to see someone like yourself who has accomplished so much be treated that way by music fans.
Musiq Soulchild: Nowadays folks talk crap about anybody. I don’t feed into that. People are going to always going to say something about you whether you do the best thing ever or the worst thing ever. It doesn’t really matter. I don’t entertain that. That’s going to be there no matter what you do. It’s irrelevant. I’d rather focus on the positive reinforcement and the positive feedback; people that get what I’m doing and want it to get somewhere. I can’t do it by myself, I need your guys help. You gotta show up to the shows, you gotta speak positively and tell me what you do like. Don’t read me my writes about what you don’t like; everything isn’t going to be perfect and everything isn’t for everybody. Tell me what you do like, tell me how much it does matter, tell me what you would like for me to do. Just be more positive about it. We as artists get so much crap thrown our way because we’re expected to be…I don’t know what people see us as. I guess like cartoon characters like we’re not real with no emotions, like aliens that came from another planet. We’re people just like you, we’re just got a different job than you do. We got the same issues, we got the same feelings, we go through the same crap. We deal with the same things that you guys deal with. It’s just that platform we’re on has been celebrated in such a way that it creates this unrealistic point of view of what we actually are. Don’t get me wrong, there are things that come with being a celebrity or popular. We can use that to our advantage to push the culture and humanity forward. We get that and it by default makes us responsible. However, that’s our choice. Nobody has a right to dictate what another person should do under any circumstance because you are not the authority or judge of that person. All you can do is pray that the person chooses to be the better person than the other. My point is, we’re all just trying to figure this thing out, and as an artist, I’m still trying to figure this thing out. Yes, after 15 years, I’m still trying to figure it out. This music business is atrocious and it’s not easy to go through it. You’re up one day, you’re down the next, and there’s a whole bunch of crap in between that a lot of people have no understanding of or could even fathom. We still gotta produce good music and good product. Every time we may say something or do something that’s a reflection of what we’re going through, we just look like we’re bitching. We’re human, I’m sorry that it disappoints you but we’re human. As a human being who was blessed with the ability to be creative, I’m going to do just that or I feel like I’m wasting my blessing. You’re not going to understand it all and everything is going to be for you. I can only pray that I have something for you and if I do, just support that! Support what you like, and don’t what you don’t.
YouKnowIGotSoul: Tell us about the upcoming projects you’ve got coming with The Husel and Musiq Soulchild.
Musiq Soulchild: I’m actually working on The Husel project still. The Husel is not going anywhere. I’m sorry that makes you feel some kind of way but he’s not. No different than Musiq Soulchild is not going anywhere. The interesting thing is because I’ve been so focused on giving you the best product I can under those circumstances, I ended up with four projects! I’m actually backed up. Starting this year, I’m going to start putting it out. I actually have a whole different company that I started that’s dedicated to that. Think of it as I created a record label that’s going to have a bunch of artists on there who just all happen to be me! *Laughs* I know it’s weird but people put out albums, I’m putting out personalities. That’s just the way that I’m choosing to be creative. Everybody isn’t going to get it, everything is not going to be for everybody. But whoever it is for, I hope you dig it and support it. If it’s not for you, hopefully later on I’ll have something that is for you. This is not an exact perfect science; we all take shots in the dark hoping that we hit something. I just hope that you’re inspired.