JON B: BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND

 

By Vic Everett PASADENA, California -- Jon B. knows about hardship. As stated in the singer's "Everyday Struggles" DVD, his palatial estate in Pasadena burned to the ground and the record company that launched his career folded. Not only did he not have fire insurance on the home, the collapse of his label caused the renowned singer an unforeseeable financial hardship. While catastrophes such as these may cause other performers to seek help from a professional therapist, the singer took his tribulations in stride. “You have to have hands on experience with knowing what it’s like to have adversity in your life,” Jon B. said. “In order to have emotion to your music and have it to be something where people can really feel you, I kinda went through the most dramatic [times] of my life over the last two years. Whether it’s relationships in your life or money problems or it could be your studio burning down. It’s good we can about these things now, but everything is a struggle to hold what you love most close to you.”

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The singer eventually rebuilt his home in the hills above Pasadena, and signed a new recording contract with Matthew Knowles' (Beyonce's dad) Sanctuary Records – taking Jon B. from national prominence to international fame. Yet, he explained that the focal point of his latest CD, Stronger Everyday, is a type of verbal disrobing he hadn’t experienced before. The extravaganza features collaborations with some of rap music’s biggest stars, and melds r&b and rap music in refreshing ways. “All the events that happen is what gives me the food to be able to grow as an artist,” the Pasadena resident said. “My journal is pretty much open for the world to read.” Jon B. also explained that traveling to distant lands helped shape the style of his music. “I went to Jamaica for two weeks and worked out of Bob Marley’s studio in Kingston,” he revealed. “That was one of the most amazing, eye-opening and spiritually grounding experiences I’ve ever had in life. Different things like that just adds to the album being deeper and having a lot more sophistication to it.” True indeed. Yet, some critics early on tagged the singer’s later material “uninspired” -- a kind why of saying that the newer songs weren’t very impressive Jon B., however, feels the restrained response was positive because it forced people to become accustomed to his restructured style. “The album,” Jon B. said, when asked about his previous gold and platinum selling efforts, “didn’t really start doing well until we released ‘Are You Still Down’ [a single featuring the late rap artist Tupac Shakur], and after that it started to take off. I felt good about that, but after my first album went gold it was like making records became something that I would do regardless if I was only reaching aluminum status. The platinum is the pay-off, but that’s not the reason why I [make music]. I do it just for the joy of doing it so I would make music if I was selling records or not.” CONTINUE